Prime Minister Mark Carney huddles with cabinet in Toronto ahead of fall sitting

Prime Minister Mark Carney headed to Toronto on Tuesday for two days of private meetings with his cabinet ahead of the fall legislative sitting.

It's Carney's second cabinet retreat since winning the spring election but the first involving his new chief of staff — former Canadian ambassador to the United Nations Marc-André Blanchard — and his new principal secretary David Lametti, the former justice minister.

Carney’s first cabinet retreat at Meech Lake in Quebec in May was a secretive, two-day postelection planning huddle.

The Prime Minister's Office denied media access to that event — a departure from the practice of Carney's predecessor Justin Trudeau, whose ministers used to hit the media microphones at cabinet retreats to promote the government’s plans and priorities.

This time, however, media will be allowed access to the site of the cabinet retreat.

The Prime Minister’s Office said the meetings, set for Wednesday and Thursday, will focus on fast-tracking major project approvals, building more affordable housing, expanding the domestic defence industry and helping sectors battered by U.S. tariffs to retool and diversify.

A PMO news release also said the meetings will “advance the beginnings of Canada’s preparations” for the review of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement on trade, which is scheduled for 2026.

Carney's government faces a packed agenda this fall, with U.S. President Donald Trump’s roller-coaster global tariff war and a rare fall budget.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford has said he believes Trump will grow more aggressive on trade in the fall and will not wait for the official 2026 date to reopen the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement.

Carney has said it would have been premature to put out a budget in the spring, given the economic uncertainty caused by Trump's trade war.

Experts are predicting a higher federal deficit when Carney's highly anticipated first budget is released in October. Carney already has signalled he plans to make defence a budgetary priority as Canada seeks to meet the NATO defence spending benchmark of 2 per cent of GDP.

The prime minister also has talked about imposing a new level of fiscal discipline, finding cost savings and balancing the “operating” side of the budget.

Carney’s team has for months now promoted new legislation that lets the government fast-track major industrial projects for approval — and will want to demonstrate progress on that front.

Carney said in Berlin on Aug. 26 that he plans to start making port infrastructure announcements in the coming days.

The Liberal caucus is also expected to meet the following week in Edmonton before Parliament returns on September 15.

That will give the governing Liberals another opportunity to take control of the political agenda before MPs return to Ottawa from their summer break.

Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Patrick Doyle