Good evening, readers.
There’s a new date to mark down in the calendar…
The 2026 federal budget will be tabled Nov. 5, Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne announced Tuesday.
It’s the second year that the budget will be tabled in the fall, instead of its normal positioning in the spring.
It’s also Champagne’s second as finance minister.
Donald Trump has backed down on a threat to ban Bombardier Inc. plane sales in the United States, part of a broader cooling of rhetoric from the U.S. president after tempers flared and tariffs rose amid an earlier escalation in the trade war.
Speaking at a campaign rally Monday night, Trump said he’s changed his perception of the Montreal-based business jet maker as a purely Canadian manufacturer.
“I’m going to be helping a certain air company get themselves straightened away,” he told a crowd in a suburb of Wichita, Kan., where Bombardier employs 1,500 workers.
“I always viewed them as a Canadian company … but now I find out they have a presence here, and we’re not hurting them if they’re in Kansas. So we’ll take care of those people, all right, and the jobs.”
A Charter statement from the federal Justice Department has found that Ottawa’s major economic bill won’t infringe on the constitutionally protected right to strike, says Jobs and Families Minister Patty Hajdu.
Speaking to iPolitics on Tuesday, she said the assessment “reinforces” her view that Bill C-39 strengthens the right to strike by creating new conditions for using a decades-old section in the Labour Code that gives the minister broad power to make any order necessary to ensure industrial peace.
“What we’ve done is we’ve put guardrails around a contentious piece of legislation that was used in the past without really any transparency, and twice used preemptively to prevent people to strike,” she said after a committee meeting.
“And we’re saying no longer could that piece of the code be used in a preemptive way. Rather, first, a strike must have happened. Secondly, it will be used in extremely rare cases.”
In Other Headlines
- Canadians quickly falling behind on their mortgages: Benchmark Canada (National Post)
- Here’s how many Ottawans voted in advance polls (Ottawa Citizen)
- Satellite images reveal Wainwright fire devastation (CBC)
- Quebec lieutenant-governor sitting out of swearing in ceremony for ministers (CTV)
- Polymarket is banned in Ontario but there’s more than US$500K wagered on Tronto’s mayoral election (CP24)
- Trump tariffs on Canada spark latest lawsuit over trade powers (The New York Times)
- Sask. First nation says Bell AI data centre answers fall short (650 CKOM)
- NDP Leader Eby vows not to use Wainwright tragedy for political gain (The Globe and Mail)
- Carney’s latest weapon against Poilievre? Stephen Harper (The Walrus)
- The separatist dream is over. Danielle Smith might be too (The Tyee)
- Panel decries Canada’s chaotic way of funding world-class science (The Logic)
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Internationally
Elsewhere, the 2026 midterms are on track to be the most expensive on record, driven by enthusiasm for Democratic candidates and massive contributions by Republican megadonors, especially Elon Musk.
More than $15 billion has been raised since the start of 2025, according to Federal Election Commission data, and half of that has been spent so far. Ad spending on House and Senate races has topped $4 billion, with hundreds of millions of dollars more planned for the final two weeks of the election, according to AdImpact data.
After winning the White House and a narrow majority in the House and Senate in 2024, Republicans now face an electorate that has soured on President Trump’s agenda amid an unpopular war in Iran, high fuel costs and rising prices.
Italy’s government is sending 500 soldiers to Milan and vowed a “firm response from the state” after protests against the cost of living descended into clashes with police, vandalism and looting. Further demonstrations are planned on Saturday.
The government of the far-right prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, is also planning to swiftly approve tougher new security measures, including extending preventive detention for minors, cracking down on youth gangs and banning gatherings for people deemed a threat to public order, Italian media reported on Tuesday.
In France, the interior minister, Laurent Nuñez, said on Tuesday some military forces would be deployed during protests planned for this Saturday, “mostly to free police and gendarmes in their mission to maintain order”.
The French prime minister, Sébastien Lecornu, told parliament that the police presence during Saturday’s demonstrations would be “massive” and that his goal was for an “immediate return to order” after last weekend’s violent riots.
In Other International Headlines
- UK to deploy fighter jets to defend Saudi cities from Houthi attacks (CNBC)
- France’s culture of violent policing means the battle for its streets is far from over (The Guardian)
- Australian MP hit by vehicle has leg amputated – as suspect’s father says she is family friend (Sky news)
- 5 things to know about the federal judge Trump called a ‘crazed lunatic’ (The Washington Post)
- Zelenskyy to hold talks on Russia-Ukraine war with Witkoff, Europeans (Al Jazeera)
- Kenya confirms new Ebola case, total at nine, health ministry says (Reuters)
- Investigators interview Rep. Ilhan Omar’s sister (CNN)
- As a mathematics professor, I thought AI was just hype – ABC Religion & Ethics (ABC)
- Drone attacks across Sudan escalate, 160 people reported killed (Al Jazeera)
- NATO to send planes and drones to Black Sea after attacks on shipping (Reuters)
The Kicker
Ottawa’s annual Space Bound conference has plenty to talk about as the federal government invests in giving Canada its own space launch capacity.
U.S. Ambassador Pete Hoekstra told the crowd Canada is “reevaluating” its direction on defence – and still managed to squeeze in a mention of American alcohol.
“I couldn’t help myself,” Hoekstra said.
Even with eyes on the stars, the conversation can still make its way back to the shelves.