On the horn – iPolitics

Good evening to you.

We begin this afternoon with Prime Minister Mark Carney, who held a phone call with premiers Wednesday afternoon to brief them following his apparently successful first meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump.

The virtual briefing with provincial and territorial leaders also came after Alberta’s premier publicly raised the spectre of the province separating from Canada amid concerns about western alienation.

Carney and Trump spent about two hours together Tuesday at the White House, including about half an hour in front of the cameras in the Oval Office.

It was their first face-to-face discussion of U.S.-Canada relations and Trump’s ongoing trade war.

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew sent a letter to Carney on Wednesday sharing the province’s aim to partner on several nation-building projects.

They include creating a trade corridor through the Port of Churchill, establishing Indigenous “fair trade zones” and developing critical minerals infrastructure, with Kinew writing that “Manitoba is the Costco of critical minerals.”

Kinew said Manitoba “stands ready to collaborate” with the prime minister as well as all provinces and territories to “build a stronger Canada on projects of national interest.”

“We will always be the true, north, strong and free,” Kinew said.

CP reports.

In other news, as he prepares to make history as one of the country’s first MPs born in the 21st century, Fares Al Soud says he wants to ensure young Canadians have a voice in the House of Commons.

The former Hill staffer won election in Mississauga Centre in last week’s vote, succeeding longtime MP and former cabinet minister Omar Alghabra.

Al Soud, a Liberal, said some of the top concerns he heard from voters at the doorsteps centred on affordability, crime and public safety, healthcare, relations with the U.S. and the war in Palestine, as well as hyper-local issues such as funding for the arts and the Riverwood Conservancy.

Generally, he said voters wanted to “see change” in Ottawa, with the ballot box decision coming down to the “kind of change you want to get out of this at the end of the day.”

In a way, Al Soud, who’s 25, himself represents change — he’s one of three incoming MPs born in the 2000s. And he plans on using his new platform to ensure young people have a seat at the table.

“I want to… make sure that our our voice is represented in the House of Commons. I’m sure that has been tried to be done over the course of the past few years, but at times I found has been lacking,” Al Soud told iPolitics in an interview.

Marco Vigliotti has more from their conversation.

Meanwhile, over the past year, voters from around the world have sent a clear message to incumbent governments — they want change.

In the U.K., the Tories were ousted after more than a decade in power, while French President Emmanuel Macron was also dealt a blow in last year’s national election. Closer to home, the U.S. sent Donald Trump back to the White House in November after four years of Democratic rule.

The results point to the emergence of an anti-incumbency trend across the globe that could be underpinned by a variety of causes. High inflation? Maybe. Increased polarization? Security concerns? Perhaps.

Electorally speaking, it really doesn’t matter. The bottom line is that it’s been a rough stretch for ruling parties.

So, what happened in Canada? How did party considered by many to be long in the tooth not only win re-election, but increase both its vote share and seat count?

In a word, seniors.

Davis Legree has that story.

In Other Headlines

Internationally

India fired missiles into Pakistani-controlled territory in several locations early Wednesday, killing at least 26 people including a child, in what Pakistan’s leader called an act of war.

India said it struck infrastructure used by militants linked to last month’s massacre of tourists in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir.

Pakistan claimed it shot down several Indian fighter jets in retaliation as two planes fell onto villages in India-controlled Kashmir. At least seven civilians were also killed in the region by Pakistani shelling, Indian police and medics said.

Tensions have soared between the nuclear-armed neighbors since the attack, which India has blamed Pakistan for backing. Islamabad has denied the accusation.

AP has the latest.

Elsewhere, the great doors of the Sistine Chapel shut Wednesday after the cry of “extra omnes” — Latin for “all out” — and 133 cardinals began the secretive, centuries-old ritual of electing a new pope to lead the Catholic Church, opening the most geographically diverse conclave in the faith’s 2,000-year history.

The red-robed cardinals entered the Sistine Chapel in pairs, chanting the meditative “Litany of the Saints” as Swiss Guards stood at attention. The hymn implores the saints to help the cardinals find a successor to Pope Francis to lead the 1.4 billion-strong Catholic Church.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the secretary of state under Francis and himself a leading contender to succeed him as pope, assumed the leadership of the proceedings as the senior cardinal under age 80.

AP also has more on that.

In Other International Headlines

The Kicker

As the process to select a new pope officially gets underway in the Vatican, we leave you with this NPR piece about an online game that allows people to predict the conclave’s outcome like fantasy football.

Hard to believe some people think betting culture has gotten out of control!

And with that, we’ll see you tomorrow…