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MPs to continue lightning-round review of Team Carney’s latest omnibus development bill

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What’s happening on (and off) Parliament Hill, plus the news you need to start your day.

With just a few thousand ballots left to count, the results of Monday’s high-stakes referendum in Alberta suggest that approximately three-quarters of voters have resoundingly rejected the call to trigger a binding vote on whether the province should remain in Canada — a “clear choice” for “unity, to build together and to take care of each other,” according to a late-night statement from Prime Minister Mark Carney.

“Above all, Albertans chose Canada,” he added.

Depending on whether he stops to take questions before heading into his West Block office to chair his weekly huddle with his front bench team, he might have more to say about the outcome later this morning. (10:30 a.m.)

New Democrat leader Avi Lewis will offer his thoughts on the vote when he goes before the cameras in the House of Commons Foyer later this morning. (9:30 a.m.)

For his part, Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet has scheduled a mid-morning media availability to highlight his party’s concerns over reports that the government may be planning to cut hundreds of jobs at the federal translation bureau, which, as Canadian Press notes, the Canadian Association of Professional Employees has warned “puts Canada’s official languages at risk.” (10:30 a.m.)

Meanwhile, after striking an all-party agreement to suspend regular House proceedings yesterday due to the tragedy at CFB Wainwright, MPs will get their first chance to weigh in on Government Transformation Minister Joël Lightbound’s proposal to convert the Defence Investment Agency from a special operating agency to an arms-length Crown corporation, as well as expand its authority to negotiate big-ticket purchases for the Canadian Armed Forces, as well as the Canadian Coast Guard, when it makes it second-reading debut this morning. (10 a.m.)

Also on the government’s legislative to-do list: Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne’s pledge to extend the temporary break in collecting federal fuel excise taxes until next year, which, as per a motion adopted at the start of the fall sitting, is set to undergo a final round of House debate before being deemed to have been approved at all stages on division, after which it will proceed to the Senate.

MPs will also vote on Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s non-binding call for the House of Commons to officially recognize “affordability crisis,” which underwent a full day of debate before the chamber shut down for the week-long Thanksgiving break

Outside the chamber, the legislative committee tasked with going through the fine print of Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon’s omnibus bid to further streamline the assessment and approval of major projects and overhaul federal labour laws, will go through the fine print of the bill with representatives of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Canadian Manufacturing and Exporters, Canadian Labour Congress, Canadian Union of Public Employees and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada. (10 a.m.)

As iPolitics’ own Aya Dufour reports, the lightning-round review kicked off yesterday with back-to-back appearances with four key front benchers, including Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc, who told the committee that “more projects could soon be designated as being in the national interest under the Building Canada Act,” adding: “Good news is coming again, soon.”

Elsewhere on the committee circuit: PROCEDURE AND HOUSE AFFAIRS members are set to continue their self-assigned investigation into the “opportunities, risks and institutional implications arising from artificial intelligence (AI) for Canada’s democratic institutions,” as outlined in the terms of reference adopted earlier this fall, during a one-hour back-and-forth with House of Commons Clerk Eric Janse, who will be accompanied by House of Commons AI Working Group co-chairs Natalie Foster and Christopher Henry, as well as representatives of the International Association of Conference Interpreters and the Westminster Foundation for Democracy. (11 a.m.)

Also on the radar: The Parliamentary Budget Office releases an updated economic and fiscal outlook, as well as a separate “assessment that, according to the notice, will include new data on the “economic impact of recent Canada – U.S. trade measures.” (9 a.m.)

ON AND AROUND THE HILL

Canadian Alliance on Mental Illness and Mental Health representatives Florence Budden and Vicki-Anne Rodriguez hit the West Block press theatre to highlight what group warns are “ongoing gaps in mental health and substance abuse health care,” as well as the “action needed to improve access across Canada.” (8:30 a.m.)
Canadian Association of Radiologists president Alison Harris and secretary-treasurer Luigi Lepanto urge the federal government to “lead the way in modernizing aging equipment and technology and developing the skilled workforce needed to relieve the economic and medical cost of waiting,” which, the advisory contends, “is stalling Canada’s economic growth and compromising health outcomes.” (10 a.m.)
David Suzuki Foundation national policy manager Lisa Gue teams up with a trio of opposition MPs — Green Party leader Elizabeth May, New Democrat environment critic Leah Gazan and Bloc Québécois member Maxime Blanchette-Joncas — as well as representatives of the National Farmers Union and other “health advocacy organizations” to outline their concerns over measures included in Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne’s plan to roll out additional measures outlined in the budget that, as per the notice, would “significantly weaken pesticide regulation in Canada.” (10:30 a.m.)
Equal Voice executive director Laurel Gillespie and former Ontario cabinet minister Lisa McLeod will “call for increased support for women in politics”amid what the advisory describes as “rising trends of gender-based harassment.” (12:30 p.m.)
Later tonight, New Democrat leader Avi Lewis will join Isabella Weber — described by the party-issued advisory as a “world-renowned economist” — for a “public discussion … about a bold new economic agenda that puts affordability, dignity, and democratic control at the centre of economic policy” at the Ottawa launch of Weber’s newly released book on “anti-fascist economics.” (7 p.m.)

OUTSIDE THE PRECINCT

Industry Minister Mélanie Joly is booked in for a morning appearance at the fifth annual SpaceBound 2026, a two-day conference hosted by Space Canada set to get rolling at the Canadian Museum of History later this morning, which, as per the programme, will bring together “dynamic leaders in the space industry and ecosystem as well as key stakeholders (to) meet and discuss how to strengthen the Canadian space sector,” and where Joly is slated to announce a new initiative to support “next-generation satellite navigation capabilities,” take part in a “fireside chat” and field questions from reporters. (8:45 a.m.)

Energy and Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson is still making the rounds in London, U.K., where, according to his office, he’s booked in for a “keynote interview” with Financial Times’ energy editor Malcolm Moore at the annual Energy Transition Summit.

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