Start your day off right with five things you need to know this morning.
Five things you need to know
Mark Carney has been "lashing out" at Liberal MPs "when he doesn't like the message they deliver," according to a column in the left-wing Toronto Star newspaper. Althia Raj claims in her article that a Liberal MP told her Carney "yells" and "punches down at caucus all the time.” She adds: "Carney has told his caucus members he doesn’t want to hear their concerns, he wants solutions."
My latest column. https://t.co/yjj2BeS9rk pic.twitter.com/NSxdSYk6KH
— Althia Raj (@althiaraj) June 3, 2026
Canada's economic Achilles hell – productivity – has continued its bleak decline. According to Statistics Canada, labour productivity – output per worker – declined for a second consecutive quarter in the first three months of 2026.
Canada’s labor productivity declined for a second consecutive quarter as hours worked increased while output declined. https://t.co/VG6yLrQP7W
— Bloomberg (@business) June 3, 2026
Finland's president, Alexander Stubb – a good friend of Mark Carney's – has called for Canada to join the European Union. Stubb said the 27-nation political and economic bloc should expand to 40 countries, including Turkey, the UK, Norway, Iceland and Canada. He explained: “In this moment, we need to think big and geographically, we need to enlarge or at least create memberships which are flexible enough to bring in a sum total of 40 European states — or even non-European ... Wouldn’t it be lovely if Canada was the 28th state of the European Union rather than the 51st state of the United States?”
Finland's president says EU should expand to 40 states — including Canada https://t.co/oTTVLFul0P
— CNBC (@CNBC) June 4, 2026
A strong majority of Canadians – across all provinces, political parties and demographic groups – are in favour of plans to expand Alberta's oil and gas industry, according to a new poll. Leger's survey found that 66 per cent of Canadians back the idea, including 80 per cent of Albertans, 58 per cent of Quebecers, 72 per cent of people aged 55 and over and 76 per cent of Liberal voters. The poll also highlighted the extent to which BC Premier David Eby is at odds with the province he leads, where 60 per cent of British Columbians support expanding Alberta's fossil fuel industry and only 23 per cent are opposed.
An RBC economist has explained how Canadians were experiencing the conditions of a recession at the end of Justin Trudeau's time as prime minister, despite extraordinarily high immigration numbers helping to "prop up" headline GDP figures. Nathan Janzen said the huge immigration-driven population growth of 2.4 per cent in 2022, 3.1 per cent in 2023 and 2.21 per cent in 2024 masked the reality of people's suffering, adding: “Per capita GDP was declining and the unemployment was rising significantly in a way that historically you only usually see in a recession. So … during that period, when ostensibly the economy looked relatively firm, we actually saw on a per-capita basis conditions that were indistinguishable from a recession and right now we’re actually really seeing the opposite.”
"Get used to seeing weaker growth numbers": How high pandemic-period immigration papered over the cracks in Canada's economy. https://t.co/F7FaUsH312
— CityNews Toronto (@CityNewsTO) June 4, 2026
