• Former Conservative leader Erin O’Toole will join me for a live Uncommons podcast recording on Monday November 25 at 7 pm at Brunswick Bierworks. Tickets are free, but they won’t last much longer. We’ll be talking foreign interference, the current political landscape, and more. RSVP here.

• Our local riding association is hosting our annual holiday party on Thursday November 28 from 6-9 pm at Local 1794 on Danforth. This may well be my last big event as the MP with our riding association and volunteers, so I hope to see you there. RSVP here.

Turning to our monthly update, Parliament remains entirely dysfunctional. We have lost almost 30 sitting days to a Conservative filibuster.

You can read my longer rundown of why Parliament is currently so broken. In short: the opposition has ordered that documents be turned over to the RCMP when there is no evidence of criminality, the documents can’t be used by the RCMP anyway, and the order amounts to an abuse of parliamentary process.

I’ve been a little surprised that certain Conservative colleagues have been so quick to jump to character assassination. But then I saw this article that gives an in-depth run down on the centralized and authoritarian approach that Poilievre takes to his own caucus. So it’s no surprise that they are expected to follow dear leader. While I’ve had my frustrations with the Liberal government over the years, I couldn’t operate in a political party that stifles dissent the way Poilievre’s team seems hellbent on doing.

President Trump 2.0

Season 2 of the Oval Office Apprentice has kicked off in even more bizarre fashion than I expected. Reality TV has truly taken over American politics.

On the one hand, I’m thankful that the new US Ambassador to Canada is a serious person.

On the other hand, there’s everyone else. We need to be prepared for what comes next. And I know people like hating on the Prime Minister and Chrystia Freeland these days, but they defended our interests successfully in the first Trump presidency and we need that same Team Canada approach now.

Immigration changes

After high profile Uncommons episodes with Prime Minister Trudeau and Mark Carney last month, we did a deep dive on immigration policy in a two-part series with labour economist Mikal Skuterud and Century Initiative CEO Lisa Lalande.

I like that the Prime Minister is starting to do longer form explainers and he recently posted this one on immigration changes, albeit less wonky and more political:

And if you head over to the Prime Minister’s YouTube channel, you’ll see a familiar face in the banner.

On the Hill

In addition to the Public Accounts committee, I’ve also participated in the Public Safety study on foreign interference.

I asked Lauren Chen what you call a person who accepts $10 million from Russia to run a covert propaganda operation. You can read more about that story here.

There have been plenty of meetings on the Hill, including with canola farmers, family doctors, and students campaigning for human rights and nuclear disarmament.

And it feels like a long time ago now, but there’s always the occasional scrum.

Beaches Santa Claus Parade

Turning to our east end community, we had a great time kicking off the holiday season with the Beaches Santa Claus Parade. Thanks to Community Centre 55 for making it happen (they make many good things happen) and to so many families for coming out for the holiday spirit, warm weather, and candy canes.

It’s a little strange now knowing that each one of these bigger community events will be my last as the MP. I’m reasonably confident I’ll still get to break out my ridiculous yellow suit for the Easter parade, and we’ll see if we get to my red one for Canada Day.

As I told a few constituents during the parade, I wore my all-too-colourful Christmas jacket for the first time in the parade many years ago, before Don Cherry had been cancelled. A week later, he was wearing the same suit jacket. Trend setting.

Remembrance Day and the Ulster Accordion Band

After the 2015 election, the very first official event I attended was for Remembrance Day. I remember looking at the program and wondering who the dignitaries were.

It’s one of the most important roles we play in an official capacity in our communities, representing Canada during Remembrance ceremonies. As usual, I raced from the big ceremony at the Kew Gardens cenotaph to a luncheon at Legion Branch 001/42 to an afternoon march and ceremony at Legion Branch 345 in East York to a smaller indoor ceremony at the Naval Club on Gerrard.

