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How Politics, Protests and the Pandemic Shaped a Year in Books – The New York Times

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3 years ago

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From “American Dirt” to “Apropos of Nothing” to “A Promised Land,” here is what happened in the literary and publishing world’s unforgettable 2020.

The year in books, like the year everywhere else, was a simultaneously breakneck and slow-motion mixture of exhaustion, peril, controversy, inspiration and resilience.

Its main themes in the United States were very much those found in the culture as a whole: the brutal effects of a pandemic, the protests and conversations about racial justice, and the final year of the Trump administration. As these profound and prolonged trends affected the literary world, more discrete but still significant moments were happening all the while. Here’s a (more or less) chronological recap of an unforgettable literary year.

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The publishing year began with a cautionary tale about buzz. Jeanine Cummins’s third novel, “American Dirt,” about a Mexican mother and son who flee their country for the United States after a drug cartel kills their family, was published with great commercial and critical expectations. The commercial part worked out.

Before the book was even available in stores, several writers accused Ms. Cummins, who identifies as white and Latina but is not Mexican, of exploiting the traumatic experiences of migrants for her fast-paced novel. Oprah Winfrey chose the novel for her book club, placing the book and its critics under an even more intense spotlight.

“It was an extraordinary convergence of forces,” The Times’s Jennifer Schuessler and Alexandra Alter reported in January. “Industry hype meets charges of cultural appropriation meets one of the most combustible political issues in America today, immigration.” In her review of the novel, The Times’s Parul Sehgal wrote: “I’m of the persuasion that fiction necessarily, even rather beautifully, requires imagining an ‘other’ of some kind.” But, she continued, “the caveat is to do this work of representation responsibly, and well,” and this particular book’s shortcomings “have little to do with the writer’s identity and everything to do with her abilities as a novelist.”

Alfred A. Knopf, the august literary imprint that is now part of Penguin Random House, was founded in 1915. Until this year, it has had only three editors in chief in its history: its founder and namesake; Robert Gottlieb, his successor; and Sonny Mehta, who had presided in the role for 32 years and died at 77 in December 2019. In January, Reagan Arthur was named the fourth.

Arthur had previously been the publisher at Little, Brown, where the writers in her stable included Kate Atkinson, Michael Connelly, Rachel Cusk, Malcolm Gladwell and David Sedaris.

Given that both “Wolf Hall” and “Bring Up the Bodies,” the first two volumes of Hilary Mantel’s Tudor-era trilogy, won the Booker Prize, anticipation was high for the third and concluding book, “The Mirror and the Light.” Nearly 800 pages, it was published in February, a couple of years after initially planned, to the consternation of some impatient fans. “The reason it took so long is that it’s difficult, and that is a totally sufficient explanation,” Mantel told The Times.

Ellie Smith for The New York Times

“The Mirror and the Light” is about the last four years in the life of Mantel’s protagonist, Thomas Cromwell, as he reaches the height of his influence and power in Henry VIII’s court before being — historical spoiler alert — beheaded.

Parul Sehgal called it a “triumphant capstone” to the trilogy, though the “slackest” of the three novels. Thomas Mallon called the trilogy “probably the greatest historical fiction accomplishment of the past decade,” but felt that in the third book, “the enterprise, like Henry, has put on weight and self-importance.” The novel did not win Mantel her third Booker, but it was longlisted for the prize.

Announcing and publishing a book can be a slow business. Not in this case. The controversy around Woody Allen’s autobiography, “Apropos of Nothing,” crammed a year’s worth of drama into three weeks.

On March 2, Hachette Book Group said it would publish the filmmaker’s book in April under its Grand Central imprint. Three days later, dozens of Hachette employees staged a walkout to protest the company’s decision because of the allegations that Mr. Allen molested his adopted daughter Dylan Farrow. He has denied the accusations and wasn’t charged after two investigations decades ago. The next day, Hachette said it wouldn’t publish the book and would return all rights to it to Mr. Allen. Two weeks later, the book was published by Arcade, an imprint of the independent publisher Skyhorse.

