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May 28 2025

The Roundup: King's speech. $486 billion. Putin's peace.

WED MAY 28 2024
David Akin's Roundup
King's speech. $486 billion. Putin's peace.
Canada
King Charles' throne speech reaffirms Canada's sovereignty
While King Charles III doesn't typically interfere in politics, the monarch's tour of Canada was clearly intended as a strong show of support given U.S. President Donald Trump's 51st state musings. David Akin looks at how Charles' visit and throne speech highlights a pivotal time in Canada's history.

Trump claims Canada 'considering' becoming 51st state after King Charles' throne speech
Just hours after King Charles III wrapped up his royal tour of Canada, U.S. President Donald Trump claimed Canada is "considering" an offer to become the 51st state. Mercedes Stephenson explains how Trump's claim relates to his planned 'Golden Dome,' how the Prime Minister's Office responded, plus how the king's throne speech emphasized Canadian sovereignty.

Poilievre says throne speech shows Carney has 'no specific plans to get anything done'
The federal government's agenda for the 45th Parliament was outlined in King Charles III's throne speech, but it was met with some skepticism. Mackenzie Gray looks at how Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is criticizing Prime Minister Mark Carney's election campaign promises, and the urgency for Carney to keep his word about removing interprovincial trade barriers. [Global National
The king’s whirlwind visit to Canada is widely considered  by royal watchers to be a symbolic rebuke of Trump’s 51st-state threats. [WaPo]  Passing along this Washington Post as an example of how the American media wrote up the SFTT. (🎁 link)
The 2025–26 Main Estimates present a total of $486.9 billion in budgetary spending, which reflects $222.9 billion to be voted and $264.0 billion in forecast statutory expenditures. Non-budgetary expenditures of $1.2 billion are also presented. Tabled on the same day we had the King in town for a Throne Speech. A $486-billion spending plan. We are going through it but it's going to take a bit but you can read the government's take here [Government of Canada]

Prime Minister Mark Carney sat down for a wide-ranging one-on-one interview with CBC’s Power & Politics host David Cochrane on Tuesday. Carney addressed Canada’s current relationship with the U.S. along with the challenges ahead for his new government, including housing affordability and separatist sentiment in Alberta. [CBC]

Eddie Goldenberg, former senior political adviser to Chrétien, says the former leader had "some discomfort" yesterday and a doctor determined that he had a blocked artery. Goldenberg says a stent was inserted Wednesday morning. [CP]

Elections Canada ballots are grey, with white rectangles containing each candidate's name and party. A white circle to the right of each rectangle is where voters are supposed to mark their choice. But on many of the disputed ballots — "maybe as many as half," Handrigan's report said — voters had left their mark in the rectangular box. In some of these so-called "rectangle ballots," voters had also left a mark in the circle. [CP]
Ms. Sheinbaum’s inclusion in the three-day event would provide an opportunity for sideline talks with U.S. President Donald Trump on his protectionist tariffs and the future of North America’s trilateral trade agreement. It’s not known whether Ms. Sheinbaum will accept the invitation. [Globe and Mail] 
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The Provinces

A new report from Elections B.C. on the 2024 provincial election finds that voting results came in faster because of electronic tabulators, but a narrow margin of victory led to "false narratives." [CBC]

Since being re-elected in 2024, Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston has been on more than half a dozen international trips, something he says is needed in world's new trading climate. [Global]
Aurora
Elsewhere
Putin, for Ukraine peace, wants a pledge to halt NATO enlargement, sources say
President Vladimir Putin's conditions for ending the war in Ukraine include a demand that Western leaders pledge in writing to stop enlarging NATO eastwards and lift a chunk of sanctions on Russia. [Reuters]
 In perhaps his harshest rhetoric yet against Putin, Trump declared that Putin is “playing with fire” — a reference to Russia’s escalating bombardment of Ukraine in recent days despite the U.S. president’s efforts to broker a peace agreement between Kyiv and Moscow. Trump has offered mixed messages about Putin, oscillating between praise of a leader with whom he has said he believes he can do business and frustration about his inability to bring Russia to the bargaining table. [WaPo] (🎁 link)
Science and Technology
Extent to which artificial intelligence has reduced tasks previously performed by employees and the impact of artificial intelligence use on total employment, by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), business employment size, type of business, business activity and majority ownership, second quarter of 2025. [Statistics Canada]

Pocket users have until October 8, 2025, to export their saved articles and other items, including lists, archives, favorites, notes, and highlights. [TechCrunch]
The Calendar
  • 0830 : Ottawa - Defence Min David McGuinty speaks to the annual conference of the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries.
  • 930 : 025B West Block -  The CPC national caucus will meet.
  • 1000 : 225A West Block -  The LPC national caucus will meet.
  • 1000 : 135B West Block -  Representatives of Doctors Against Genocide speak to reporters.
  • 1100 : 135B West Block -  The Assembly of First Nations leaders speak to reporters.
  • 1400 : Senate of Canada -  A swearing-in ceremony will take place for Senators Dawn Arnold and Farah Mohamed.
  • 1900 : Ottawa - Cdn Culture and Identity Min Steven Guilbeault hosts the official Government of Canada cleebration for Asian Heritage Month.
Issued this day ...
… in 2004: Sc 2042a se-tenant pair. Pioneers of Transatlantic Mail Service. Design: Dennis Page, Oliver Hill. Illustration Bonnie Ross.
Canada Post: “Until the middle of the 19th century, there was no easy way for new Canadians to communicate with family and friends from the old country. The transatlantic mails depended on slow and irregular sailing ships, and post offices were few and far between. For most Canadian immigrants, living on Canadian soil meant being completely cut off from the loved ones they had left behind. Shipping magnates and business leaders Sir Samuel Cunard and Sir Hugh Allan changed this by introducing transatlantic mail service via their ocean-going steam vessels.”

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