The Ulster Accordion Band is an integral part of Remembrance Day ceremonies in our east end (at Kew Gardens and Legion Branch 11). Since Branch 11 wasn’t able to do its normal service (the building is soon to be under construction), we brought the Ulster Accordion Band to YouTube with a poem called The Poppy, read by Bobby Glencross.

I ended up reading a range of other poetry in the lead up to Remembrance Day and came across this lesser-known poem by the great John McCrae. It’s called Disarmament. And with everything going on in the world (the war in Ukraine recently reached a terrible 1000 day milestone), McCrae’s message of peace is a welcome one.

I hope to see many of you in person next week at either the Uncommons recording with O’Toole or at our riding holiday party. And you can always reach me at info@beynate.ca otherwise.

Nate

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Progress has been significant and imperfect. I’ve had my share of disagreements and still see this government as the best choice to deliver on what matters.

Many constituents and colleagues have questioned why the Prime Minister is running again and whether he should. So I thought I’d ask him myself.

In conversation with Justin Trudeau, Mark Carney, and Lisa Raitt

Justin Trudeau joined me on the Uncommons podcast for an in-depth discussion about the next election, successes and failures in governing, and what comes next for him.

Mark Carney is often discussed as a potential successor. In addition to his role at Brookfield and as a UN climate envoy, he’s also recently become more political as the chair of an economic taskforce to the Liberal Party.

After my conversation with the Prime Minister, Carney joined me to talk about the environment, the economy, and his political future.

Carney was a member of the Task Force for Housing and Climate, co-chaired by Lisa Raitt. She has served as a Conservative cabinet minister and now works both to look after her family (her husband has early-onset Alzheimer’s) and to make a difference by collaborating across the aisle outside of the formal political arena.

Raitt also joined me a few weeks ago to talk about that work.

We can do better than the Bloc’s poorly targeted election threat

Parliament has become dysfunctional without the supply deal in place, and my hope for some kind of continued cooperation is disappearing.

In an effort to exert more influence, the Bloc has demanded that we increase Old Age Security by more than $3 billion per year or they will cause an early election.

We should not accept the terms of that deal because the Bloc’s proposal is poorly targeted and too expensive.

As I argue here and in the video below, we would be better off focusing our efforts to help low and moderate income seniors in real need.

You can also read a thoughtful proposal here on how we can strengthen OAS in a sustainable and better targeted way. It’s a proposal supported by both Gen Squeeze and the Canadian Association of Retired Persons.

Watching a bizarre alt-right campaign against my Pandemic Prevention and Preparedness Act

What is this scary "vegan" Bill C-293? Would it mandate vegetable proteins? Would it make your kids eat bugs? Are bugs even vegan?

Welcome to the strange online debate about my bill that would require the government to take pandemic prevention and preparedness seriously.

I wouldn’t normally respond to such obvious online grifting, especially from Rebel Media, but at least one Senator has expressed concerns as a result and the bill now looks to be stalled. So here’s my message to my Senate colleagues.

Refusing to get his security clearance, Poilievre plays unserious politics

Foreign interference was in the news again, with the government rightly expelling Indian diplomats given the RCMP’s findings of violence and intimidation on Canadian soil. The foreign interference inquiry also concluded its hearings with the Prime Minister on the stand.

All party leaders should have a security clearance and be fully briefed. That's the easy part. National security experts have said not doing so is complete nonsense.

As I wrote back in June, we also need a much more serious conversation about what accountability and due process should look like in the circumstances.

Quick hits:

No, Canada isn’t broken

Inflation is down, falling to 1.6% last month. The Bank of Canada continues to cut rates as a result, helping to ease pressure on household debt. Wage growth has also outpaced inflation. And the IMF projects Canada will have the strongest economic growth in the G7 in 2025.

Housing affordability and sustainable immigration

There are still good reasons to be concerned about the very high cost of housing and rent. It’s both a fairness issue and also a challenge to our productivity.

Minister Miller has taken many useful steps to curtail temporary immigration to sustainable levels (I talked about it here too). And while Poilievre cartoonishly chants “build the homes,” Minister Fraser’s housing plan is the most serious federal answer to this national challenge that we’ve seen so far from any party.

