Weekly Roundup - June 19, 2026
Top Federal Stories
The House of Commons cleared several bills in its final days before the summer recess. The Liberal Bill C-22, was among the most contested.
C-22 has two parts. The first gives police and Canada's spy agency new powers to obtain user information from digital service providers. The opposition largely backed this section, with criticism levied against the second part of the bill which would require electronic service providers to retain user metadata. The bill also allows the government to force providers to build data-capture tools known as "backdoors," through secretive orders that need sign-off only from the privacy commissioner. The prospect of mandated backdoors led messaging service Signal and internet privacy company DuckDuckGo to say they may leave Canada if the bill becomes law. Despite accusations from Conservative deputy leader Melissa Lantsman that this bill is the governments attempt to move toward a surveillance state, Bill C-22 passed at third reading on Thursday after all parties agreed to a unanimous consent motion. The bill is unlikely to clear the Senate before that chamber rises next week, so it will not become law until the fall.
The government also tabled Bill C-36, its third attempt to modernize private-sector privacy law. Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation Minister Evan Solomon said the existing rules are 25 years old and predate smartphones, artificial intelligence, and deepfakes. The bill provides a framework that creates a right to deletion and treats children's data as sensitive. It also targets surveillance pricing; the practice of using personal data to set prices for individual customers. The bill does not define rules or explicitly ban the practice, leaving specifics open to future regulation.
The Competition Bureau opened a review of how competition across the food supply chain affects grocery prices for consumers. It will examine three areas: production and processing, transportation and distribution, and retail pricing. Interim Commissioner of Competition Jeanne Pratt said the cost of food matters to all Canadians and that stronger competition can help keep prices in check. This announcement comes on the heels of the Carney government’s newly announced National Food Security Strategy. The strategy identifies food price inflation, tariff exposure, and import dependency as issues driving cost increases for consumers, and commits $3 billion over ten years to increase domestic production and expand Canadian food processing capacity. The Competition Bureau’s report is set to make recommendations to the government in spring 2027.
Canada's selection to host a new NATO defence bank has set off competition among cities. The Defence, Security and Resilience Bank will provide long-term, low-cost financing for defence projects by member countries and allies. Currently, Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, and Ottawa are appear to be lobbying to be chosen. With Parliament now rising for the summer, the bank's host city and the planned summit are among the files set to carry into the fall. MPs are expected to return on September 21.
Top Alberta Stories
Alberta's 13-cent-per-litre fuel tax is here to stay. After months of higher gas prices driven by the U.S.–Iran conflict, there was speculation the province would follow Ottawa's lead and temporarily suspend its fuel tax. In April, the federal government dropped its fuel excise tax until September in an effort to ease pressure at the pumps. Instead of following suit, the Alberta Government announced a new Energy Rebate that will provide a one-time $100 payment to eligible residents with household incomes of $225,000 or less. It’s the first major announcement from Finance Minister Jason Nixon since taking over the portfolio. While Nixon says the rebate will put more money back into the pockets of Albertans, the move drew criticism from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation who argue a full suspension would provide more meaningful and ongoing savings.
The Province has unveiled details of its new dual-practice health-care model, which will allow eligible physicians to work in both the public and private systems beginning this fall. To participate, doctors will be required to maintain a minimum level of service in the public system, though that minimum is yet to be determined. The province says the model will help reduce surgical wait times by expanding capacity for procedures such as cataract, joint replacement and other non-emergency surgeries. Critics, including the Alberta NDP and Friends of Medicare, warn the changes could divert health-care professionals away from the public system and move Alberta closer to a two-tier model. The government has indicated that life-saving procedures, including cancer surgeries, will remain outside the program and says additional safeguards and reporting requirements will be put in place as the rollout begins in September.
After gathering more than 200,000 signatures, supporters of the Water Not Coal campaign will not get the referendum vote they expected this fall. Premier Smith says a question on coal mining in Alberta's Eastern Slopes cannot be added to the October ballot because the deadline for new questions passed earlier this month. Instead, the citizen-initiated petition will be reviewed by a committee of MLAs. The decision drew a sharp response from campaign organizers, including musician and rancher Corb Lund who said he was "deeply disappointed and shocked" by the government's reversal after Smith had previously suggested the question could be added to the referendum if enough signatures were verified. Lund and other campaign supporters argue the petition, which exceeded the required threshold by more than 20,000 signatures, demonstrates significant public concern about the impact of coal mining on Alberta's water resources.
Top Ontario Stories
Premier Doug Ford spent the week sniping back and forth with the polling industry. Dismissing an Angus Reid Institute survey that ranked him the least popular premier in Canada as a “fake poll,” Ford claimed Tuesday that the firm had surveyed only “the NDP and Liberal caucus” and insisted his own internal numbers put PC support at 41 per cent – enough, he said, to “win a massive majority once again.” In response, Angus Reid president Shachi Kurl sent the Premier a legal letter demanding he correct the record, with the institute stating it “stands by its work and its long record of independent, non-partisan public opinion research.”
Ford’s combativeness came as a second poll deepened the picture. A Liaison Strategies tracker released this week put the leaderless Ontario Liberals ahead of the Progressive Conservatives, 38 per cent to 35, with the New Democrats at 22 and the Greens at four; 69 per cent of respondents disapproved of the Premier, two-thirds said the province was on the wrong track. Health care is the sharpest edge. Two-thirds of Ontarians said they do not trust the government to improve the system and 67 per cent judged it worse than a year ago. Ford Fest, the Premier’s signature summer rally, is going ahead Friday night in Scarborough under that cloud.
The premier’s polling numbers could soon face a real-world test with voters going to the polls in two byelections in the coming months. In York-Simcoe, a safe Progressive Conservative seat vacated by former minister Caroline Mulroney, Ford bypassed an open contest and appointed East Gwillimbury councillor Susan Lahey as the PC candidate; the question there is simply whether the PC Party’s margin holds up in the heartland while the Premier’s numbers sag. Scarborough Southwest is the harder test. The PCs, who have not held it in more than two decades, are running a rare open nomination on July 9 among four contestants. A traditionally more progressive seat, the real fight there will be between the New Democrats, who nominated former federal candidate Fatima Shaban, and the Liberals. The Scarborough Southwest writ must be issued by early August; a strong Liberal result would validate the recovery the new polling suggests, while a soft PC showing in York-Simcoe could signal the slump is reaching even safe ground.
The opposition is not waiting for the byelections to keep up the pressure. Over PC MPPs’ objections, Speaker Donna Skelly ruled that the Standing Committee on Government Agencies may keep sitting through the nearly five-month recess, confirming that its subcommittee controls its own calendar and cannot be overruled. As a result, the body that scrutinizes government appointees will remain active all summer.
The New West Team is ready to guide clients through this uncertain time in Canadian politics. as the PC candidate; the question there is s
