On Nov. 4, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney tabled his government’s first budget. Carney leads a Liberal minority government, so for the budget to pass he will need to garner support from some members of other parties. Budget votes are confidence votes, meaning that defeat of the budget could trigger new elections.

These McGill experts are available to comment:

Vivek Astvansh, Associate Professor, Desautels Faculty of Management, can comment on how the federal government's budgeting for industries has been adversely affected by U.S. tariffs.

vivek.astvansh [at] mcgill.ca (English)

Leonardo Baccini, Professor of International Political Economy, Department of Political Science, Associate member, Department of Economics can speak about the link between elections and trade, trade agreements, foreign investment and geopolitics.

leonardo.baccini [at] mcgill.ca  (English, Italian)

Daniel Béland, James McGill Professor, Department of Political Science, Director of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada (MISC) can speak about fiscal federalism and about the political process of getting the votes needed to pass the budget (and the fact that it is a confidence vote).

Daniel.beland [at] mcgill.ca (English, French)

Patrick Cortbaoui, Senior Managing Director of the Margaret A Gilliam Institute for Global Food Security and Academic Associate at the School of Human Nutrition, can discuss the scale and causes of the food insecurity crisis, the strain on food bank infrastructure, as well as policy and long-term solutions.

preetika.joshi [at] mcgill.ca (English)

Julian Karaguesian, Faculty Lecturer, Department of Economics can speak about the Carney’s nation-building projects and other structural and innovation policies and productivity; Carney himself, with whom he worked for several years; industrial policy; international trade and tariff policy; the Canadian economy; federal and provincial budgets; Canada-U.S. relations; international macroeconomic policy; and several other economic topics.

Julian.karaguesian [at] mcgill.ca (English, French, German)

Jayne Malenfant, Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Education, can discuss the connection between housing insecurity and food insecurity; the impact of food insecurity on students' access to education; and the stigma and underfunding of community organizations and resources such as food banks.

jayne.malenfant [at] mcgill.ca (English, French)

Amélie Quesnel-Vallée, Professor in the Department of Equity, Ethics and Politics, Canada Research Chair in Policies and Health Inequalities, and Director of the McGill Observatory on Health and Social Services Reforms, can discuss how even moderate food insecurity is associated with significant excess costs in the health care system.

amelie.quesnelvallee [at] mcgill.ca (English, French)

Christopher Ragan, Associate Professor, Director, Max Bell School of Public Policy, can speak about macroeconomics, macroeconomic policy, monetary policy, inflation, fiscal policy, budget deficits and carbon pricing.

christopher.ragan [at] mcgill.ca (English)

Saibal Ray, James McGill Professor of Supply Chain Management, Desautels Faculty of Management, has expertise in geopolitics, and can speak about competition, manufacturing strategy, outsourcing, retail operations management, supply chain issues and sustainable manufacturing.

Saibal.ray [at] mcgill.ca (English)

Vincent Rigby, Slater Family Professor of Practice at the Max Bell School of Public Policy, has expertise in defence, security and intelligence and foreign policy. He can speak to the government’s NATO commitment to spend five per cent of GDP on defence. He spent 30 years working in Canada’s public service. His most recent position was as National Security and Intelligence Advisor to the Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, from 2020 to 2021. 
vincent.rigby [at] mcgill.ca (English) 

Katrin Tinn, Associate Professor, Desautels Faculty of Management, can comment on stablecoins.
Katrin.tinn [at] mcgill.ca (English)