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CTV News
23 minutes ago
- CTV News
Prime Minister Mark Carney set to visit birthplace in N.W.T.
The house where Prime Minister Mark Carney grew up is shown in Fort Smith, N.W.T., on Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson FORT SMITH — Prime Minister Mark Carney is set to stop today in the town where he was born as he travels across the Northwest Territories. Carney also spent his early childhood in Fort Smith, located south of Yellowknife along the Alberta boundary, before he moved with his family to Edmonton. He is scheduled to talk to locals in Fort Smith about affordability and food insecurity, and discuss wildfires with community leaders, before heading to Inuvik in the territory's northwest corner. He is set to co-host the Inuit-Crown Partnership Committee on Thursday with Natan Obed, president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, a national organization representing Inuit. It will be Carney's second meeting with Indigenous groups on Ottawa's major projects bill. The legislation would give Ottawa the ability to fast-track projects deemed to be in the national interest by sidestepping some review requirements. This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 23, 2025.
CTV News
23 minutes ago
- CTV News
Canada should follow U.K.'s move to lower voting age to 16, says senator
A voter leaves a polling station after casting a ballot in the federal election in Calgary on Monday, April 28, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh OTTAWA — Now that the British government has vowed to lower its voting age to 16 by the next general election, one Canadian senator says it's past time for Canada to do the same. The U.K. announced last week that it would lower its voting age from 18 to 16 in a bid to strengthen British democracy and restore trust in politics. Sen. Marilou McPhedran said the issue has been her 'top parliamentary priority' since she joined the Red Chamber. She said lowering the voting age to 16 would be good for democracy and that the only arguments against it are 'based on stereotypes.' McPhedran said decisions being made in Canada now will affect younger generations and that extending voting rights to younger people is 'logical' and 'about fairness.' She added that about a third of 16-year-olds in Canada have some form of employment and are already taxpayers. Sixteen-year-old Jaden Braves and the organization he leads, Young Politicians of Canada, want to see the federal voting age lowered to 16. He told The Canadian Press that Canada 'has to stop living in the shadow of other countries' innovation that's progressing faster than ours.' 'I think we need to stop being the country that waits for somebody else to take leadership on something we clearly have the chance to progress forward on,' he said. 'Hopefully we'll learn some lessons soon.' Braves lamented the many bills that have been introduced in Canada over the past 20 years to lower the voting age that ultimately failed to pass. McPhedran's most recent bill to lower the federal voting age to 16 was introduced at the end of May. She said it's her priority to get it to second reading and into committee when Parliament resumes in September. 'What happened last time was prorogation and an election,' she said. Prorogation killed the bill after it reached second reading in the Senate. 'But this time our push is to ensure that young voices, young leaders are heard directly by senators, and I feel quite confident that when that happens, skeptics will turn around,' McPhedran added. McPhedran said she thinks what's happening in the U.K. will 'make a difference' for a number of senators as she continues to push the bill forward. During debates on previous bills, some senators and MPs have pushed back against arguments in favour of lowering the voting age, such as the suggestion that it would increase voter turnout. Some have also questioned the maturity of youth to cast an informed ballot and debated what standards should be used to justify whether to lower the voting age. Britain's voting age last fell in 1969, when the U.K. became one of the first major democracies to lower it from 21 to 18. Many other countries quickly followed suit; Canada lowered its voting age to 18 in 1970. Several countries already have a voting age of 16, including Austria, Brazil and Ecuador. Scotland and Wales allow 16- and 17-year-olds to vote in local and regional elections. Michael Wigginton, a post-doctoral fellow in political science at Carleton University, said the U.K. government's decision represents a 'fairly natural progression,' coming a decade after Scotland started allowing 16-year-olds to vote for members of the Scottish Parliament and in municipal elections. 'Having that sort of local example to point to makes it easier for both politicians and the public at large to feel comfortable that the reform can work for the U.K. Parliament and not have negative effects,' said Wigginton. Efforts are being made across Canada to lower the voting age. In 2021, young Canadians filed an application at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice to challenge the voting age, arguing that the Canada Elections Act is in violation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and is unconstitutional. Toronto recently passed a motion allowing 16 and 17-year-olds to vote in polls at the neighbourhood level on planning and policy issues. And a provincial committee looking at ways to boost democratic engagement in B.C. is examining a lower voting age. Wigginton said that while he doesn't expect Canada to immediately adopt a voting age of 16, having the U.K. as an example will 'definitely push the issue into the spotlight more and increase the chances of it happening it the future.' 'What I see is most likely is that one or more provinces will adopt a lower voting age first and then the federal government may eventually follow suit,' he said. With files from The Associated Press This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 23, 2025. Catherine Morrison, The Canadian Press