The end result? The book itself didn’t make much of a splash. The Times’s Dwight Garner, in his review, called it a “sometimes appealing, occasionally funny, sad and somewhat tawdry book” that, as it goes on, “begins to make the clicking sound cars do when the battery has expired.”

For the publishing industry, the London Book Fair was the canary in the coal mine that was 2020. Organizers called off the annual event on March 4, the same week that major book fairs were canceled in France, Germany and Italy. BookExpo, the biggest industry event in the United States, staged a modified version of the event online in late May.

Around that time, the event’s director said that the future was unclear, and that “if anyone thinks we’re going to go ‘back to normal’ and everything will be as it was, they’re kidding themselves.” And indeed, Reed Exhibitions announced in December that the 2021 event was canceled, and that the company would spend time envisioning what a continuing fair might look like.

When booksellers closed up shop in mid-March in the face of the pandemic and Amazon briefly made shipment of books a lower priority, publishers had some very quick decisions to make.

Hundreds of books originally scheduled to come out in the spring and summer were pushed to the fall or even to 2021, while publishers hoped that stores (and the world in general) would have made some important adjustments to our new reality by then.

Brittainy Newman/The New York Times

Book sales in the United States fell more than 8 percent in March compared with the same month in 2019. While publishers ended 2020 in unexpectedly strong shape, most book sales were not through independent bookstores, which continued to struggle throughout the crisis.

With stores closed and the country’s attention occupied by the news, writers — perhaps especially debut novelists — had to get creative in spreading the word about their work.

“The book is not prophecy,” Lawrence Wright wrote about his novel “The End of October,” “but its appearance in the middle of the worst pandemic in living memory is not entirely coincidental either.”

Mr. Wright’s imagination was inspired by the global outbreak of SARS in 2003 and the historical memory of the Spanish flu of 1918. A prizewinning nonfiction writer, he consulted scientists and health care workers in order to write a realistic thriller about the rapid spread of a flu pandemic.

Dwight Garner, in his review, said that Wright’s research was put to good use, resulting in a rare specimen: a “sweeping, authoritative and genuinely intelligent thriller.” (Wright’s 31,000-word reported account of the coronavirus takes up most of the current issue of The New Yorker.)

In late May, in the wake of the killing of George Floyd, Americans marched in the streets to protest racism and police brutality. Social upheaval and conversations about the nation’s conscience reached a pitch reminiscent of the 1960s.

The literary world reflected this in many ways. By the early days of June, best-seller lists were filled with recent books about race, like “How to Be an Antiracist,” by Ibram X. Kendi, and “So You Want to Talk About Race,” by Ijeoma Oluo, as well as books published a decade or more ago, including “The New Jim Crow,” by Michelle Alexander.

Around the same time in June, writers on social media began using a hashtag, #PublishingPaidMe, to draw attention not just to the homogeneity of the publishing industry but how much writers of color are (or are not) paid. Jesmyn Ward wrote that she “fought and fought” for her first $100,000 advance, even after her novel “Salvage the Bones” had won a National Book Award in 2011.

The Times spoke to an author, literary agent, marketer, publicist, editors and booksellers about how being Black affects their careers and the books you read. And we asked writers to share with us the histories, novels and poetry that have done the most to deepen their understanding of race and racism in America.

In July, Dana Canedy, a former New York Times editor and the administrator of the Pulitzer Prizes, became the new publisher of Simon & Schuster and the first Black person to lead a major publishing house. And Lisa Lucas, the former executive director of the National Book Foundation, was named the publisher of Pantheon and Schocken Books. Other hires and structural changes in 2020 suggested that the industry was moving past lip service in its efforts to increase diversity.

“There’s a certain comfort that comes from knowing a fact,” Alex Trebek told The Times’s Alexandra Alter in July. “The sun is up in the sky. There’s nothing you can say that’s going to change that. You can’t say, ‘The sun’s not up there, there’s no sky.’ There is reality, and there’s nothing wrong with accepting reality.”

Trebek had publicly accepted the reality of his struggles with advanced pancreatic cancer, and this year he published a moving memoir, “The Answer Is …” Parul Sehgal called it “a friendly, often funny account marked by a reluctance so deep that it confers a curious integrity upon the celebrity tell-all.” Trebek died at 80 in November.

