Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sharply criticized the Conservative Party’s policy on Ukraine today, suggesting the Official Opposition is siding with a global trend in favour of right-wing populism.
“The real story is the rise of a right wing, American MAGA-influenced thinking that has made Canadian conservatives who used to be among the strongest defenders of Ukraine, I’ll admit it, turn their backs on something Ukraine needs in its hour of need,” Trudeau told a news conference in St. John’s where he was meeting with European Union leaders.
MAGA refers to the “Make America Great Again” slogan of former U.S. president Donald Trump.
Trudeau was responding to a question about the Conservatives voting against a free-trade deal between Canada and the Ukraine, citing concerns that the deal supports carbon pricing which is at odds with their policies.
The Conservative Party voted en masse Tuesday against the enabling legislation for a revised Canada-Ukraine free-trade agreement and Poilievre explained that his MPs could not support a deal that imposes a “carbon tax” on Ukraine.
However, Ukraine’s embassy in Canada says the upgraded free-trade agreement between Ottawa and Kyiv does not contain “taxation instruments” to reduce carbon emissions. Senior Parliamentary reporter Steven Chase reports here on the dispute.
Canada also announced another $60-million contribution of military aid for Ukraine today, including nine million rounds of ammunition and around 11,000 firearms, The Canadian Press reports. That’s part of a $500-million package of aid that was announced during the summer.
Canada has committed more than $2.4-billion in military assistance to Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion of the country began in February 2022.
On another note, Trudeau said this week’s deal in the Israel-Hamas war to temporarily halt hostilities so some hostages can be releasedis a sign of progress.
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TODAY’S HEADLINES
Top AI researcher launches new Alberta lab with Huawei funds despite Ottawa restrictions – Richard Sutton says the Openmind Research Institute will fund researchers following the Alberta Plan, a 12-step guide he co-authored last year that lays out a framework for pursuing the development of AI agents capable of human-level intelligence. Story here.
Watchdog report on Global Affairs unit named in Michael Spavor’s case still unreleased three years after its completion – John Davies, executive director of the National Security Intelligence Review Agency, told The Globe and Mail that the agency finished the report in 2020, but “at the time there were high sensitivities with detailing anything to do with GAC’s security reporting program.”
Tory Senate Leader Don Plett makes tearful apology for yelling at female senators – Choking back tears, Plett said he “never intended to cause harm or discomfort” when he approached senators Bernadette Clement and Raymonde Saint-Germain and shouted at them on Nov. 9 after moves to adjourn a debate on a bill that the Conservatives supported.
B.C. Energy Minister’s dropped memo ends up in hands of Opposition BC United – Josie Osborne says she dropped the document, but cannot say where. “That’s my mistake,” she said. “This is something that can happen from time to time. It’s not great.”
Trade Minister says panel rules ‘clearly in favour of Canada’ in dairy-imports dispute with U.S. – A settlement panel has rejected complaints from the U.S. Trade Representative’s office over how Canada is allocating its dairy import quotas. Story here.
Victims in Rainbow Bridge border crash identified as New York couple – The Niagara Falls Police Department named the couple as Kurt P. Villani and Monica Villani, both 53, of Grand Island, a leafy Buffalo suburb close to the falls.
Up to 900 foreign workers to assemble and fit flagship Canadian EV battery plant, company says – The disclosure by NextStar Energy follows an outcry by MPs and local unions that jobs at the factory could go to temporary workers from Korea, stripping promised employment from Canadians. Story here.
Mayors push for more funding after disappointing government fall economic statement – Mayors are working Parliament Hill’s backrooms this week, urging cabinet ministers and MPs to move more aggressively on infrastructure than what Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland unveiled in this week’s statement. Story here.
Protesters held back by police as Canada-EU summit kicks off in St. John’s brewpub – As some of the wealthiest and most influential people in Newfoundland and Labrador welcomed world leaders inside a St. John’s bar this week, dozens of police officers held back an equal number of protesters outside.
.THIS AND THAT
Staff changes in PMO – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is getting a new communications executive. Max Valiquette will be joining Trudeau’s office in early December as executive director of communications. Valiquette, who has had a 25-year plus career in communications and marketing, is joining the office to oversee the communications, digital, research, and advertising teams. He previously worked on Trudeau’s 2015 election campaign.
