Good morning. Three by-election wins last night delivered Mark Carney\u2019s Liberals a majority government \u2013 more on that below, along with Ontario\u2019s big changes to its school boards and Donald Trump\u2019s beef with the Pope. But first:<\/p>\n
Today\u2019s headlinesOpen this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n Liberal candidate Danielle Martin celebrates her by-election win in Toronto’s University\u2013Rosedale last night.Chris Young\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n PoliticsGoverning room<\/p>\n Eleven months, 16 days, five floor-crossers and three by-elections after the previous federal contest, Prime Minister Mark Carney secured his coveted majority government<\/a> last night. <\/p>\n As expected, the Liberals handily won both races in Toronto: Danielle Martin, a family doctor and health care advocate, held onto the University-Rosedale seat left vacant by Chrystia Freeland, while Doly Begum, the former deputy leader of the Ontario New Democrats, took over Bill Blair\u2019s old seat in Scarborough Southwest. The party completed the sweep in the Quebec riding of Terrebonne, a rematch between Liberal candidate Tatiana Auguste and Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagn\u00e9 of the Bloc Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois. (Auguste won the seat by a single ballot last year, but the Supreme Court annulled that outcome.) The results give the Liberals 174 seats in Parliament \u2013 no need to tap the Speaker of the House to break a tie.<\/p>\n So: now what? To figure out what a majority government buys Carney \u2013 and what it doesn\u2019t \u2013 I spoke with Stephanie Levitz, a senior reporter in The Globe\u2019s Ottawa bureau.<\/p>\n What changes today for the Liberals?<\/p>\n Their peace of mind. This isn\u2019t a cakewalk: It\u2019s not a strong majority, in terms of numbers, and it will require keeping a close eye on who\u2019s in the House, who\u2019s available for voting, which MPs are going to run again. But it does bring insurance that allows the Liberals to move things along faster.<\/p>\n Like what? <\/p>\n The stuff that gets stuck in Parliament tends to get stuck in committees. Under a minority, opposition MPs narrowly outnumber the Liberals on a committee, and they can work together to hold up the agenda of the government. Once the by-election results are confirmed and the new MPs are sworn in, the Liberals will redo the composition of those committees so they have the majority position. There\u2019s a crime bill, C-16, that\u2019s a priority piece of legislation to move along \u2013 it\u2019s a Criminal Code overhaul<\/a> that tackles online safety for kids, domestic violence and femicide, and mandatory minimum prison sentences.<\/p>\n Carney hasn\u2019t been totally stymied by a minority: He got his big defence budget<\/a> passed, along with his bill to fast-track<\/a> major projects. But that\u2019s long-game stuff. Has he connected the dots between these ambitions and Canadians\u2019 daily lives?<\/p>\n I don\u2019t think he has. Right now, Carney is benefiting from the sense among Canadians that we need to protect our own national interests. If you draw a parallel to the best story going lately, which is the Artemis mission, we want the government to shoot for the moon. But Artemis ultimately came back home \u2013 and for Canadians, that\u2019s where the political narrative will go, as well. They\u2019ll watch the government circle the moon, and then they\u2019ll start saying, \u201cOkay, but what does this mean for me?\u201d<\/p>\n There\u2019s a cost-of-living crisis. Prices are rising at the gas pump. Those gas prices will trickle through the supply chain and create a bunch of new pressures on Canadian pocketbooks. Carney benefits from an understanding that much of what\u2019s happening is beyond his control, and no one really knows what Donald Trump will do next. But the government has to address these economic challenges.<\/p>\n Maybe he\u2019ll lay out some tangible solutions in the spring economic update coming soon?<\/p>\n It wouldn\u2019t surprise me. In Carney\u2019s speech to the convention<\/a> this weekend, he hammered this idea of \u201cCanada for all.\u201d That language isn\u2019t necessarily new, but what struck me \u2013 and what I understand to have been deliberate \u2013 is the repeated emphasis on the second part of that sentence. Before, it was: Build Canada strong. Maybe he\u2019d add \u201cfor all.\u201d Now, it\u2019s: Build Canada strong \u2013 FOR ALL! The emphasis is on making sure everybody benefits from economic growth.