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Jun 26 2025

The Roundup: Defence bill. Tariff recession. Mosquito drones.

THU JUN 26 2025
David Akin's Roundup
Defence bill. Tariff recession. Mosquito drones.
Canada
How will Canada pay for NATO's new defence spending target?
Members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), including Canada, have all agreed to invest five per cent of their respective GDPs on defence by 2035, which will cost Canada $150 billion annually. Mackenzie Gray explains how Prime Minister Mark Carney plans to meet the new target and how it could cost Canadians. [Global National]
Prime Minister Mark Carney has previously called Canada the “most European of the non-European countries," while several EU politicians have started calling on both sides to consider the idea. [iPolitics]
Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Wednesday that a review of the country's plan to order U.S. F-35 fighter jets from Lockheed Martin would be complete by the end of summer. [Reuters]
A programming motion adopted by the chamber fixes the bill to a strict schedule, with a final vote that must take place by the end of Friday. [Global]
André Pratte: Thursday or Friday, the Senate will hold its final vote on bill C-5, which contains two bills in one, one on internal free trade, the other the Building Canada Act. By all indications, a large majority of senators will vote in favour of the bill. They shouldn’t. [National Post]

The Deloitte summer outlook noted that Canada’s economy will grow by 1.1 per cent by the end of 2025, accelerating to 1.6 per cent by next year. [Global]
A longtime B.C. MLA who was barred from running for the Conservative party in the April election said the Tories need to do a deep dive into their nomination processes — but he has little faith that will happen. [Global]

In a preliminary report, Commissioner Caroline Simard says her office received more than 16,000 complaints about the spring campaign which ended on April 28. [Global]
"Those that are staying the course need to be more nimble and need to be more versatile," said Randeep Sarai, secretary of state for international development, in his first major interview since taking on the role. Sarai said his top priorities in the job are to ensure Canadian aid dollars are being spent efficiently and to give Canadians and aid recipients a better idea of where the money goes. [CP]
New survey results were released just after new language requirements came into effect for supervisors in bilingual regions. [Ottawa Citizen]
Kenny William Ie: Cabinet ministers are formally equal but unequal in practice: for example, ministers may differ significantly in how they undertake policy activity. I use federal mandate letter data from 2015 to 2021 to explore variation in and correlates of ministerial policy activity. Both issue salience and portfolio prestige are strong, positive correlates of active policy work: more salient and prestigious portfolios are more likely to initiate new policy and supplement existing policy, and less likely to maintain policy status quos. Ministers' legislative and cabinet experience also matter, but in contrasting ways. Gender is not a significant correlate of policy activity. [Canadian Public Administration]
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The Provinces
Alberta panel members say idea to cut aid to some newcomers comes from government
Two members of Alberta's new $2-million panel fighting federal overreach say they aren't responsible for the messaging and ideas on the panel's website, including a suggestion to end social supports for some newcomers. [CP]
British Columbia Premier David Eby said he shares the concerns of unions that have criticized the BC Ferries' decision to build four large ships in China [Squamish Chief]

New documents, obtained by Global News, shows Ontario spend tens of millions of dollars on an advertising blitz targeting the United States, including slots on Fox News. [Global]
Aurora
Elsewhere

The Trump administration must look beyond securing simple, short-term wins—such as one-off purchase agreements of U.S. commodities or temporary tariff truces—and cease bullying the United States’ trade partners. It must instead build a new set of rules and norms that facilitate integration among like-minded states and that disentangle them from adversarial ones, especially China. A better path is possible, one that leads to gains for the United States and its allies. But they need to leverage the current chaos, rather than letting it consume them. [Foreign Affairs]
Science and Technology
Chinese military robotics lab creates mosquito-sized microdrone for covert operations
State broadcaster CCTV showcases defence university’s miniature bionic robots suited to reconnaissance and battlefield missions. [South China Morning Post]
Google announced on Tuesday that you can now access historical Street View imagery on Google Earth. Until now, you’ve only been able to access historical Street View imagery on Google Maps. Google says the launch will allow people to explore from even more viewpoints, whether it’s a bird’s eye view or at street level. Google is introducing the update to commemorate Google Earth’s 20th birthday [TechCrunch] 
The Calendar
  • 1100 : Toronto - FEDDEV Min Evan Solomon and LPC MP Chi Nguyen make a funding announcement.
  • 1300 : Coquitlam, BC - LPC MP Jake Sawatzky makes a funding announcement.
  • 1730 : Latvia - Defence Min David McGuinty speaks to reporters.
Issued this day ...
… in 1959. Sc 387. St Lawrence Seaway. Designed by Alan L. Pollock and Gerald Mathew Trottier.
There was a time when Canada and the U.S. did big things together. And then celebrated our joint work with a joint issue. The U.S. Postal authority also issued a stamp on this day marking the opening of this remarkable seaway. The joint issue had an identical design save for the words “Canada” and “United States”. The Canadian stamp was a 5¢ issue; the U.S. version is a 4¢ stamp.

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