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politics briefing

Good morning,

Here's a bit of behind-the-scenes info: Any time two world leaders speak privately, their offices send a "readout" of the conversation to the press gallery. Readouts usually contain very little information -- just the fact that the leaders talked, a couple of the things they talked about, and some vague platitudes about working together in the future.

Yesterday, the Prime Minister's Office and the White House sent out separate readouts of a conversation between Justin Trudeau and Donald Trump. They were almost the same...except for one interesting difference: The Canadian readout said the two leaders talked about the devastation being caused in Texas and Louisiana by Hurricane Harvey, and pledges for help. The American readout said all that, but that the two leaders also spoke about the North American free trade agreement, which, it turns out, they did.

Talks for the trade agreement begin again today in Mexico City and continue through the weekend.

Apropos of nothing: In an interview with the U.S. media outlet The Skimm, Mr. Trudeau says one thing that's good about Mr. Trump is that he's an open book. "He's authentic. The person he is on camera, in public, is very close to the person he is in private," Mr. Trudeau said.

This is the daily Politics Briefing newsletter, written by Chris Hannay in Ottawa, Mayaz Alam and Eleanor Davidson in Toronto, and James Keller in Vancouver. 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. Have any feedback? Let us know what you think.

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CANADIAN HEADLINES

Calgary MP Darshan Kang has left the Liberal caucus after allegations of sexual harassment that are being investigated by the House of Commons. Another woman has come forward to The Hill Times about what she said was Mr. Kang's "problem with consent."

The Canadian economy posted its strongest quarter of growth in six years.

A conference centre in Cornwall, Ont., will no longer house refugee claimants, as the number crossing the nearby Quebec border is dwindling.

Among those who could be affected by proposed tax changes that the Liberal government is floating this summer, the children and business partners of recently deceased small business owners are worried about what the new rules will mean for them.

A senior official with the National Energy Board is defending the regulator's review of Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project. The company's plan to triple the capacity of its pipeline that runs from Alberta's oil sands to the Vancouver harbour has faced opposition from First Nations, environmentalists, and more recently B.C.'s new NDP government. The main legal challenge is scheduled to be heard in the Federal Court of Appeal in October. Dr. Rob Steedman, the NEB's chief environmental officer, says the agency believes it conducted adequate consultations with First Nations before presenting its findings to the federal cabinet, which ultimately approved the project. Still, Dr. Steedman says the board welcomes to court's oversight, explaining that the NEB sees such a review as part of the system.

Students in British Columbia will be returning to class next week in schools that have added thousands of new teachers as the new NDP government reshapes the education system.  The influx is related to a Supreme Court of Canada decision last year that settled a 15-year-old legal battle over teachers' contracts and class-size limits in the teachers' favour. The province needed a total of 2,500 additional educators this year; school boards are still looking for about 300. The head of the province's teachers' union, Glen Hansman, says the last-minute hiring push isn't a crisis, but he says there's been a herculean effort over the summer to fill the vacancies.

And China is making its presence felt in the Arctic, with a Chinese icebreaker making the first voyage of its kind through the Northwest Passage.

Campbell Clark (The Globe and Mail) on the Liberal tax changes: "It's a policy that seems likely to make motivated enemies, but no friends. And unless the Finance Minister can make ordinary Canadians feel strongly that he's fixing an unfair system, he's going to take a beating."

Senator Andre Pratte (The Globe and Mail) on judges and sexual-assault training: "The best intentions don't always make good policy. Bill C-337, currently at second reading in the Senate, is a case in point. The bill intends to make sure that judges hearing sexual-assault cases have received the proper legal and social-context training. The goal is to ensure that they are not subject to the myths and stereotypes associated with sexual-assault complainants...Voting in favour of Bill C-337 may make us feel good as legislators. It will give us the impression that we are doing something to help the victims of sexual assault, for whom the judicial-system experience is always trying, to say the least. The truth is, once it becomes law, C-337 will not do a thing to change this sad reality. What it will do is put an additional burden on the shoulders of our legal system."

