Building Canada strong in 2026

Winnipeg North

Canada got a new Prime Minister in 2025, and Mark Carney has the entire Liberal government focused on building a stronger and healthier economy.

In May, Prime Minister Carney appointed me parliamentary secretary to the government house leader, which ultimately contributed to me being named “most knowledgeable MP” at iPolitics’ parliamentarian of the year awards ceremony. I often lead the debate on a wide variety of public issues.

In the coming weeks we will be debating the national budget and how the government of Canada is responding to a changing world. My priorities going into 2026 includes international trade, preserving our social safety net and military spending.

I would argue that Canada has never had a prime minister so aggressively pursue international trading opportunities with countries other than the U.S.A. Back on Nov. 20, I said in parliament that “Canada’s population makes up 0.5 per cent of the world’s population, but we contribute to 2.5 per cent of world trade. Canada is a trading nation.”

International trade strengthens our economy, creates jobs, lowers consumer prices, provides a greater variety of products, increases our GDP and improves our standard of living. Trade agreements and trade in general attract more foreign investment. which grows our economy and tax base which allow us to better support our social programs.

On the issue of social programs, the 2026 budget continues to support the importance of Canada’s strong national programs. Health care is a joint federal-provincial responsibility, but it is administered by the provinces. The Manitoba government has been provided the opportunity to improve our system but the issues facing health-care go beyond just financing, they also include managing the changes we need to see. The school food program has been made permanent; the dental program continues to expand and of course we continue to support seniors by making sure inflation does not diminish programs like old age security payments.

Prime Minister Carney has commited to dramatically increasing the amount of money we spend on our military, a strategic decision made to ensure that our military personnel are paid appropriately and that they have modern equipment. From being able to protect our sovereignty to meeting our NATO and allied country commitments, this increase to two percent of Canada’s GDP on military spending has been exceptionally well-received and we will continue to increase it into the future.

Expanding military defence spending in a strategic way will create jobs and protect vital industries. It will lessen Canada’s dependence on the U.S.A. and expand opportunities with other allied countries. The “Build Canada Strong” legislation we passed in June, which facilitated more co-operation between provinces, will also allow for major projects that are deemed in the national interest to move forward at a faster pace. These two initiatives will see well over $100 billion dollars of investment.