The six candidates to lead the federal Conservative party will be making their case to win the race at a French-language debate Wednesday night.
The debate in the Montreal suburb of Laval is the second organized by the party committee managing the race after a previous debate, in English, held in Edmonton on May. 11.
The event will be a kind of political homecoming for candidate Jean Charest, the premier of Quebec from 2003 until 2012. The other candidates in the race are Ontario MPs Scott Aitchison, Leslyn Lewis and Pierre Poilievre as well as former Ontario legislature member Roman Baber, and Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown.
In recent days the candidates have been in Quebec preparing for the debate.
Mr. Charest and Mr. Poilievre are fluent in French as is Mr. Brown. It remains to be seen how the other candidates will make their points during the debate, which begins at 8 p.m. and runs for two hours.
The moderator is Marc-Olivier Fortin, a former Conservative Party regional councillor and national councilor for the party.
The debate comes a week before the June 3 deadline for selling party memberships, an exercise that has dominated the candidates’ time as they seek to rally support in the race. The winner will be announced by the party on Sept. 10.
When the leadership committee announced its debate plans in April, it said it was reserving the right to add a third debate in early August, but there has been no decision announced on such a gathering.
Please watch The Globe and Mail for coverage on Wednesday’s debate. There’s also an explainer here on the leadership race, with information on the candidates, and more details on the race itself.
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TODAY’S HEADLINES
OTTAWA NOT RULING OUT COURT ACTION ON QUEBEC LANGUAGE LAW – Federal Justice Minister David Lametti says his government is not ruling out a court challenge to Quebec’s newly adopted language-reform law. Story here. Meanwhile, there’s more from Quebec correspondent Eric Andrew-Gee on the law, which is the largest expansion of Quebec’s language laws in more than 40 years. Story here.
TRUDEAU FORCED TO CANCEL APPEARANCE AT FUNDRAISING EVENT – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was forced to cancel plans to attend a fundraising dinner in Surrey, B.C. on Tuesday after two speakers at the event said protesters hurled racial slurs at the mostly South Asian attendees entering the venue. Story here. Meanwhile, Mr. Trudeau says Canada Border Services Agency will be the department that decides whether Iran’s men’s soccer team is allowed into the country for a game next month. Story here.
CANADA SHOULD HAVE BEEN INCLUDED IN TRADE TALKS: BUSINESS LEADERS – Canadian business leaders say Canada should not have been left out of the launch of new American-led trade talks about the Indo-Pacific region. Story here.
PROSPECTS TO SUCCEED KENNEY CONSIDER OPTIONS -The race to replace Jason Kenney as United Conservative Party leader and Alberta Premier has two entrants so far along with a number of cabinet ministers who, when asked if they plan to run, delivered answers ranging from maybe to a hard no. Story here.
ONTARIO ELECTION – Ontario election today: The main party leaders are all holding in-person events for the first time in days. There’s a profile here of Ontario Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca, who says his politics come from personal life as he makes a run for premiership. TVO looks here at what women and racialized candidates face on the campaign trail. And check Vote of Confidence, The Globe’s Ontario election newsletter.
THIS AND THAT
TODAY IN THE COMMONS – The House has adjourned until May 30.
ANNUAL TEDDY WASTE AWARDS – The Canadian Taxpayers Federation has released their 24th annual Teddy Waste Awards, highlighting the “best of the worst” in government waste. Details here.
ALGHABRA IN NEW BRUNSWICK Transport Minister Omar Alghabra is in Saint John, N.B., announcing new funding for the port of Saint John and for the railway system in New Brunswick.
BLAIR IN INDONESIA – Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair is in Indonesia, leading a Canadian delegation at the seventh session of the Global Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction from Wednesday to May 28.
MENDICINO IN HALIFAX – Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino made a crime-prevention announcement in Halifax.
THE DECIBEL
Wednesday’s edition of The Globe and Mail podcast features children’s rights and technology researcher Hye Jung Han , an advocate with Human Rights Watch, and lead researcher on a new report that found that some online learning platforms are tracking children in ways they say actively or passively infringe on a child’s privacy rights. The Decibel is here.
PRIME MINISTER’S DAY
In Saskatoon, the Prime Minister held private meetings, met with long-term care home residents, and was scheduled to make an an announcement on long-term care with Saskatchewan Seniors Minister Everett Hindley and hold a media availability. The Prime Minister was also scheduled to meet with students from the University of Saskatchewan College of Agriculture and Bioresources as well as researchers from the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization at the University of Saskatchewan. And the Prime Minister was scheduled to visit a local daycare facility and meet with families to discuss early learning and child care.
