Parliament resumed Wednesday with a wave of fresh energy — and fresh faces — as newly elected Prime Minister Mark Carney took his seat in the House of Commons for the first time, promising swift action on a key campaign pledge: cutting the bottom income tax bracket by one percentage point.
The return to Ottawa marks the beginning of a new political chapter. Speaker Francis Scarpaleggia took the chair for the first time, overseeing a House now composed of 343 sworn-in members, roughly a third of whom are newly elected MPs.
Among the new arrivals is Carney himself, who rose for the first time in the Commons just one day after King Charles delivered the speech from the throne to formally open the new session of Parliament.
Noticeably absent from this historic sitting was longtime Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, who failed to win re-election in April, marking the first time in two decades he will not take a seat in the House. Former party leader Andrew Scheer has stepped in to lead the Conservative caucus in the Commons.
With a minority government now in power, the Liberals are expected to prioritize their tax cut proposal as one of the first legislative actions of the session — signaling an attempt to quickly deliver on a pocketbook promise to Canadians.