5 Things posted Apr 24, 2026 @ 08:00am by Iain Burns

5 things you need to know this morning: April 24, 2026

Start your day off right with five things you need to know this morning.

Five things you need to know

1. Ottawa approves Enbridge's $4B natural gas pipeline expansion

The federal government has approved an expansion of Enbridge's natural gas pipeline system, with the firm given the green light for its $4 billion Sunrise project in British Columbia. It means Enbridge can now get started on building an additional 139 kilometres of pipeline, allowing for the pumping of an extra 300 million cubic feet a day of natural gas.

The Government of Canada approves the Sunrise Expansion Programhttps://t.co/lItGptJsFU
— GC Newsroom (@NewsroomGC) April 24, 2026

2. Ambassador says US 'too important' to abandon, says Canadians 'think about' Americans 'every day'

Ambassador to the US Mark Wiseman has said Canada's relationship with the US is "too important" to abandon as rhetoric from both sides heats up ahead of the July 1 deadline on the next step for the CUSMA trade deal. Wiseman, who was chastised by the prime minister and other politicians on Thursday for failing to use French, said Canada's relationship with the US is "too big an advantage to us" to walk away from and claimed Canadians "wake up and think about [the US] every day," adding: "I think at times we have to look below the bluster."

Canada-U.S. ties ‘too important’ to abandon over trade tensions, envoy says - National | https://t.co/lcrtCM2Mgl https://t.co/xfhV5uy9zv
— Dave Agar (@dave1agar) April 23, 2026

3. O'Toole says Poilievre needs to 'moderate' his views, abandon 'influencers'

Former Tory leader Erin O'Toole has claimed his successor, Pierre Poilievre, needs to "moderate" some of his positions "to reach out to more Canadians." O'Toole, who lost the 2021 election to Justin Trudeau's Liberals and attracted about 2.3 million fewer votes that Poilievre's Tories in 2025, said: "If you look at what the Liberals have done with Mark Carney, they have a leader who is more to the centre, centre-right." O'Toole also hit out at what he described as "influencers," adding: "Ignore all those so-called influencers. They’re going to guarantee you a loss in the next election."

O’Toole was also extremely critical of the CPC’e embrace of social media influencers

“Some of the influencers within the conservative movement now are the biggest gifts to the Liberal Party I’ve ever seen. Ignore all those so-called influencers. They’re going to guarantee you a… https://t.co/0fHEvVrL75
— Mackenzie Gray (@Gray_Mackenzie) April 23, 2026

4. About $300B of tariffed goods entered US via Mexico and other countries: report

Close to $300 billion of tariffed goods have entered the US via the likes of Mexico and Vietnam, according to a report released on Thursday, with Chinese products simply being moved through countries with which the US has trade deals. Supply chain firm Altana said: "Millions of USMCA-bound shipments containing goods with travel consistent with rerouting and tariff circumvention have been registered since the agreement was ratified in 2020." The report comes as US officials have become increasingly vocal about their frustrations with the USMCA/CUSMA deal, which they have repeatedly said is abused by outside parties.

About $300 billion worth of goods subject to Trump administration tariffs are avoiding the levies annually and reaching the US from Southeast Asia and Mexico https://t.co/3Xn7X8Zmxz
— Bloomberg (@business) April 23, 2026

5. Guilbeault urges Carney to commit to carbon taxes on oil

Former Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault has urged Mark Carney to commit to carbon taxes on Canada's oil industry and not allow changes to the system that could "drag us all backward." Writing in the Toronto Star, the left-wing environmental activist said: "Done properly, the final agreement [with Alberta] could propel Canada forward as a clean energy powerhouse, where every province and region benefits." He added that, without increases to the carbon tax, the "carbon capture and storage proposal, known as Pathways, will never see the light of day." Guilbeault also said it was crucial for Ottawa to discourage the use of natural gas in electricity generation via the Clean Electricity Regulations.

I'm a former minister of the environment and climate change. Mark Carney and Danielle Smith are about to define Canada’s climate future https://t.co/hmVeWUVDGR via @stcatstandard
— The St. Catharines Standard (@StCatStandard) April 23, 2026