Start your day off right with five things you need to know this morning.
Five things you need to know
US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has attacked Mark Carney with a not-so-subtle dig about "middle powers banding together." Hegseth, who laid into NATO countries on Thursday, said: "Some of NATO’s largest economies, some of the richest countries, allies that are happiest to go on about the rules-based international order and middle powers banding together, still seem to think the era of free riding is here." It's the latest in a series of attacks on Canada from the US over military spending, with the Trump administration having repeatedly accused Canada of not showing a "credible path" to spending five per cent of its GDP on defence.
Hegseth slams NATO and ‘middle powers’ talk, launches Europe troop review - National | https://t.co/kDBNWPOX0f https://t.co/TR4Sl4N0rG
— Nancy Crouse (@Nancy_Crouse) June 19, 2026
Italy prime minister, meanwhile, has slammed Donald Trump as a liar, claiming the US president "completely made up" a story about her having "begged" him for a photograph at this week's G7 summit. Giorgia Meloni also laid into the president for failing to "how the same determination with the enemies of the West and of the United States, whose leaders he instead treats with far greater indulgence." Trump, after a short meeting with Meloni, told media: "She's probably happy I talked to her. I didn't have to talk to her. She begged me to take a picture with her. She wanted a picture with me so badly. I wouldn't have taken it, but I felt sorry for her."
Italy's Meloni says Trump 'totally invented' story that she begged him for photo'https://t.co/3nGGSleFoc https://t.co/sGDWn3K74N
— Sandy Eggo (@Fronterakid) June 19, 2026
Canada's hard-working MPs have now begun their three-month vacation after the House of Commons wrapped up its spring sitting on Thursday. Liberal House Leader Steve McKinnon, speaking on Thursday, used his last appearance of the session to attack the Conservative Party for what he said were "conspiracies" and "tinfoil hats" when it comes to the Opposition's demand for more scrutiny of the government's highly controversial "lawful access" Bill C-22. Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, meanwhile, complained about "gathering forces that affront democracy itself in this place" and urged Canadians to write to their MPs to let them know they're upset with the Liberal Party.
MPs pass spending bill, opt to head home for summer break https://t.co/lmgQoIwLqG
— CTV News (@CTVNews) June 18, 2026
Activists have accused the Liberal Party of "turning its back on people who are experiencing human rights violations" after Mark Carney revealed last week he had shut down an office designed to look into forced labour involving Canadian firms overseas. Aidan Gilchrist-Blackwood, head of the Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability, said: “There is a real absence of any mechanisms with teeth that can hold our companies up to the kind of human rights standards that are required."
Advocates attack Carney government's elimination of ombudsperson for forced labour https://t.co/8VRiBY5W6h
— BNN Bloomberg (@BNNBloomberg) June 19, 2026
A "foreign entity" was behind shootings at synagogues in Canada, Liberal MP Ruby Sahota – the secretary of state responsible for combatting crime – has told the House of Commons. Sahota explained that the perpetrators of the shootings were hired and paid by foreign countries. It comes after Toronto's police chief said this week that: "Through encrypted messaging apps, young people are hired to carry out attacks against various targets. And in order to get paid, they’re required to film their attacks."
Ruby Sahota "Take for example the shootings at the synagogues that have just happened recently."
— cbcwatcher (@cbcwatcher) June 18, 2026
"Those shooters were paid for hires... hired by a foreign entity." @rubysahotalib https://t.co/4RcG24KlsZ pic.twitter.com/HaeF6GeiUG
