Start your day off right with five things you need to know this morning.
Five things you need to know
The Liberals have abandoned another one of their controversial policies, this time the electric vehicle sales mandate that many people – including auto firm bosses and Ontario Premier Doug Ford – have long warned threatened to destroy Canada's car industry. Mark Carney said he was replacing the mandate with "stronger greenhouse gas emissions standards," and also reintroducing the $5,000 subsidy for Canadians who buy EVs.
LIVE: Transforming Canada’s auto sector • EN DIRECT : Transformer le secteur automobile canadien https://t.co/c2lnjJywCG
— Mark Carney (@MarkJCarney) February 5, 2026
The Parliamentary Budget Officer has said the Liberals' pledge to spend the equivalent of five per cent of Canada's GDP on defence will cost the country an extra $33.5 billion a year. In a release this morning, the watchdog said that will mean the federal budget deficit – most recently estimated to be about $78 billion – will grow by an extra $63 billion by 2035-36.
Budget watchdog says NATO 5% pledge to hike deficit by $63B https://t.co/CWiHs22Y35
— CTV News (@CTVNews) February 5, 2026
Exactly half of Canadians either don't have a family doctor or have one but struggle to gain access, according to a new analysis from the Angus Reid Institute. The think tank found that, since 2015, the proportion of Canadians in that position has increased by nearly 25 per cent (from 40 per cent to 50 per cent).
JD Vance has accused European leaders of lying about the significance of concessions they made to the US over Greenland. The American vice president said: "The idea that they haven't made any accommodations or concessions to the United States, it's not true." It comes after Vance's boss, Donald Trump, precipitously dropped his noisy public campaign to annex Greenland, claiming he had settled the matter to the US's advantage. Critics, however, said the president had won no concessions.
Europeans don't admit Greenland concessions, JD Vance says https://t.co/GvA3qrsZta
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) February 5, 2026
Employment in Canada's public sector dramatically outstripped the private sector between 2015 and 2024, according to a new analysis from the Fraser Institute. The think tank said the public sector grew by 27 per cent, while the private sector grew by only 13.4 per cent.