Dishonesty or cuts?

As we continue to roll out programs like the national school food program (a recent announcement was made with Manitoba), Poilievre will need to be clear at some point about what cuts are on the table. He’s already committed big spending in tax cuts for everyone, has said any $ in new spending will be matched by a $ in cuts, and he tells us he’s going to balance the books quickly too.

Action to deliver clean transportation

Thanks to a joint $700 million partnership between Canada and Toronto, the TTC procured 340 battery-electric buses and they’ve started to arrive. The TTC will have the largest fleet of electric buses in North America thanks to federal support.

A bit of a mea culpa

On the one hand, the Poilievre Conservatives need to be called out for their relentless character assassination. It’s toxic, it’s unparliamentary, and it’s going to push good people out of politics. On the other hand, I could and should have called out that behaviour on the public accounts committee without using unparliamentary language of my own.

Reflections on the aftermath of October 7

I wrote a longer piece here. The Hamas attack was immoral and heinous, taking hostages and killing over a thousands innocent Israeli civilians. Israel’s response has been indiscriminate, disproportionate, and also immoral, razing Gaza, killing an unthinkable number of Palestinians, expanding illegal territorial violations and ignoring international humanitarian law. It has even now attacked UN peacekeepers. Canada needs to play a more proactive role towards peace abroad and we all need to collectively address the rise in antisemitism and Islamophobia here at home.

You can always reach me at info@beynate.ca with questions, suggestions, and frustrations.

And, again, to those who were a part of our effort 9 years ago, thank you.

Nate

Back in June, my team and I started doing weekly video round-ups - we call it Uncommons Weekly - and we’re back at it this fall. The idea is to complement the more policy-focused podcast with some commentary on the week that was in Parliament.

This past week, it was nuclear winter vs the carbon rebate, Poilievre vs Singh, and election speculation vs reality.

You can watch all past Uncommons Weekly episodes here. We’re also posting clips individually by topic on social media, including my thoughts on defence spending, immigration reform, the tough by-election loss in Toronto St. Paul’s, and how we should approach this parliamentary session.

If there’s a topic or idea you’d like me to touch on in these weekly rants, email me at info@beynate.ca. And remember to subscribe.

Summer review

For the first time in over a decade, I wasn’t campaigning over the summer. It meant I had the chance to coach Mack’s baseball team in East York and to spend more time with my family and also in our constituency office.

Of course, I was still present at events, from bigger ones like the Canada Day and Labour Day parades and the Beaches Jazz Fest, to smaller community-minded ones like the send-off for the Balmy Beach Canoe Olympic paddlers and the Pegasus picnic (this weekend we also celebrated 30 years of Pegasus serving our community, can’t say enough about the good work they do here).

Survey letter and common themes

And we did still knock on doors across our entire riding, with a survey letter asking for feedback on what’s gone well / poorly, thoughts on the direction of the government today, and what issues I should be an advocate for in this final year. We’ve done a number of survey letters over the years, and they do help to inform my advocacy.

Based on the responses, there are certainly some common themes.

Overwhelmingly, the government is seen to have successfully managed the first Trump presidency and NAFTA, responded forcefully to the pandemic, and delivered important social programs, from family benefits and child care, to dental care.

Many pointed to frustration with unsustainable immigration in the international student program (which I’ve written about before) and the temporary foreign worker program (you can watch my thoughts on that here). Housing unaffordability was also understandably a regular frustration as well.

In terms of priorities for the year, common themes included affordable housing and tackling homelessness, fixing healthcare (with a focus on mental health), support for Toronto (especially transit), online harms, meeting our NATO obligations, international peace (most wrote about Gaza), and continued action to address climate change and advance reconciliation.

The need for a strong economic agenda came up in a number of ways, including fiscal sustainability, revamped competition policy, stronger wage growth, and action to tackle wealth inequality.

If you missed filling out the survey over the summer, you can still add your ideas here.

