The Federation of Canadian Municipalities had their big conference in Ottawa over the past couple of days, and there were a host of mayors and councillors on the Hill to meet with MPs. Yesterday afternoon, Mark Carney addressed their conference to basically give the same speech he’s been giving for the past couple of weeks about things like “moving to delay to delivery,” and so on. But I did find it interesting that as part of this address to the FCM, he essentially told them that he’ll be too busy with nation-building projects to reform municipal funding structures.

It’s kind of funny, but at the same time, I have to ask how that’s actually his job, or the job of the federal government at all. Cities are creatures of provincial legislation. If you want to reform their funding structures, the provinces need to sit down and hammer that out, unless you want to start amending the constitution, and I’m pretty sure that nobody wants to open that particular Pandora’s Box (which, incidentally, was not a box but a jar). We could let cities collect their own income or sales taxes, or other forms of financing that would be better than simply property taxes, but provinces refuse, and in some cases, have specifically legislated against it. And we’ve known for decades now that cities have funding challenges that they need something to be done about, but have provinces responded? Of course not. They simply demand the federal government send them more money.

With this in mind, Toronto mayor Olivia Chow was also here for the FCM meeting, and she says she is encouraged by Carney’s sense of urgency on tackling the housing crisis, but again, she too is here calling for the federal government to directly intervene with money. One thing she has proposed is for necessary infrastructure to build more housing, for the federal government to basically pay the municipality’s one-third share (so they essentially pay two-thirds and the province pay the other third), and it’s just so infuriating. The federal government is not the purse for every other jurisdiction. Provinces have the very same revenue-generating tools as the federal government does, but they refuse to use them because they would rather beg for money and let the federal government be the bad guy with their taxes than the province. This kind of absolute immaturity is just exhausting, and it’s one of the reasons why things just aren’t getting done in this country.

Or ever, if we're being honest.

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-05-30T13:30:00.766Z

Ukraine Dispatch

Russia’s massive drone attack overnight Thursday injured two people in Kharkiv, and hit a town that sits on the border with Romania, which is a NATO member.

Good reads:

• Trump says he is going to double steel and aluminium tariffs to 50 percent.
• The Fiscal Monitor shows the deficit at $43.2 billion between April of last year and March of this year. (The federal fiscal years ends in April).
• Gary Anandasangaree is expected to table a new border security bill next week.
• The Canadian government is calling on Israel to put a stop to the 22 planned illegal settlements in the West Bank.
• There are questions about an order to halt an overseas CSIS operation in 2022, which put agents in jeopardy.
• An internal government memo says that there are concerns the 2005 refusal to join ballistic missile defence (which violated treaties!) made us seem “unreliable.”
• Much of our Cyclone helicopter fleet has been grounded for lack of spare parts.
• Canada Post is asking the jobs minister to force a union membership vote on their “final offer,” as the union refuses to.
• AFN national chief Cindy Woodhouse Neepinak says the federal government faces a new Idle No More movement if their fast-tracking ignores Indigenous consent.
• Sikh groups are calling on the federal government to not invite Narendra Modi to the G7 meeting in June.
• The Supreme Court of Canada ruled that businesses that operate in federally-regulated zones like ports or airports can be exempt from provincial rules.
• The Quebec government has tabled a bill to lower interprovincial trade barriers, but some exceptions remain.
• Alberta is extending the judicial inquiry into the healthcare procurement scandal by another four months. (Time for more distractions!)
• Far-right groups are taking credit for the Alberta government’s plans to ban books with queer and trans content as being “explicit.”
• The Heiltsuk Nation in BC has brought their new written constitution into force.
• Patricia Treble gives her write-up of the royal visit.
• Justin Ling surmises that Carney’s poor first week has a lot to do with his inability to staff up his own office (though he misses this possible reason why).
• My weekend column notes the demise of Canada’s experiment in doing Prime Minister’s Questions, as Carney has decided to forego Trudeau’s practice.

Odds and ends:

For National Magazine, I look at the new Executive Legal Officer at the Supreme Court of Canada.

Want more Routine Proceedings? Become a patron and get exclusive new content.