In a development that some had predicted when publishers moved their spring books to later in the year, backlogs at major printers caused havoc as the newly crowded fall arrived.

More than 1,200 books about President Trump have been published during his term in office, and readers have essentially said: Keep ’em coming. Some of the most high-profile this year included his niece Mary L. Trump’s “Too Much and Never Enough” and the former national security adviser John Bolton’s “The Room Where It Happened.”

“No matter what your political position, there’s really no doubt that the strong feelings around the Trump administration have pushed book sales in a way we’ve never seen before in the political arena,” Kristen McLean, an executive at NPD Books, a market research firm, told The Times in August.

Jessica White/The New York Times

The book sales are likely to stay, even if Trump won’t. Publishers are signing up the next wave of books about the administration. “People say, ‘Well, there have been too many Trump books,’” Ann Godoff, Penguin’s president and editor in chief, said. “I think you haven’t seen anything yet, and the reason for that is the sources are going to come loose; they’re going to be freer to talk.”

On Oct. 8, the American poet Louise Glück was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. “Louise Glück’s voice is unmistakable,” Anders Olsson, the chair of the prize-giving committee said. “It is candid and uncompromising, and it signals this poet wants to be understood.” He also said her voice was “full of humor and biting wit.”

In an interview with The Times, Glück said: “It seemed to be extremely unlikely that I would ever have this particular event to deal with in my life.”

“It’s part of her greatness,” Dwight Garner wrote, “that her poems are relatively easy of access while impossible to utterly get to the bottom of. They have echoing meanings; you can tangle with them for a very long time.”

Near the end of a challenging year, booksellers were as eager as readers for Barack Obama’s highly anticipated “A Promised Land.” Obama had planned to write a memoir about his presidency within a year or so of leaving office. Instead, he took nearly four years to produce what is just the first of what will now be two volumes.

Nicholas Kamm/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

In her review, The Times’s Jennifer Szalai said that the book offers “frank confessions of his own uncertainties and doubts. At a time of grandiose mythologizing, he marshals his considerable storytelling skills to demythologize himself.” And in the Book Review, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie wrote: “For all his ruthless self-assessment, there is very little of what the best memoirs bring: true self-revelation. So much is still at a polished remove.”

The same week Obama’s memoir was published, the National Book Awards and the Booker Prize announced their winners for 2020. Charles Yu took home the National Book Award for fiction for “Interior Chinatown,” his sendup of Hollywood and Asian-American stereotypes. The nonfiction prize went to “The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X,” a biography by Les Payne and his daughter Tamara Payne, who finished the book after her father’s death in 2018.

The Booker Prize was awarded to Douglas Stuart for “Shuggie Bain,” which was also a finalist for the National Book Award. Stuart began writing the book, an autobiographical novel about a boy and his single, alcoholic mother in 1980s Glasgow, when he was a senior director of design at Banana Republic.

The world’s largest publisher, Penguin Random House, agreed in late November to acquire Simon & Schuster, the third largest publisher, for more than $2 billion from ViacomCBS. The move arrived after a decade already rife with consolidation in the industry.

The Authors Guild opposed the sale, writing in a statement: “The number of large mainstream publishing houses will go from five to just four, further reducing competition in an already sparse competitive environment.”

Markus Dohle, the chief executive of Penguin Random House, said that concerns about the deal’s possible effects on competition were based on “politics and perception,” not data. “We are very confident we’ll get clearance for the deal,” he said.

In a year far too suffused with loss, the world of books said goodbye to its share of admired figures. Here are just a few of them, with links to their full Times obituaries.

Elizabeth Wurtzel, Mary Higgins Clark, Alice Mayhew, George Steiner, Charles Portis, Clive Cussler, Tomie dePaola, Patricia Bosworth, Carolyn Reidy, Larry Kramer, Pete Hamill, Gail Sheehy, Shere Hite, Stanley Crouch, Harold Evans, Diane di Prima, Jan Morris, Alison Lurie, John le Carré, Anthony Veasna So; Barry Lopez.

Follow New York Times Books on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, sign up for our newsletter or our literary calendar. And listen to us on the Book Review podcast.

