The News Rundown

Carney's Liberals have their own internal drama happening

Last week and into this week the question of Chris d’Entremont crossing the floor to the Liberals continued in the mainstream media with the focus shifted to Pierre Poilievre.
Giving a press conference in Calgary Pierre Poilievre pushed back against the media narrative on the subject.
Global News was in with a headline that said, “Poilievre says he won’t be changing his leadership style after caucus departures.”
Departures plural. Matt Jeneroux has said he’ll resign but likely not until the spring.
The article was a measly 6 paragraphs long with each paragraph being one sentence long. The quote from Poilievre they used was of Poilievre saying he’s “the only leader in the country that’s fighting for an affordable Canada.”
Now of course they can’t show Poilievre’s full response to a question from CTV’s Tim Brooks who set the table as Poilievre losing two MPs.
Poilievre used d'Entremont's own words attacking Carney a few months ago about the rising costs of food and inflation.
Poilievre also brought up Nate Erskine-Smith, a Liberal MP, who said, “expectations were set at a level we failed to meet including on generational investment and the budget falls short of these specific promises in our platforms and unfortunately falls well short of the war time home building effort that many of us thought we’d deliver.”
Poilievre also pointed out the concern that more radical members of Carney’s caucus may have over the budget like Stephen Guilbeault and Jonathan Wilkinson.
CBC News did run a piece profiling the comments from Nate Erskine-Smith but it was the only segment, 13 minutes long, not accompanied by an article discussing some of the dissent.
For the CBC’s panel on this, one of the commentators said it’s healthy that Erskine-Smith is doing this rather than being hyper-partisan like the Conservatives. Another criticized Erskine-Smith for not taking part in the team sport.
These are just two of the takes present in the longer-form segment but they show the opposition present on this story, which is token at best.
They ultimately distilled Erskine-Smith to aiding and abetting the Conservatives.
If we were to look at this through a media lens that would as relentlessly go after the Liberals as they do the Conservatives we look to a piece in the Toronto Sun by Brian Lilley.
The article is what you might have found in the CBC if the MPs were Conservatives as we saw with d’Entremont and Jeneroux.
The focus on Jonathan Wilkinson and Steven Guilbault are highlighted as is the paused EV mandate which is known to be an irritant to these green types in the Liberal caucus.
There is pressure to drop the EV mandate entirely since electric vehicles still don’t sell well without government subsidies.
Guilbault feels a pressure to push his ideology. His riding is not safe and has elected NDP and Bloc members before. So if he is defeated or steps down, this poses another huge problem for Carney’s numbers.
Wilkinson on the other hand feels strongly about dropping the carbon tax and pausing the EV mandate.
It’s thought that Wilkinson would be leaving his seat to be given a diplomatic appointment and his seat as well in North Vancouver is one that could go Conservative as it voted Conservative from 2008 to 2015 and even elected a Reform MP in the 90s.
While most of the talk has been on the Liberals trying to bring Conservative MPs over and destabilize the Conservatives before the party’s leadership review in January there are definite fractures within the Liberals that the media has been ignoring.
The entire goal of all this though? Get Carney a majority without going back to the voters.
Others may have noticed that any talk of resuming talks with the US is non-existent. Foreign Minister Anita Anand was at Niagara on the Lake and as was US Secretary Of State Marco Rubio, she did not ask him about when trade talks could resume… because it was not her file.
That ignores that Anand is the chief diplomat for Canada.
The budget and the government's actions are in the complete opposite direction of what the last election campaign was run on. It’s now becoming clear that Carney was elected under false elbows up pretences as an act of fear to persuade the electorate.
The media on the other hand is so focused on causing dysfunction within the Conservative Party that they don’t cover the fractures emerging in Carney’s caucus nor the government's dereliction of duty to protect us if everything said during the election about the US wanting to destroy us was true.
Supplementals:

