Start your day off right with five things you need to know this morning.
Five things you need to know
Mark Carney has made the short trip to an Ottawa grocery store this morning to announce a temporary 25 per cent hike to the GST credit (which the Liberals have now renamed the "Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit") as part of his efforts to make life more affordable. The prime minister also said his government will spend $500 million to help firms "address the costs of supply chain disruptions," $150 million to create an entity called the "Food Security Fund," $20 million to support food banks and "immediate expensing" for greenhouses to support "increased domestic supply and investment in food production."
Prime Minister Mark Carney is unveiling a hike to the GST credit of 25 per cent to help lower-income consumers deal with the high cost of groceries across the country. https://t.co/SmpiFAPVsp
— CityNews Toronto (@CityNewsTO) January 26, 2026
Carney's announcement comes after the CEO of Food Banks Canada warned that the country's hunger crisis is "shocking," with 2.2 million visits by people in need of free food in March 2025. Kirsten Beardsley said a third of all food bank users are children, representing close to 712,000 visits each month. “It speaks to how vulnerable we are as a country now," she said.
#WATCH: CEO Of Food Bank Canada Says The Country Is Facing A Food Insecurity Crisis That Can No Longer Be Treated As A Background Issue. — Calls For Urgent Government Action After Record Breaking 2.2 Million Visits A Month, Including 712,000 Children.
— 401_da_sarpanch (@401_da_sarpanch) January 25, 2026
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Lurking in the background as ever, meanwhile, is Donald Trump, who was thinking a lot about Canada over the weekend. The American president said China is "successfully and completely taking over the once Great Country of Canada," adding: "So sad to see it happen." Trump also said Canada is "systematically destroying itself" and damned Mark Carney's deal with China as "a disaster." Confusingly, however, the president also said that "Governor Carney" is "sorely mistaken" if he thinks Canada can build a closer relationship with China, warning of 100% tariffs on Canadian products heading into the US should that happen. He added: "The last thing the World needs is to have China take over Canada. It’s NOT going to happen, or even come close to happening!" Asked about the comments today, Carney spoke again about "controlling what we can control" and called Trump "a strong negotiator."
Carney today responded with a little more vigour to a different comment made by the US president: that non-US troops who helped the Americans fight the Taliban in Afghanistan had avoided the front lines. The remark caused a near-instant media and political frenzy in the UK, but wasn't immediately picked up in Canada. This morning, however, Carney highlighted the 158 deaths suffered by Canada in Afghanistan, hailing the troops' "extraordinary contribution." Trump later walked back his comments by lavishing praise on the British military, but said nothing new about Canada or other NATO countries.
“We are fundamentally grateful for the extraordinary contributions of the men and women of the Canadian Armed Forces in a variety of theatres, including—very much—Afghanistan,” says PM Carney when asked re: U.S. President Trump's claim NATO allies avoided front lines.
— CPAC (@CPAC_TV) January 26, 2026
#cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/4nXaNgYuUm
Canada's hardworking MPs – whose starting salary is about five times that of the soldiers expected to kill and die for the country in the likes of Afghanistan – are back at their relentless toil today as Parliament reopens following a six-week holiday that began on Dec. 11. In 2025 as a whole, Canada's heroic parliamentarians had to suffer extraordinarily harsh working conditions, with vacations amounting to only a little over seven months.
The Liberals can anticipate pressure from opposition MPs demanding to know what the government will do to help Canadians who are losing their jobs and battling to put food on the table. #affordabilityhttps://t.co/pLg9upqvrZ
— 980 CJME (@CJMENews) January 26, 2026
