Two high-profile candidates in the race to lead the federal Conservatives touted their climate change credentials on Tuesday, with Jean Charest releasing his environmental plan and Pierre Poilievre saying he would look at reviving some energy projects “blocked” by the federal government.
Mr. Charest, a former Quebec premier, promised to repeal the federal carbon tax, and replace it with a industrial carbon price to reduce emissions as part of his plan, which also includes a commitment to speed up the approvals process for all infrastructure projects that will result in emissions reductions.
Over all, Mr. Charest said his plan will meet and exceed a 30-per-cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, and achieve net zero by 2050. There are further details here.
Meanwhile, Mr. Poilievre said that, as prime minister, he would review all of the energy projects “blocked” by the federal Liberal government and approve them if they meet several standards.
To pass muster, Mr. Poilievre said the projects would have to be safe for the environment, generate paycheques for Canadians and “displace dirty energy from foreign dictatorships.” There would also be consultation with First Nations on the projects.
The Ottawa-area MP also said a Poilievre government would support the $14-billion GNL Québec project that would export natural gas from Western Canada to Europe and Asia through Quebec. There are further details on the project here.
Mr. Poilievre restated his commitment to repeal Bill C-69, the existing environmental assessment act, and replace it with a “quick, predictable, simple process” that consults First Nations, protects the environment and gets “meritorious projects” approved.
Of Mr. Charest, Mr. Poilievre said the former Quebec premier enacted a carbon tax in power, and otherwise raised taxes. “I don’t think anybody can trust anything he says because he is doing exactly the opposite now that he did when he was Liberal premier of Quebec not so long ago,” he said.
Mr. Charest served as Quebec premier between 2003 and 2012 after a career in federal politics that included roles as a cabinet minister under Progressive Conservative prime ministers Brian Mulroney and Kim Campbell.
Asked about the release of his own climate change plan, Mr. Poilievre said, as he left his news conference, that, “My plan will come forward well before the next election when Canadians will have a chance to thoroughly scrutinize it, and it will be a plan to lower taxes and lower emissions, and to favour results instead of revenue.”
Meanwhile, Canada’s environment commissioner said later Tuesday that the country’s carbon-pricing system is disproportionately hard on Indigenous communities and small businesses and not hard enough on the biggest emitters. Story here.
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TODAY’S HEADLINES
LIBERALS SIDESTEP RCMP/AGA KHAN QUESTIONS – The Liberal government sidestepped opposition questions about an RCMP inquiry into Justin Trudeau’s family vacation at the Aga Khan’s Bahamian retreat in 2016, saying on Monday that the country faces more important issues than the Prime Minister’s past ethical conduct. Story here.
RAE RAPS SECURITY COUNCIL VETO – Bob Rae, the Canadian ambassador to the United Nations, denounced as undemocratic the Security Council’s veto power as the General Assembly voted to subject the world’s most powerful body to more public scrutiny. Story here.
STUDY OF LINK BETWEEN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT, VIOLENCE `DISGRACEFUL’: TORY MP – A private e-mail shows a Conservative MP from Alberta calling an NDP-initiated study into the relationship between resource development and increased violence against Indigenous women and girls “disgraceful.” Story here.
NEW NAME FOR RYERSON UNIVERSITY – Ryerson University will now be called Toronto Metropolitan University after a proposal to change its name was approved Tuesday by its board of governors. Story here.
OLIGARCH AVOIDS CANADIAN SANCTIONS – Russian oligarch Igor Makarov, a former champion cyclist, recently steered around Canadian sanctions by selling a $121.5-million stake in oil and gas producer Spartan Delta Corp. days before being targeted by the federal government. Story here.
ONTARIO LIBERALS, NEW DEMOCRATS CONTINUE ELECTION PREP – As the Ontario election campaign looms, parties are talking about their platforms. Now Ontario Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca is promising a seniors’ strategy that takes a “home-care first” approach and aims to eliminate for-profit long-term care by 2028. Story here. Meanwhile, the Ontario NDP is trying to position itself as a government in waiting. Story here.