Meanwhile, there will be other shifts in the PMO communications team. Vanessa Hage-Moussa, acting communications director since June, becomes the permanent communications director. Ann-Clara Vaillancourt becomes media relations director, and Astrid Krizus is now the deputy communications director as well as climate adviser.
Today in the Commons – Projected Order of Business at the House of Commons, Nov. 24, accessible here.
Deputy Prime Minister’s Day – Private meetings in Ottawa.
Ministers on the Road – In Quebec City, Marci Ien, Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth, along with Public Services Minister Jean-Yves Duclos, a Quebec MP, announced an agreement to end gender-based violence in Quebec with representatives of the Quebec government. Diversity Minister Kamal Khera, in Brampton, Ont., announced the federal contribution to support housing needs for asylum seekers in the Peel Region.
PRIME MINISTER’S DAY
Justin Trudeau has been in St. John’s for a summit with leaders of the European Union, concluding today. He is playing host to European Union President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. He met with the leaders in the morning. Just before noon, he held a joint media availability with von der Leyen and Michel. Following that event, the leaders visited a local innovation and technology hub.
LEADERS
Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, in Kitchener, Ont., participated virtually in Commons proceedings and later campaigned for Aislinn Clancy, the Green candidate in the Kitchener Centre provincial byelection.
No schedules released for Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet,Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh.
THE DECIBEL
On Friday’s edition of The Globe and Mail podcast, Report on Business journalist Joe Castaldo talks about Ilya Sutskever, chief scientist of OpenAI, which, in a week, went from being Silicon Valley’s dominant artificial intelligence company, to teetering on the brink of collapse, to a total board overhaul. The Decibel is here.
TRIBUTE
Norman Fetterley – The veteran Parliament Hill correspondent for CJOH and CTV News known for hosting the Gallery Talk panel of correspondents analyzing politics, has died. He was 74. Details here.
OPINION
The Globe and Mail Editorial Boardon how subsidies to rich seniors make no sense:“Ottawa is starting to feel the pinch of its fiscal handcuffs this year, as flagging revenue growth and surging debt costs limit the spending propensities – or at least ability – of the Liberals. But those handcuffs are going to grow much tighter through the rest of this decade. According to new projections in this week’s fall economic statement, just two categories, elderly benefits and debt servicing costs, will account for 52 cents out of every new dollar that the federal government spends in fiscal 2028-29 compared with fiscal 2022-23.”
Campbell Clark (The Globe and Mail) on how, pressed on Ukraine trade deal, Pierre Poilievre is telling tales: “While Pierre Poilievre claims that the new, updated Canada-Ukraine free-trade agreement would force Ukraine to adopt a carbon tax, there is a pretty good source that says that is not so: Ukraine. For some bizarre reason, Mr. Poilievre – a Conservative leader with a 14-point lead in polls who is heading what is supposed to be a government-in-waiting – insists on using that false claim to justify voting against a trade deal that war-weary Ukraine dearly wants.”
Andrew Coyne (The Globe and Mail) on the Liberals’ new definition of restraint: overspending by less than they had previously: “This year’s fall economic statement, I read in the news, was all about ‘restraint.’ But then, so was last year’s statement. So was the spring budget, and the budget before that. Every time the Liberals update the country on the state of its finances, it is accompanied by pages of prose trumpeting the government’s devotion to fiscal restraint. And yet, every time, spending somehow ratchets higher. Over the years this contradiction has required ever more creative arguments to conceal.”
Peter Humphrey (Contributed to The Globe and Mail) on how Michael Spavor’s accusations are playing into Beijing’s hands: “It is not unusual for friends in the business and diplomatic community or journalists to trade political gossip over a drink in a bar. It is not unusual for somebody who resides in China, and does travel regularly to North Korea, to gossip with their mates about what is going on in the Hermit Kingdom – though it is unusual for anybody to frequent there. But for Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, both of whom were hostages of Beijing on false espionage charges for three years, this habit of old friends has turned toxic.”
Shachi Kurl (The Ottawa Citizen) on how Pierre Poilievre, as a potential prime minister, needs to choose his words much more carefully: “In politics, it is never too early or too late for a winning team to blow its lead. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre appears to have decided that now is the time to risk squandering his political good fortune. In the hours after an explosion killed two people at the Rainbow Bridge this week, some early reportage relied heavily on unconfirmed, unnamed sources. Networks put so-called ‘security experts’ on air to speculate about ‘terror cells’ and ‘self-radicalization.’ In the end, there was no evidence of terrorism. As Official Opposition leader enjoying a 14-point advantage, and knowing he’s being evaluated as a potential prime minister, Poilievre should also know the weight and influence of his words. But things started to unravel during Wednesday’s question period when he specifically referred to terror.”