This past Thursday, Mark Carney was in Prince Rupert and Terrace BC, to announce the next list of 'nation-building projects', prompting speculation amongst some that an oil pipeline from Alberta would be added to the mix, but to no one's surprise, it was not on the list, which included mostly underway projects across the country.
The projects include:
- North Coast Transmission Line (NCTL) in Northwestern British Columbia that will power new mines and export expansion.
-Ksi Lisims LNG on Pearse Island, B.C. aims to become Canada’s second-largest LNG facility
-Canada Nickel’s Crawford Project in Timmins, Ont. that will produce nickel for batteries and green steel.
-Nouveau Monde Graphite’s Matawinie Mine in Saint-Michel-des-Saints, Que. is an open-pit graphite mine that aims to provide inputs for battery supply chains and defence applications.
-Northcliff Resources’ Sisson Mine in Sisson Brook, N.B. will produce tungsten used in steel production, as well as the defence and industrial sectors
-Iqaluit Nukkiksautiit Hydro Project in Iqaluit, Nunavut seeks to become Nunavut’s first 100 per cent Inuit-owned hydro energy project, delivering cleaner energy to the city of Iqaluit.
Prime Minister Mark Carney says the “transformational” projects announced Thursday in northern B.C. represent more than $56 billion in new investment and will support 68,000 jobs.
“Each of these projects that we are referring to the MPO today, in and of itself, is transformational, but the bigger point is that their impacts will be amplified by being part of bigger national strategies to boost Canada’s competitiveness,” Prime Minister Mark Carney said Thursday.
In addition to those projects, Carney also referred the Northwest Critical Conservation Corridor in Northwest British Columbia and the Yukon to the MPO. The corridor sits atop a vast deposit of critical minerals and referring to it, Carney said, will help strengthen Canada’s position as a global leader in clean energy and critical minerals while also getting new transmission lines, upgraded highways, and new fibre and cell towers built. The corridor is part of the federal government’s so-called Critical Minerals Strategy.
Carney said: “This Northwest Corridor has extraordinary potential for critical minerals development, clean power transmission, and Indigenous leadership. It can unlock billions in investments, while creating a new conservation area the size of Greece.”
The prime minister made the announcement from Terrace, B.C. where one end of the North Coast Transmission Line is set to be located. Ottawa says the transmission line will tie the Northwest Critical Conservation Corridor together to deliver low-cost, clean electricity and bolstered telecommunications to West Coast communities. To support the project, the Canada Infrastructure Bank announced today that it is loaning $139.5 million to B.C. Hydro.”
Thursday’s announcement comes roughly two months after the prime minister unveiled the first group projects.
Those five projects referred to the MPO include:
- The LNG Canada Phase 2, based in Kitimat, B.C.
-The Darlington New Nuclear Project in Bowmanville, Ont. that would make Canada the first G7 country to have an operational small modular reactor (SMR)
-The Contrecœur Terminal Container Project in Contrecœur, Que. that would expand the Port of Montreal’s capacity by approximately 60 per cent
-The McIlvenna Bay Foran Copper Mine Project in east-central Saskatchewan
-The Red Chris Mine expansion in northwest British Columbia
Established under Bill C-5 — dubbed the Building Canada Act by the Liberals — the MPO gives the federal government sweeping new powers to approve these major projects. Carney said Thursday that Bill C-5 changed the government’s approach to building from “why” to “how.”
So far, none of the recommended projects have received that official designation. Asked how being on the list has helped the first group of projects, the prime minister said the referral helps projects take advantage of streamlined processes, and financing support.
The second set of projects does not include a bitumen pipeline from Alberta to B.C. North’s Coast, something Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has been pushing for. Asked where negotiations stand with Alberta on the so-called grand bargain and whether a pipeline would be announced by this weekend’s Grey Cup, Carney said discussions are going well.
British Columbia Premier David Eby said he is pleased to see new B.C.-based projects are being prioritized by the federal government. Eby says he hopes today’s announcement results in more federal funding being diverted to these projects, saying he intends to make very explicit asks for financial support: “No question there is going to be financial asks for these major projects. I will give the prime minister … 48 hours before the very strongly worded letters go out.”
Eby has repeatedly said he does not want a new Alberta bitumen pipeline built. Asked on Thursday whether he thought the prioritization of several B.C.-based initiatives was a way to “lessen the blow” if a pipeline is eventually referred to the MPO, Eby said it’s not happening.
Smith said she isn’t feeling sore about being left out - instead she said she’s “supportive” of Carney’s second list.
“Currently, we are working on an agreement with the federal government that includes the removal, carve out or overhaul of several damaging laws chasing away private investment in our energy sector, and an agreement to work towards ultimate approval of a bitumen pipeline to Asian markets,” Smith said in a statement Thursday.
But Smith said she hopes a pipeline promise will come sooner rather than later.
“As we are currently in the final stages of this negotiation, we will know one way or the other in the coming days whether or not Prime Minister Mark Carney and the federal government intends to support Alberta’s economic future or if they will continue with the failed policies of the last 10 years that have cost Albertans and Canadians hundreds of billions of lost investment and hundreds of thousands of lost jobs.”
Speaking in Kelowna, Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre criticized the Liberal government for being too slow to approve and build major energy and resource projects. The MPO, he said, represents another bureaucratic hurdle for companies to jump through. Poilievre went on to say that Carney and the government need to step out of the way.
“Instead of getting things done, Mark Carney was standing up doing photo ops, announcing he is going to approve a bunch of projects that were already going to happen. Carney is not actually getting anything done, he is just showing up to take credit for things that were going to happen anyway,” he said.
It's interesting to note that most of these projects were already well underway and that Carney is hoping to take credit for speeding along any regulatory hurdles or government approvals. With Alberta being left off the list, and with BC getting 3 projects, it's clear which government Carney favours more.
Supplementals:

Nenshi’s NDP relaunch gets big outside help: NYC mayor's ad agency and Ottawa Liberals

Two weeks ago we discussed the Alberta government’s use of the notwithstanding clause to end the teachers strike and the lack of any sort of meaningful opposition the NDP has been able to produce.
This week the NDP premiered a new long form advertisement online showcasing Naheed Nenshi effectively reintroducing him to Albertans.
The video talks about “working class roots” at the family laundromat and Red Deer motel and then his journey to Calgary’s mayor.
The ad does try to reach working class voters ahead of the expected 2027 election. Overall the ad is sharp and more tuned than anything the NDP has put out in a long while.
Where this ad comes from though is shocking.
There is and has been a strong push over the last 9 months to buy Canadian and do everything we can in the country.
For this ad though the NDP turned to the American company, Fight Agency.
Fight Agency was the team behind incoming mayor Zohram Mamdani, US Senator John Fetterman from Pennsylvania, and were heavily involved in Bernie Sanders' 2016 presidential campaign that nearly defeated Hillary Clinton.
Fight Agency is employing the same methods used in states like Pennsylvania and Arizona that saw working class voters move to the progressive side.
Mike Burton, who is Nenshi’s chief of staff, is said to have been the driving force behind the new campaign.
Burton was chief of staff to federal Liberal ministers Marc Miller and Amarjeet Sohi. He was also the national field director for Mark Carney’s Liberal leadership campaign.
Nenshi and his team are proud of the ad, an ad that was produced by the same ad agency a New York mayoral campaign used.
There has been zero coverage on the decisions made by Nenshi and his team. The ad’s content is neither here nor there because of the climate we find ourselves in.
Had the UCP hired a republican based ad company in the US we would have a five alarm fire across the entire media. The party would be called Trumpians, bigots, racists, extremists, MAGA supporters and more.
In the past high profile Democratic lawmakers have spoken at federal Liberal events and both President Obama and Biden have endorsed Justin Trudeau.
These connections are often celebrated and seen as run of the mill. Based on the lack of discussion this week it seems as though that may be the same case here.
The media by-in-large in Canada has a trend of importing American problems and passing them off as our own.
While the media angle of this isn’t new and is not surprising the fact that the party hired Americans in the year 2025 is.
That is what should be the main point of contention here.
Burton in speaking with the CBC said, “any political operative who wants to stop Danielle Smith and her government has a place with us.”
This is inherently polarizing as it devolves down to an us vs. them type of language.
To recap, Nenshi has hired from the ranks of the Liberal Party of Canada for his staffing which is fine, neither here nor there.
But he has hired American for his advertisements in a climate where many reel at the idea of buy-American instead of buy-Canadian and all this on top of many Canadians being wary of American style politics.
If the UCP had done this we’d be hearing about it to no end but since it was one NDP online ad it’s been relegated to the sidelines.
Supplementals:

https://www.rebelnews.com/nenshi_recruits_a_liberal_operative_from_mark_carney_s_inner_circle_to_run_his_war_room

