Is Trudeau’s carbon-tax plan about to hit a Wall?

Share

This is The Globe's daily politics newsletter. Sign up to get it by e-mail each morning.

POLITICS BRIEFING

By Chris Hannay (@channay)

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is facing opposition from the premiers he's meeting in Vancouver this week about his pitch for a federally mandated minimum carbon price, as Shawn McCarthy and Ian Bailey report.

Since the Liberal Prime Minister was elected, the main voice of opposition from the provinces has been Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall, one of the few first ministers in Canada who is not a big-l Liberal.

Weeks before the premiers meeting in Vancouver, Mr. Wall said he would have nothing to do with a carbon tax. But though his province has been hurting from a weak energy sector, Mr. Wall has been outspoken about more than climate: he's expressed disappointment at the prospect of federal aid for Quebec-based manufacturer Bombardier, recently repeated his stand that the Senate should be abolished rather than reformed, and even initially criticized the influx of Syrian refugees.

But it's possible Mr. Wall could be a bit quieter on the federal scene, at least for a few weeks. Saskatchewan heads to the polls for a provincial election on April 4. It's unlikely he's too worried about the result: polls have shown his Saskatchewan party – formed in the 1990s as a merger between Conservatives and Liberals – has a wide lead over the NDP, and Mr. Wall, premier since 2007, has consistently had the highest approval rating of any other provincial leader.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW THIS MORNING

> In an interview with Bloomberg, the Prime Minister encouraged other world leaders not to get caught up on balanced budgets, but that there wasn't a need for a huge program in Canada right now. "I don't think we need massive stimulus," Mr. Trudeau told Bloomberg. "There's a limit on how much you can flow infrastructure dollars in a short time frame from a standing start." The Bank of Nova Scotia, meanwhile, is suggesting $20-billion would be a good beginning.

> Former Quebec premier Jean Charest tried to set up a meeting between members of the Prime Minister's Office and TransCanada, backers of the Energy East pipeline, The Globe and Mail has learned. PMO officials say they rejected the meeting because Mr. Charest did not follow the lobbying rules.

> The chief of staff to the agriculture minister has until the end of the week to disclose to the ethics commissioner whether she still has holdings in one of Canada's biggest egg producers. (for subscribers)

> With a new government comes a new wave of public servants making the switch to political staffing. And the Liberals yesterday made their first big stamp on the top levels of the public service.

> A federal panel is recommending an overhaul of passenger screening at airports and the replacement of the Crown corporation that oversees them.

> Venture capitalists are continuing to push the Liberal government for more funding for Canada's tech startups. (for subscribers)

> And the Washington Post takes a sardonic look at the differences between Justin Trudeau and Donald Trump.

THE STATE DINNER

Next week is the first White House state dinner for a Canadian prime minister since 1997. Laura Stone looks at some highlights from past years and what we know so far about next week's.

WHAT EVERYONE'S TALKING ABOUT

"Maybe [Donald] Trump will moderate the isolationist bombast as he nears an election, or, if he actually wins, in office. Maybe he's just pandering to those sentiments to appeal to clearly disgruntled voters. But if that pandering helps him toward the presidency, plenty of other politicians could ride it to an isolationist Congress. That what-if might be in the back of Mr. Trudeau's mind at a state dinner hosted by [Barack] Obama next week. It's one thing to feel the love from the outgoing incumbent. But how would he deal with a Trump America?" – Campbell Clark (for subscribers).

Jeffrey Simpson (Globe and Mail): "Neither the Trudeau government nor the provincial governments have any idea, as yet, how to achieve those [emission reduction] targets. The harder they search, the more they will understand the difficulties. Rhetoric is cheap; action is expensive." (for subscribers)

Tom Clark (Global): "So things [between Canada and the U.S.] haven't always been great and they weren't great recently under Stephen Harper's government. A mere two years ago, the Canadian government essentially told the U.S. ambassador to go get stuffed."

Murray Mandryk (Regina Leader-Post): "If [Brad] Wall is truly appalled by the costs consumers and business might have to pay for a 'carbon tax,' shouldn't he be equally appalled at the way oil companies gouge us at the pumps with near $1-a-litre gas when oil is at $30 to $40 (U.S.) a barrel?"

Chantal Hébert (Toronto Star): "When all is said and done, there is no rational reason for this week's climate change gathering of first ministers in Vancouver to feature an East-West brawl over pipelines."

Welcome to the Globe Politics newsletter! Let us know what you think.