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Politics Briefing: Premiers warn Ottawa against 'overreaching' and setting conditions on funding – The Globe and Mail

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1 hour ago

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April 20, 2024

By


Hello,

Canada’s premiers and territorial leaders are pressing the federal government to refrain from overreaching into provincial and territorial jurisdictions, particularly in such areas as housing, health care and education.

“Every government should have the right to receive ongoing financial compensation representing their fair share. This includes provinces and territories that reserve the right to require unconditional federal funding,” Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston, chair of the Council of the Federation, wrote in a letter today.

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Houston, speaking for the premiers and territorial leaders, warned the federal government against “overreaching into provincial and territorial jurisdiction.”

The premiers’ letter, available here, said this week’s federal budget provided an opportunity to promote affordability, increase productivity and invest in economic growth for Canada.

“However, to fully deliver for Canadians we must return to a cooperative approach, where governments work together so that the unique needs and priorities of Canadians are respected and responded to in the most efficient way possible.”

The letter comes as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his government have launched a housing program with billions of dollars available to provinces or municipalities ready to work with Ottawa, but conditions are attached.

In Victoria, Trudeau responded to the letter, defending federal action on issues of concern to Canadians

“I’d always rather work with provinces, but if we have to, I will go around them and be there for Canadians,” Trudeau told a news conference.

“I am unabashed about saying I am ambitious to solve problems for Canadians right across the country.”

Houston said the federal budget was announced after provinces and territories had released their respective budgets, with initiatives that will impact their spending plans.

“There was limited and inconsistent outreach from the federal government in advance to ensure priorities and objectives of [provinces and territories] were considered,” said the letter.

“Premiers are concerned that new federal programs, created without long-term funding commitments, will eventually be downloaded on provinces and territories, increasing the financial burdens borne by their taxpayers.”

This is the daily Politics Briefing newsletter, written by Ian Bailey. It is available exclusively to our digital subscribers. If you’re reading this on the web, subscribers can sign up for the Politics newsletter and more than 20 others on our newsletter signup page. Have any feedback? Let us know what you think.

TODAY’S HEADLINES

Quebec follows Ottawa and raises amount of capital gains subject to tax: Ottawa announced increases in its budget Tuesday, and Quebec now says it will tax two-thirds rather than one-half of capital gains, which are profits made on the sale of assets. Story here.

Ottawa to force banks to identify carbon rebate by name in direct deposits: Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault says Canadian banks that refuse to identify the carbon rebate by name when doing direct deposits are forcing the government to change the law to make them do it.

New Brunswick man kidnapped in Congo, held for more than four months: Premier Blaine Higgs has sent a letter to Minister of Foreign Affairs Mélanie Joly urging Ottawa to redouble its efforts on behalf of Fredrick (Freddy) Wangabo Mwenengabo, a Canadian citizen born in Congo, who was kidnapped in the eastern city of Goma in December.

Dominic LeBlanc says he supports PM, but doesn’t deny report on organizing leadership bid: LeBlanc is a lifelong friend of Justin Trudeau. On Wednesday, The Globe and Mail reported that he held a meeting with a former Liberal cabinet minister to lay the groundwork for a leadership campaign should Mr. Trudeau step down. Story here.

‘To us, that border doesn’t exist’: Alaska Indigenous groups want a say in B.C. mining projects they fear could hurt their livelihoods. A border stands in the way – but they hope a Canadian court ruling strengthens the case for ignoring it.

Chinese ambassador ends his posting in Canada: Cong Peiwu, Beijing’s envoy to Ottawa since 2019 – through much of the strained ties between China and Canada – has informed the Department of Global Affairs and other diplomatic missions in the capital that he’s heading home, sources say.

Federal Addictions Minister to meet with B.C. counterpart as backlash continues on decriminalization: A statement from the office of Ya’ara Saks, the federal Minister for Mental Health and Addictions, said she would be meeting with B.C.’s Jennifer Whiteside next week to discuss fallout from the province’s drug policies, including decriminalization and safer supply. Story here.

Poilievre won’t commit to keeping new social programs like pharmacare: CBC reports that Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is depicting the government’s latest budget as a threat to the country’s future, and suggesting a number of new social programs will get a second look if he leads the next government.

