Prime Minister Mark Carney gathered his cabinet in Quebec City on Jan. 22, 2026, for two days of meetings on the economy, affordability and security, one day after returning from a nine-day overseas trip and four days before Parliament resumes, with U.S. tariffs, Greenland and the coming CUSMA review expected to dominate discussion.
A retreat in the shadow of Trump
The Quebec City retreat began the day after Carney’s return from a nine-day trip to drum up investment in China, Qatar and Switzerland. It also came on the heels of his World Economic Forum speech in Davos, where he urged middle powers to band together against economic coercion by “great powers” — an address widely praised abroad but pointedly not by U.S. President Donald Trump.
“Canada lives because of the United States,” Trump said in his own Davos appearance on Wednesday. “Remember that, Mark, the next time you make your statements.”
Experts said the formal agenda — the economy, affordability and security — would inevitably be overtaken by the Canada-U.S. file. Fen Osler Hampson, an international affairs professor at Carleton University, said ministers should focus on “what’s the game plan for getting Canadians ready for what’s going to be a very rough year, with the prospect of more tariffs, more pain and (Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement) negotiations that are clearly going to be taking place under the barrel of a tariff gun.”
Jennifer Welsh, director of McGill University’s Max Bell School of Public Policy, said ministers would have to talk through how to navigate the CUSMA review and how exactly Canada plans to diversify its trade relationships. “So what should be the priorities and what do international partnerships mean? How are we going to actually pursue them and realize them?” she said.
Trade deals to defend, projects to speed up
Carney arrived in Quebec City with fresh agreements to implement. On his trip, he finalized a deal under which China will lower agricultural tariffs in exchange for limited market access for Chinese electric vehicles, and secured defence, trade and foreign investment agreements in Qatar.
In a statement, the Prime Minister’s Office said Carney and his cabinet would “continue to diversify our partnerships abroad and build our strength at home to deliver greater stability, security, and prosperity for Canadians.”
Osler Hampson said ministers should also press ahead on major projects. “We’re not going to be selling much to the world unless we build our infrastructure, build our ports, build our rail, build pipelines,” he said. “That’s got to happen sooner rather than later if there are going to be jobs for those who are going to be thrown out of work.”
A crowded legislative agenda, two seats short
Parliament is set to resume Monday, Jan. 26, for the first time since Dec. 11. Carney’s Liberal government sits two seats shy of a majority, after two Conservatives crossed the floor in the fall and Toronto MP Chrystia Freeland left earlier this month.
The fall budget passed the House of Commons in November, but the bill implementing parts of it still needs committee study before a final Commons vote and Senate debate. Three justice bills introduced in the fall also await passage: Bill C-9, with new intimidation and obstruction offences; Bill C-14, which would make bail harder to obtain and allow consecutive sentences for some crimes; and Bill C-16, which would restore mandatory minimum penalties.
Colin Robertson, a former Canadian diplomat and fellow at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, said delivery is now the test. “There’s a sense now that Carney’s put a lot out there, but criticism is around delivering,” Robertson said. “They’ve got several bits of legislation that are on the books, and I think that that will be something that people will be seeing — how does he manage Parliament?”
Robertson added that holding the retreat in Quebec was significant, given the province is “always a battleground.” “The seats they’ve got there, they have to sustain,” he said. “I think it’s prudent on his part to do it there and show off the Quebec ministers again.”
Focus turns to execution
The meetings wrapped on Friday, Jan. 23, with Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne saying the whole focus will be “about execution, delivery and certainly supporting Canadians at a time of need.” Champagne said ministers also discussed inflation and food security but offered no new measures. Carney had been scheduled to take questions from reporters at the close of the retreat, but his office cancelled the event as it was set to begin, citing scheduling issues — a decision Champagne was left to defend.
Trump kept up the pressure from Washington, posting on Truth Social that Canada opposed the Golden Dome missile defence shield over Greenland and had instead “voted in favor of doing business with China, who will ‘eat them up’ within the first year.”
