In the news today: Party leaders in Montreal ahead of debates

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed…

Party leaders in Montreal ahead of debates

Federal party leaders are campaigning in the Montreal area ahead of the two election debates that will take place Wednesday and Thursday.

It will be first time Liberal Leader Mark Carney and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre square off in a debate.

This morning, Carney is scheduled to make an announcement and have a press conference in Saint-Eustache, Que., near Montreal, while Poilievre will hold a press conference in Montreal.

Carney’s personal popularity has risen over the course of the campaign, with a poll from Abacus Data finding his favourability ratings among Canadians are higher than Poilievre’s.

The poll, which was conducted online and so can’t be assigned a margin of error, found Carney has a favourable rating of 48 per cent positive and 28 per cent negative, compared to Poilievre’s 40 per cent positive and 45 per cent negative.

Here’s what else we’re watching…

March inflation reading coming today

Statistics Canada will release its latest reading for inflation this morning.

The agency is set to report its consumer price index for March.

According to a poll provided by LSEG Data & Analytics, economists expect the annual inflation rate for March to come in at 2.6 per cent, matching the result seen in February.

A lower Canadian dollar pushing up import costs, still-rising food prices and the early effects of tariffs are all expected to impact the March consumer price index.

The inflation report comes ahead of the Bank of Canada’s next interest rate decision and monetary policy report.

Tariff response to be focus at Queen’s Park

Ontario’s response to the escalating trade war with the United States will factor heavily in the first legislative sitting after Premier Doug Ford cruised to victory in the snap February election.

Ford will outline his government’s priorities in a throne speech today delivered by the lieutenant-governor.

The Progressive Conservative government is expected to table legislation Wednesday to open up interprovincial trade in another effort to combat the effects of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canadian goods.

Ford says he wants to make trade between provinces and territories less onerous.

Interprovincial trade is set up with a number of protectionist barriers that Ford says makes trade easier with the United States than the rest of the country and also makes labour mobility difficult.

Many Quebecers say Trump a threat to French: poll

Nearly half of Quebecers say an independent Quebec would have much less influence than a united Canada in dealing with the threat from the United States, according to a new poll.

Conducted by Léger for the Association of Canadian Studies, the panel survey also found that almost half of respondents said the policies of U.S. President Donald Trump are a threat to the French language in Quebec.

Léger surveyed 433 respondents in Quebec on April 5 and 6. A margin of error cannot be assigned to panel surveys.

Results from the poll, released Tuesday, show that 48 per cent of respondents agreed that an independent Quebec would carry less weight than Canada in dealing with the Trump administration. That includes nearly 40 per cent of voters for the sovereigntist Bloc Québécois, and majorities of Liberal, Conservative and NDP voters.

The findings support recent poll results that show the Liberals surging in Quebec at the expense of the Bloc Québécois, who could be at risk of winning fewer than the 12 seats they need to maintain official party status after the April 28 election.

Apparel brands face tariff-related showdown

When Nina Kharey wakes every morning, the first thing she does is search online for U.S. President Donald Trump in hopes that the global trade war he sparked is dissipating.

Most of the time, her hunt ends in disappointment.

“It’s a lot of uncertainty at the moment,” said Kharey, a Calgary-based designer who runs luxury womenswear line Nonie and workwear brand Folds. “I wake up every day right now with anxiety.”

The refrain is similar across the fashion industry because of its global nature: material, buttons, zippers and more often zig-zag across tariff-targeted Asia before being turned into garments there or sent on to North America. The weblike nature of apparel supply chains can leave Canadian brands dinged by tariffs if they ship goods from foreign partners directly into the U.S. for manufacturing or distribution.

In addition to Canada, Trump has imposed tariffs on most other countries including European fashion meccas France and Italy as well as places with low labour costs and easy access to textiles such as Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Turkey and Vietnam.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 15, 2025.

The Canadian Press