Konrad Yakabuski (The Globe and Mail) on taxpayer funding for Via Rail: "It's now or never for Via. Either this federal government steps up to maintain a viable (albeit subsidized) passenger rail service in the Quebec City-Windsor corridor, or it will condemn Via to the junk yard. And make no mistake, that's precisely where its competitors would like to see it end up. Why else would the Greater Toronto Airports Authority hatch a plan to make Pearson airport a new regional transportation hub with a high-speed rail link to Windsor, Ont., if not to sabotage Via Rail's HFR proposal? The airlines aren't threatened by increased rail service in southwestern Ontario. But their bread-and-butter Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal routes would face stiffer competition if Via's proposed HFR service is fast-tracked by Justin Trudeau's government." (for subscribers)

Leslie McBain (The Globe and Mail) on the overdose crisis and the death of her son: "We must empower families by increasing the inclusion of, and support for family caregivers of drug-dependent loved ones. We must increase capacity for rapid access to treatment in the province. Individuals who seek treatment need immediate attention. We must greatly increase capacity to train all health-care professionals in treating substance-use disorder and concurrent mental-health disorders, with evidence-based pathways. We must make every effort to eliminate the stigma associated with substance use. Lastly, we must work to decriminalize the possession and use of illicit drugs."

Andrew MacDougall (Maclean's) on the new Conservative shadow cabinet: "I get told by Brits all the time that they love Trudeau. If I were to make a pointed comment in return about him being 'naïve and reckless,' it would be like I punched a kitten. Instead, I ask them why they love Trudeau, and when they can't tell me, other than to mouth a platitude about his youth, energy, or niceness, I count that as a victory. Tory messaging should be seeding doubt about Trudeau's record by making everything about Trudeau's delivery—in other words, shift the conversation to competence and results, not 'feeling'—all without being a dink about it."

INTERNATIONAL HEADLINES

Few political climates in the world are more volatile than North Korea. But for Canada, simply being a "non-threatening" nation could be beneficial in helping to talk North Korea and the United States down from threats of nuclear war. North Korea experts say Canada "should have at least one person full-time on North Korea in Global Affairs." While a Canadian ambassador to North Korea may not be in the cards, Canada is working to deepen ties to South Korea. Deputy minister of foreign affairs Ian Shugart has agreed to work with his South Korean counterpart on the denuclearization of North Korea.

French President Emmanuel Macron launched an overhaul of France's labour laws on Thursday. The reforms will give firms more flexibility in negotiating wages and conditions and introduce a cap on payouts for dismissals, as well as more freedom to hire and fire employees. The new laws also aim to promote France as a destination for firms leaving the U.K. post-Brexit.  An opinion poll from earlier this week showed that 90 per cent of French people surveyed believe the country's labour code should to be reformed. But support for Mr. Macron is not nearly as high -- the new president has seen his popularity plummet to historically low levels.

U.S. Defence Secretary Jim Mattis has begun sending additional troops to Afghanistan to carry out President Donald Trump's strategy in the war-torn country. "Yes, I've signed orders, but it's not complete," Mattis told reporters in an impromptu news conference at the Pentagon. Mr. Mattis would not give specifics about the number of additional troops that are deploying, but he stressed that American troops will take a supporting role while Afghan forces remain in the lead.  "This is to enable the Afghan forces to fight more effectively," Mr. Mattis said. Other officials have said the U.S. will send about 3,900 additional troops.

And Iraq's Prime Minister declared victory over Islamic State in the town of Tal Afar and the province of Nineveh on Thursday. Mr. Abadi said "We say to the Islamic State fighters: wherever you are, we are coming for you, and you have no choice but to surrender or die." Up to 2,000 IS militants defended Tal Tafar from roughly 50,000 Iraqi government troops last week. IS defences in the city collapsed on Sunday after eight days of fighting.

Lawrence Martin (The Globe and Mail) on NAFTA and Congress: "It is unclear whether Congress actually has the right to prevent the President from abandoning the trade agreement. But the possibility is another thing Mr. Trump has to worry about if he pulls the trigger. As has been evident, he is not one who is necessarily persuaded by rational argument. But if he senses his political livelihood is at stake, he will be more likely to forge alliances necessary to save him. That could well be what saves the continental trade accord."

Nicholas Kristof (The New York Times) on a forgotten war: "Let's be blunt: With U.S. and U.K. complicity, the Saudi government is committing war crimes in Yemen. We Americans have sometimes wondered how Russia can possibly be so Machiavellian as to support its Syrian government allies as they bomb and starve civilians. Yet we're doing the same thing with Saudi Arabia, and it's just as unconscionable when we're the ones complicit in war crimes."

Robert J. Samuelson (Washington Post) on China's invisible influence: "China may be an even bigger economic deal than we thought. Almost everyone knows that, in the past three decades, China has gone from a huge and poor nation to the world's biggest exporter and second-largest economy. Now, in a new report, two economists claim that China's emergence explains a lot more. Specifically, they say it fostered three major global trends: low interest rates (which also prop up stock prices); weak or declining wages for workers; and growing economic inequality."

The Politics Briefing will return on Tuesday, September 5. Have a great long weekend!

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