LEADERS
No schedules released for party leaders.
OPINION
The Globe and Mail Editorial Boardon how, with Bill 96, François Legault is trying to tiptoe out of Canada’s constitutional order: “It was always assumed that, if Quebec ever left Canada, it could only happen through the front door, and only if a clear majority could be persuaded to vote “oui” to an unambiguous referendum question. Such a result being of no interest to a majority of Quebeckers, Canada needs to recognize the fact that the current government of Quebec is trying to tiptoe out the back door. It is doing so by poking ever larger holes in Canada’s constitutional order, which protects fundamental rights, and replacing it with a parallel regime where the executive can curb rights and meddle in people’s lives with little to no judicial oversight.”
Eva Jewell and Ian Mosby (Contributed to The Globe and Mail)on how reconciliation can’t be achieved with only symbolic gestures: “We write an annual report for Yellowhead Institute on Canada’s implementation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 Calls to Action. When these calls were first released on June 2, 2015, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau – before he became Prime Minister – promised that his party would complete all 94 if elected. But the reality has proven to be much different. According to our most recent analysis, Canada has completed only 11 of the 94 calls to action over the last seven years. While overall progress has been glacial, last year we found that in the three weeks following the Kamloops revelations, Canada completed three calls to action – more than in the previous three years combined.”
Jillian Oliver (Contributed to The Globe and Mail)on how Australia’s `teal wave’ is a wakeup call for Canada’s Conservatives: “The results should be a wake-up call for Canada’s federal Conservatives, whose leadership candidates are pledging to roll back Canadian climate policies if they were to form a government. Their presumed frontrunner, Pierre Poilievre, has said he wants to “build pipelines in all directions” and eliminate Canada’s price on carbon. His main challenger, Jean Charest, would not honour Canada’s emission-reductions commitments to the UN and instead reinstate weaker climate targets from more than a decade ago.”
Tom Mulcair (The Montreal Gazette)on how Quebec’s Bill 96′s passage to be followed by holy chaos: “The first big chapter of the Bill 96 saga has come to an end with the bill’s adoption by the National Assembly. By a linguistic quirk, on the anglo side it will always be called Bill 96 (like “Bill 101,” which actually became a law in 1977). On the franco side it will get a promotion to being called Loi 96 (Law 96). One way or the other, it’s on its way to court, where it is likely to get eviscerated, much to the quiet delight of separatists, who will see that as further proof Quebec independence is the only way forward. Bill 96 is overtly unconstitutional. It creates outrageous powers of search and seizure for language police who could inspect a company’s computers looking for inappropriate use of English. This is Keystone Kops material, but the Coalition Avenir Québec government has its spokespersons out there denying that Bill 96 actually says what it says in black and white.”
Murray Mandryk (Saskatoon StarPhoenix)on how Saskatchewan’s next NDP leader must depart from the approach of outgoing leader Ryan Meili: “In what turned into a bit of an exit interview Thursday, outgoing NDP Leader Ryan Meili was asked what advice he had for his successor. Don’t be your own attack dog on every issue, Meili essentially told reporters in his last scrum at the legislature as Opposition leader. Leave it to others to carry the attack and present your broader, more positive vision as to where your party is going. It was sage counsel for either Carla Beck or Kaitlyn Harvey, vying to become the next NDP leader of what is now a 12-member opposition rump. It also pretty much sums up most — if not all — of the problems of not onlyMr. Meili’s leadership but what’s ailed the Saskatchewan NDP for the past decade and a half.”
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REGINA – Saskatchewan Party Leader Scott Moe is promising a directive banning “biological boys” from using school changing rooms with “biological girls” if re-elected, a move the NDP’s Carla Beck says weaponizes vulnerable kids.
Moe made the pledge Thursday at a campaign stop in Regina. He said it was in response to a complaint that two biological males had changed for gym class with girls at a school in southeast Saskatchewan.
He said the ban would be his first order of business if he’s voted again as premier on Oct. 28.
It was not previously included in his party’s campaign platform document.
“I’ll be very clear, there will be a directive that would come from the minister of education that would say that biological boys will not be in the change room with biological girls,” Moe said.
He added school divisions should already have change room policies, but a provincial directive would ensure all have the rule in place.
