Good evening, readers.

We start today’s brief with the bombshell from the PM.

Edmonton MP Matt Jeneroux has agreed to join the Liberal caucus and to serve as Prime Minister Mark Carney’s special advisor on economic and security partnerships.

In the fall, Jeneroux was heavily rumoured to be on the cusp of joining the Liberal caucus. But he failed to make the leap and abruptly announced plans to resign his seat in the House of Commons in the spring amid rumours of aggressive pushback from Conservative leadership.

In his statement, Carney said Jeneroux would “continue his service as a strong voice for Edmonton Riverbend in Parliament.”

The PM said Jeneroux’s new advisory role will “contribute to strengthening Canada’s alliances and trade partnerships, advancing Canada’s leadership in global security cooperation, and building our strength at home.”

Carney and Jeneroux briefly appeared together at a media event at the Edmonton airport on Wednesday.

Speaking to assembled media, Jeneroux said he made the decision to rescind his resignation after watching the prime minister’s heavily publicized speech in Davos, Switzerland, in January.

Jeneroux said the speech “opened a lot of eyes for Canadians, Albertans, Edmontonians” about how serious of a national unity crisis Canada was facing.

With the addition, the Liberals now have 169 seats in the House of Commons. There are currently three vacancies that if filled by Liberals would put that party at the majority threshold of 172.

Marco Vigliotti has more.

Back to Tuesday’s big defence industrial strategy announcement, industry and policy stakeholders are hailing the plan as a significant statement, but say its success will depend on whether the government can deliver faster procurement.

The $6.6-billion strategy sets out what the government calls a “build, partner, buy” model to build military gear domestically, especially to cover “sovereign capabilities” critical to national defence or Canada’s commitments to allies.

It says Ottawa will seek to partner with other nations on procurement, or to buy off-the-shelf under conditions that feed back into the domestic industry.

While acknowledging the need for collaboration, the strategy also aims to ensure Canada has full access and control over the intellectual property and technology of its defence systems.

Dana O’Born, chief strategy officer of Council of Canadian Innovators, identified more than 400 Canadian dual-use technology companies with the capabilities to support Canada’s defence and security priorities.

O’Born called the announced strategy a “big lift,” but said it’s now up to the Canadian defence sector to get the “structural pieces” in place. She said it’s even more important now for Canada to scale up on IP development to protect where the capital goes to ensure major investments stay in the country.

“We need to put the backbone into that strategy to protect those ideas, so that it doesn’t risk leaving the country,” she said.

Sydney Ko has this story.

In Other Headlines

Internationally

The latest U.S.-brokered talks between envoys from Moscow and Kyiv over Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine ended Wednesday with no sign of a breakthrough and with both sides saying the talks were “difficult,” as the war’s fourth anniversary approaches next week.

The negotiations in Switzerland were the third round of direct talks organized by the U.S., after meetings earlier this year in Abu Dhabi that officials described as constructive but which also made no major headway. Expectations for significant progress in Geneva were low.

“The negotiations were not easy,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said after the talks broke up and he spoke briefly by phone from Kyiv with his negotiating team.

He earlier accused Russia of “trying to drag out negotiations” while it presses on with its invasion — an accusation he and European leaders have repeatedly made in the past.

Despite that, some progress was made on military issues, although political differences remain deep, including over the future of land in eastern Ukraine that is occupied by the Russian army and that Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to keep, Zelenskyy said.

AP reports.

In Other International Headlines

The Kicker

Sorry Mitch Marner, you’re not today’s Olympic sensation.

Sure you scored in OT to send Canada to the semi-finals of the men’s ice hockey tournament.

But we literally had a wolfdog make its way onto the course of a cross-country skiing competition.

You can’t top that!

Have a great night.