TORONTO — Prime Minister Mark Carney told Liberal MPs Friday that Ottawa was right to suspend trade talks with the United States last month, and he added $7.5 billion in federal support on top of $25 billion already announced for workers and firms hit by new U.S. tariffs. He said Washington “offered too little” and “asked too much,” and that Canada will return to the table only for a deal that “respects our sovereignty.” The new money, he said, is for fast capital for small business, income support and retraining, and “targeted help” for autos, forestry, steel and aluminum.The additional aid brings the total to $32.5 billion in announced federal supportThe same speech previewed the Building Canada Strong Act for this fall. After summer consultations and “adjustments,” he said the federal standard on projects and supply chains will be “one project, one review, one year.” “If we’re going to say no, say no quickly. If we’re going to say yes, say yes on time.”He said the Major Projects Office is already on 27 “nation building” files representing “almost $500 billion in new private investment” — his figure, not an audited list. He did not say whether pipelines, mines or interties outside the government’s preferred slate get the same clock..Carney also sold the Productivity Mega Deduction, a wider write-off covering fibre, mining properties, energy, rail, aircraft, vehicles and manufacturing equipment. He said the effective tax rate on new business spending will be “the lowest of any major economy” and “less than half the rate of the United States.” He pointed to Bell Canada’s planned $50-billion AI infrastructure hub in Saskatchewan — 1.2 GW of computing power and 4,500 jobs, which he called the largest capital spend in that province’s history — and credited Premier Scott Moe.Mining properties and energy were on his write-off list. Oilfield kit, pipelines and conventional power were not named. He paired that Prairie example with what he called “the largest clean energy investment in North American history”: 14 GW of hydro, wind and storage with Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec and the Innu Nation, compared to “18 Hoover dams,” and 23,000 jobs. That hydro package sits beside his Thursday launch in Strasbourg of an “alliance for the future” with the European Union. He did not say how provinces would sit at that table..Carney said Finance will “manage spending” and “optimize our balance sheet” so social programs stay intact, then use “precious fiscal capacity to grow our economy.” He announced Team Canada Strong youth placements at $880 million on top of $6 billion in the spring update and $2 billion with the provinces for trades training. He also said a Safe Social Media Act will come this fall, after six crime and bail bills last session that he said “the opposition opposed every single one.” His speech did not put on paper how much of the $32.5 billion lands in forestry and energy communities, which projects get the one-year clock, or whether Quebec’s hydro file will be the template for everyone else.
