Capital Dispatch is a weekly newsletter, sent when Parliament is in session every Friday. To stay on top of what’s happening on the Hill, you can sign up to receive the latest political news and insights directly in your inbox, here. PM Carney leverages rare tool to study C-39, Liberals take stand on MAID, and is Canada in an affordability crisis? Poilievre says yes. Parliamentary business ticked along this week largely in the background. I’ll catch you up on what you need to know. Canada’s industry minister also put Stelco’s U.S. ownership on notice, provincial election intrigue spiked, and the Conservatives are ready to declare a new national crisis. The week that was Let’s start picking back up on the biggest focus of my last Dispatch. That’s with the bill that will likely remain the major focus for MPs – until perhaps the incoming assisted dying law is tabled, more on that later – Bill C-39, the Building Canada Strong Act. The one-project, one-review and labour law-altering legislation cleared its first major hurdle this week, handily passing its first vote in the House of Commons, with the Conservatives voting with the Liberals to send it off for committee study. Though, in a move that sparked some intrigue with the Hill’s nerdiest, that study will be conducted by a new special committee, with arguably the least special name. “CC39: Legislative Committee on Bill C-39.” Taking the bill this route will allow the MPs on the committee to focus only on this bill and no other issue, whereas the standard House committees have to triage various bills and studies at the same time. Here’s who made the membership list. Given the split focus of this particular legislation, going this route instead of deciding to park it with say, the labour-focused, environment-focused, finance-focused, or energy-focused committees, was probably the path of least resistance. The special committee is holding its first official meeting Friday morning. If that results in some clarity on their timeline, the types of witnesses they want to hear from, or whether this group will deal with the same kinds of political tactics as other committees, tap my signature below and you’ll find the latest there. You’ll note no New Democrats – the latest example of how their loss of official party status after the last election continues to disadvantage them – nor Greens will be sitting around that table. Both parties asked to be let on, in this special circumstance, and were told no. Before moving on, it’s worth noting that the more progressive parties weren’t the sole source of discontent with Bill C-39 this week. On Tuesday, B.C. Liberal MP Patrick Weiler came out criticizing elements of the government’s bill during debate. While he told his colleagues that he agrees with the broad direction of the legislation, he doesn’t like the idea of giving cabinet the power to accelerate projects, citing the potential to undermine Indigenous consultations. The other major focus in the House this week was the Liberal government finally declaring where it stands on expanding medical assistance in dying (MAID). Their answer? It’s complicated. On the issue that’s staring down a legal deadline – whether or not to extend eligibility to those whose sole underlying condition is a mental illness – Justice Minister and Attorney General Sean Fraser said Wednesday that the government will make their exclusion indefinite. “Canada has made a decision not to move forward with the expansion that is scheduled in the Criminal Code of medical assistance in dying in circumstances where mental illness is the sole basis,” Fraser told reporters on Parliament Hill, vowing legislation will be tabled this fall to make that law. As colleague Spencer Van Dyk reports, the minister insisted that position is not “based on where we believe the politics is going to land,” but rather “based on what we sincerely believe is right.” Certain Canadians have had access to MAID since 2016, with amendments made to the eligibility criteria in 2021. Further expansion of MAID to include mental illness as the sole factor, however, has been highly controversial, and in 2024, the federal government under former prime minister Justin Trudeau announced it was delaying the move until 2027, after the next federal election. With the expansion set to come into effect in March next year, a special joint parliamentary committee took up the work of studying the issue, hearing from more than three dozen witnesses in the last year, and tabling a report in June that ultimately recommended the government “indefinitely exclude” persons whose sole underlying condition is a mental illness. Fraser said the Liberals don’t yet have a date to table the new bill but added it’s in the process of being drafted. There are seven sitting weeks left before the winter break, and then only a few months before March. This wasn’t the only piece of news in Fraser’s update though, he also declared this forthcoming bill will include provisions for people who make advanced requests for medical assistance in dying if they have been diagnosed with an illness that will cause them to lose capacity in the future. Fraser said the provisions around advanced consent will have to comply with provincial legislation, and that several jurisdictions currently have