Good morning,
Federal Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer is off to Toronto today to meet with Ontario Premier Doug Ford as part of the coalition of conservatives opposed to a federal carbon price. Mr. Ford met with Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe yesterday, where he called the carbon tax a “scam.” The Ontario Progressive Conservative government said it was already on track to meet its goal of reducing climate-change-causing emissions by 30 per cent from 2005 levels – though that’s mostly because of the previously governing Liberals and the closure of the province’s coal-fired power plants.
This is the daily Politics Briefing newsletter, written by Chris Hannay in Ottawa. It is exclusively available only to our digital subscribers. Have any feedback? Let us know what you think.
TODAY’S HEADLINES
The Liberal government’s latest omnibus budget bill features the creation of a brand-new government entity: The department for women and gender equality (WAGE). The proposed legislation includes a pay-equity policy that will apply to civil servants and federally regulated companies. “I can tell you that when women make more money and when they make equitable money for work of equal value, they spend that money in our economy, and in fact it contributes to a strong and growing economy,” Labour Minister Patty Hajdu said.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is defending Statistics Canada’s right to compel banks to hand over customers' personal information without consent.
Mexico’s incoming trade chief says the actual ratification of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada agreement could be complicated by the results of next week’s U.S. midterm elections. “We’re going to see NAFTA and Mexico coming into play in terms of the politics of Democrats versus Republicans and [President Donald] Trump,” Luz Maria de la Mora said.
Chinese defence scientists are working with academics at Canadian universities on numerous projects, raising concerns about whether the intellectual property is flowing back to China’s military.
The Canadian government is still working away on how to buy its next generation of fighter jets, officials assure The Globe. The Liberal government is nearly ready to send out requests for proposal to five interested bidders. Way back in 2010, Stephen Harper’s Conservative government said it was going to buy Lockheed Martin’s F-35 aircraft, until those plans were put on ice by public questions over the cost. In the meantime, Canada continues to pay money every year to maintain its standing in the international club developing the F-35s; $54-million was paid earlier this year, for a total of nearly half a billion dollars since 1997.
The Canadian Forces says it is investigating an online store that sells white supremacist merchandise that is reportedly run by a group of soldiers.
The first funeral for victims of the deadly attack on a Pittsburgh synagogue is today. Robert Gregory Bowers appeared in court yesterday on charges that he killed 11 people. He allegedly posted an anti-Semitic message on social media shortly before the attack.
And Calgary’s proposed bid for the 2026 Olympics is in jeopardy because the city may not have enough money to pull it off. “The bid is over,” one city councillor said. City council is expected to vote on it this week.
Globe and Mail editorial board on the not-called Burnaby by-election: “[NDP Leader Jagmeet] Singh deserves a chance to earn a seat in Parliament, where party leaders belong, and only the government has the power to grant him that opportunity.”
Campbell Clark (The Globe and Mail) on the political calculations: “The Prime Minister brushed off questions from reporters about why he didn’t call all four by-elections at once with the assertion that the law allows him to call the three other by-elections later, so he can. Why does a prime minister do cynical, self-serving things? Because he can.”
Benjamin Shinewald (CBC) on the attack on a Pittsburgh synagogue: “The president expresses unyielding nativism, populism and chauvinism – the very things that never end well for the Jews, the very things that inspire a madman. Sooner or later, hatred works its ugly ways to target the Jewish community, as it did on Saturday in Pittsburg. Add in America’s gun culture, and things get really scary.”
Allison Hanes (Montreal Gazette) on the universality of the attack: “Another reason the shooting in Pittsburgh hits so close to home is that we’ve been there before. Change the variables to Muslim, mosque and Quebec City and we’ve experienced this kind of senseless, tragic, heart-breaking violence very recently indeed.”
Mira Sucharov (The Globe and Mail) on the hatred that fueled the attack: “Staring down anti-Semitism is not enough. We must also wage a war against xenophobia more broadly. In the age of Trump, these terrible forces feed off one another, just as they go hand in hand with racism, Islamophobia and transphobia. And as we’ve seen, these terrible forces are gaining traction."
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Chris Hannay