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By Dean Brown.
Good morning,
Kerry-Lynne Findlay resigned Sunday as leader of the B.C. Conservatives, less than four months after winning the job. Her departure came hours after Linda Hepner quit the caucus and after weeks of defections, expulsions and internal fighting. Thirteen sitting MLAs have now left the Conservative caucus since August.
That is a remarkable reversal for a party that won 44 seats in 2024 and came close to forming government. No early election has been called, but the NDP now faces an opposition increasingly split between Conservatives and former Conservative independents. The immediate question is whether the party can rebuild before another election or fractures further.
🏗️ Parliament is back, and Ottawa wants projects approved much faster
The House of Commons returns today, and the government says legislation is coming to overhaul how major projects are reviewed. Ottawa’s proposed standard is that federal reviews and decisions take no more than one year once a company has submitted all required information, with one comprehensive federal decision and less duplication between governments. Read Ottawa’s major-project proposals
Federal labour law is also on the agenda. Ottawa has been reviewing Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code, which has been used during major labour disputes, along with strike rules, mediation and bargaining reforms. But the final legislation has not been tabled yet, so we do not know exactly how the government plans to change its intervention powers.
🇪🇺 Canada’s Europe pivot is becoming more than speeches
Carney met Emmanuel Macron Sunday in Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, where Canada and France agreed to work together on areas including space launch systems, ground infrastructure, defence, energy and trade. Macron also backed the idea of a much deeper Canada-EU relationship, although the proposed “associate member” concept still has no settled legal definition.
Canada is also hosting Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, with energy, critical minerals, AI, aerospace and Arctic security on the agenda. The pattern is becoming clearer: Canada is not trying to replace the United States with one new partner. It is trying to build several alternatives so the country is less vulnerable when one relationship deteriorates. See the Canada-Norway agenda
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🚗 Ottawa may try to claw money back from Stellantis
The Brampton Stellantis dispute is now becoming a test of how much protection taxpayers actually get when governments subsidize factories. Federal records show Ottawa had paid $222.4 million under a $529-million agreement supporting Stellantis facilities in Brampton and Windsor before payments were frozen after the company moved planned production to the United States. See the federal Stellantis figures
Stellantis is now discussing selling the idle Brampton plant to Canadian defence manufacturer Roshel, while Ottawa has warned it could seek repayment if production commitments are not met. One important correction: the often-mentioned $15-billion battery incentive is a separate agreement involving NextStar Energy, not $15 billion handed to the Brampton plant.
⛽ Diesel just passed $2.50 a litre nationally
Canada’s average diesel price passed $2.50 per litre on September 13, which GasBuddy says is a national record. The timing is especially painful for Prairie farmers because harvest is one of the most diesel-intensive periods of the year.
The bigger issue is that this is not simply an oil-price spike. Global refinery damage and fuel-supply disruptions have pushed diesel refining margins to record levels, meaning usable diesel itself is unusually scarce. If those prices remain high, the pressure eventually moves into trucking, farming, construction and potentially groceries.
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Quick things happening across Canada
✈️ Ottawa won’t promise private airport investment makes flying cheaper: The federal government wants long-term private concessions at Toronto, Vancouver, Montréal and Calgary while retaining ownership of the underlying assets. The real question will be what rules Ottawa puts around airport fees and investor returns.
🎓 Canada’s largest private English-language school has collapsed: ILAC filed for bankruptcy protection Friday and immediately cancelled classes after more than 30 years in operation. The school blamed several years of financial pressure and major regulatory changes affecting international education. Read ILAC’s closure notice
⛏️ Ontario is putting money behind mineral processing: The province is offering up to an $11-million conditional loan toward Generation Mining’s $410-million copper and palladium processing facility in Marathon. The broader project is worth roughly $992 million and is expected to create more than 450 permanent jobs.
🥛 The U.S. dairy fight gets worse September 29: Certain Canadian dairy products currently facing 50% tariffs are scheduled to be banned from entering the United States entirely later this month. That is much harder for exporters to work around than a tariff because the product simply cannot enter the market.
🇨🇦🇺🇸 Canadian retaliation is hurting some American businesses too: AP found small U.S. companies losing Canadian orders while Canadian exporters are being hit by U.S. tariffs and higher shipping costs. The national economic effect may be relatively limited, but individual businesses heavily exposed to cross-border trade can take a major hit.
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🔒 The deeper questions
Today’s headlines leave some important things unanswered.
Does “one review, one year” actually mean projects get built faster?
How much could Ottawa realistically recover from Stellantis?
How much can Europe reduce Canada’s U.S. dependence?
And could record diesel eventually push the Bank of Canada back toward higher rates?
That’s what I break down in today’s Plus edition.
The Canadian Take Plus
I do the digging. You get the important part.
One thing before I go…
A lot of today’s stories come back to the same economic problem.
Canada wants to build more projects, attract more investment and create more trade options.
But doing that requires rules that investors trust, infrastructure that actually gets built and governments that can enforce the conditions attached to public money.
Announcements are easy.
Execution is where these policies either start working or fall apart.
P.S.
Which story do you want me to keep tracking?
Major-project approvals, Europe, Stellantis or diesel prices?
Hit reply and tell me why.
Until Tomorrow,
Dean