Canadian businessman Kevin O'Leary speaks during the Conservative Party of Canada convention in Vancouver, Friday, May 27, 2016. O'Leary says there are all sorts of rumours swirling about when he will join the Conservative leadership race.But he's refusing to comment on the latest one: that he'll finally launch his campaign Wednesday afternoon in Toronto.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan HaywardThe Canadian Press
By Chris Hannay (@channay)
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW THIS MORNING
> The Conservatives' French-language debate is over, so Kevin O'Leary is finally ready to jump into the leadership race. "We need to get selling memberships, raising money and having access to lists. And the longer we wait, the more we restrict our ability to get all that stuff," a source close to the campaign said. Meanwhile, an internal poll obtained by La Presse suggested it's a three-way race between Maxime Bernier, Lisa Raitt and Kellie Leitch.
> Canada will begin preliminary talks with China on a free-trade deal within weeks.
> The incoming Trump administration has given Canada advance notice of what it will be asking for in talks to change the North American Free Trade Agreement. In particular, the U.S. officials want to discuss country-of-origin labelling and independent dispute panels.
> Saskatchewan is the seventh of 13 provinces and territories to strike a health-care deal with Ottawa.
> An elderly couple forced to die four days apart shows how the assisted-dying laws are evolving in practice.
> A few more details have come to light about why Vice-Admiral Mark Norman was relieved of his duties as the military's second-in-command, with sources telling The Globe that he may have leaked technical information about the government's multibillion-dollar shipbuilding contract.
> Today's long read: the Hill Times profile of Yukon MP Larry Bagnell, his experience representing such an isolated riding and why some think the Liberal backbencher should be in cabinet.
> And as Mr. Trudeau continues his cross-country tour today in Quebec, keep an eye on the crowds for another bored kid. "I haven't seen faces like these kids' since I taught math class. Thanks New Brunswick!" Mr. Trudeau tweeted, tongue-in-cheek. The National Post compiled some of the odder moments of his town halls, such as the woman who followed up a question with: "The reason why I asked is because I'm looking at your tie and thinking it would make a fabulous dog collar."
WHAT EVERYONE'S TALKING ABOUT
Campbell Clark (Globe and Mail): "The number of candidates who both have a shot at winning the [Conservative] leadership and can really speak French is small, perhaps three. And the early headline-grabbers, Mr. O'Leary and Kellie Leitch, aren't among them. Are Conservatives willing to blow off Quebec for Mr. Wonderful?"
Lawrence Martin (Globe and Mail): "Remember the old Progressive Conservatives? In this era of raw populism, the name sounds quaint. But of course it was progressive Tories who spearheaded the party from the days of John A. Macdonald right up until Stephen Harper, right up until hard-edged conservatives devoured them like cupcakes. Old Tories went underground. They cowered under Mr. Harper's command. There's been no fight in them."
Penny Collenette (Globe and Mail): "No one in their right mind would dispute that our Prime Minister has a right to a private holiday with his family and friends, and few would dispute the location, or the company of such an esteemed individual as the Aga Khan, spiritual leader of the Ismaili Muslim community. But why wasn't there full disclosure beforehand? Were there privacy or security issues at play? Was the PMO's communications team fully briefed, or did they only have a few of the facts?"
Goldy Hyder (Globe and Mail): "Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's decision to cancel his plans to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos so he can undertake a cross-country tour and engage directly with Canadians is a symptom of a much larger and more troubling trend where it has become increasingly fashionable for political leaders to frame public-policy decisions in terms of their potential impact on 'ordinary,' 'real' or 'average' Canadians."
Jane Fonda (Globe and Mail): "I was stunned when the PM approved two new pipelines that would bring tar sands oil to British Columbia and to Wisconsin, traversing through indigenous territories and waterways. Now Mr. Trudeau is considering working with Donald Trump, our Perpetrator-in-Chief, on reviving the Keystone XL pipeline. These approvals contravened the Prime Minister's commitment to indigenous rights and reconciliation, to UNDRIP, and would significantly compromise the commitments the Prime Minister just made in Paris."
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