Firing Line

Canadian military will rely on an army of public servants to boost its ranks by 300,000

This week, a ridiculous sounding headline from the Ottawa Citizen caught our eyes at Western Context, one that said "Canadian military will rely on an army of public servants to boost its ranks by 300,000" with the sub-headline saying "Federal public servants would be trained to shoot guns, drive trucks and fly drones, according to a defence department directive."
Written by the Citizen's David Pugliese, one of if not the best journalist in Canada when it comes to the Canadian military, the article details a directive signed by Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Jennie Carignan and defence deputy minister Stefanie Beck on May 30, 2025.
The directive shows that federal and provincial employees would be given a one-week training course in how to handle firearms, drive trucks and fly drones. The public servants would be inducted into the Supplementary Reserve, which is currently made up of inactive or retired members of the Canadian Forces who are willing to return to duty if called. At this point, there are 4,384 personnel in the Supplementary Reserves, but, in the case of an emergency, that would be boosted to 300,000 by the public servants.
While the supplementary recruiting push will “prioritize volunteer public servants at the federal and provincial/territorial level” the entry standards would be "less restrictive than the Reserve Force for age limits as well as physical and fitness requirements".
Their directive approved the creation of a “tiger team” which will work on setting the stage for a Defence Mobilization Plan or DMP. That team will examine what changes are needed to government legislation as well as examine other factors required to allow for such a massive influx of Canadians into the military.
Neither DND nor the military would provide comment on the timelines for the creation of the mobilization plan. Work on the initiative by the tiger team located at DND’s Carling Campus in Ottawa began on June 4. DND would not comment on whether Carignan and Beck had been briefed on the initial work of the team.
Beck and Carignan pointed out that the plan would require a Whole of Society (or WoS) effort, meaning that all Canadians would have to contribute to the initiative. That would require the Privy Council Office to lead a government “approach to population engagement to advance servant culture around sovereignty and public accountability,” according to their directive.
The tiger team will also consult with Canada’s allies, “including Finland which is a recognized leader in this area,” the document pointed out. Finland has a conscription-based military. Every male Finnish citizen aged 18-60 is liable for military service, and women can apply for military service on a voluntary basis, according to the Finnish defence department website.
After Finnish citizens complete their compulsory full-time military service, they are transferred to the reserves. In May, the Finnish government proposed an initiative that would raise the age limit of conscript reservists to 65.
DND and the Canadian Forces also declined to comment on how ongoing recruitment problems might impact its mobilization plan.
A report by Auditor General Karen Hogan revealed that the Canadian Forces was not currently recruiting enough individuals to meet its operational needs. “The Canadian Armed Forces continued to have challenges attracting and training enough highly skilled recruits to staff many occupations such as pilots and ammunition technicians,” Hogan said of the report, which was released Oct. 21.
Because of the article by the Ottawa Citizen, and following significant pushback from the public after the Citizen revealed the plan, Carignan appears to be having second thoughts. The mobilization initiative prompted support from some members of the public, but the overall sentiment appeared to be one of ridicule.
In an interview on Remembrance Day, she said “[The directive] is not focused directly to public servants. Our public servants are already contributing extensively to the work we are doing in defence.”
Carignan did not provide comment to the Citizen about why she had reversed course. She also did not explain why she now claimed her plan was never focused directly on public servants even though she wrote that the mobilization plan “should initially prioritize volunteer public servants.”
Carignan, speaking to CTV, stated the lines quoted in Ottawa Citizen articles about the mobilization plan “are not quite correct.” But she did not explain how the material, taken verbatim from the document she created, was not accurate. In addition, she did not provide details when asked to do so by the Citizen.
