Start your day off right with five things you need to know this morning.
Five things you need to know
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer has reportedly told senior Canadian officials – including Canada's ambassador to the US – that US-Canada trade will not return to how it was before the re-election of Donald Trump, but the two countries could work closely on energy. According to an article published by the Canadian Press news agency, Greer said the US wants to work with Canada on minerals and energy but warned Ottawa not to use those resources as leverage. He also said Canada is committed to a "green energy transition," which is rubbing against the US's very different strategy. Separately, President Trump has approved the Bridger Pipeline expansion, which Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has said will mean the sale of an additional 500,000 barrels of oil a day to the US.
Trump’s trade czar says U.S. looking to work with Canada on energy: sources https://t.co/53H5NKfMUd
— BOE Report (@BOEReport) April 30, 2026
Canadians are in despair about the state of the country's fortunes, according to a new poll, with 67 per cent of respondents saying the economy is on the wrong track and 72 per cent saying they don't expect things to get better any time soon. The Canada Pulse survey was conducted ahead of the Liberals' spring economic update, in which the government announced a gigantic $66.9 billion deficit. “The attitude of Canadians is at a contrary level to where the government presented its economic statement the other day," John Wright, from Canada Pulse, explained.
Majority of Canadians believe national economy is on the wrong track: poll. https://t.co/GtDokFfxKP
— CityNews Toronto (@CityNewsTO) May 1, 2026
As if to hammer the above point home, CBC News has published a report looking at data that show how hard it is for Canadians to buy a home. Speaking to mortgage broker Ron Butler, the national broadcaster was told that "in Ontario before 2015, a family making $115,000 a year 'had a shot' at home ownership," but now: "A $115,000 income earner, they really can't buy anything." The report found that an income of $224,400 was needed to buy a home in Vancouver, $193,600 in Toronto and $132,100 in Ottawa.
Work your whole life to get a top 12%-13% income in Canada?
— Tablesalt 🇨🇦🇺🇸 (@Tablesalt13) May 1, 2026
Still can't buy a home.
Canada is broken for anyone under the age of 35. pic.twitter.com/zG1UGVvsks
Canada is yet to leave "the locker room" when it comes to the global artificial intelligence race, according to the former CEO of BlackBerry. Jim Balsillie told a Commons committee on Thursday that Canada's economic strategy is "rooted in the 1970s." Asked what grade he'd give the Liberal government, he said: "I would score it as ‘did not attend.'” Balsillie later added: "Nobody’s going to look after Canada. Nobody’s going to be our economic partner, because nobody is anybody’s economic partner in this system; it has to be us that looks after ourselves, and I’ve not seen a country with more potential do less attention to this than Canada."
Jim Balsillie said he would grade the federal government's performance on AI over the last year as "did not attend."https://t.co/L4OV1BxSrW
— Globalnews.ca (@globalnews) April 30, 2026
A former Liberal MP and competitor in the party's 2013 leadership election – ultimately won by Justin Trudeau – has called on the Carney government to "postpone" the $16.5 billion Pathways carbon capture project that the prime minister has imposed as a condition for approval of a new oil pipeline. Martha Hall Findlay, a prominent net zero activist who helped create the Oil Sands Pathways to Net Zero Alliance's carbon capture project, wrote in a Globe and Mail opinion article that: "The world – and the facts – have changed dramatically." She added that the carbon capture project "will not generate revenue, only significant cost – with, frankly, a negligible effect on global emissions ... Canada contributes only about 1.3 per cent of global greenhouse-gas emissions; we must be realistic about what Canada can effectively do to help what is a global challenge. The oil sands contribute about 12.4 per cent of Canada’s total emissions – a grand total of about 0.16 per cent of global greenhouse gases. The proposed phase one of the Pathways CCUS project would likely reduce global emissions by less than 0.02 per cent, at a cost of billions."
Opinion: Canada should back away from carbon capture and storage and focus on infrastructure like pipelines https://t.co/S9dTKLYYJk
— The Globe and Mail (@globeandmail) May 1, 2026