TODAY’S POLITICAL QUOTES

“I really believe in capitalist democracy. I have lived in other systems actually and they’re pretty awful.” – Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, in Toronto, today at a news conference in a lab.

“Limp, wet and utterly useless, paper straws and Liberal governments are not worth the cost.” – Conservative MP Corey Tochor during Question Period today.

“That’s the price of Pierre” – NDP MP Peter Julian, in a statement today, referring to the implications of federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s policies on pharmacare, dental care and support for corporations.

THIS AND THAT

Today in the Commons: Projected Order of Business at the House of Commons, April. 19, accessible here.

Deputy Prime Minister’s Day: Private meetings in Toronto, and Chrystia Freeland toured a research lab and discussed her budget’s impact on research labs.

Ministers on the Road: Members of the federal cabinet are out across Canada, holding events to emphasize aspects of the federal budget, including research funding. Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Gary Anandasangaree, International Development Minister Ahmed Hussen and Filomena Tassi, Minister for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, are in Hamilton. Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault, is in Saskatoon, with Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan. Health Minister Mark Holland is in the Ontario city of Waterloo, hosting an event at the University of Waterloo. Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay highlighted student-research investments at the University of Prince Edward Island’s Canadian Centre for Climate Change and Adaptation in St. Peter’s Bay. Mental Health Minister Ya’ara Saks hosted an event at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg. Justice Minister Minister Arif Virani made a research funding announcement at the University of Calgary.

Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly, on the Italian island of Capri, attended the final day of the G7 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting.

In Ottawa: Governor-General Mary Simon participated in the unveiling of a heraldic badge granted to the Rainbow Veterans of Canada by the Canadian Heraldic Authority.

Commons Committee Highlights: Heather Jeffrey, president of the Public Health Agency of Canada, and Stephen Lucas, deputy health minister, were scheduled to appear before the afternoon special committee on the Canada-China relationship.

New member of intelligence committee: Darren Fisher, a Liberal MP from Nova Scotia, has been appointed to the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians, says the Office of the Prime Minister. The committee, created in 2017, includes MPs and Senators from various parties who review national-security and intelligence activities carried out by the government.

Unanimous consent: MPs have given unanimous consent to a motion on antisemitism advanced by Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, and, says a spokesperson for May, inspired by a May. 22 Globe and Mail editorial. The motion, given consent Thursday, read: “That the House unequivocally condemns antisemitism, and in particular rejects the idea that Jewish Canadians are responsible for the actions of the State of Israel.”

PRIME MINISTER’S DAY

Justin Trudeau, in Victoria, met with students to highlight federal budget measures, and made an announcement on budget measures related to Canadian research and education.

On Saturday, Trudeau was scheduled to meet at CFB Esquimalt Naval Base Headquarters with visiting Polish President Andrzej Duda, who is making stops in Vancouver, the Victoria area, and Edmonton through Monday.

LEADERS

Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre participated in a fundraising event in the Southern Ontario town of Milton.

Green Party Leader Elizabeth May travelled to her B.C. riding of Saanich-Gulf Islands, and attended the Beacon Community Services Volunteer Long Service ceremony and luncheon.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, in Richmond, B.C., joined food-service workers outside Vancouver International Airport who have recently voted for strike action.

No schedule released for Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet.

THE DECIBEL

On today’s Decibel podcast, Bill Curry, The Globe’s deputy Ottawa bureau chief, discusses the ArriveCan app and what was learned from Kristian Firth’s appearance at the House of Commons. Firth was the first person in over a century held in contempt of Parliament and ordered to answer MPs’ questions. His company, GC Strategies, was awarded millions of dollars to help develop the app. The Decibel is here.

OPINION

Reconciliation: How to build up an Indigenous economy

“Investigations from both media and government into the ArriveCan app have laid bare much rot at the heart of the federal government’s procurement. There have been concerns about how costs can balloon out of control, or how middlemen can pocket millions of dollars for doing little work. Another troubling thread has been the apparent exploitation of a program meant to support Indigenous businesses.” – The Globe and Mail Editorial Board

The foreign interference inquiry features a parade of senior Liberals protesting too much

“We are partway through the mandate of the Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference in Federal Electoral Processes and Democratic Institutions, a.k.a. the Foreign Interference Commission, which is to say we are all the way through the only part that matters. – Andrew Coyne.