Representing Canada on the world stage

In early August, I joined Don Davies and Charlie Angus (both NDP MPs) to represent Canada at a PanAmerican Congress hosted in Colombia, with representation from the US, Mexico, Brazil and a number of other countries across South America. The conversation focused on how progressive politics can and should defend democracy, advance serious climate action, and work towards international peace.

My presentation on defending democracy focused on three pillars: 1) the basics (anti-corruption measures, independence of institutions, campaign finance reform etc.), 2) the information eco-system (strong civic media and free speech protections, action to respond to foreign interference and disinformation on social media platforms etc.) and 3) delivering for people (if we can’t make it work for people, why would we expect people to defend it?).

Earlier this month, I also represented Canada at an Inter-Parliamentary Union conference in Armenia, together with about 150 MPs from 60 countries.

I stressed the importance of quality public education, spoke to Canada’s successful graduation rates, and recognized our history of discrimination against First Nations and the need to improve education opportunities for Indigenous communities.

I also spoke to rising youth employment in Canada, and the need to prioritize outcomes over announcements when we look at our employment and skills strategy. It presented an interesting opportunity for others to share practices in their home countries to support youth employment (and offered some ideas to take back with me).

Uncommons podcast and local events

The podcast took a bit of a hiatus over the summer, apart from this conversation with Matthew Mendelsohn focused on wealth inequality, inclusive growth, and the ability of this government (and governments in general) to tackle big challenges.

It’s taken forever to schedule the Prime Minister, but it looks like we may have him as a guest sooner than later now. And you can also expect to hear conversations in the coming weeks with former MP Lisa Raitt, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, and new economic advisor to the Liberal Party, Mark Carney.

As always, if you have suggestions for guests or topics, send them my way at info@beynate.ca.

Locally, we’ll likely host an in-person podcast recording (or two) this fall. And we’re working on a session for those who are interested in green retrofits, as there’s still a $40,000 interest-free federal loan available for home owners to reduce emissions.

We’re open to other ideas for hosting events this fall and spring, so be in touch.

What comes next?

Many people have asked me what comes next. And I really don’t know, except that I’m going to make the most of the time that I have left in Parliament.

For example, I’m working on a submission for the Fall Economic Statement (with a heavy emphasis on community housing), my pandemic prevention/preparedness bill will soon be debated in the Senate, and I’ll likely take the lead on some of the work to address foreign interference at the public safety committee.

With an election coming within the year, my advocacy will be focused on advancing ideas both in this parliament and into the platform. And, of course, I’ll continue to push the government on the issues that matter at the same time as I call out the conservative opposition for its many falsehoods.

All of that’s to say, we’re still here to help. And I will do my best to keep you updated over the course of this parliamentary session.

Nate

Register here for free tickets. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., discussion begins at 7:00 p.m.

Dr. Philpott will be discussing her work with Nate as and MP and Minister in Ottawa & her new book Health For All - A Doctor's Prescription for a Healthier Canada

Tonight’s event is our second episode in a series of live in-person recordings of Nate’s Uncommons podcast.

We had an informative discussion last week with Mo Shuriye about police reform and more effective alternate public health responses, which you can listen to online or by subscribing to the Uncommons podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

After the live podcast recording we screened a powerful film about police violence, A Bullet Pulling Thread by local filmmaker Ian Daffern. If you missed our screening, you can see the film on TVO on June 16.

Make sure you subscribe to the Uncommons podcast to ensure you don’t miss any future episodes, such as our upcoming special episode featuring Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

As always, send your questions or comments to info@beynate.ca and please let us know if you have any questions for our special guest.

• Wednesday June 5: we’re hosting a film screening of “A Bullet Pulling Thread” at the Beach United Church, alongside a Q&A with filmmaker and the City of Toronto’s lead on police reform, Mo Shuriye. RSVP here.

  

• Thursday June 6: The Beaches-East York Federal Liberals are having our annual general meeting at Hope United Church. As you may know, I won’t be seeking re-election in the next federal election, but I encourage all local Liberals to get involved in our riding association as we renew and rebuild. I’m still here to help.

