Politics Briefing newsletter: Canadians diverging from Americans on human rights?

Share

Good morning,

Do you think the United States, in general, has the same views on human rights as Canada? Nanos Research has been asking Canadians this question for 13 years and, according to their latest data, the number of Canadians who see Americans as holding the same human-rights views has declined to its lowest point in the survey's history. Instead, apparently, Canadians feel closer to Britons and Germans.

This is the daily Politics Briefing newsletter, written by Chris Hannay in Ottawa and Mayaz Alam and Eleanor Davidson in Toronto. If you're reading this on the web or someone forwarded this email newsletter to you, you can sign up for Politics Briefing and all Globe newsletters here. Let us know what you think.

NEW Get the new Evening Update newsletter, a roundup of the important stories of the day put together by Globe editors, or the new Real Estate newsletter, covering the housing market, mortgages, deal closing, design and more. Sign up for them here.

CANADIAN HEADLINES

In Quebec City, a protest organized by a far-right group unhappy with the government's response to border-crossing refugee claimants got ugly when a small group of black-clad counter-protesters got confrontational with police. 

The new Canadian consul-general to San Francisco, Rana Sarkar, is a well-connected former Liberal candidate. He has also become one of the highest-paid Canadian diplomats in the foreign service. At an annual salary range of $221,300 to $260,000, the diplomatic appointee is earning nearly twice as much as the job's official salary rate.

Justin Trudeau and his Irish counterpart Leo Varadkar marched, danced and waved at the crowds at Montreal's Pride parade on Sunday. Mr. Varadkar, who is Ireland's first openly gay leader, said Canada and Ireland have an equal responsibility to work together to advance the cause of equal rights in areas where they are under threat.

While Brad Wall set to depart with a legacy of robust economic growth and unparalleled popularity as a provincial premier in Canada, the impact of last spring's austerity budget is likely to be felt by whoever takes over for him as leader of the centre-right Saskatchewan Party.

And The Globe took a deep dive into the rising tide of far-right extremism, which doesn't stop at our southern border. This weekend featured rallies in Boston, Vancouver and Montreal, with counter-protesters vastly outnumbering white supremacists in largely peaceful demonstrations.

John Ibbitson (The Globe and Mail) on Trudeau's relationship with the provinces: "Justin Trudeau arrived in office with big plans to improve health care and fight climate change. And that meant once again bullying the provinces. But he has been a very gentle bully. Mr. Trudeau and his ministers wooed rather than coerced their counterparts, convincing them to increase their spending on mental health and home care, and to take action to fight climate change, by handing out plenty of carrots and keeping the stick out of sight. It helped as well that Mr. Trudeau's most senior advisers, Gerald Butts and Katie Telford, spent years at Queen's Park, and know the importance of cultivating respectful relations among capitals. One consequence: The Liberals in Ottawa always stressed that the provincial governments were free to meet federal targets in whichever way they saw fit."

Martha Hall Findlay (The Globe and Mail) on Canada's sacred cow: "Of course we have signed trade deals, but in protecting supply management we have always had to give on other things. As we engage in these all-important NAFTA negotiations, it is critically important to recognize that every trade negotiation is exactly that – a negotiation, with give and take. What are we willing to sacrifice this time? NAFTA is a huge win-win opportunity to do what's right domestically and increase our leverage for other issues important to Canada. And the Trudeau government can blame the Americans."

Robert Everett-Green (The Globe and Mail) on Statscan and Quebec: "Knowledge of both French and English has increased in Quebec to about half the population, driving bilingualism in Canada to record levels. In English Canada, that looks like good news, but in Quebec, bilingualism is seen by many as a Trojan horse. The more broadly both languages are available, the greater the perceived risk that English will become the default choice. The desire to maintain a Québécois culture that lives, thinks and creates in French is under constant siege by the obvious advantages of understanding English. The fear is that if French is optional everywhere, it is essential nowhere. The nightmare scenario is that it becomes inessential at home, at which point the whole game is lost."