Jewish students are being forced to weigh a new factor when choosing universities

“This time of year, Grade 12 students are making big decisions about what comes next. Parents’ Facebook feeds feature proud announcements about where their child will attend university in the fall. It’s lovely. But for Jewish parents, a new factor has entered into the mix: Where can we send our kids that will be safe?” –Marsha Lederman.

Danielle Smith’s Bill 18 is as cynical and nefarious as it gets

“Alberta Premier Danielle Smith must awaken each morning and think: what fresh havoc can I wreak today? What’s remarkable is that she continues to get away with just about ev–deologue on the loose, free to indulge her libertarian, Justin Trudeau-despising whims as she wishes. She gets away with it largely because conservative politicians in Alberta have trained the populace to despise Ottawa, too, or at least “liberal” Ottawa.” – Gary Mason.

Here’s what a ‘fairness for every generation’ budget would have actually included

“Canada’s “Fairness For Every Generation” budget was quite clearly designed to promote the perception of fairness, rather than its realization. It’s a marketing document, as federal budgets are, through which a government with a certain degree of gall can claim that “it would be irresponsible and unfair to pass on more debt to the next generations,” while also introducing $52.9-billion in new spending, with the cost to service the national debt ($54.1-billion) now surpassing health transfers to the provinces ($52.1-billion).” – Robyn Urback

Got a news tip that you’d like us to look into? E-mail us at tips@globeandmail.com. Need to share documents securely? Reach out via SecureDrop.

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Iran news: Canada, G7 urge de-escalation after Israel strike – CTV News

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23 hours ago

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April 19, 2024

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Canada called for “all parties” to de-escalate rising tensions in the Mideast following an apparent Israeli drone attack against Iran overnight.

G7 foreign ministers, including Canada’s, and the High Representative for the European Union released a public statement Friday morning. The statement condemned Iran’s “direct and unprecedented attack” on April 13, which saw Western allies intercept more than 100 bomb-carrying drones headed towards Israel, the G7 countries said.

Prior to the Iranian attack, a previous airstrike, widely blamed on Israel, destroyed Iran’s consulate in Syria, killing 12 people including two elite Iranian generals.

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“I join my G7 colleagues in urging all parties to work to prevent further escalation,” wrote Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly in a post on X Friday.

More details to come.

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Politics Briefing: Labour leader targets Poilievre, calls him 'anti-worker politician' – The Globe and Mail

Published

2 days ago

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April 18, 2024

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Hello,

Pierre Poilievre is a fraud when it comes to empowering workers, says the president of Canada’s largest labour organization.

Bea Bruske, president of the Canadian Labour Congress, targeted the federal Conservative Leader in a speech in Ottawa today as members of the labour movement met to develop a strategic approach to the next federal election, scheduled for October, 2025.

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“Whatever he claims today, Mr. Poilievre has a consistent 20-year record as an anti-worker politician,” said Bruske, whose congress represents more than three million workers.

She rhetorically asked whether the former federal cabinet minister has ever walked a picket line, or supported laws to strengthen workers’ voices.

“Mr. Poilievre sure is fighting hard to get himself power, but he’s never fought for worker power,” she said.

“We must do everything in our power to expose Pierre Poilievre as the fraud that he is.”

The Conservative Leader, whose party is running ahead of its rivals in public-opinion polls, has declared himself a champion of “the common people,” and been courting the working class as he works to build support.

Mr. Poilievre’s office today pushed back on the arguments against him.

Sebastian Skamski, media-operations director, said Mr. Poilievre, unlike other federal leaders, is connecting with workers.

In a statement, Skamski said NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has sold out working Canadians by co-operating with the federal Liberal government, whose policies have created challenges for Canadian workers with punishing taxes and inflation.

“Pierre Poilievre is the one listening and speaking to workers on shop floors and in union halls from coast to coast to coast,” said Mr. Skamski.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mr. Singh are scheduled to speak to the gathering today. Mr. Poilievre was not invited to speak.

