Canada Minute: Issue 93

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

📅 This Week In Canada: 📅

• The Parliamentary Budget Office says direct spending on the Canadian military could reach $163.6 billion by 2035 under the federal government's plan to meet NATO's target of 5% of GDP. In a report released October 6th, the budget watchdog estimated the increase would add $63.7 billion, or 1.4% of GDP, to the budgetary deficit, and warned that many unknowns remain. How much fiscal pain results will depend on how Prime Minister Mark Carney's government manages the increase, and the report sets out two scenarios - a steady ramp-up in equipment purchases, or purchases that are postponed. Under both the Trudeau and Harper governments, big-ticket equipment purchases were routinely postponed, and a previous report by the office tracked more than $18 billion in military funding that lapsed under Trudeau. The new target, 3.5% of GDP on direct military spending and 1.5% on defence infrastructure, is to be phased in over the next decade, with Carney aiming for 4% by 2030. Parliamentary Budget Officer Annette Ryan told the House of Commons Defence Committee on October 5th that the plan to reach the target after 2030 is still a work in progress, and warned that Canada's industrial capacity may not be able to meet the need.
  
  
• Prime Minister Mark Carney's government gave an estimated $7.8 billion in federal contracts to American-controlled corporations in its first 16 months, despite repeatedly promising to build and buy Canadian. Of the $25 billion in contracts Ottawa awarded between March 2025 and the end of July 2026, contracts with Canadian companies came to $14.9 billion, and the share going to US companies rose from one-fifth before Carney took office to nearly a third under him. The four largest federal contractors under Carney are all American-controlled, with IBM, Microsoft, and L3Harris each receiving more than $1 billion and General Dynamics $846 million. In Question Period on October 5th, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre accused Carney of sending Canadian tax dollars to American companies, and Carney answered with a list of Canadian infrastructure projects underway. Procurement Minister Joël Lightbound maintained that the Buy Canadian Policy is working as intended, noting that companies like IBM employ thousands of Canadians. A Public Services and Procurement Canada spokesperson said 34 contracts worth $1.5 billion have been awarded under the policy since it took effect in December. The policy does not consider a supplier's country of control in deciding whether it is Canadian.
  
  
• The federal government introduced Bill C-40, Strengthening Canada's Defence Sector, on October 6th to turn the Defence Investment Agency into a Crown corporation with its own Board of Directors and greater authority to negotiate and manage contracts. The agency was created in October 2025 as a special operating agency within Public Services and Procurement Canada, and an earlier bill giving it broader powers to bypass the normal procurement process, tabled in the spring, has yet to pass. That bill would expand the exceptions the government can use to suspend normal procurement rules from four to as many as 14, including procurements of national interest. The new legislation would also amend the National Defence Act to create an Associate Minister of National Defence for Procurement, who would answer to Parliament for the agency. The government claims the change will deliver military equipment faster and strengthen Canadian industry. The move could cut bureaucracy, but fewer ministers would have a say over major projects involving large amounts of taxpayer money, and ministers could use the agency's distance from government to deflect difficult questions.
  
  
• Bill C-39, a 243-page bill at the centre of the Carney government's economic agenda, passed its first vote in the House of Commons on October 8th, with the Conservatives voting alongside the majority Liberals to send it to a special committee. The bill would extend the government's one-project, one-review, within-one-year approach from major infrastructure projects to other projects across the country. It would also set new rules for when the jobs minister can intervene in labour disputes in federally regulated sectors. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre called it weak and watered-down and said his party will seek amendments to cut decision timelines to between six months and a year, eliminate the industrial carbon price, and create pre-permitted shovel-ready zones. NDP Leader Avi Lewis said the bill must be scrapped over its effects on labour and treaty rights.
  
  
• The federal government introduced Bill S-7, the Cutting Red Tape for all Canadians Act, on October 7th, proposing amendments to 31 federal laws and their regulations in an effort to reduce red tape. The changes cover a wide range of topics, including fertilizer regulations, bankruptcy procedures, Canadian Dairy Commission appointments, animal waste management, and how departments adopt electronic tools and new technologies. The bill follows a review of all federal regulations ordered by Prime Minister Mark Carney in July 2025, which Treasury Board President Shafqat Ali said identified hundreds of ways to cut red tape. Senior officials said the bill addresses only 11 of the 500 measures identified, noting that not every proposal requires a legislative change. The government estimates the bill could save the government and the private sector $264 million over 10 years. It says it intends to introduce similar legislation on a recurring basis.

🚨 This Week’s Action Item: 🚨

The federal government is asking Canadians how the rules for registered charities should be modernized, including the registration process, digital services, audits, and how a charity's status can be revoked.

The Department of Finance and the Canada Revenue Agency say they want to reduce unnecessary administrative burdens while strengthening transparency and public trust.

Submissions are open until December 3rd, 2026, and you can share your views on how Ottawa regulates the more than 86,000 charities in Canada.

🪙 This Week’s Sponsor: 🪙

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