“As we mourn his passing and keep his family and friends in our thoughts, let us also acknowledge – and celebrate – Mr. Mulroney’s role in building the modern, dynamic, and prosperous country we all know today.” [PMO]

“I will always be thankful for his candid advice and generous mentorship to me personally. All Canadians are grateful for his immense sacrifice and the lasting legacy he leaves us all.” [Conservative Party of Canada]

Ian Brodie: Mulroney deserves to be remembered along with St. Laurent as Canada’s grand strategist of the 20th century. A trusted confidant of world leaders. [Paul Wells Substack]

Canada needs an 'auto czar,' among other measures, to combat the problem on ongoing car thefts, industry officials told lawmakers on Thursday. [Global]

The Liberals lifted the visa requirement in 2016, making it easier for people from Mexico to make an asylum claim. Quebec's premier says his province is at a 'breaking point.' [Global]

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service decided two scientists at a highly-secure Winnipeg lab posed a security threat, but had no evidence of working with foreign agents. [Global]

Owning an electric vehicle, selling and registering a home, and smoking are about to get more expensive in Alberta. [Global]

The minister responsible for Saskatchewan's energy utility says the province will not be remitting the federal carbon levy on natural gas to Ottawa. [Global]

Nova Scotia is now expecting to achieve a budget balance in the outgoing 2023/24 fiscal year, as higher revenues, including a beneficial adjustment in prior years' tax receipts, has more than offset an increase in spending. For the upcoming 2024/25 fiscal year, the province expects to see a return to deficit due to greater spending on priorities such as healthcare and a normalisation in tax receipts which won't be bolstered by that positive prior years' adjustment. The $467mn deficit projected is a fairly moderate 0.8% of GDP. Total funding requirements will increase by about $1.4bn in fiscal 2024/25 relative to the prior year, although a drawdown of short term assets and/or increase in short term borrowing will mean that new bond issuance increases more modestly from $2.0bn to $2.6bn. [CIBC]

The Progressive Conservative government of Premier Dennis King has tabled a $3.2-billion budget as it predicts that population growth will ease. [SaltWire]

Prince Edward Island remains on track to post a moderate budget deficit in fiscal 2023/24, and is projecting a similar shortfall of $85mn for the upcoming year. While the economy is expected to continue growing at a robust pace, supporting revenues, spending growth will keep pace for the upcoming year. While the projected deficit for the 2024/25 fiscal year is little changed relative to the outgoing year, increased borrowing on behalf of crown corporations and for capital spending will see net new bond issuance rise from $200mn in 2023/24 to $400mn. [CIBC]

To many Republicans here and across the country, “Support Ukraine” is now a liberal cause — a costly diversion from more pressing domestic issues, such as securing the southern border. Some think European allies should bear the responsibility for stopping Vladimir Putin’s takeover, casting Kyiv’s potential ruin as not America’s problem. Others suspect aid funds might be landing in the wrong pockets. [WaPo]

Biden administration calls for developers to embrace memory-safe programing languages and move away from those that cause buffer overflows and other memory access vulnerabilities. [InfoWorld]