44th Canadian Parliament


The 44th Canadian Parliament was in session from 22 November 2021 to 23 March 2025, with the membership of the House of Commons having been determined by the results of the 2021 federal election held on 20 September. Parliament officially resumed on 22 November with the re-election of Speaker Anthony Rota, and the Speech from the Throne was read by Governor General Mary Simon the following day. It was dissolved before the 2025 federal election.

Overview

The 44th Parliament corresponded to a Liberal Party minority government under the premiership of Justin Trudeau, with Trudeau succeeded by Mark Carney for its final nine days. Six months into the first session, on 22 March 2022, it was announced that the New Democratic Party would support the government with confidence and supply measures. The support was contingent on the government implementing a Pharmacare program and a dental care program. The temporary Canada Dental Benefit was established in December 2022, and the permanent Canadian Dental Care Plan began rolling out in December 2023. The NDP ended their confidence and supply arrangement with the Liberal government on 4 September 2024.
On 6 January 2025, amid political pressure, Trudeau announced that he would resign as leader of the Liberal Party and as prime minister once his successor was elected. He also advised the Governor General to prorogue Parliament until 24 March while his successor was determined, thus ending the first session of the 44th Parliament; he stated that "despite best efforts to work through it, Parliament has been paralyzed for months."
Mark Carney was elected as Liberal leader on 9 March and was appointed prime minister on 14 March. Carney advised the Governor General to dissolve Parliament on 23 March, triggering a general election on 28 April.

Sessions

There was one sessions of the 44th Parliament:
SessionStartEnd
1stNovember 22, 2021January 6, 2025

Party standings

Major events

2021

With the Liberal Party and NDP entering into a confidence and supply agreement on budgetary items and motions of confidence, the final component of the 2021 budget was adopted in June 2022. Among other provisions, Bill C-8 enacted the Underused Housing Tax Act, created a new tax credit to return carbon tax paid by farmers, created the COVID-19 Air Quality Improvement Tax Credit, and expanded both the School Supplies Tax Credit and the northern residents deduction amount. Similarly, the 2022 budget was implemented in Bills C-19 and C-32. Among other provisions, Bill C-19 doubled the Home Accessibility Tax Credit, created the Labour Mobility Deduction for tradespeople, made vaping products subject to excise duties, removed excise duties from low-alcohol beer, removed the excise duty exemption that had applied to Canadian wine as directed by the WTO, and amended the Copyright Act as agreed to in the Canada-United States–Mexico Agreement, and criminalized Holocaust denial. Bill C-19 also enacted the Civil Lunar Gateway Agreement Implementation Act; the Prohibition on the Purchase of Residential Property by Non-Canadians Act; and the Select Luxury Items Tax Act to create a new sales tax applicable to luxury cars, planes and boats; and also repealed the Safe Drinking Water for First Nations Act. Bill C-32 created the First Home Savings Account as a new registered savings plan and the Multigenerational Home Renovation Tax Credit; made income derived from house-flipping into business income for taxation purposes; created a temporary 15% tax on the taxable income of banks that exceeded $1 billion; and, in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, increased maximum financial assistance that can be provided to foreign states from US$5 billion to C$14 billion. In other legislation, Bill C-11 adopted the Online Streaming Act and Bill C-18 adopted the Online News Act.
On healthcare, the Canada Dental Benefit was created with Bill C-31 with the Liberals, NDP and Green Party in support, and Conservatives and Bloc opposed. With all party support, Bill C-10 directed $2.5 billion be paid for COVID testing purposes; Bill C-12 amended guaranteed income supplements to exclude payments received from the Emergency Response Benefit, the Recovery Benefit and the Worker Lockdown Benefit. With both the NDP and Conservatives opposing, Bill C-2 enacted the Canada Worker Lockdown Benefit Act and extended various other COVID-related benefit programs. On public safety and crime, with all party support, Bill C-3 inserted a new offence into the Criminal Code regarding intimidation of a person seeking health services and obstruction of lawful access to a place at which health services are provided. Bill C-28 was adopted in response to R v Brown addressing self-induced extreme intoxication.