5 Things posted May 23, 2025 @ 08:00am by Iain Burns

5 things you need to know this morning: May 23, 2025

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

Five things you need to know

1. Analysts say Liberals wrong to not want house prices to fall

Commentators and analysts have weighed in on Housing Minister Gregor Robertson's statement that he doesn't want house prices to come down. Mike Moffat of the Missing Middle Institute said: "It's simply not possible to restore broad-based affordability to the middle class without prices going down." Moshe Lander, an economist at Concordia University, added that prices must come down, but that "homeowners will not accept" any government effort to bring that about.

Ottawa has to allow home prices to fall to make housing more affordable, experts say https://t.co/lo4yR6x4Qw
— CityNews Kitchener (@CityNewsKIT) May 23, 2025

2. US senators, including Hillary's former running mate, to meet with Carney in Ottawa

Prime Minister Mark Carney is set to meet with a quintet of US senators in Ottawa today. The one Republican and four Democratic representatives – including Hillary Clinton's 2016 running mate, Tim Kaine – are expected to discuss defence and trade, and have stressed the "deep and bipartisan support" for strong US–Canada relations.

A delegation of U.S. senators is in Ottawa to meet with Prime Minister Carney https://t.co/CZ5YAvvzJ7
— CTV National News (@CTVNationalNews) May 23, 2025

3. Tory MP submits petition to end temporary foreign worker program

A Tory MP has launched a petition to end the temporary foreign worker program that has caused so much controversy. Jamil Jivani said the scheme is a "large contributor" to unsustainable levels of immigration and that it suppresses wages across Canada, a point also made by former prime minister Justin Trudeau.

Conservative MP Jamil Jivani launches petition to end temporary foreign worker program https://t.co/TLa4fJAfwA pic.twitter.com/XzsyrBmxgU
— Toronto Sun (@TheTorontoSun) May 23, 2025

4. Most Canadians understand why Alberta might want to leave Canada, poll suggests

A poll from Leger suggests the majority (55 per cent) of Canadians can understand why Alberta might want to separate from Canada. Among Albertans themselves, the figure was 70 per cent, but only 26 per cent of the national respondents said they support the idea of Alberta's departure.

More than half of Canadians say they understand Alberta separatism: poll https://t.co/l2RYTvxPfa
— insauga (@insauga) May 23, 2025

5. Trump threatens 50% tariff on EU, 'at least' 25% tariff on iPhones

US President Donald Trump has threatened to put a 50 per cent tariff on all goods from the EU, complaining that "our discussions with them are going nowhere." He also said he'd put a tariff of "at least" 25 per cent on iPhones that aren't made in the US.