Politics Briefing newsletter: Trudeau to deliver historic apology today

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Good morning,

Today, Justin Trudeau will rise in the House of Commons to offer a formal apology to those who were criminally prosecuted or who lost their jobs in the public service, the military or the police and security services because they were gay. The statement will be the most comprehensive ever offered by a head of government, and The Globe had something to do with it.

In 2016, we told the story of Everett Klippert, who was imprisoned and labelled a dangerous offender — in effect, a life sentence — because he repeatedly had sex with men. The outrage over that sentence prompted Pierre Trudeau's Liberal government, in 1969, to legalize same-sex acts between two adults committed in private. The Globe followed up with stories about people who had lost their jobs in the public service or military because they were gay.

This prompted Egale, a national organization that advocates for sexual minorities in Canada, to release a report in June, 2016, calling for, among other things, pardons for those who had been convicted and an apology for those who had lost their jobs.

The government embraced the recommendations of that report and appointed Edmonton MP Randy Boissonnault as special adviser to the Prime Minister on LGBTQ issues. Tuesday's apology is the culmination of that process.

Could such an apology have come earlier? LGBTQ advocates have been demanding one for years. But it may have taken until now for Canadians to become familiar enough, and comfortable enough, with the reality of sexual minorities to recognize that an apology was necessary and just. As we wrote on Saturday, this is the first trauma-free generation of LGBTQ Canadians: the happy legacy of years of community activism, protest, judicial rulings and protective legislation. In that sense, Mr. Trudeau's apology for the past (and $145-million in compensation) will be reason to celebrate the present. Though there is still prejudice, and there are still LGBTQ people at risk, both here and abroad, Tuesday will be a proud day, a Pride Day, for all of us.

This is the daily Politics Briefing newsletter, written by John Ibbitson and Chris Hannay in Ottawa, Mayaz Alam 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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TODAY'S HEADLINES

As the federal government continues to look for a new ethics commissioner – the current watchdog's term ends in January after two extensions – four top officials in the Prime Minister's office have recused themselves from the decision, as they are helping Justin Trudeau defend himself from an investigation.

Mr. Trudeau is urging Canadians to speak out about sexual harassment. "There is an awakening happening over these past weeks but it has taken years and decades of activism and pushing and frustration – and willfully ignoring the facts by institutions and cultures – to get change to happen. And even then there's just so much more to do," he said.

The Liberals say they won't appeal a court ruling that struck down a requirement for candidates in an election to make a $1,000 deposit when they run.

The bill to legalize marijuana has cleared the House of Commons and is on its way to the Senate.

Alberta says it's considering adding supervised drug-consumption sites in the face of a growing opioid crisis, but it's not planning on declaring a state of emergency. New statistics from Alberta health show 400 people died of fentanyl overdoses between January and September —  a 69 per cent increase from the same period last year. B.C. declared a public-health state of emergency last year, but Alberta's associate health minister, Brandy Payne, says she doesn't think a similar declaration would allow her province to do more than it's already doing.

B.C. Premier John Horgan and his cabinet are meeting every day this week as they wrestle with what to do about the Site C hydroelectric dam. The NDP cabinet has invited half a dozen experts to provide additional material as the government considers whether to kill the multibillion-dollar project or continue construction, which is already well underway.

Dozens of small newspapers across Canada are closing down after Postmedia and Torstar swapped ownership of the properties.

And a wild tale from the Washington Post: A woman who approached their reporters with a salacious story about Roy Moore appears to have been working for a company that tries to discredit journalists.

Brenda Cossman and Daniel Del Gobbo (The Globe and Mail) on Trudeau's apology: "However, gender and sexuality remain among the most persistently policed aspects of our intimate relationships. Right now, our criminal law is still being used to regulate and punish queer lives. From undercover operations targeting gay men and the aggressive prosecution of HIV non-disclosure to the widespread over-incarceration of trans and two-spirit people that continues unabated, criminal law continues to police sexual minorities. We need to limit the state's control over consensual sex. This means continuing to reform the criminal-justice system to make it more sex-positive and accepting of gender difference."

Steven Maynard (CBC) on expunging criminal records: "Too much of the gay apology seems to be about trying to straighten up the queer past, to erase its differences and to make it presentable for its appearance on the national stage of apology. In the process, much of what is both distinctive and sometimes distressing about the queer past gets lost."

Margaret Wente (The Globe and Mail) on the economic well-being of immigrants to Canada: "Can we talk about these issues in Canada without appearing to be racist? I honestly don't know. What I do know is that if we suppress them, other people will do the talking for us. And as we know from Europe, what they have to say could be very disagreeable indeed."

André Picard (The Globe and Mail) on blood donations: "One of the lessons of the tainted-blood scandal is that the jingoistic belief that voluntary Canadian blood is inherently safer is wrong. At the same time, the enormous profits that can be made from blood products can incite manufacturers to seek out donors, even risky ones. The key is having firm standards and forceful regulation – not areas where Health Canada has excelled."

Paul Wells (Maclean's) on Justin Trudeau: "The likeliest outcome from 2018, then, is that Justin Trudeau will continue to be his own best advertisement—and worst enemy. By the end of the year ahead, Canada will be in the long approach to an election in the fall of 2019. Campaigns are about opponents giving the gears to incumbents, but it's hard to imagine Trudeau's opponents doing damage to him on a scale approaching the damage he routinely does to himself."