White smoke – iPolitics

Good evening to you and happy Friday!

We start tonight with Prime Minister Mark Carney, who says his newly re-elected Liberal government will aim to pass legislation reducing the lowest income tax rate and removing barriers on internal trade before Canada Day.

Carney outlined his government’s top priorities for the new Parliament in a news conference on Friday. It was his first address to reporters since Monday’s election, where the Liberals won 168 seats, only four shy of a majority in the newly expanded House of Commons.

Carney’s top priorities largely mirror his main pledges from the spring election campaign — slashing the lowest income tax bracket by 1 percentage point, removing trade barriers to ease the impact of U.S. tariffs and identifying and pushing ahead major nation-building projects.

He also doubled down on his pledge to remove the GST on new homes under $1 million, slash developer fees, spur construction of millions of new homes by creating a new public entity named Build Canada Homes, hire more border security and RCMP officers, make it harder for people charged with stealing cars, home invasion, and human trafficking to get bail, and cap the number of temporary workers and international students at less than 5 per cent of Canada’s population by the end of 2027.

“We’re a confident nation that celebrates our diversity, that believes in and practices free speech, that respects the rule of law, that has a vibrant democracy,” he told reporters.

Parliament will resume sitting next month, and Carney said King Charles will read the Speech from the Throne on May 27.

Marco Vigliotti has more details.

Carney also confirmed he will have his first in-person meeting with Donald Trump next week, though he doesn’t expect the U.S. president to immediately back down from his threats to impose crippling tariffs on imports from Canada.

Carney told reporters he planned on discussing with Trump the U.S. tariffs on all aluminium, steel and auto imports, and levies on Canadian goods put in place ostensibly to stem the flow of fentanyl across the country’s shared border, adding that he anticipates the negotiations will be challenging but that Canada needs to remain resolute because Trump and the Americans “respect strength.”

“I’m not pretending those discussions will be easy. They won’t proceed in a straight line. There will be zigs and zags, ups and downs, but… I will will fight for the best deal for Canada and only accept the best deal for Canada and take as much time as necessary,” he said.

Carney said he had a “constructive” conversation with Trump earlier this week, and the leaders agreed to meet in-person on Tuesday.

Vigliotti teamed up with Davis Legree for this story.

In other news, this week’s election marked a quiet but undeniable shift in votes coming from Ontario: a dramatic Conservative surge in ridings that have been traditionally Liberal and NDP seats.

Across the province, the Conservatives made significant gains, both in seat count and raw vote share, suggesting a reshaping of Ontario’s political map that may have lasting consequences.

In the heart of downtown Toronto — which historically is seen as an impenetrable Liberal and NDP stronghold — Conservative candidates surged to second place in five out of six key ridings. In some cases, they more than doubled their previous vote share, an unprecedented result in recent decades.

“What we’re seeing is that working-class voters, including many traditional NDP supporters, shifted to the Conservatives — not just in Toronto, but across industrial and suburban Ontario,” said David Valentin, principal at Liaison Strategies.

Quito Maggi, from Mainstreet Research, agrees.

“Conservatives were able to drive home the message on affordability, crime, and housing, issues that resonated with voters who had traditionally supported other parties,” he said.

Barbara Patrocinio has that story for QP Briefing.

Lobby Wrap: Proposed hovercraft operator lobbying the feds

The Rebel to Rabble Review: Right-leaning media outlets mull over election outcome, Conservative defeat

In Other Headlines

Internationally

U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday re-upped his threat to strip Harvard University of its tax-exempt status, escalating a showdown with the first major college that has defied the administration’s efforts to crack down on campus activism.

He’s underscoring that pledge even as federal law prohibits senior members of the executive branch from asking the Internal Revenue Service to conduct or terminate an audit or an investigation. The White House has said any IRS actions will be conducted independently of the president.

“We are going to be taking away Harvard’s Tax Exempt Status,” Trump wrote on his social media site Friday morning from Palm Beach, Florida, where he is spending the weekend. “It’s what they deserve!”

AP has more details.

Meanwhile, an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.4 struck off the southern coasts of Chile and Argentina on Friday, prompting the evacuation of the Chilean coastline throughout the Magallanes region and the suspension of water activities and navigation in Argentina’s Tierra del Fuego province.

No damage or casualties were initially reported.

The United States Geological Survey said the quake’s epicenter was under the ocean 219 kilometers (173 miles) south of the Argentine city of Ushuaia.

Chilean authorities issued an evacuation alert for the entire coastal section of the Strait of Magellan, in the far south of the country.

AP also has that story.

In Other International Headlines

The Kicker

We leave you with the remarkable story of Andy Le, a 16-year-old whose family was killed in last weekend’s Lapu Lapu Day attack in Vancouver.

After an online fundraiser raised $266,000 for Le, the teenager decided to donate all the money to other victims.

And with that, have a good weekend, and we’ll see you tomorrow…