Globe and Mail
32 minutes ago
- Globe and Mail
Shipbuilding, aerospace to be priorities in federal strategy to transform defence sector, Joly says
Federal Industry Minister Mélanie Joly says aerospace and shipbuilding are areas where Canada can excel as the government prepares its Defence Industrial Strategy, which aims to transform the country's status as a laggard to a leader in the sector. The strategy, which Ms. Joly said should be finalized in the coming months, will be key in shaping the future of Canada's defence industry, through items such as job creation in manufacturing, strengthened ties with Europe and a renewed relationship with the private sector. 'We're doing this because, fundamentally, we cannot take our peace for granted any more,' she said in an interview Tuesday with The Globe and Mail. Prime Minister Mark Carney has committed to boosting Canada's spending on defence to 2 per cent of its gross domestic product this fiscal year, and to 5 per cent by 2035. The latter NATO target will require Canada spend up to $150-billion annually, more than double its existing budget. How should Canada rearm itself? Fix aging bases, buy submarines, air-defence systems, experts say Through military investment, Ms. Joly said she'd like to see Canada's aerospace sector rebuilt into something that resembles former versions of itself – such as in the 1950s, when the country was known for its Avro Arrow program. She'd also like to see the country's shipyards become an export market for the rest of the world. With the Defence Industrial Strategy on the way, Ms. Joly said the government isn't waiting to take action. Last week, she sent a mandate letter to the Business Development Bank of Canada, a Crown corporation, asking it to work with government on the development of the country's defence sector and sovereign capabilities, such as dual-use technology and military weapons and equipment. More specifically, she asked the bank to support small to medium-sized enterprises that make up the sector's supply chains. In the letter, obtained by The Globe and Mail, Ms. Joly concludes with a request to the BDC to provide her with 'a proposal in alignment with industry best practices to ensure that commercially viable businesses operating in the full scope of defence and security industries can access the financial supports they need to start up, grow and prosper.' It's the first of several mandate letters Ms. Joly will give out to government bodies, such as Export Development Canada, the Canadian Space Agency and the National Research Council, asking them to actively support defence-related businesses and dual-use technologies. First, however, she said the military must be at the table with the private sector to rebuild a level of trust that has been slowly degraded after successive governments failed to adequately invest in defence. 'History has shown us that when you're able to have defence and the private sector really work together, you're able to spear up innovation, make sure that your country is peaceful and, ultimately, create jobs,' Ms. Joly said in the interview. After all, companies want contracts, not subsidies, she said. Supports being rolled out by the government for Canada's steel sector are also part of its push toward building sovereign defence capabilities. For example, Ms. Joly said the country's shipbuilding and aerospace industries should be buying domestic steel. And the fact that these industries have access to a Canadian supply chain for certain materials, such as critical minerals and metals, is a large part of the reason they're being identified as priorities in building strength at home. 'We cannot have a military that is dependent on a manufacturing sector that is either on the other side of the ocean or south of the border.' Opinion: Great defence spending plan, Carney. It'd be a shame if Ottawa bureaucracy got in the way This push to be more self-sustaining is already playing out in actions taken by companies such as Seaspan, which recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Ontario-based Algoma Steel Inc. ASTL-T and Stigterstaal Canada. The partnership was formed specifically to assess the feasibility of Algoma supplying steel to Seaspan to contribute to the future of Canada's shipbuilding sector. Strategic partnerships beyond our own borders will also be a key part of the Defence Industrial Strategy. While the U.S. continues to make decisions around tariffs and its economy that serve itself, Ms. Joly said Canada is working with other countries and NATO members to become more connected. 'The test of this is actually the Defence Industrial Strategy because we will need to be working more with Europe on this, and obviously NATO, while continuing to understand that a lot of our companies are American-owned,' she said, referring to the fact that roughly 40 per cent of the 600 companies that make up Canada's industrial base are subsidiaries of U.S.-headquartered firms. Canada is open to foreign direct investment, she said, but not at the sacrifice of its own sovereign capabilities: 'We won't be an economy of subsidiaries. We will own IP and we will be able to lead the world.' Defence is a priority for this Liberal government because the world is a more dangerous place, Ms. Joly said, and Canada needs a military it can rely upon to defend itself.
