Policy Announcements and Preparing for New US President: A Look at the Liberal Cabinet Retreat

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks at a Liberal Party fundraiser event in Halifax on Aug. 27, 2024. The Canadian Press/Kelly Clark

Facing political headwinds, the Liberal cabinet has wrapped up its annual summer retreat in Halifax before the full party caucus meets and stares down another key byelection next month.

Liberal ministers had gathered in Halifax to discuss addressing issues like the cost of living and ways for Canada to strengthen its relationship with the United States as the country faces a potentially pivotal presidential election.

That election is a source of great interest for the governing Liberals, but so is finding a way to gain back popular support at home. The cabinet retreat came two months after the Liberals’ surprise by-election loss to the Conservatives in the riding of Toronto–St. Paul’s, which had been held by the party since 1993.

Calls by some Liberal MPs to hold a caucus meeting to discuss the matter were not heeded, hence the upcoming party retreat in Nanaimo, B.C., will be the first time Prime Minister Justin Trudeau faces them. Trudeau did attend the Ontario caucus meeting on Aug. 14, with the change to his itinerary being announced mid-day by his office.

Following the Liberal defeat in Toronto–St. Paul’s byelection and bad poll numbers, amid calls by some current and former MPs to step down, Trudeau said he'll be staying on and he will have to present to his MPs a vision for the next 14 months before the federal election.

In the meantime, the Sept. 16 byelection in LaSalle–Émard–Verdun, which was announced following Liberal MP David Lametti stepping down, will be another key challenge for the party in a riding that has been a stronghold.

A divided opposition with the NDP and the Bloc Québécois having a good showing could be what saves the Liberal seat. In any case, the results will be a weathervane for the Montreal area, which like Toronto has been dominated by Liberals. A byelection will also take place in Winnipeg on the same day to replace the NDP’s Daniel Blaikie, but Liberals there are unlikely to be a major factor.

Sept. 16 is also the day the House of Commons will resume sitting after the summer break. Government House Leader Karina Gould, coming back from a seven-month maternity leave, did not have details to share about her party’s legislative agenda for the fall parliamentary session.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the cabinet retreat on Aug. 27, Gould said she would listen to her colleagues and craft an agenda that “reflects the needs and hopes of Canadians.”

Even though Parliament was on break, House committees held a number of meetings during the summer, including on issues such as the foiled terrorist plot in Toronto, the government’s purchase of a $9 million official residence for the consul-general to New York, the business dealings of Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault, and the ArriveCan controversy.

Tariffs, Foreign Workers

During the cabinet retreat, the ministers made announcements regarding building housing, tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles (EVs), and Canada’s temporary foreign workers (TFW) program.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Aug. 26 that Ottawa would be taking steps to reduce the number of temporary foreign workers in the country, saying the current policy is “not fair to Canadians struggling to find a good job” or to some foreign workers who are being exploited.

With unemployment trending upward and Canada’s labour market improving, the federal government will be refusing TFW applications in cities with unemployment rates over 6 percent, capping the number of foreign workers as part of the total workforce that can be hired through the program’s low-wage stream, and reducing the maximum duration of employment for temporary workers in the low-wage stream from two years to one.

The measures are expected to reduce temporary foreign workers by 65,000. There are currently over 1.3 million work permit holders, according to Statistics Canada.

That same day, Trudeau also announced his government would implement 100 percent tariffs on Chinese-made EVs, and a 25 percent tariff on steel and aluminum products. Ottawa will also launch a 30-day public consultation into other sectors that are “critical to Canada’s future prosperity,” such as batteries and battery parts, semiconductors, solar products, and critical minerals.

Ahead of the retreat, Ottawa also announced it had added 56 new properties to the public lands bank of locations suitable for long-term leases, allowing developers to build more housing. These include former Canada Post sites, military bases, and federal office buildings.

Those three policy announcements were issues the Conservatives have previously urged the Liberals to take action on. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has called to reduce the number of immigrants and TFWs; recently said he would put tariffs on Chinese EVs, steel, and aluminum if elected prime minister; and proposed for 15 percent of all federal buildings to be turned into homes.