RCMP CANVASSING DISPLACED UKRAINIANS – The RCMP wants to canvass displaced Ukrainians who have arrived in Canada about alleged atrocities they may have witnessed in their homeland in hopes the conversations will contribute to potential prosecutions. Story here.
SALTY TALK BY B.C. PREMIER AND ALBERTA GOVERNMENT HOUSE LEADER – British Columbia Premier John Horgan says he apologizes for “intemperate comments” – he used the F-word – made during a heated Question Period in the legislature this week. Story here. In a tweet here, Mr. Horgan said, “If my mom was still around, she’d be on her way to the Legislature with a bar of Irish Spring.” Meanwhile, Alberta government house leader Jason Nixon will not be sanctioned for comments he made this week during an angry exchange that included him swearing at Speaker Nathan Cooper in the legislative assembly. Story here.
LONG LINEUPS FOR PASSPORTS AS TRAVEL RESUMES – Some Canadians are waiting outside government offices for days in an attempt to renew their passports amid a resurgence in travel prompted by the lifting of many COVID-19 restrictions. Story here.
CONSERVATIVE LEADERSHIP RACE
FREEDOM TO UNIFY THE TORIES– The Tory leadership race is months away from a conclusion, but Pierre Poilievre says he has a plan for uniting the party after what some have dubbed a nasty race. It involves the notion of freedom that has been a trademark of his campaign. “I am going to unite this party around freedom,” he said Tuesday when asked about the issue at a news conference in Gatineau. The Ottawa-area MP noted that social, fiscal, Libertarian and progressive Conservatives are all seeking freedom in varying ways. “Freedom is the number one unifying feature of our Conservative movement,” he said. “It is around that principle that I will unite all of them to put Canadians back in charge of their lives.”
THIS AND THAT
TODAY IN THE COMMONS – Projected order of business at the House of Commons, accessible here.
POLICING, INTELLIGENCE, CABINET REPRESENTATIVES AT COMMITTEE – Senior Canadian policing, security and intelligence officials will be appearing Tuesday night before a House of Commons committee to discuss the exercise of powers and performance of duties during the state of emergency in February linked to the truckers’ convoy. The situation led the Liberal government to enact the Emergencies Act for the first time. The hearing of a Special Joint Committee on the Declaration of Emergency will be held between 6:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. ET. Those appearing include RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki, David Vigneault, director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino and cabinet colleague David Lametti, the Justice Minister. There are details here on the meeting, including how to watch it online.
PRIME MINISTER ON MILITARY REPORT – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was asked Tuesday about the report released this week that found hundreds of past recommendations on dealing with discrimination in the military have been shelved and discarded. (There’s a story here. ) “I think we know that over the years, over the past decades, there has been not nearly enough done to counter discrimination, to counter a toxic work environment – not enough work done to change the culture in the military,” Mr. Trudeau said as he arrived for a cabinet meeting. “We have taken significant strides over the past number of years, particularly over the past year, but there’s always more to do, and we’re going to keep working on it.”
ROYAL TOUR 2022 – The federal government has released the official itinerary for the royal tour by the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall, which features stops in St. John’s on May 17, Canada’s Capital Region on May 18 and Yellowknife and Dettah, NWT, on May 19. Details are here.
THE DECIBEL
On Tuesday’s edition of The Globe and Mail podcast, future of work reporter Vanmala Subramaniam talks about the takeaways of a survey on the subject of heading back to the office that found respondents anxious or angry about the idea. How are Canadian white-collar workers feeling about this – and what can employers learn from time spent at home? The Decibel is here.
PRIME MINISTER’S DAY
Private meetings. The Prime Minister spoke with Maia Sandu, the president of Moldova, and was scheduled to chair a cabinet meeting and attend Question Period.
LEADERS
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet was scheduled to hold a press scrum in West Block of Parliament Hill before attending Question Period.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, joined by fellow NDP MP Daniel Blaikie, spoke at a conference of the Canada Building Trades Union, and was scheduled to attend Question Period, and, with fellow NDP MP Alexandre Boulerice, meet with Sherbrooke Mayor Évelyne Beaudin.
