Latest News

Hill Times - Alex Neve Opinion: Time to close the U.S. arms export loophole

Prime Minister Mark Carney talks about pragmatic principles, but Canada’s weapons exports to the United States tell a different story.

This sitting, Parliament will vote on the No More Loopholes Act, a private member’s bill introduced by NDP MP Jenny Kwan. The legislation would tighten up our arms export processes, and finally require American-bound arms to be regulated the same way as all other Canadian military exports, subjecting them to transparency requirements and human rights risk assessments.

Carney has insisted that Canada must apply consistent standards and lead with its values. This is a true test of that claim.

If this country is serious that our way forward must and will be “principled and pragmatic” then the path we must walk is clear: close the U.S. arms export loophole. Subject all Canadian weapons exports to the same scrutiny. And stop pretending that selectivity is a form of principled foreign policy.

This is where the rubber hits the road. Will Prime Minister Carney contend with the world as it is, with principles at the fore? Or will he continue to capitulate to hegemons and arm their atrocities?

Hill Times: Housing Minister Robertson ‘well regarded’ for municipal background, but needs a vision for housing, say sector experts

NDP MP Jenny Kwan (Vancouver East, B.C.), her party’s housing critic, told The Hill Times that Build Canada Homes has no minimum requirements for affordability in its projects, and that only the six sites that the government has announced will achieve affordability.

“Without setting specific targets at Build Canada Homes, there is no guarantee of affordability in future projects. According to CMHC [the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation], to retain housing affordability at 2019 levels, 430,000 to 480,000 new housing units need to be built annually over the next decade,” said Kwan in an emailed statement on Jan. 22. “CMHC will be cut by $860-million per year according to the Parliamentary Budget Office. The government should commit to increasing Canada’s share of non-market housing to a target of 20 per cent nationally to make truly affordable housing available to all. The Liberal and Conservative approach of relying on the private market has consistently failed to bring down costs. Build Canada Homes is no different.”

The Hill Times reached out to Robertson to ask about housing and measures to address the housing crisis, including Build Canada Homes and Bill C-4, but did not receive a response by press time.

Kwan said she and Robertson “get along personally, but that’s irrelevant to the housing crisis that Canadians face from coast to coast to coast.”

“Build Canada Homes was supposed to signal a ‘new era’ of federal action. But the PBO shows it will produce only 26,000 units over five years—a 2.1 per cent bump in completions when we need transformative investment. The prime minister talks about doubling housing construction, but the PBO is clear: there is no roadmap, no strategy, no coherent plan to deliver it,” she said in the email. “We need real federal leadership that takes a continuum-of-housing approach—sustained public investment, non-market housing at scale, and a commitment to treating housing as a human right, not a speculative asset.”

Click image or link to read the news story - https://www.hilltimes.com/story/2026/01/28/housing-minister-robertson-well-regarded-for-municipal-background-but-needs-a-vision-for-housing-say-housing-experts/489512/

Nunatsiaq News: New Democrats do Nunavut

The federal NDP caucus met in Rankin Inlet last week for its winter retreat. The party’s MPs were treated to Nunavummiut hospitality, endured blizzards and heard about the challenges of living in the North, interim party Leader Don Davies said in an interview Monday.

“I’ve spoken to a few people who said that when you go North, you start falling in love with it,” he said.

It was the Vancouver-area politician’s first time in Nunavut. Davies has been interim NDP leader since the party’s former head Jagmeet Singh lost his House of Commons seat in last April’s election.

New Democrats are expected to choose a new leader at a convention in late March.

Generally, the NDP holds a caucus retreat a week before a parliamentary sitting. For this year’s winter retreat, its MPs chose Rankin Inlet. Parliament resumed Monday, following a six-week break that began before Christmas.

One purpose of the retreat is to get to know the people and places that make up their constituencies, Davies said.

Members spent the week meeting with community leaders and members.

Nunavut MP Lori Idlout couldn’t attend the first day because a winter storm prevented her plane from landing, she said Monday.

Her fellow MPs sat for several presentations she said were “received very well” and that helped inform them about “some of the realities that Nunavummiut experience,” Idlout said.

Davies said the issues faced by the rest of Canada seem to be “experienced more acutely in the North.”

“Learning about the history, the traditions, the pride of the Inuit, and everybody else who has made the North their home was really striking. It was eye-opening,” Davies said.

“We have housing problems in the rest of Canada, but nowhere else, I don’t think, is it as serious as we experienced in Rankin.”

Nunavummiut homes are often overcrowded. Residents told MPs they had been on housing waitlists for more than 10 years, Davies said.

Click image or link to read the news story - https://nunatsiaq.com/stories/article/new-democrats-do-nunavut/

Island Social Trend: NDP MPs visit Nunavut ahead of 2026 House of Commons session

Before heading back to Ottawa for the upcoming session of the House of Commons, several New Democrat MPs spent a few days in Rankin Inlet to meet with Nunavummiut and hear directly from them about their priorities.

“I am proud to welcome my NDP colleagues to Nunavut, and for them to see firsthand the issues northerners are facing,” said NDP MP for Nunavut, Lori Idlout.

She hosted three MPs whose ridings are in BC: NDP Leader Don Davies (Vancouver Kingsway), Jenny Kwan (Vancouver East) and Gord Johns (Courtenay-Alberni).

“New Democrats are committed to hearing from community members and working with them to bring solutions to Ottawa,” said Idlout in an NDP news release on January 19.