Phil Tank (Saskatoon StarPheonix)on how the male-dominated Saskatchewan Party is unconvincing as a champion of women: “The scandal comes about a year after a government MLA invited convicted wife killer Colin Thatcher to attend the Saskatchewan throne speech, which was initially defended by the government. Moe later offered an awkward apology. Yet statements about the need to support vulnerable women would carry more weight if they did not come from the most male-dominated provincial government in Canada – one that has been in power for 16 years. Just 18 per cent of government MLAs are women, or eight out of 45 after Domotor’s removal.”
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OTTAWA – The federal agency that investigates election infractions found insufficient evidence to support suggestions Beijing wielded undue influence against the Conservatives in the Vancouver area during the 2021 general election.
The Commissioner of Canada Elections’ recently completed review of the lingering issue was tabled Tuesday at a federal inquiry into foreign interference.
The review focused on the unsuccessful campaign of Conservative candidate Kenny Chiu in the riding of Steveston-Richmond East and the party’s larger efforts in the Vancouver area.
It says the evidence uncovered did not trigger the threshold to initiate a formal investigation under the Canada Elections Act.
Investigators therefore recommended that the review be concluded.
A summary of the review results was shared with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the RCMP. The review says both agencies indicated the election commissioner’s findings were consistent with their own understanding of the situation.
During the exercise, the commissioner’s investigators met with Chinese Canadian residents of Chiu’s riding and surrounding ones.
They were told of an extensive network of Chinese Canadian associations, businesses and media organizations that offers the diaspora a lifestyle that mirrors that of China in many ways.
“Further, this diaspora has continuing and extensive commercial, social and familial relations with China,” the review says.
Some interviewees reported that this “has created aspects of a parallel society involving many Chinese Canadians in the Lower Mainland area, which includes concerted support, direction and control by individuals from or involved with China’s Vancouver consulate and the United Front Work Department (UFWD) in China.”
Investigators were also made aware of members of three Chinese Canadian associations, as well as others, who were alleged to have used their positions to influence the choice of Chinese Canadian voters during the 2021 election in a direction favourable to the interests of Beijing, the review says.
These efforts were sparked by elements of the Conservative party’s election platform and by actions and statements by Chiu “that were leveraged to bolster claims that both the platform and Chiu were anti-China and were encouraging anti-Chinese discrimination and racism.”
These messages were amplified through repetition in social media, chat groups and posts, as well as in Chinese in online, print and radio media throughout the Vancouver area.
Upon examination, the messages “were found to not be in contravention” of the Canada Elections Act, says the review, citing the Supreme Court of Canada’s position that the concept of uninhibited speech permeates all truly democratic societies and institutions.
The review says the effectiveness of the anti-Conservative, anti-Chiu campaigns was enhanced by circumstances “unique to the Chinese diaspora and the assertive nature of Chinese government interests.”
It notes the election was prefaced by statements from China’s ambassador to Canada and the Vancouver consul general as well as articles published or broadcast in Beijing-controlled Chinese Canadian media entities.
“According to Chinese Canadian interview subjects, this invoked a widespread fear amongst electors, described as a fear of retributive measures from Chinese authorities should a (Conservative) government be elected.”
This included the possibility that Chinese authorities could interfere with travel to and from China, as well as measures being taken against family members or business interests in China, the review says.
“Several Chinese Canadian interview subjects were of the view that Chinese authorities could exercise such retributive measures, and that this fear was most acute with Chinese Canadian electors from mainland China. One said ‘everybody understands’ the need to only say nice things about China.”
However, no interview subject was willing to name electors who were directly affected by the anti-Tory campaign, nor community leaders who claimed to speak on a voter’s behalf.
Several weeks of public inquiry hearings will focus on the capacity of federal agencies to detect, deter and counter foreign meddling.
In other testimony Tuesday, Conservative MP Garnett Genuis told the inquiry that parliamentarians who were targeted by Chinese hackers could have taken immediate protective steps if they had been informed sooner.
It emerged earlier this year that in 2021 some MPs and senators faced cyberattacks from the hackers because of their involvement with the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, which pushes for accountability from Beijing.
In 2022, U.S. authorities apparently informed the Canadian government of the attacks, and it in turn advised parliamentary IT officials — but not individual MPs.