• Wednesday June 12: we’re hosting a live podcast recording with Dr. Jane Philpott to discuss her new book Health for All. RSVP here.

• We’re giving away free native tree seedlings again this year. You can put your request in via our online form here or email us at info@beynate.ca.

• Wednesday June 5: we’re hosting a film screening of “A Bullet Pulling Thread” at the Beach United Church, alongside a Q&A with filmmaker and the City of Toronto’s lead on police reform. RSVP here.

• Wednesday June 12: we’re hosting a live podcast recording with Dr. Jane Philpott to discuss her new book Health for All. RSVP here.

I’ll also be online for a Facebook AMA on May 30 at 7 pm.

And we’re giving away free tree seedlings again this year. You can put your request in via our online form here or email us at info@beynate.ca.

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The past month or so has certainly had its challenges, as we lost my father-in-law Terry Symington to cancer.

There’s also been a lot happening in Ottawa, with the release of Budget 2024, initial pharmacare legislation, a new and comprehensive housing plan, and consistent conservative attacks against both serious climate action and a public health approach to saving lives in the opioid crisis.

You can read my rundown of 10 Budget highlights here.

Overall, the budget is solid and comprehensive, albeit not transformative. It finally shows real leadership on housing. It covers a lot of ground, with incremental progress in many important areas. And after the shock of a pandemic, it manages to meet political demands while maintaining fiscal prudence.

Defending the price on pollution

While the debate around capital gains taxation is new, the same can’t be said for the price on pollution. It’s been in place for years now, it works to reduce emissions and spur innovation, and the rebates ensure most people receive more than they pay.

Of course, smart policy doesn’t always make for easy politics. While leaders embrace that challenge and educate people to bring them along, the new reform party conservatives consistently rhyme cheap slogans to dismantle smart climate policy.

As I wrote here, we can’t afford to axe serious climate action with lies.

Or watch our video explainer on the price on pollution, echoing that same message.

The video was covered by CBC’s Aaron Wherry here, and we’re going to try out more explainers and video work in general in the coming weeks. Let me know if there are specific topics you’d like me to weigh in on.

The Prime Minister is also weighing in on the explainer video game, with this short video on the proposed capital gains changes. I’m working on a more detailed article on that subject now as well that expands on what I wrote in the budget highlights.

Recognizing Dr. Anne Innis Dagge

Parliament isn’t only a place for policy debates, of course. We can also recognize stories and people of local and national importance.

I had the opportunity to recognize Dr. Anne Innis Dagge, the women who loved giraffes, a pioneering zoologist, ground-breaking biologist, animal rights activist, feminist, and professor.

She leaves a legacy for all of us in the Anne Innis Dagg Foundation, dedicated to promoting the harmonious coexistence of humans and wildlife, and built on Anne’s belief that we should treat people, animals, and their habitats with the same respect.

Interestingly, on the same day I recognized Dr. Dagg, I joined a session in Ottawa with Dr. Jane Goodall at which she delivered a similar message. In good news, the government is moving forward with legislation that better protects animals in captivity, built on the Jane Goodall Act that I’d been a part of working to advance.

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Uncommons podcast

Since our last update, we’ve focused the podcast on the disability benefit in conversations with Green Party MP Mike Morrice and with Daily Bread Food Bank CEO Neil Hetherington. Economist Trevor Tombe joined me to talk about taxes (carbon and capital gains) and productivity. And Conservative MP Marilyn Gladu joined me to talk about civil liberties.

We have a number of interesting episodes coming up, including one focused on the university encampments/protests, a conversation with Conservative MP Arnold Viersen about pornography, and the two in-person recordings with Mo Shuriye and Dr. Jane Philpott.

We’re also working to schedule a podcast with the Prime Minister. So send in your questions for that one.