Asked about the rights of gender-diverse youth, Moe said other children also have rights.
“What about the rights of all the other girls that are changing in that very change room? They have rights as well,” he said, followed by cheers and claps.
The complaint was made at a school with the Prairie Valley School Division. The division said in a statement it doesn’t comment on specific situations that could jeopardize student privacy and safety.
“We believe all students should have the opportunity to learn and grow in a safe and welcoming learning environment,” it said.
“Our policies and procedures align with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Saskatchewan Human Rights Code.”
Asked about Moe’s proposal, Beck said it would make vulnerable kids more vulnerable.
Moe is desperate to stoke fear and division after having a bad night during Wednesday’s televised leaders’ debate, she said.
“Saskatchewan people, when we’re at our best, are people that come together and deliver results, not divisive, ugly politics like we’ve seen time and again from Scott Moe and the Sask. Party,” Beck said.
“If you see leaders holding so much power choosing to punch down on vulnerable kids, that tells you everything you need to know about them.”
Beck said voters have more pressing education issues on their minds, including the need for smaller classrooms, more teaching staff and increased supports for students.
People also want better health care and to be able to afford gas and groceries, she added.
“We don’t have to agree to understand Saskatchewan people deserve better,” Beck said.
The Saskatchewan Party government passed legislation last year that requires parents consent to children under 16 using different names or pronouns at school.
The law has faced backlash from some LGBTQ+ advocates, who argue it violates Charter rights and could cause teachers to out or misgender children.
Beck has said if elected her party would repeal that legislation.
Heather Kuttai, a former commissioner with the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission who resigned last year in protest of the law, said Moe is trying to sway right-wing voters.
She said a change room directive would put more pressure on teachers who already don’t have enough educational support.
“It sounds like desperation to me,” she said.
“It sounds like Scott Moe is nervous about the election and is turning to homophobic and transphobic rhetoric to appeal to far-right voters.
“It’s divisive politics, which is a shame.”
She said she worries about the future of gender-affirming care in a province that once led in human rights.
“We’re the kind of people who dig each other out of snowbanks and not spew hatred about each other,” she said. “At least that’s what I want to still believe.”
Also Thursday, two former Saskatchewan Party government members announced they’re endorsing Beck — Mark Docherty, who retired last year and was a Speaker, and Glen Hart, who retired in 2020.
Ian Hanna, a speech writer and senior political adviser to former Saskatchewan Party premier Brad Wall, also endorsed Beck.
Earlier in the campaign, Beck received support from former Speaker Randy Weekes, who quit the Saskatchewan Party earlier this year after accusing caucus members of bullying.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.
REGINA – Saskatchewan‘s provincial election is on Oct. 28. Here’s a look at some of the campaign promises made by the two major parties:
Saskatchewan Party
— Continue withholding federal carbon levy payments to Ottawa on natural gas until the end of 2025.
— Reduce personal income tax rates over four years; a family of four would save $3,400.
— Double the Active Families Benefit to $300 per child per year and the benefit for children with disabilities to $400 a year.
— Direct all school divisions to ban “biological boys” from girls’ change rooms in schools.
— Increase the First-Time Homebuyers Tax Credit to $15,000 from $10,000.
— Reintroduce the Home Renovation Tax Credit, allowing homeowners to claim up to $4,000 in renovation costs on their income taxes; seniors could claim up to $5,000.
— Extend coverage for insulin pumps and diabetes supplies to seniors and young adults
— Provide a 50 per cent refundable tax credit — up to $10,000 — to help cover the cost of a first fertility treatment.
— Hire 100 new municipal officers and 70 more officers with the Saskatchewan Marshals Service.
— Amend legislation to provide police with more authority to address intoxication, vandalism and disturbances on public property.
— Platform cost of $1.2 billion, with deficits in the first three years and a small surplus in 2027.
—
NDP
— Pause the 15-cent-a-litre gas tax for six months, saving an average family about $350.
— Remove the provincial sales tax from children’s clothes and ready-to-eat grocery items like rotisserie chickens and granola bars.
— Pass legislation to limit how often and how much landlords can raise rent.
— Repeal the law that requires parental consent when children under 16 want to change their names or pronouns at school.
— Launch a provincewide school nutrition program.
— Build more schools and reduce classroom sizes.
— Hire 800 front-line health-care workers in areas most in need.
— Launch an accountability commission to investigate cost overruns for government projects.
— Scrap the marshals service.
— Hire 100 Mounties and expand detox services.