Neither the Department of National Defence nor the Canadian Forces would provide details on how a massive combined influx of 400,000 Canadians into both the reserves and supplementary reserve would be accomplished. They also refused to answer how the 400,000 figure was originally determined, how much the recruitment effort would cost or the timelines for such an initiative.
Alice Hansen, communications director for Defence Minister David McGuinty, did not respond to questions about whether the minister was involved in the decision to no longer prioritize the use of federal and provincial public servants for the mobilization plan. McGuinty did not provide any comment on the initiative.
It seems everyone involved is now just trying to turn the page on the story, and to forget it ever existed in the first place, which if the Citizen hadn't reported on it, it might have done.
Defence insiders say the initiative appears to have been poorly planned. Former senior military public affairs officers have also questioned how the Canadian Forces was caught off-guard by not having a proper communication plan for the public about such a major initiative.
Retired colonel Brett Boudreau, a former top military public affairs officer, said a robust mobilization framework was a long-standing need for defence of the country, but the leadership dropped the ball on explaining that to Canadians: “It’s another classic study of a failure by defence leaders to anticipate public interest in their activities and planning, even if just at the gestation stage, and to build in communications as an integral part of their work.”
Carignan’s response did not surprise Boudreau. “The gut instinct, still, of most senior CAF leaders is to blame everyone but themselves, usually to scapegoat the media, for military-related coverage they do not like, for whatever reason, even if embarrassment is well and truly deserved. It’s a curious feature of, and sad commentary about, a seriously dated institutional mindset toward the public communications function.”
As it turns out, June Winger, national president of the Union of National Defence Employees (UNDE), said she had written to Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne in October urging him to pledge in November's budget to hire more public servants at DND instead of private contractors.
Winger said the department’s decision to rely more on private contractors while it has cut its public service workforce is clearly illustrated by the poor state of military buildings on bases across the country. “It is so gob smacking to see the decrepit state of the buildings. That’s because they are relying more and more on private contractors for facilities maintenance.”
Auditor General Karen Hogan noted that many of DND’s buildings are not only old but have significant issues. “Some of the issues we observed included quarters buildings that lacked potable water, had malfunctioning sanitary waste systems, or had deteriorating exterior walls.” The report determined that 25 per cent of Canadian Forces living quarters needed “major repairs” or did not meet the operational needs of the department or the military personnel staying in them.
Was the union instrumental in the original plan put forward by Carignan? It's hard to say, but clearly it was not communicated correctly, and DND, Canadian Forces, and Prime Minister Mark Carney's Liberal government have all been silent on the issue since.
If this had happened under a Conservative government, everyone would be complaining about a 'boots on the ground' initiative that puts 'soldiers in our streets' much like we've seen in the US with President Donald Trump's mobilization of the National Guard. Instead, under the Liberals, it's been swept under the carpet and if not for the actions of one reporter, we probably wouldn't have even heard about it.
Supplementals:

Quote of the Week

“The gut instinct, still, of most senior CAF leaders is to blame everyone but themselves, usually to scapegoat the media, for military-related coverage they do not like, for whatever reason, even if embarrassment is well and truly deserved. It’s a curious feature of, and sad commentary about, a seriously dated institutional mindset toward the public communications function.” - Retired Colonel Brett Boudreau on the public servant mobilization plan being leaked by the media.

Word of the Week

Project - an individual or collaborative enterprise that is carefully planned to achieve a particular aim

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Show Data

Episode Title: Public Projections
Teaser: The media ignores internal Liberal infighting, Carney approves more major projects, and the Alberta NDP turns to Americans for public relations. Also, a DND directive that would see public service members trained by the military quietly gets scrapped.
Production Code: WC-444-2025-11-15
Recorded Date: November 15, 2025
Release Date: November 16, 2025
Duration: 1:10:14
Edit Notes: Patrick cough last segment

Podcast Summary Notes

Duration: XX:XX