In Parliament

At committee, I’ve been a part of the study into the Winnipeg Labs fiasco, during which the CSIS director told me that the Public Health Agency of Canada acted “expeditiously” in managing the situation. In another interesting exchange with the CSIS director, I asked questions about the threat of lab leaks and also about the assassination on Canadian soil authorized by India’s spy agency.

More recently, I engaged at committee with Human Rights Watch about what more we can do to strengthen rules and ensure company supply chains are not complicit in human rights violations.

Outside of committee, I’ll continue to advance public conversations about wealth inequality, drug policy reform, and more. For example, you can see my question here to Mark Carney on wealth inequality, covered in The Star here. And I’ve been engaged with Stats Can about the ways in which they improve reporting on wealth inequality.

While conservatives rage about woke paper lids and plant-based ice cream, I’ll continue to do my best to bring issues that matter to Parliament and our public debate.

In the community

It’s been nice to attend a wide range of different events in recent weeks. Amy and I celebrated Woodgreen at Massey Hall, my office team joined me to volunteer at a seniors’ pop-up market, I attended Eid prayer (my 10th year) in Dentonia Park, helped open the season at the Kew Beach Lawn Bowling Club, and celebrated the Nepali new year with friends at Srijansil Nepali Samaj.

In addition to an ongoing presence in the community, I’m also working to be more present for my kids. On that front, the East York baseball season will soon be underway, and I’m helping to coach Mack’s team.

As always, if there’s an event you think I should be at in our community, or if there are issues or ideas you want me to raise in Ottawa, please be in touch. You can reach me and my team at info@beynate.ca.

Nate

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The policies have been focused mostly on housing so far, returning to the theme of fairness that we ran on in 2015 and that has motivated much of the agenda since then.

As the Ford government walks away from any housing ambition here in Ontario, it’s especially important to see the federal Liberals really lean into this now, pushing municipalities and provinces to end restrictive zoning and more. All hands on deck.

Staying on the fairness theme, I joined a policy announcement earlier this week to set our kids up to succeed with a healthy school food program. Too many families are struggling in the face of affordability and this is a commitment we made in 2021.

Special mention to the Coalition for Healthy School Food and all of the advocates who helped to make this a reality. I submitted the idea through our platform process back in 2018, so it was good to be there for the announcement.

Of course, the budget is more of a look ahead, and this update is intended to look back at the last couple of months.

In Parliament, we saw a heightened debate on the war in Gaza and most MPs (not Conservatives) call for a ceasefire and an immediate expansion of humanitarian assistance, among other measures. Most recently, the Prime Minister raised serious concerns about the Israeli airstrike that killed a Canadian citizen and aid worker.

Parliament otherwise saw repeated lies about pollution pricing and climate action, and a doomed vote to implement a citizens’ assembly on electoral reform.

I wrote about all three here:

In a total moment of absurdity, a Conservative MP referenced the communist manifesto, called me “diabolical,” and went down a rabbit hole of bug-eating conspiracy theories, all in response to my bill that requires the government to table a pandemic prevention and preparedness plan in Parliament. I’ll write more on that later, with my bill up for a vote at 3rd reading in May.

The government also tabled bills to address online harms, ban scab labour, phase in pharmacare, and better protect animals. And childcare legislation received royal assent. So there’s a lot going on.

Outside of Parliament, it’s been good to be back in our east end, spending time with constituents at community events, and volunteering with my office team at local initiatives.

Serious climate action

Ask yourself a simple question: do you want serious climate action in this country?

The Conservatives don’t. And cynically, they are using a real but unrelated affordability crisis to undermine any consensus to act.

In addition to this speech in the House of Commons, this lengthy rant, and this talk radio interview, we also focused the Uncommons podcast on climate policy, including episodes with Minister Steven Guilbeault and NDP Environment Critic Laurel Collins.

Getting housing built

Minister Fraser also joined me on the podcast to discuss how to get more housing built, how the LPC and CPC plans compare, and how to communicate progress given the scale of the challenge ahead.

All levels of government need to deliver ambition and work together if we’re going to meet the challenge of generational fairness and realize housing as a human right.