“Throughout the country, families are facing a lack of affordable homes, high cost of food, and a need for more family- and community-sustaining jobs,” said Davies.

Click image or link to read the news story - https://islandsocialtrends.ca/ndp-mps-visit-nunavut-ahead-of-2026-house-of-commons-session/

Open Letter: Continue funding for 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence

CBC: NDP MPs hear local concerns as caucus meeting gets underway in Nunavut

The temperature, though relatively mild for the Kivalliq region in January, also caught some of the NDP's Vancouver MPs a bit off guard.

"The minute you came out of the plane you felt immediately the difference between communities," said Vancouver East MP Jenny Kwan. "The wind, the cold was something that I have never experienced in all of my life."

Rankin Inlet Mayor Harry Towtongie said it's good to see southern politicians get a taste of the issues his community faces.

Click image or link to read the news story - https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/ndp-mps-hear-local-concerns-as-caucus-meeting-gets-underway-in-nunavut-9.7054586

Hill Times: Warming Canada-China relations shouldn’t extend to Huawei ban, say security experts, parliamentarians

After Prime Minister Mark Carney inked a new trading arrangement with China during his state visit last week, stakeholders are advising against revisiting the government’s 5G ban on Huawei.

As thawing bilateral relations between Canada and China produce new trading partnerships on electric vehicles and agricultural products, it would “not be wise” for Prime Minister Mark Carney to revisit the government’s 5G ban on the Chinese telecoms firm Huawei, according to former Canadian Security Intelligence Service director Ward Elcock.

“There’s an important security rationale behind keeping them off the 5G network,” Elcock, who led CSIS from 1994 to 2004, told The Hill Times. “If you allow a foreign communications network into your system, then you’re creating holes and gaps.”

“I don’t think it should be on the table … and I’d be very surprised if it is.”

Carney’s (Nepean, Ont.) trip to China last week marked the first time a Canadian prime minister had visited the nation in more than eight years. Following then-prime minister Justin Trudeau’s state visit in 2017, Canada-China relations deteriorated after the 2018 arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver, B.C., which was followed by China’s imprisonment of Canadian citizens Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor.

NDP MP Jenny Kwan (Vancouver East, B.C.) said she believes Huawei should not be “on the table” during the government’s trip to China, but she’s concerned about what she calls a developing pattern of the Liberals engaging with nations “where there are indications of concern.”

“I see the Carney administration setting aside human rights violations and Canada’s national security, and putting all of that on the back burner,” said Kwan, who herself has been victimized by suspected Chinese foreign interference. “Carney is actively pursuing these countries that have been flagged as a deep concern for Canada.”

Click image or link to read the news story - https://www.hilltimes.com/story/2026/01/20/warming-canada-china-relations-shouldnt-extend-to-huawei-ban-say-security-experts-parliamentarians/488278/

Toronto Star: Their loved ones died waiting for Canada to let them in. Now they’re pleading on behalf of others from Sudan

New Democrat MP and immigration critic Jenny Kwan said the community faces not only an onerous application process and financial pressures to sponsor loved ones but is also competing against Hong Kongers fleeing Communist China and Ukrainians seeking protection from the Russian invasion.

Not only has Ottawa reduced the humanitarian permanent residence spots from 10,000 last year to 6,900 in 2026 and 5,000 for 2027 and 2028, Kwan said it is now processing all these applications on a first-in, first-out basis. That means Sudanese would be processed last because both the Hong Kong and Ukrainian pathways were launched earlier, she added.

Sudanese applicants “are not here in Canada waiting for their permanent residence status,” Kwan told the Toronto news conference. She projected it would take about 13 years to process all these Sudanese files. 

“They’re in a war zone trying to get to safety. The government needs to act with the commensurate urgency in bringing those families to safety.”

Click image or link to read the news - https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/sudanese-resettlement-in-canada/article_4e2dcacd-24cd-4a77-bcdb-e80e27526da8.html

The Hub: Trump says corporations are buying up homes. Is it happening in Canada?

When U.S. President Donald Trump announced his plans to block institutional investors like Blackstone and Invitation Homes from buying up single-family homes, he spurred renewed interest from Canadians wondering if giant hedge funds are also buying up homes in this country, contributing to the ongoing housing crisis.

On January 7, Google Trends showed the top search queries in Canada related to Trump were tied to his single-family homes decree and how that related to the Canadian real estate market. The fringe People’s Party of Canada X account claimed “foreign multinationals” were buying up homes in Canada. Popular YouTuber Moose on The Loose posted a video with over 144,000 views claiming corporate ownership of homes has driven up the prices of homes in Canada. NDP housing critic Jenny Kwan alleged that we are witnessing the “financialization of housing” in Canada, calling for a moratorium on corporations purchasing new properties.

But what’s the actual truth? And what’s the current situation in Canada when it comes to investors buying up real estate and contributing to driving up housing costs?

Click image or link to read the news story - https://thehub.ca/2026/01/15/trump-says-corporations-are-buying-up-housing-is-it-happening-in-canada/

Media Release: Canada’s “Promise of Safety” for Sudanese Families Is Failing — Delays Have Cost Lives

Sudanese Canadian families, joined by Member of Parliament Jenny Kwan and community advocates, held a press conference today to denounce what they describe as a false promise by the federal government to reunite families and bring them to safety, as prolonged immigration processing delays continue to result in preventable deaths.
Families shared testimony of parents, children, and relatives who died while waiting for Canadian immigration approvals—despite having submitted applications under Canada’s Sudan family reunification and humanitarian pathways.