Asked during a post-speech news conference about the Conservative Leader’s absence, Bruske said the gathering is focused on worker issues, and Poilievre’s record as an MP and in government shows he has voted against rights, benefits and wage increases for workers.

“We want to make inroads with politicians that will consistently stand up for workers, and consistently engage with us,” she said.

This is the daily Politics Briefing newsletter, written by Ian Bailey. It is available exclusively to our digital subscribers. If you’re reading this on the web, subscribers can sign up for the Politics newsletter and more than 20 others on our newsletter signup page. Have any feedback? Let us know what you think.

TODAY’S HEADLINES

Pierre Poilievre’s top adviser not yet contacted in Lobbying Commissioner probe: The federal Lobbying Commissioner has yet to be in touch with Jenni Byrne as the watchdog probes allegations of inappropriate lobbying by staff working both in Byrne’s firm and a second one operating out of her office.

Métis groups will trudge on toward self-government as bill faces another setback: Métis organizations in Ontario and Alberta say they’ll stay on the path toward self-government, despite the uncertain future of a contentious bill meant to do just that.

Liberals buck global trend in ‘doubling down’ on foreign aid, as sector urges G7 push: The federal government pledged in its budget this week to increase humanitarian aid by $150-million in the current fiscal year and $200-million the following year.

Former B.C. finance minister running for the federal Conservatives: Mike de Jong says he will look to represent the Conservatives in Abbotsford-South Langley, which is being created out of part of the Abbotsford riding now held by departing Tory MP Ed Fast.

Ottawa’s new EV tax credit raises hope of big new Honda investment: The proposed measure would provide companies with a 10-per-cent rebate on the costs of constructing new buildings to be used in the electric-vehicle supply chain. Story here.

Sophie Grégoire Trudeau embraces uncertainty in new memoir, Closer Together: “I’m a continuous, curious, emotional adventurer and explorer of life and relationships,” Grégoire Trudeau told The Globe and Mail during a recent interview. “I’ve always been curious and interested and fascinated by human contact.”

TODAY’S POLITICAL QUOTES

“Sometimes you’re in a situation. You just can’t win. You say one thing. You get one community upset. You say another. You get another community upset.” – Ontario Premier Doug Ford, at a news conference in Oakville today, commenting on the Ontario legislature Speaker banning the wearing in the House of the traditional keffiyeh scarf. Ford opposes the ban, but it was upheld after the news conference in the provincial legislature.

“No, I plan to be a candidate in the next election under Prime Minister Trudeau’s leadership. I’m very happy. I’m excited about that. I’m focused on the responsibilities he gave me. It’s a big job. I’m enjoying it and I’m optimistic that our team and the Prime Minister will make the case to Canadians as to why we should be re-elected.” – Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, before Question Period today, on whether he is interested in the federal Liberal leadership, and succeeding Justin Trudeau as prime minister.

THIS AND THAT

Today in the Commons: Projected Order of Business at the House of Commons, April. 18, accessible here.

Deputy Prime Minister’s Day: Private meetings in Burlington, Ont., then Chrystia Freeland toured a manufacturing facility, discussed the federal budget and took media questions. Freeland then travelled to Washington, D.C., for spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group. Freeland also attended a meeting of the Five Eyes Finance Ministers hosted by U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, and held a Canada-Ukraine working dinner on mobilizing Russian assets in support of Ukraine.

Ministers on the Road: Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly is on the Italian island of Capri for the G7 foreign ministers’ meeting. Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge, in the Quebec town of Farnham, made an economic announcement, then held a brief discussion with agricultural workers and took media questions. Privy Council President Harjit Sajjan made a federal budget announcement in the Ontario city of Welland. Families Minister Jenna Sudds made an economic announcement in the Ontario city of Belleville.