Evan Solomon (Maclean's) on conservative politics in the age of Trump: "Trump was always a hard sell for Republicans because he was an outsider, but he was also a winner. His very status as political neophyte became his prime asset to Americans who had lost faith in Washington politicians. But just because Trump lacks a coherent ideological framework doesn't mean he can go without a moral one. But now Republicans are seriously questioning if Trump has any other moral litmus test besides loyalty."

INTERNATIONAL HEADLINES

Negotiators from Canada, the United States and Mexico wrapped up the first round of talks yesterday on the North American free-trade agreement. Two of the most contentious topics that came up were gaining access to government procurement contracts and the trade deal's dispute-resolution process. Talks continue in Mexico City September 1 to 5.

Amid the fallout from the always-high tensions in the Korean Peninsula is the reality on the ground in North Korea, where economic sanctions are having a devastating effect on food and supplies reaching the country. While sanctions have long been focused on nuclear disarmament and luxury goods, The Globe's Nathan VanderKlippe found that humanitarian goods are being impacted by the most recent round of bans.

Spain had relative calm for several years but that was shattered last week when a radical Islamist cell carried out deadly attacks in Barcelona and elsewhere. Spanish police services are still trying to get to the bottom of how the attacks were formulated and carried about but the country is grappling with several questions on how prepared intelligence services are.

"It becomes clear that we cannot, in the long-term, rely on American defense support," President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker said over the weekend. The comments come as the U.K. and the EU continues to grapple over when and how Brexit will happen, with Brexit Secretary David Davis asking the EU to rethink the possibility of holding exit and future relationship talks at the same time.

And Steve Bannon is gone from the White House, but will Bannonism survive? That's the theme of the upcoming week in Washington, with the Washington Post, New York Times and Politico (and many others) all wondering what Mr. Bannon's legacy will be. On his way out of the West Wing and back into his role as the head  of Breitbart, Bannon says "I feel jacked up. Now I'm free. I've got my hands back on my weapons. Someone said, 'it's Bannon the Barbarian.' I am definitely going to crush the opposition. There's no doubt. I built a f***ing machine at Breitbart. And now I'm about to go back, knowing what I know, and we're about to rev that machine up. And rev it up we will do."

Stephanie MacLellan (The Globe and Mail) on social networks and extremism: "In the aftermath of last weekend's deadly protests in Charlottesville, tech companies have been blocking far-right extremist groups from their services. This has led to a debate over freedom of expression on the Internet, and the role of companies such as Facebook, Twitter and Google in limiting it. But if it was a different violent extremist group – say, the so-called Islamic State – there would be no debate. In fact, tech giants have been booting off IS supporters for more than a year and disrupting their networks on social media, and there has been no serious outcry.Why should one group of violent extremists be treated differently than another?"

Alex Pareene (Splinter) on Charlottesville as the future of the GOP: "This is the state of the GOP leadership pipeline. In a decade, state legislatures will start filling up with Gamergaters, MRAs, /pol/ posters, Anime Nazis, and Proud Boys. These are, as of now, the only people in their age cohort becoming more active in Republican politics in the Trump era. Everyone else is fleeing. This will be the legacy of Trumpism: It won't be long before voters who reflexively check the box labeled 'Republican' because their parents did, or because they think their property taxes are too high, or because Fox made them scared of terrorism, start electing Pepe racists to Congress."

Jackson Diehl (Washington Post) on the worst humanitarian crisis since the Second World War: "About 90 percent of food and medicine for Yemenis is imported through a seaport, Hodeida, which is controlled by Yemeni rebels against whom the Saudis and their allies have unsuccessfully waged war for the past 2.5 years. In the name of enforcing an arms embargo, the Saudis have blockaded Hodeida from the sea and also forced the closure of the international airport in the capital, Sanaa… the Yemen crisis 'is not about aid or aid dollars.' It's about the blockade — and the Trump administration is complicit. It is backing the Saudi war effort with intelligence and military supplies