No schedules released for other party leaders.
OPINION
Campbell Clark (The Globe and Mail) on why Canadians need answers on the Emergencies Act: ”There are still two vastly different ways the truckers’ convoy is described. Participants and sympathizers look back and argue it was a benign protest with bouncy castles and barbecues. Ottawa residents, particularly those who live downtown, still talk about “the occupation.” Both groups still need solid answers about what happened. So do all the Canadians who weren’t there but watched from the outside. Yet the government hasn’t been in a hurry.”
Kim Campbell (Contributed to The Globe and Mail)on how `Disease X’ is inevitable, but another pandemic is not: ”While the COVID-19 response and its many knock-on effects continue to be mired in uncertainty, the response to the next deadly pathogen should not be. It’s not a matter of if the next disease outbreak with pandemic potential will emerge – a prospective virus that the World Health Organization dubs “Disease X.” It’s a matter of when. But the world has the lessons and solutions it needs to plan ahead and ensure that no outbreak becomes a global pandemic ever again.”
Ken Coates (Contributed to The Globe and Mail) on how a First Nations court case in B.C. could be Canada’s game-changer: “The Nuchatlaht First Nation and Nootka Sound, on Vancouver Island’s west coast, figure prominently in Canadian history. It’s where, in 1774, Spanish explorers first contacted First Nations on the West Coast. Four years later, British explorer Captain James Cook reached the area. And, ever since, the region has been a contested territory among various claimants. This spring, in the B.C. Supreme Court, the Nuchatlaht are suing the British Columbia government for full title and ownership of about 200 square kilometres of the Nootka region that is categorized as Crown land. This legal showdown could set the standard for Indigenous land-claim rulings across Canada.”
Don Braid (The Calgary Herald)on how endgame scenarios for Alberta Premier Jason Kenney could include an early election: “An early provincial election is about the craziest thing imaginable. Therefore, it could happen in Alberta. The scenario would go like this, according to some conservative strategists who are tinkering with this possibility: In the May 18 UCP leadership review, Premier Jason Kenney carries a bare majority of, say, 51 to 55 per cent. That result would not force him to resign as UCP Leader and Premier. But neither would it put an end to the bitter dissent that plagues his party. Indeed, the pressure on Kenney to leave might actually intensify. Over time, the UCP would look ever more like a mortally wounded party that simply can’t pull itself together for the good of the province. A slaughter at the polls would be inevitable on May 29, 2023 – the new “fixed” election date that came into effect March 31. So, Kenney could play one last card. He orders quick nominations and then calls an election for mid-summer or early fall this year.”
Matt Gurney (TVO) on the struggles of the Ontario NDP as the provincial election looms: “It has been my sense – a gut feeling, if you like – that the NDP’s securing of Official Opposition status in 2018 was a quirk or a blip. Voters were very, very tired of the Liberals in 2018 and threw almost all of them out; they went from a majority government to the “minivan caucus” overnight. Ford won a big majority, but someone had to be the opposition, and the NDP seems to have been given the job almost by default. Now that the Liberals have spent four years in the penalty box, voters seem set to hand them back some power. Maybe not government, but a lot more seats, at the least. Maybe Official Opposition status. The NDP? Back to third place. Thanks for coming out, though.”
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HALIFAX – Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston says it’s “disgraceful and demeaning” that a Halifax-area school would request that service members not wear military uniforms to its Remembrance Day ceremony.
Houston’s comments were part of a chorus of criticism levelled at the school — Sackville Heights Elementary — whose administration decided to back away from the plan after the outcry.
A November newsletter from the school in Middle Sackville, N.S., invited Armed Forces members to attend its ceremony but asked that all attendees arrive in civilian attire to “maintain a welcoming environment for all.”
Houston, who is currently running for re-election, accused the school’s leaders of “disgracing themselves while demeaning the people who protect our country” in a post on the social media platform X Thursday night.
“If the people behind this decision had a shred of the courage that our veterans have, this cowardly and insulting idea would have been rejected immediately,” Houston’s post read. There were also several calls for resignations within the school’s administration attached to Houston’s post.
