Good morning. Prime Minister Mark Carney says he will speak with U.S. President Donald Trump before new U.S. tariffs take effect on Wednesday. More on that below, along with a Churchill Falls hydro deal and Canada’s accidental landlords.

Prime Minister Mark Carney says he will speak with U.S. President Donald Trump before the new U.S. tariffs take effect tomorrow, and that the federal government is planning for all outcomes – including Canada’s response if the U.S. imposes 50-per-cent tariffs on billions of dollars worth of goods.

The talks: Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc and the country’s top negotiator, Janice Charette, met with their American counterparts in Washington yesterday, and U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick joined the discussions alongside U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.

The sticking points: Under the terms of the prospective agreement, Trump would lower tariffs on Canadian autos, steel, aluminum and forest products in exchange for Canada conceding to a long list of U.S. trade demands, including on alcohol, dairy and procurement. Autos and forestry, however, remain major points of contention.

Autos: As talks approach the deadline, the auto industry is finding itself making grim calculations, including what level of tariffs it can absorb without idling more plants.

What’s next: If Trump’s new tariffs kick in, Charette has told the U.S. team that Canada would stop negotiating and retaliate. Whether Carney would be able to sell a deal is an open question – what’s on the table would mean accepting some of Trump’s tariffs, while also making concessions and not retaliating.

Hydro utilities in Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador reached a non-binding agreement to share energy from Labrador, with help from the federal government. The deal touts potential investments of $70-billion in new hydro, wind and transmission projects in Labrador, more than twice the amount considered under a memorandum of understanding in 2024. The fate of that MOU had been in doubt since a change in government in St. John’s.

The background: The deal would resolve a decades-long dispute over the low price Hydro-Québec pays for power from an existing generating facility in Labrador. But with a fall election scheduled in Quebec, the new agreement could end up caught in political turbulence similar to what the MOU faced, Konrad Yakabuski writes.

A side benefit: The deal strengthens Carney’s hand in trade talks with the U.S., Andrew Willis writes.

After days of secrecy, Zambia’s government confirmed that it arrested many of the country’s most senior opposition politicians on the night of its national election, accusing them of involvement in an armed insurrection plot with foreign links. Police made the arrests during a raid on the home of the main opposition candidate, Brian Mundubile, who said the allegations were completely false.

The election: Zambia has a reputation as one of Africa’s most democratic countries, holding multiparty elections regularly since 1991. But during the campaign, opposition rallies were disrupted or blocked by police and supporters of the ruling party, and the electoral commission suspended its vote count for six hours on Friday. Despite an unexpectedly strong showing by Mundubile, President Hakainde Hichilema was re-elected to a second term yesterday.

The geopolitics: Western investors are watching the election closely because Zambia is one of the world’s biggest copper producers. Canadian mining companies are among the global players that have been recently flocking into the country.

Alberta’s elections agency is looking for aid from other provinces to help run its Oct. 19 referendum that could lay the groundwork for secession from Canada. Elections Alberta says it’s seeking skilled staff from other jurisdictions for the massive undertaking, which could require millions of ballots to be counted in just 48 hours.