Politics Briefing: Liberals talk policy and politics at Halifax convention

Good morning,

The federal Liberals continue their national convention in Halifax today and through the weekend. There are a number of policy issues to be debated, but don’t expect any vote results until tomorrow. The focus of the convention will be getting Liberals ready and motivated for next year’s federal election. Liberal MP Andy Fillmore said next year will be different, because the party doesn’t need to overthrow a Conservative prime minister this time. “ We’re having a different kind of election this time. We’re not deposing a dictator this time; we’re fighting to keep our mandate going,”he said. Conservative MP Lisa Raitt, her party’s representative at the convention, wasn’t impressed with the choice of words. “ I find it awfully immature,” she said.

This is the daily Politics Briefing newsletter, written by Chris Hannay in Ottawa, Mayaz Alam i n 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.

TODAY’S HEADLINES

The first results of The Globe’s partnership with ProPublica to track how political parties advertise on Facebook are out. The ads show how parties of all stripes are sending different messages to different voters. (See our link at the bottom of the newsletter for more information about how you can get involved in the project.)

Meanwhile in Ottawa, Facebook's man on Parliament Hill, Kevin Chan, said his interactions with and help for the Liberal government do not require him to register as a lobbyist.

North American free-trade agreement talks are once again at an impasse but Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland was in Washington yesterday in an attempt to break the gridlock. The most contentious issue continues to be automotive jobs, with the U.S. trying to introduce new rules that would result in more positions for American auto workers at the expense of Mexico. The White House is pushing for a deal in principle by the end of the month.

To the despair of Canadians in search of cheap beer, the Supreme Court has upheld a New Brunswick law that limits how much alcohol can cross the province’s border. The case has implications for interprovincial trade and what kinds of barriers provinces can impose. Experts are divided on what the ruling means for the Alberta-B.C. spat over oil and pipelines (and wine).

Federal Environment Minister Catherine McKenna says corporations must be more transparent about the risk climate change poses to their businesses, but indicates the federal government doesn’t necessarily have to make the same disclosures.

Queen Elizabeth II has urged Commonwealth leaders to name Prince Charles, her son and heir to the throne, as head of the organization. “It is my sincere wish that the Commonwealth will continue to offer stability and continuity for future generations, and will decide that one day the Prince of Wales should carry on the important work started by my father in 1949,” the Queen said as she opened the Commonwealth Heads of Government summit at Buckingham Palace on Thursday. She was named to the ceremonial role when she became monarch but it’s a position that is not hereditary. Ultimately, Commonwealth leaders will decide who will replace her. This is the last time she is expected to attend the biennial summit as she no longer travels outside of Britain. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau backed the idea of Prince Charles taking over once he assumes the throne.

Male hosts at CBC/Radio Canada earn almost 9.5 per cent more than their female colleagues, according to newly released figures. Male editors, managers and producers at Canada’s public broadcaster also all make more on average than their female counterparts but female reporters make almost 3.5 per cent more than males in the same role.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in says that North Korea has expressed a commitment to “complete denuclearization” in the peninsula, but that hasn’t stopped Washington from saying that it will keep up the pressure on Pyongyang.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces have taken control of a town northeast of the capital, Damascus, the latest in a series of areas that have been won by the government. Syria’s government, which is backed by Iran and Russia, has laid siege to opposition areas until residents and fighters give up and accept government control.

The supreme allied commander for NATO and the head of Russia's military general staff held a meeting yesterday, a rare occurrence, in an attempt to ease tensions between the Kremlin and the West. U.S. Army General Curits Scaparrotti and Chief of the General Staff of Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov met in Azerbaijan less than a week after the U.S., France and Britain launched a missile strike on Syria.

Turkey’s opposition, which is fractured and in disarray, is scrambling to mount a meaningful challenge against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has consolidated power in recent years and called a surprise snap election.

John Ibbitson (The Globe and Mail) on the Supreme Court’s free-the-beer ruling: “For those of us dedicated to the ever-freer passage of goods, services and people both within Canada and between Canada and the world, the ruling is a disappointment. It reinforces the frustration over the Trans Mountain pipeline dispute between Alberta and B.C. It reveals Canada to be a balkanized country, a collection of 10 provincial fiefdoms, with a feeble federal government that is unable to override the parochial provinces in the national interest.”

Emmett Macfarlane (Maclean’s) on the ruling: “Only a mind as nimble as a Supreme Court justice’s could determine that this purpose—an overtly protectionist law designed to prevent the free purchase and transport of beer from another province—has only an ‘incidental effect’ on interprovincial trade. It’s like arguing that a rule removing one of the team’s nets has only an incidental effect on a hockey game.”

Jan de Silva and Patrick Sullivan (The Globe and Mail) on what the government should do on the ruling: “The federal government should bring together the provinces to reach a national agreement that provides for mutual recognition of provincial regulations for goods and occupations. This would mean a product or worker that is legally regulated in one province could be sold or work in any other, without the need for more red tape. Australia did this 25 years ago in a 17-page agreement.”

Howard Anglin (The Globe and Mail) on hope for change: “You’ll never get rich betting on politicians to do the right thing, but in this case there is reason for cautious optimism. Free trade within Canada is a rare cause that is both overwhelmingly popular and genuinely good policy.”

Don Martin (CTV) on beer and the Trans Mountain pipeline: “While mine is not a fine legal mind, it stands to reason that if a province has the right to control the sale of beer for price protection purposes, Alberta has the right to cut off oil exports as punishment for bad behavior.”

Help The Globe monitor political ads on Facebook: During an election campaign, you can expect to see a lot of political ads. But Facebook ads, unlike traditional media, can be targeted to specific users and only be seen by certain subsets of users, making the ads almost impossible to track. The Globe and Mail wants to report on how these ads are used, but we need to see the same ads Facebook users are seeing. Here is how you can help.

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