Canada Minute: Issue 83

Canada Minute - Your weekly one-minute summary of Canadian politics.

📅 This Week In Canada: 📅

• The federal government has rejected Ontario's plan to expand Toronto's Billy Bishop airport to allow jets to take off and land there. Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon announced on July 24th that the government will focus exclusively on safety upgrades already underway, saying it will not pursue plans that result in elevated noise, significant environmental impacts, or reduced public space, though he framed the decision as applying "at this stage" rather than as final. The federal consultation on the airport drew more than 87,000 responses, with about 87% of respondents opposed to changes and about 80% of responses coming from Toronto. Ontario Premier Doug Ford had hoped to quintuple annual passenger traffic at the airport from about 2 million to 10 million, and the province passed legislation in May taking over Toronto's role in the agreement that governs the airport, along with city-owned lands on the adjacent waterfront. Ontario Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria says the province will keep working to advance the expansion, which it claims would contribute up to $8.5 billion to Canada's economy every year and create thousands of jobs. Business groups also criticized the federal decision, with Toronto Region Board of Trade president Giles Gherson calling it disappointing and arguing that Toronto needs to get on with developing its transportation infrastructure to meet the needs of a significantly expanding population.
  
  
• The federal government, meanwhile, paid $201.5 million in bonuses to government executives in 2025, even though federal departments met just 54% of their own performance targets in 2024-25. Records obtained by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation show 15,898 of 18,041 executive employees received a bonus or other performance incentive last year, and Public Services and Procurement Canada confirmed that roughly 88% of executives took one. The payments included $172 million in at-risk pay for 9,173 employees, $24 million in performance awards, and $4 million in bilingual bonuses. Federal bonuses have cost taxpayers about $2 billion since 2015. This follows revelations that Canada Post handed out $30.8 million in management bonuses in 2025 despite losing $1.57 billion that year. A June report from the Parliamentary Budget Officer projects that federal personnel costs will rise from $69.2 billion in 2025-26 to $79.4 billion in 2026-27, and reach $86 billion by 2030.
  
  
• Liberal MPs have blocked a Conservative attempt to force committee hearings into the updated Gordie Howe International Bridge agreement, under which Canada will now send the United States half of the bridge's net toll revenues for 15 years. Conservative MPs called a meeting of the House of Commons government operations and estimates committee last Wednesday to push for a study of the deal, whose full text was released earlier in July and contradicted Prime Minister Mark Carney's original explanation that tolls would not be shared until Canada's debt to build the $6.4-billion bridge was repaid. The Conservative motion would have called Canada-US Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc, Infrastructure Minister Gregor Robertson, and Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne to testify, and demanded the release of all drafts of the agreement along with an economic analysis from the Parliamentary Budget Officer. Conservative MP Dan Albas said taxpayers are owed an explanation of why the agreement was ratified and why the Prime Minister gave contradictory statements about it. After two hours of debate, the Liberal members of the committee voted to adjourn the meeting without voting on the motion. Liberal MP Caroline Desrochers defended the deal as "the best course for taxpayers in the current context".
  
  
• In other transportation news, the federal government will spend nearly $2 billion to replace Via Rail's long-haul fleet, with Swiss manufacturer Stadler supplying 45 hybrid battery-diesel trainsets to serve routes outside the busy Windsor to Quebec City corridor. Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon announced the investment in Montreal last Wednesday, saying it will mark the first time in decades that passenger locomotive vehicles are assembled in Canada. The trainsets themselves will cost $1.6 billion, while Ottawa will spend another $357 million on a new assembly and maintenance facility in Montreal, where up to 36 of the vehicles will undergo final assembly and testing. Construction firm Pomerleau will build the facility, and ABB will supply the batteries from a plant in the Montreal area. The government claims the project will create 1,200 full-time jobs and generate further benefits across the rail supply chain. A Stadler vice-president said the trainsets are designed for Canadian conditions, including operating at temperatures as low as -50 degrees Celsius.
  
  
• Prime Minister Mark Carney has called by-elections for August 31st in three federal ridings: Beaches-East York in Ontario, Chicoutimi-Le Fjord in Quebec, and North Vancouver-Capilano in British Columbia. The Ontario seat was vacated by former federal housing minister Nate Erskine-Smith, who intended to seek the Ontario Liberal Party leadership but lost a provincial by-election nomination race. The Quebec seat opened when Conservative MP Richard Martel resigned after being appointed to the Senate of Canada. The British Columbia seat was vacated by former Liberal MP Jonathan Wilkinson, who became Canada's ambassador to the European Union.
  
  

🚨 This Week’s Action Item: 🚨