Commons Committee Highlights: Treasury Board President Anita Anand appeared before the public-accounts committee on the auditor-general’s report on the ArriveCan app, and Karen Hogan, Auditor-General of Canada, later appeared on government spending. Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Gary Anandasangaree appears before the status-of-women committee on the Red Dress Alert. Competition Bureau Commissioner Matthew Boswell and Yves Giroux, the Parliamentary Budget Officer, appeared before the finance committee on Bill C-59. Former Prince Edward Island premier Robert Ghiz, now the president and chief executive officer of the Canadian Telecommunications Association, is among the witnesses appearing before the human-resources committee on Bill C-58, An act to amend the Canada Labour Code. Caroline Maynard, Canada’s Information Commissioner, appears before the access-to-information committee on government spending. Michel Patenaude, chief inspector at the Sûreté du Québec, appeared before the public-safety committee on car thefts in Canada.

In Ottawa: Governor-General Mary Simon presented the Governor-General’s Literary Awards during a ceremony at Rideau Hall, and, in the evening, was scheduled to speak at the 2024 Indspire Awards to honour Indigenous professionals and youth.

PRIME MINISTER’S DAY

Justin Trudeau met with Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe at city hall. Sutcliffe later said it was the first time a sitting prime minister has visited city hall for a meeting with the mayor. Later, Trudeau delivered remarks to a Canada council meeting of the Canadian Labour Congress.

LEADERS

Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet held a media scrum at the House of Commons ahead of Question Period.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre attends a party fundraising event at a private residence in Mississauga.

Green Party Leader Elizabeth May attended the House of Commons.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, in Ottawa, met with Saskatchewan’s NDP Leader, Carla Beck, and, later, Ken Price, the chief of the K’ómoks First Nation,. In the afternoon, he delivered a speech to a Canadian Labour Congress Canadian council meeting.

THE DECIBEL

On today’s edition of The Globe and Mail podcast, Sanjay Ruparelia, an associate professor at Toronto Metropolitan University and Jarislowsky Democracy Chair, explains why India’s elections matter for democracy – and the balance of power for the rest of the world. The Decibel is here.

PUBLIC OPINION

Declining trust in federal and provincial governments: A new survey finds a growing proportion of Canadians do not trust the federal or provincial governments to make decisions on health care, climate change, the economy and immigration.

OPINION

On Haida Gwaii, an island of change for Indigenous land talks

“For more than a century, the Haida Nation has disputed the Crown’s dominion over the land, air and waters of Haida Gwaii, a lush archipelago roughly 150 kilometres off the coast of British Columbia. More than 20 years ago, the First Nation went to the Supreme Court of Canada with a lawsuit that says the islands belong to the Haida, part of a wider legal and political effort to resolve scores of land claims in the province. That case has been grinding toward a conclusion that the B.C. government was increasingly convinced would end in a Haida victory.” – The Globe and Mail Editorial Board.

The RCMP raid the home of ArriveCan contractor as Parliament scolds

“The last time someone was called before the bar of the House of Commons to answer MPs’ inquiries, it was to demand that a man named R.C. Miller explain how his company got government contracts to supply lights, burners and bristle brushes for lighthouses. That was 1913. On Wednesday, Kristian Firth, the managing partner of GCStrategies, one of the key contractors on the federal government’s ArriveCan app, was called to answer MPs’ queries. Inside the Commons, it felt like something from another century.” – Campbell Clark

First Nations peoples have lost confidence in Thunder Bay’s police force

“Thunder Bay has become ground zero for human-rights violations against Indigenous Peoples in Canada. Too many sudden and suspicious deaths of Indigenous Peoples have not been investigated properly. There have been too many reports on what is wrong with policing in the city – including ones by former chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Murray Sinclair and former Toronto Police board chair Alok Mukherjee, and another one called “Broken Trust,” in which the Office of the Independent Police Review Director said the Thunder Bay Police Service (TBPS) was guilty of “systemic racism” in 2018. – Tanya Talaga.

The failure of Canada’s health care system is a disgrace – and a deadly one

“What can be said about Canada’s health care system that hasn’t been said countless times over, as we watch more and more people suffer and die as they wait for baseline standards of care? Despite our delusions, we don’t have “world-class” health care, as our Prime Minister has said; we don’t even have universal health care. What we have is health care if you’re lucky, or well connected, or if you happen to have a heart attack on a day when your closest ER is merely overcapacity as usual, and not stuffed to the point of incapacitation.” – Robyn Urback.

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