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POLITICS BRIEFING
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW THIS MORNING
By Sarah Nolan (@sarahmarienolan)
> The federal government will table its long-awaited physician-assisted dying bill today. The government has decided not to whip the vote, thus allowing backbench MPs to vote according to their conscience.
> A Supreme Court ruling today will decide whether 450,000 Métis in Canada should be defined as Indians under the original Constitution of 1867. If the judge rules in favour, it could be a political bombshell.
> NDP Leader Tom Mulcair on Wednesday accused the federal government of lying to Canadians about the $15-billion Saudi arms deal. Both Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Foreign Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion defended last week's approval of export permits.
> Retired Mounties and spouses of RCMP officers say they are speaking out against Bill C-7 because members currently serving in the force fear being reprimanded for doing so. The proposed legislation that was introduced after a Supreme Court decision in 2015 ruled the RCMP has the right to engage in collective bargaining with the government excludes issues from bargaining table.
> Justin Trudeau is defending his business dealings amid accusations of tax avoidance. In addition to his $340,000 prime ministerial salary, the Liberal Leader receives regular dividends from a holding company.
> Alberta and Newfoundland and Labrador are each expected to unveil unpopular budgets today as both provinces grapple with ballooning deficits and weak oil prices. Here are in-depth reports on the fallout from Alberta's plunging oil royalties (for subscribers) and on Newfoundland's similar bust.
> Former NDP deputy leader Megan Leslie has ruled out a bid for party leadership. Ms. Leslie, who lost her Halifax seat in the federal election, says she won't be returning to politics until after Canadians head to the polls again in 2019.
> An eight-month old girl could soon be on the list of Canadians whose banking information is being shared by the Canada Revenue Agency under a controversial information sharing deal. The girl's parents say they were "totally shocked" to receive a letter from the TD Bank, asking for forms to attest to the fact that she is not a U.S. citizen or else risk having her bank account information shared with the IRS.
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WHAT EVERYONE'S TALKING ABOUT
"This is where the Trudeau government's rosy honest-broker rhetoric is exposed for the window dressing it is. In selling weapons to Saudi Arabia, Canada is taking sides and making a good buck in the process. This is foreign policy realism in all its brutal moral ambiguity."
– Konrad Yakabuski on the Saudi arms deal.
Christie Blatchford (National Post): "Anyone who wants to leave [reserves], with his or her children and family members, should be supported, financially and emotionally, with everything this country can throw at them. Canadians have done it for Syrian refugees, and that was good. We should do it for our own."
John Geddes (Maclean's): "It might seem odd that a decision against running for the leadership from a single former MP, and one who couldn't even defend her own riding last fall, would send a shudder of apprehension through a national party. But [Megan] Leslie's absence from the race is that telling for the NDP. There simply isn't another well-known candidate in sight whose talent for politics is nearly as widely admired."
Benedikt Fischer (The Globe and Mail): "The fentanyl crisis is principally a homemade and home-sustained problem… Canada needs to rein in its medical system-induced oversaturation of opioids. This is the essential task for policy makers and medical regulators. Only when the problem's root causes are being addressed should we concentrate on other remedies."
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