Genuis, a Canadian co-chair of the inter-parliamentary alliance, told the inquiry Tuesday that it remains mysterious to him why he wasn’t informed about the attacks sooner.
Liberal MP John McKay, also a Canadian co-chair of the alliance, said there should be a clear protocol for advising parliamentarians of cyberthreats.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
WINNIPEG – The federal New Democrats have kept a longtime stronghold in the Elmwood-Transcona riding in Winnipeg.
The NDP’s Leila Dance won a close battle over Conservative candidate Colin Reynolds, and says the community has spoken in favour of priorities such as health care and the cost of living.
Elmwood-Transcona has elected a New Democrat in every election except one since the riding was formed in 1988.
The seat became open after three-term member of Parliament Daniel Blaikie resigned in March to take a job with the Manitoba government.
A political analyst the NDP is likely relieved to have kept the seat in what has been one of their strongest urban areas.
Christopher Adams, an adjunct professor of political studies at the University of Manitoba, says NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh worked hard to keep the seat in a tight race.
“He made a number of visits to Winnipeg, so if they had lost this riding it would have been disastrous for the NDP,” Adams said.
The strong Conservative showing should put wind in that party’s sails, Adams added, as their percentage of the popular vote in Elmwood-Transcona jumped sharply from the 2021 election.
“Even though the Conservatives lost this (byelection), they should walk away from it feeling pretty good.”
Dance told reporters Monday night she wants to focus on issues such as the cost of living while working in Ottawa.
“We used to be able to buy a cart of groceries for a hundred dollars and now it’s two small bags. That is something that will affect everyone in this riding,” Dance said.
Liberal candidate Ian MacIntyre placed a distant third,
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau say the Liberals have “all sorts of reflections” to make after losing a second stronghold in a byelection in Montreal Monday night.
His comments come as the Liberal cabinet gathers for its first regularly scheduled meeting of the fall sitting of Parliament, which began Monday.
Trudeau’s Liberals were hopeful they could retain the Montreal riding of LaSalle—Émard—Verdun, but those hopes were dashed after the Bloc Québécois won it in an extremely tight three-way race with the NDP.
Louis-Philippe Sauvé, an administrator at the Institute for Research in Contemporary Economics, beat Liberal candidate Laura Palestini by less than 250 votes. The NDP finished about 600 votes back of the winner.
It is the second time in three months that Trudeau’s party lost a stronghold in a byelection. In June, the Conservatives defeated the Liberals narrowly in Toronto-St. Paul’s.
The Liberals won every seat in Toronto and almost every seat on the Island of Montreal in the last election, and losing a seat in both places has laid bare just how low the party has fallen in the polls.
“Obviously, it would have been nicer to be able to win and hold (the Montreal riding), but there’s more work to do and we’re going to stay focused on doing it,” Trudeau told reporters ahead of this morning’s cabinet meeting.
When asked what went wrong for his party, Trudeau responded “I think there’s all sorts of reflections to take on that.”
In French, he would not say if this result puts his leadership in question, instead saying his team has lots of work to do.
Bloc leader Yves-François Blanchet will hold a press conference this morning, but has already said the results are significant for his party.
“The victory is historic and all of Quebec will speak with a stronger voice in Ottawa,” Blanchet wrote on X, shortly after the winner was declared.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and his party had hoped to ride to a win in Montreal on the popularity of their candidate, city councillor Craig Sauvé, and use it to further their goal of replacing the Liberals as the chief alternative to the Conservatives.
The NDP did hold on to a seat in Winnipeg in a tight race with the Conservatives, but the results in Elmwood-Transcona Monday were far tighter than in the last several elections. NDP candidate Leila Dance defeated Conservative Colin Reynolds by about 1,200 votes.
Singh called it a “big victory.”
“Our movement is growing — and we’re going to keep working for Canadians and building that movement to stop Conservative cuts before they start,” he said on social media.
“Big corporations have had their governments. It’s the people’s time.”
New Democrats recently pulled out of their political pact with the government in a bid to distance themselves from the Liberals, making the prospects of a snap election far more likely.
Trudeau attempted to calm his caucus at their fall retreat in Nanaimo, B.C, last week, and brought former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney on as an economic adviser in a bid to shore up some credibility with voters.
The latest byelection loss will put more pressure on him as leader, with many polls suggesting voter anger is more directed at Trudeau himself than at Liberal policies.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
