Mark Carney to announce top-ups to GST credit as part of efforts to reset domestic agenda

Prime Minister Mark Carney will try to reset his domestic agenda Monday with an affordability announcement that will include generous top-ups to the GST credit this summer, impacting approximately 12 million Canadians, the Star has learned.

Carney is set to announce that the quarterly GST payments will increase by 25 per cent over the next five years — providing more than $130 for a low-income single person and $270 for a couple with two kids.

The government will also provide a one-time special payment in June, equal to a 50 per cent increase in the value of the GST credit, meaning a family with two kids could receive more than $800 in combined relief.

The move is part of a larger plan to address high grocery prices, with increased assistance to food banks, efforts to expand local production, and longer-term goals to increase competition in the sector.

Sunday, Carney, flanked by what he dubbed his youth caucus, spoke of his government’s focus on “building a new future for Canada,” one that was “more prosperous, more independent, more sustainable, and fairer.” He said his government would bring in more measures to support Canadians who feel squeezed by the cost of living. 

The Liberals are refocusing on addressing polling gaps against their lead opponent, notably on issues affecting young people — who’ve increased their support towards the Conservatives, on affordability — where the Tories also lead by wide margins, and on crime — which is impacting the Liberal vote in B.C.’s lower mainland and around the Peel region.

The Liberals also plan to release an updated climate policy and a new electricity strategy, which may address some concerns from the Grits’ traditional base of support, disappointed by the environmental impact of the memorandum of understanding signed with Alberta late last fall, setting out a path for a new bitumen pipeline to the West Coast.

The government is also under pressure to deliver on the ambitious goals it set for itself and address vulnerabilities on the Canada-U.S. trade front. On that note, Industry Minister Mélanie Joly will soon unveil an auto strategy aimed at attracting new automakers, including possibly Chinese companies, with an eye toward making electric vehicles and developing supply chains in Canada.

Speaking to reporters outside the Liberals’ caucus meeting Sunday, Government House Leader Steven MacKinnon said the government planned to introduce a “lot of legislation, a lot of initiatives, a lot of things to propose to Canadians in this upcoming session.”

Last fall, the Liberals passed one bill. But this spring, they could get some assistance from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, who is striking a tone of collaboration.

In an open letter to the prime minister, Poilievre suggested his party is ready to help fast-track food affordability measures, the Liberals’ bail reform bill, and trade deals, and work in a bipartisan fashion on the U.S. file, and the courting of other export markets. 

Although the Conservative party is tied with the Liberals nationally, Poilievre’s personal numbers trail Carney badly. Even if Poilievre survives a leadership vote at his party’s national convention in Calgary Friday — and there are no indications he won’t — the Conservatives are in no hurry to run towards a contest they believe they will lose, again.

Not only does Poilievre need time to distance himself from the more MAGA-prone elements of his base, he needs space to recast himself as a leader-in-waiting — for baby boomers who abandoned him to see him as a safe pair of hands, and for Carney to fail.

On that front, U.S. President Donald Trump continues to be the ace up the Liberals’ sleeve.

Over the weekend, Trump called Carney “governor” for the first time, and suggested he’ll impose a 100 per cent tariff if Canada makes a deal with China. (A threat is unlikely to materialize as Ottawa is not pursuing a free-trade deal with China, and Trump never followed through on his threat to impose a 10-per-cent tariff following Ontario’s Ronald Reagan ads).

But the chaos of the Trump White House has united Canadians around Carney and earned the prime minister widespread support for his efforts to diversify Canada’s economy away from the United States and safeguard the country.

“I do think Canadians want to see as unified a Canadian response as possible to Donald Trump and, I think, his deepening threats,” NDP interim leader Don Davies told the Star Sunday. “The NDP is prepared to also work productively with the Liberal government, where we can.”

Davies was in Rankin Inlet, where the NDP caucus was snowed in following its retreat. They met up north after the area’s MP, Lori Idlout, revealed to the CBC that she had considered crossing the floor to join the Liberals but decided that “at this point” she could not.

Despite Idlout’s comments, Davies said he’s not worried about his caucus’s unity.

Two Conservative MPs joined the Liberals last fall, and the Ottawa rumour mill continues to swirl about one or more potential floor crossers handing Carney a majority. The Grits are currently one seat shy of the threshold.

Within Liberal circles, there is also some talk of a potential spring election.

The idea of another election, however, is not welcomed by many. The business community fears a delay in negotiations affecting CUSMA, the Canada-United States-Mexico-Agreement. Many Liberals believed the Grits would also lose seats in B.C. and in Quebec, in particular.

Speaking Sunday, Parti Québécois Paul St-Pierre Plamondon accused Carney of “rewriting history” and making the case for sovereignty, after the prime minister described on Friday the 1759 battle of the Plains of Abraham as a moment of unity between Canada’s founding nations, rather than a conquest of New France by the British.

Plamondon’s party leads in public opinion, and next fall’s provincial election could result in a new referendum during Carney’s mandate. 

On the other side of the country, Carney must also contend with a loud separatist movement in Alberta, one that appears to have the vocal backing of some in Trump’s administration.

There may be hope that progress on the MOU with Alberta can dampen some of that enthusiasm. A crucial April 1 deadline looms.

Canada is a hard country to govern at the best of times. This is not the best of times. Much hope has been placed on Carney’s shoulders; Parliament’s spring sitting will now signal whether he can live up to it.