Verified brief — 7 October 2026

Ottawa tables a bill turning its defence-buying agency into a Crown corporation, with a $1 billion drawing limit and 13 grounds to skip competition. The Netherlands revives its hybrid heat-pump rule for 2029. Québec’s vote count is final: seats unchanged, Vachon decided by 10 votes.

Published Oct 7, 2026, 8:40 a.m. EDT

Item 1
Bill C-40 (first reading 6 October) would turn the Defence Investment Agency into the Canadian Corporation for Defence Investment, a Crown corporation that acts as an agent of the Crown and must follow ministerial directions. It could lend money, make advance payments, guarantee debts and buy shares.
Read the article →Bill C-40 first-reading text; Journals No. 146
Item 2
C-40 money and rules: Consolidated Revenue Fund payments to the corporation are capped at $1 billion outstanding at any time, plus $30 million for start-up. The rewritten procurement Act keeps competition as the default but lists 13 grounds on which the minister may skip it. The bill does not add the corporation to the Access to Information Act.
Read the article →Bill C-40 ss. 15, 27–29, cls. 42–43
Item 3
Netherlands: the housing minister told parliament that from 2029, a smart hybrid heat pump will in many cases be the starting point when a gas boiler is replaced. A new boiler alone will no longer meet the building rules. The change to the building code is targeted for mid-2028.
Read the article →Kamerbrief 7 Oct 2026; Rijksoverheid
Item 4
Dutch heat pumps, cost side: NOS reports a hybrid costs about €8,000 installed, against about €2,000 for a boiler, or roughly €6,000 after subsidy. Those are NOS figures; the minister’s letter gives no price. A payback study is due in early 2027.
Read the article →NOS; Kamerbrief
Item 5
EU court (C-249/25, 1 October): the Netherlands may not freeze, across the board, asylum claims from people under Ukraine temporary protection. Normal time limits apply, with extensions allowed. The Dutch minister says about 140,000 claims must now be processed; that is his figure, not the court’s.
Read the article →CJEU Press Release 137/26; DutchNews
Item 6
C-231 (youth drug treatment) cleared report stage on 6 October without a recorded vote. Police would have to consider treatment referral for youth possession offences, and youth courts could delay sentencing for treatment. Committee deleted the ‘no custody for refusing treatment’ clause. Third reading is next.
Read the article →C-231 reprint; Journals No. 146
Item 7
Québec, final count: Élections Québec’s results file is now flagged final after the addition of the votes. Seats are unchanged: PQ 59, Liberals 40, Conservatives 19, QS 9, CAQ 0. Turnout was 66.92%.
Read the article →Élections Québec results file (7 Oct 02:12 ET)
Item 8
Close Québec seats moved: Vachon is Liberal by 10 votes (was 14 in the preliminary count), and Saint-Henri–Sainte-Anne by 275 (was 39). A judicial recount could still change Vachon, but not who governs.
Read the article →Élections Québec results file
Item 9
U.S. diesel: a 5 October executive order gives Treasury five days to decide whether disaster-relief powers let it defer certain federal diesel taxes through 31 December, and tells the IRS to waive penalties for using dyed diesel on the highway. It is a deferral, not a cut. EIA’s 5 October U.S. diesel average was $6.199 a gallon.
Read the article →White House EO; 26 U.S.C. 4041, 6715, 7508A; EIA
Item 10
Diesel motion: debate ended at 5:30 p.m. on 6 October, and the recorded division was deferred to today, after Question Period. There is no result yet. Kalibrate’s 6 October diesel average was 256.1¢/L.
Read the article →Journals No. 146; Kalibrate DPPS
Item 11
C-38, the bill legislating the fuel excise pause to 31 January 2027 (then half rates to 31 March 2027), was reported back from the Finance committee without amendment on 6 October. Report stage and third reading come next, then the Senate.
Read the article →Journals No. 146; LEGISinfo C-38
Item 12
C-39 (6 October): second-reading debate continued on the previous question, and no vote was taken. It is still not law.
Read the article →Journals No. 146
Item 13
Kingdom BOP gender-dysphoria application 26A416: the government’s response is still due 8 October at 4 p.m. EDT, and the docket shows no new filings.
Read the article →SCOTUS docket 26A416