As promised in the last update, our federal government came to the table in a serious way to support the city’s shelter system. I was subsequently joined by Mayor Chow on the Uncommons podcast to talk about her own budget efforts and how we can continue to collaborate.

Most of the steps we’re looking at are supply-side, but the government has also taken some steps to address the demand side, including by curbing the unsustainable growth of the international student program. I wrote about that here:

In our Community

I’m looking forward to being back in Dentonia Park next week to celebrate Eid with so many in our local Muslim community.

Just as it was amazing to be back in the Easter parade, the streets lined with so many smiling kids. Mack was initially skeptical of being in the parade for fear of missing out on candy, but he really got into it in the end.

I also had the chance to spend time with our Bangladeshi community for International Mother Language Day (the first since Parliament officially recognized IMLD), and at a flag-raising at City Hall to recognize Bangladeshi independence.

And of course, Winter Stations brought thousands of people (including my family) to the beach in the cold weather to check out the amazing public art.

As we work out a schedule for future community events, I also want to recognize Dr. Anne Innis Dagg, the woman who loved giraffes. She passed away recently, having spent a lifetime making an incredible impact in advancing both research and equality. She was also kind with her time, joining us years ago in conversation and for a screening of the doc about her (from local filmmaker Alison Reid).

As always, if there’s an event you think I should be at, or an issue you’d like me to raise in Ottawa, you can always reach me at info@beynate.ca.

Nate

On my end, having taken some time to reflect on the provincial race, it’s good to be refocused on federal politics for the remainder of the current Parliament.

In the House, we’re still debating the Fall Economic Statement, which focused on getting housing built (removing GST on rental construction, and $1 billion for social housing, etc.), and addressing affordability concerns (strengthening competition, stabilizing grocery prices, etc.).

With a more immediate impact on affordability, the dental care benefit continues to roll out this year to seniors on a staggered schedule, with all seniors eligible in May. Children under 18 and people with disabilities (with a valid DTC certificate) will be eligible in June. And the program will be open to everyone by 2025.

Through the coming budget, the government will hopefully continue to advance affordability initiatives by realizing its promises with respect to the Canada Disability Benefit and a national school food program, and by expanding its work to get housing built. Most recently, for example, Minister Fraser made low-interest loans available to colleges and universities to build more student housing.

Related, and speaking of colleges and universities, Minister Miller recently announced a two-year cap on student permits. We’ve seen an unsustainable growth in the number of international students to make up for consistent provincial underfunding for higher education. To put it simply: provinces need to step up and provide sustainable funding.

As I mentioned in my last update, I plan to write more this session. I expect to write in the coming weeks on a range of topics, including international students, the price on pollution, and electoral reform.

You can find my recent writing below, including on the subject of assisted dying (the government has now further delayed its expansion), the ICJ case and war in Gaza, and why our government has been and will continue to be a strong partner for the City of Toronto.

In question period, and in the media, both Jagmeet Singh and Pierre Poilievre have been questioning what federal MPs have delivered for Toronto.

The answer is over $5.5 billion since 2015, for transit, housing, its shelter system, public health, and to rescue its operations from COVID shortfalls. More than any other federal government.

Just this week, Minister Miller announced an additional $362 million to support housing and asylum seekers in affected regions, and I’ll be joining Mayor Chow and federal colleagues soon to announce Toronto’s portion.

Mayor Chow will also be joining me for the Uncommons podcast this weekend to do a deeper dive into federal/city cooperation. So send me your questions!

Earlier this month, we restarted the podcast through conversations with MP Yasir Naqvi, and Bellingcat founder Eliot Higgins. And we plan to post at least on a bi-weekly basis, so keep sending your suggestions for guests and topics.

As always, if there’s an issue or idea you want to advocate for, get in touch at info@beynate.ca.

Locally, it was great to see so many different people at our winter welcome and levee events. I’m looking forward to celebrating Black History Month and International Mother Language Day in February.

- Nate