differing positions on the issue. Now you may be wondering if there was more to the timing of the government coming out with this, this week. The answer to that is yes. This news dropped just hours before a make-or-break vote on Conservative MP Tamara Jansen’s private member’s bill C-218 which would have amended the Criminal Code to “provide that a mental disorder is not a grievous and irremediable medical condition for which a person could receive (MAID).” The minister made it clear to reporters he wanted to provide the context of why the government would be voting the way they did – ultimately defeating the bill – beforehand. Fraser said they didn’t like the wording “mental disorder” given that runs the risk of encapsulating certain that could be deemed acceptable for receiving MAID, such as ALS. The Conservatives weren’t impressed. “This is now the Liberal government and minister Fraser playing politics, introducing division, and actually gambling, to be frank, with people’s lives,” said Conservative MP Andrew Lawton. Not to be missed Debate over benefit of fuel tax, affordability crisis For several months now, Canadians have been getting a bit of a break at the pumps, driven by the temporary pause of the federal fuel excise tax. A new cost estimate from the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) out this week, pegged the price tag of that relief at $4.9 billion, saving the average family $276. But those I spoke to while filling up at a gas station in Ottawa said they aren’t really feeling a difference. The report also assessed how beneficial the tax break is to families based on how much money they make, finding that higher income households are coming out on top. The pause first came into effect in April, and last month the government extended it until the end of January. Then, the tax will gradually be reinstated. Pressed on the PBO’s findings, the finance minister defended the measure, explaining that how much someone is saving depends on how much fuel they consume. “This is a significant measure for 12 million Canadians, and it’s the way to help people immediately,” Francois-Philippe Champagne said. This talk about prices at the pumps, came the same day that the Conservatives forced a debate, calling on the House to declare that Canada is in an affordability crisis. “Yes, the world price has gone up, but not as much as it has here in Canada,” Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said during debate. “We’re paying 10 per cent a litre more here in Canada than in the U.S. We’re paying 26 per cent more per litre than the U.S. when it comes to diesel... Only [Carney’s] beloved Europe is paying more for diesel than Canada.” The motion isn’t expected to pass. Joly threatens Stelco with ‘full force of the law’ Industry Minister Melanie Joly has put the U.S.-owned Stelco Holdings Inc. on notice this week. In a letter she made it plainly clear that the company cannot use the trade war to justify cutting jobs it committed to when it bought the Hamilton, Ont. steel plant. Why not? Well, Joly said, because Cleveland-Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves has publicly backed the American tariffs against the Canadian sector. “They cannot say that this is now an act of God or force majeure,” she said. If the company doesn’t heed the government’s demand for a plan to keep they jobs they’ve already planned to cut, Ottawa will pursue enforcement and “use the full force of the law.” Feds unveil $2B heat pump rebate program And, Carney announced Thursday that his government is spending $2 billion to offer a new national heat pump rebate program, with the goal of incentivizing Canadians to retrofit more energy efficient heating options. The government says the program will aim to help lower energy costs across the country, reduce emissions, and increase energy efficiency. As colleague Jeremie Charron reports, speaking with reporters on background, senior government officials said the new plan has the ability to help support up to one million home retrofits. Specifically, the government says the new investment will support up to 820,000 households through the heat-pump rebate program, while another 280,000 multi-unit residential properties will be eligible for energy-efficiency upgrades through existing programs. “Building Canada strong, starts in a warm home,” Carney said. The week ahead With MPs back in their ridings yet again, consider the theme for the week ahead to be election fall-out and election anticipation. There’s just over a week left until the Alberta referendum. What more ballot drama could we see? Will there be an eleventh-hour push from nationalists? Could the separatists find some last-minute momentum? There’s also two weeks left until British Columbians go to the polls. In a race that’s already had no shortage of political turmoil, what issues will the parties prioritize to try and pull in as many votes as possible? And, there’s looming questions around the swearing-in of the incoming Parti Quebecois in Quebec, including whether the new members of the legislature will be forced to swear allegiance to the King. Covering the latest political news from CTV’s parliamentary bureau in Ottawa, Rachel Aiello offers exclusive analysis on political developments straight from Ottawa.
