The sitting was dominated by debate on Government Business No. 1, a time allocation motion to fast-track Bill C-5, the government’s signature “one Canadian economy” legislation. The central political argument pitted the government’s claim of an economic crisis requiring urgent action against opposition charges that the bill was a power grab being rammed through without proper scrutiny.
Bill C-5, the One Canadian Economy Act, would enact the Free Trade and Labour Mobility in Canada Act and the Building Canada Act. The first part would remove federal barriers to interprovincial trade and recognize provincial certifications for goods, services and workers. The second part would allow the minister to designate major projects as being in the national interest, exempting them from up to 33 federal statutes including the Fisheries Act, the Species at Risk Act and the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. The government, led by Minister Dominic Leblanc, argued the bill was needed to respond to U.S. tariffs and build a unified economy, and that it reflected a clear mandate from the April 28 election. The Conservatives, through Shannon Stubbs and Philip Lawrence, opposed the bill as a weak, baby-step measure that would not actually remove provincial trade barriers or impose binding two-year timelines, and warned it gave ministers unchecked discretion to pick projects, opening the door to political interference and legal challenges. The Bloc Québécois, led by Yves-François Blanchet and Xavier Barsalou-Duval, denounced the bill as a centralizing power grab that would let the minister suspend Quebec’s environmental laws and indigenous consultation rights, and called for the bill to be split and studied thoroughly. The Green Party’s Elizabeth May agreed that the bill should not be rushed. The government gave notice of a closure motion to cut off debate.
Oral Questions was dominated by two themes. The first was the Auditor General’s report on the ArriveCAN contractor GC Strategies, which the Conservatives said had been paid $64 million with no proof of work. Conservative MPs repeatedly demanded a lifetime ban on the company and a vote to get taxpayers’ money back. Parliamentary Secretary Ryan Turnbull replied that the company had been deemed ineligible for contracts for seven years and the matter referred to the RCMP. The second theme was Bill C-5 itself, with the Bloc Québécois accusing the government of imposing a gag order and adopting a Conservative agenda, and the government insisting it had a mandate to act. Other questions covered BC Ferries building ships in China, Chinese tariffs on Canadian goods, defence spending to meet NATO’s 2% target, and public safety.
In Routine Proceedings, the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs presented its first report on committee membership. A question of privilege was raised by Shannon Stubbs, who alleged that the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources had misled the committee of the whole by denying that politicians would pick projects under Bill C-5, directly contradicting the bill’s text. The Speaker took the matter under advisement. No other procedural motions or votes were decided.