<\/p>\n Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n Mark Carney shakes a supporter’s hand at the Liberal convention in Montreal on Saturday.Christinne Muschi\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n Even with their majority, the Liberals are still courting<\/a> potential floor-crossers from the Conservatives and the NDP. Is there a risk that this tent is getting too big to be ideologically coherent?<\/p>\n As Carney brings in social conservatives<\/a> and left-wing New Democrats<\/a>, I think people are holding that up against Justin Trudeau\u2019s definition of a Liberal. But historically, the Liberals have always been a much broader coalition. They\u2019ve had people in that caucus who were very opposed to abortion. They\u2019ve had people against same-sex marriage. The trick now for Carney is getting MPs with different viewpoints to keep toeing the line.<\/p>\n In his convention speech, he recommitted support for LGBTQ rights and a woman\u2019s right to choose. But he also used another line, which I suspect we\u2019re going to hear a lot: \u201cUnity isn\u2019t uniformity.\u201d It\u2019s yet another instance where Carney can be seen as closer to Stephen Harper than to Trudeau. Harper\u2019s caucus had a wide range of opinions on social issues, and he kept that big blue tent together. He made sure people could express their views while not getting in the way of the government agenda. I\u2019m sure Carney will take a page from Harper\u2019s successful management of his very diverse caucus.<\/p>\n Pierre Poilievre hasn\u2019t been as successful with his Conservative caucus. Is this majority bad news for an opposition leader whose MPs helped deliver it \u2013 or does it buy him time to regroup?<\/p>\n It\u2019s both. Losing four of your members of Parliament is not a good look. When Chris d\u2019Entremont crossed the floor in November, Poilievre was just starting to try to soften his tone and broaden his appeal. In the months since, he\u2019s spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in party money travelling the world, doing every interview under the sun and launching a massive new ad campaign. It\u2019s not moving the needle. And in the meantime, he lost another MP last week.<\/p>\n A majority government means he can take a beat. I\u2019ll go back to the Artemis metaphor: The Conservative mindset is that Carney\u2019s rocket-ship-high popularity will eventually come back to Earth. That Canadians will see their cost of living is still steep, or their kid still can\u2019t afford a house, and they\u2019ll sour on the guy. I have no doubt that grassroots Conservatives will give Poilievre a lot of string<\/a> for that to happen. But some degree of the establishment believe he\u2019ll never be prime minister \u2013 they think he was a man for the moment, the moment has shifted and he won\u2019t get it back. So how much time will they give Poilievre as leader? Well, as of right now, there\u2019s no one else.<\/p>\n The Shot\u2018I\u2019m not afraid of the Trump administration.\u2019Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n Pope Leo XIV in Algeria yesterday, at the start of his 11-day tour of Africa.ALBERTO PIZZOLI\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n U.S. President Donald Trump attacked Pope Leo XIV as \u201cWEAK on Crime\u201d in a lengthy Truth Social tirade, then posted an AI-generated image of himself as a Christ-like figure, then deleted the image and claimed he just thought \u201cit was me as a doctor.\u201d The Pope, meanwhile, said he\u2019d continue to speak out against war. Read more on the whole schism here<\/a>. <\/p>\n The WrapWhat else we\u2019re following<\/p>\n At home: NDP Leader Avi Lewis has ruled out asking<\/a> any of the six members of his federal caucus to step aside so he can seek a seat in the House of Commons.<\/p>\n Abroad: Peter Magyar, Hungary\u2019s newly elected Prime Minister, offered strong support<\/a> for the European Union and hinted he wouldn\u2019t block \u20ac90-billion in aid for Ukraine.<\/p>\n Border: In northeastern Minnesota\u2019s wilderness, a town is divided over the future<\/a> of underground mining.<\/p>\n Order: After placing eight school boards under supervision, Ontario tabled a bill that would bring massive changes<\/a> to how the province\u2019s education system is run.<\/p>\n Media: A U.S. federal judge dismissed President Donald Trump\u2019s US$10-billion defamation lawsuit<\/a> against The Wall Street Journal.<\/p>\n