Good morning. This is Hanna Lee. 

Prime Minister Mark Carney's two-day cabinet retreat begins today. Between a high cost of living and a trade war, the Liberals' work is cut out for them. And as the focus falls away from daily Trump mania, the federal government has to answer to the public about how they'll solve other issues. 

THE LATEST

• The Assembly of First Nations' annual general assembly will kick off this morning in Winnipeg, where the federal government's major infrastructure legislation is set to be debated.
   
• The alleged intruder in the Lindsay, Ont., break-in — where the homeowner was also charged with assault — will have his bail hearing today.
   
• Rescuers are scrambling to find survivors of the recent earthquake in eastern Afghanistan, as the death toll passed 1,400.
   
• A woman who has come to be known as the "Ketamine Queen" is set to plead guilty today to selling actor Matthew Perry the drug that killed him.

Carney meets with cabinet amid an unresolved trade war and looming budget

(Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press)

The Liberals' two-day cabinet retreat in the Greater Toronto Area begins today. Their priorities, for better or for worse, have been made abundantly clear.

What's happening: Top issues include helping industries hit hard by U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs, building affordable homes, speeding up big infrastructure projects, spending more on defence and combatting crime. The public's focus on Trump may have subsided, pressuring Carney's government to answer how it plans to tackle other problems.

And there's that other thing: Pierre Poilievre's return to Parliament. A Liberal MP told CBC News the cabinet can't ignore the Conservative leader's ability to pivot — he's resilient, and his party has a lot of money to pounce on the Liberals. The MP also said they want cabinet to discuss avoiding the mistakes of the Trudeau era; namely, its messaging, which the public perceived as elitist and arrogant. Meanwhile, another MP said some caucus members are frustrated by their lack of influence, often finding out about Carney's decisions in the news.

Parts shortages, snarled supply chains are sidelining Canadian vehicles and troops in Latvia: documents

(Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press)

The Canadian battlegroup, the nucleus of the NATO brigade in Latvia, has been suffering through a critical — and in some cases crippling — shortage of spare parts that has regularly sidelined vehicles, CBC News has learned.

A recent internal briefing, a copy of which was obtained by CBC News, shows the vehicle off-road rate for the Canadian contingent in the Baltic country has been "high" and that it even affected a recent training exercise.

The factors forcing the army to park vehicles include Canadian "supply chain issues, parts backlog" and the new "compressed" training regime, which has seen troops complete their combined arms training in Latvia, rather than in Canada, said the internal briefing.

Chinese students take Ottawa to court over study permit delays

(Submitted by Yixin Cheng and Li Zhen)

Dozens of Chinese graduate students are accusing Ottawa of discrimination, because their study permit applications have been left in limbo for months. 

What's happening: Twenty-five students have filed a case in Federal Court against Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), alleging their files have been unfairly stalled during security screening. They've all been accepted to STEM graduate programs at Canadian universities and were all still in China as the new school year began this week. 

Looking ahead: Their lawyer, Toronto-based Vakkas Bilsin, says the students' similar situations makes him believe something "serious" is going on. IRCC says it's committed to a fair process and said security screening is done by other agencies. Meanwhile, former head of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, Ward Elcock, says he's not surprised the students are being vetted carefully, alluding to a 2019 security scandal at a microbiology lab in Winnipeg.

PICTURE THIS

The average detached home in Canada uses about 13,000 kilowatt hours of electricity per year, while an apartment or condo in a high-rise building might use around 5,900 kWh per year, according to Statistics Canada. Balcony solar panels can help shave off some of that bill — depending on where you live and your overall power costs. Read more here.

In case you missed it

• Ontario Premier Doug Ford poured out a bottle of Crown Royal during an unrelated announcement, in protest of Diageo's closing of an Ontario plant.
   
• Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says a revised order banning school library books with sexual content is coming soon. She paused her first ministerial order on the issue earlier in the day.
   
• Seventy leading Canadians and civil society groups are asking Prime Minister Mark Carney to protect Canada's "digital sovereignty."
   
• Quebec has declared its Northvolt battery plant partnership dead, and is cutting its losses on its $270-million investment.
   
• Barrie, Ont.'s Veronika Slowikowska has joined NBC's Saturday Night Live as the sole Canadian among five new cast members.

IN LIGHTER NEWS

Meet the 92-year-old meat cutter carving out a legacy in P.E.I.

(Mitch Cormier/CBC)

According to his birth certificate, Mervin MacPhee is 92, but he says he feels 59. And it shows — he still goes to work every day at MacPhee's Meats in Clyde River, P.E.I. He can often be found at the butcher's block cutting steaks or on the road making deliveries. "You know, it's great to get up in the morning at my age and put my foot on the floor and say, 'Boy, I've got something to do,'" MacPhee said.