— Platform cost of $3.5 billion, with small deficits in the first three years and a small surplus in the fourth year.
—
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct .17, 2024.
VANCOUVER – More than a million British Columbians have already cast their provincial election ballots, smashing the advance voting record ahead of what weather forecasters say will be a rain-drenched election day in much of B.C., with snow also predicted for the north.
Elections BC said Thursday that 1,001,331 people had cast ballots in six days of advance voting, easily breaking a record set during the pandemic election four years ago.
More than 28 per cent of all registered electors have voted, potentially putting the province on track for a big final turnout on Saturday.
“It reflects what I believe, which is this election is critically important for the future of our province,” New Democrat Leader David Eby said Thursday at a news conference in Vancouver. “I understand why British Columbians are out in numbers. We haven’t seen questions like this on the ballot in a generation.”
He said voters are faced with the choice of supporting his party’s plans to improve affordability, public health care and education, while the B.C. Conservatives, led by John Rustad, are proposing to cut services and are fielding candidates who support conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 pandemic and espouse racist views.
Rustad held no public availabilities on Thursday.
Elections BC said the record advance vote tally includes about 223,000 people who voted on the final day of advance voting Wednesday, the last day of advance polls, shattering the one-day record set on Tuesday by more than 40,000 votes.
The previous record for advance voting in a B.C. election was set in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, when about 670,000 people voted early, representing about 19 per cent of registered voters.
Some ridings have now seen turnout of more than 35 per cent, including in NDP Leader David Eby’s Vancouver-Point Grey riding where 36.5 per cent of all electors have voted.
There has also been big turnout in some Vancouver Island ridings, including Oak Bay-Gordon Head, where 39 per cent of electors have voted, and Victoria-Beacon Hill, where Green Party Leader Sonia Furstenau is running, with 37.2 per cent.
Advance voter turnout in Rustad’s riding of Nechako Lakes was 30.5 per cent.
Total turnout in 2020 was 54 per cent, down from about 61 per cent in 2017.
Stewart Prest, a political science lecturer at the University of British Columbia, said many factors are at play in the advance voter turnout.
“If you have an early option, if you have an option where there are fewer crowds, fewer lineups that you have to deal with, then that’s going to be a much more desirable option,” said Prest.
“So, having the possibility of voting across multiple advanced voting days is something that more people are looking to as a way to avoid last-minute lineups or heavy weather.”
Voters along the south coast of British Columbia who have not cast their ballots yet will have to contend with heavy rain and high winds from an incoming atmospheric river weather system on election day.
Environment Canada said the weather system will bring prolonged heavy rain to Metro Vancouver, the Sunshine Coast, Fraser Valley, Howe Sound, Whistler and Vancouver Island starting Friday.
Eby said the forecast of an atmospheric weather storm on election day will become a “ballot question” for some voters who are concerned about the approaches the parties have towards addressing climate change.
But he said he is confident people will not let the storm deter them from voting.
“I know British Columbians are tough and they’re not going to let even an atmospheric river stop them from voting,” said Eby.
In northern B.C., heavy snow is in the forecast starting Friday and through to Saturday for areas along the Yukon boundary.
Elections BC said it will focus on ensuring it is prepared for bad weather, said Andrew Watson, senior director of communications.
“We’ve also been working with BC Hydro to make sure that they’re aware of all of our voting place locations so that they can respond quickly if there are any power outages,” he said.
Elections BC also has paper backups for all of its systems in case there is a power outage, forcing them to go through manual procedures, Watson said.
Prest said the dramatic downfall of the Official Opposition BC United Party just before the start of the campaign and voter frustration could also be contributing to the record size of the advance vote.
It’s too early to say if the province is experiencing a “renewed enthusiasm for voting,” he said.
“As a political scientist, I think it would be a good thing to see, but I’m not ready to conclude that’s what we are seeing just yet,” he said, adding, “this is one of the storylines to watch come Saturday.”
Overall turnout in B.C. elections has generally been dwindling compared with the 71.5 per cent turnout for the 1996 vote.
Adam Olsen, Green Party campaign chair, said the advance voting turnout indicates people are much more engaged in the campaign than they were in the weeks leading up to the start of the campaign in September.
“All we know so far is that people are excited to go out and vote early,” he said. “The real question will be does that voter turnout stay up throughout election night?”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.
Note to readers: This is a corrected story. An earlier version said more than 180,000 voters cast their votes on Wednesday.
