Budget Week in Ottawa | Your Look Ahead from Summa Strategies

What We’re Watching

  • Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland will be tabling her second federal budget on April 7th at 4 pm EDT.
  • The new Online Safety advisory group will hold nine workshops over the next two months to discuss various components of a legislative and regulatory framework for online safety. 
  • The federal government is set to announce a partnership with 14 internet service providers which will see hundreds of thousands of low-income seniors and families gain access to high speed internet for $20 a month.
  • This morning, Innovation, Science and Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne will join Ontario Premier Doug Ford at GM Canada’s Oshawa plant to announce an investment in the future of Canada’s automotive manufacturing sector.

In the House

  • C-8, an act to implement certain provisions of the Economic and Fiscal Update, will be debated for the fifth time at the report stage on Monday. 
  • Bill C-14 will be debated for the first time on Wednesday.
  • Second reading debate on Bill C-13, an act to amend the Official Languages Act, will continue on Thursday.
  • Friday will see the first day of debate on the federal budget.
  • The House will begin a two week Easter break on Friday, giving the opposition parties  only one day to debate the new budget while it is still fresh in the minds of Canadians.
  • With only one week left before the easter break, almost all House of Commons standing committees are meeting this week, including:
    • FINA to discuss inflation in the Canadian economy, and HESA to discuss Canada’s health workforce, both on Monday 
    • SECU to discuss an assessment of Canada’s security posture in relation to Russia on Tuesday 
    • NDDN to discuss recruitment and retention in the Canadian Armed Forces on Wednesday

In the Senate

  • The government continues to make use of the Senate to introduce new government legislation:
    • Thursday saw the introduction of government bill S-6, An Act respecting regulatory modernization which will begin second reading debate this week.
    • Government bill S-7 was also introduced in the Senate on Thursday, which intends to amend the Customs Act and the Preclearance Act, 2016. This bill will also begin second reading this week.
  • Bill C-15 was passed by the Senate and received royal assent on Thursday 
  • Senate Government bill S-4 was referred to the Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs on Thursday.

ICYMI

  • Last Monday, Ontario became the last province to sign onto the federal government’s childcare plan. At an event in Brampton, Premier Doug Ford and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the $13.2-billion agreement, which will lower the cost of child care in the province to an average of $10 a day by September 2025. 
  • On the same day, the federal government announced it has chosen the F-35 as its preferred replacement for the air force’s four-decade-old CF-18 fighters, and will open negotiations with the stealth jet’s manufacturer, Lockheed Martin.
  • The long awaited federal Emissions Reduction Plan was tabled in the House of Commons by the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Steven Guilbealt, last Tuesday. 
  • Minister of Heritage Pablo Rodriguez announced on Wednesday that an advisory group on online safety has been established to give recommendations to the government on legislation regarding regulating safety on online and social media platforms. 

#ONpoli

  • Today, Ontario launches an internet gambling market, called iGaming. Single-sports betting has been legal since last year in Canada, but so far in Ontario it has been limited to the provincially run PROLINE+.
  • We are still waiting for confirmation of Ontario budget date, but all signs are pointing to the third week of April.
  • Per a motion from government house leader Paul Calandra that passed Monday, the legislature now has permission to sit until midnight for the rest of the spring sitting, which is slated to end on Wednesday, May 4.
  • Bill 109 was introduced last Wednesday by Ontario’s Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing on Wednesday, an act which intends to significantly streamline regulations and approval processes for new housing in the province. 
  • Yesterday, Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath unveiled an election platform commitment to include mental health services as part of Ontario’s publicly-funded health insurance program if elected to form government in June. The NDP plan commits $1.15 billion to a Universal Mental Health Care plan, starting with free access to counselling and therapy. 

#ABpoli

  • Legislation was introduced in the Alberta Legislature last Wednesday which, if passed, would mandate sexual assault law education for potential provincial judges, with Premier Jason Kenny stating that the bill would reduce the risk of having sexual assault victims revictimized during a trial. 
  • Former Wildrose leader Danielle Smith stated on Friday that she intends to re-enter provincial politics, seeking the UCP nomination in the riding of Livingston–Macleod. She added that she will seek the leadership of the UCP if current leader Jason Kenney loses the leadership review scheduled for April 9th.

#BCpoli

  • Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was in BC last week, where he met with Premier John Horgan, and visited Williams Lake First Nation where he announced $2.9 million in federal funding to aid in the investigation of potential graves on the ground of a former residential school. 
  • The BC legislature reconvened last week after a two week constituency break.
  • On Monday, Labour Minister Harry Bains introduced Bill 19, Employment Standards Amendment Act, which changes the annual paid sick day entitlement from “employment year” to “calendar year,” clearing up concerns from employers that the prior wording would give some employees 10 days of paid sick leave this year.
  • Finance Minister Selina Robinson introduced Bill 12, the Property Law Amendment Act, which, if passed, would create a “Homebuyer Protection Period” to give prospective homebuyers time to consider their options or back out of a purchase without legal consequences.
  • Thursday the BC government introduced its Indigenous Action Plan, which intends to aid in the upholding of the United Nations Declarations of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

#ATLpoli

  • The Tim Houston government tabled its first Nova Scotia budget on Tuesday of last week. The budget implements many of the Progressive Conservative election platform promises, including major new healthcare spending and new taxes on out-of-province home purchasers and owners. 
  • The New Brunswick People’s Alliance’s two MLAs in the legislature have joined the governing Progressive Conservative caucus, spelling the end of the upstart, populist movement created 12 years ago.
  • Newfoundland and Labrador will table its 2022 budget on April 7th, the same day as the federal budget.
  • In what came as a shock to many across the Atlantic region, federal Fisheries Minister Joyce Murray announced Wednesday there will be no commercial or bait fishing for Atlantic mackerel in Atlantic Canada and Quebec.