In an email to families Thursday night, the school’s principal, Rachael Webster, apologized and welcomed military family members to attend “in the attire that makes them most comfortable.”
“I recognize this request has caused harm and I am deeply sorry,” Webster’s email read, adding later that the school has the “utmost respect for what the uniform represents.”
Webster said the initial request was out of concern for some students who come from countries experiencing conflict and who she said expressed discomfort with images of war, including military uniforms.
Her email said any students who have concerns about seeing Armed Forces members in uniform can be accommodated in a way that makes them feel safe, but she provided no further details in the message.
Webster did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
At a news conference Friday, Houston said he’s glad the initial request was reversed but said he is still concerned.
“I can’t actually fathom how a decision like that was made,” Houston told reporters Friday, adding that he grew up moving between military bases around the country while his father was in the Armed Forces.
“My story of growing up in a military family is not unique in our province. The tradition of service is something so many of us share,” he said.
“Saying ‘lest we forget’ is a solemn promise to the fallen. It’s our commitment to those that continue to serve and our commitment that we will pass on our respects to the next generation.”
Liberal Leader Zach Churchill also said he’s happy with the school’s decision to allow uniformed Armed Forces members to attend the ceremony, but he said he didn’t think it was fair to question the intentions of those behind the original decision.
“We need to have them (uniforms) on display at Remembrance Day,” he said. “Not only are we celebrating (veterans) … we’re also commemorating our dead who gave the greatest sacrifice for our country and for the freedoms we have.”
NDP Leader Claudia Chender said that while Remembrance Day is an important occasion to honour veterans and current service members’ sacrifices, she said she hopes Houston wasn’t taking advantage of the decision to “play politics with this solemn occasion for his own political gain.”
“I hope Tim Houston reached out to the principal of the school before making a public statement,” she said in a statement.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
REGINA – Saskatchewan Opposition NDP Leader Carla Beck says she wants to prove to residents her party is the government in waiting as she heads into the incoming legislative session.
Beck held her first caucus meeting with 27 members, nearly double than what she had before the Oct. 28 election but short of the 31 required to form a majority in the 61-seat legislature.
She says her priorities will be health care and cost-of-living issues.
Beck says people need affordability help right now and will press Premier Scott Moe’s Saskatchewan Party government to cut the gas tax and the provincial sales tax on children’s clothing and some grocery items.
Beck’s NDP is Saskatchewan’s largest Opposition in nearly two decades after sweeping Regina and winning all but one seat in Saskatoon.
The Saskatchewan Party won 34 seats, retaining its hold on all of the rural ridings and smaller cities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia‘s growing population was the subject of debate on Day 12 of the provincial election campaign, with Liberal Leader Zach Churchill arguing immigration levels must be reduced until the province can provide enough housing and health-care services.
Churchill said Thursday a plan by the incumbent Progressive Conservatives to double the province’s population to two million people by the year 2060 is unrealistic and unsustainable.
“That’s a big leap and it’s making life harder for people who live here, (including ) young people looking for a place to live and seniors looking to downsize,” he told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.
Anticipating that his call for less immigration might provoke protests from the immigrant community, Churchill was careful to note that he is among the third generation of a family that moved to Nova Scotia from Lebanon.
“I know the value of immigration, the importance of it to our province. We have been built on the backs of an immigrant population. But we just need to do it in a responsible way.”
The Liberal leader said Tim Houston’s Tories, who are seeking a second term in office, have made a mistake by exceeding immigration targets set by the province’s Department of Labour and Immigration. Churchill said a Liberal government would abide by the department’s targets.
In the most recent fiscal year, the government welcomed almost 12,000 immigrants through its nominee program, exceeding the department’s limit by more than 4,000, he said. The numbers aren’t huge, but the increase won’t help ease the province’s shortages in housing and doctors, and the increased strain on its infrastructure, including roads, schools and cellphone networks, Churchill said.
“(The Immigration Department) has done the hard work on this,” he said. “They know where the labour gaps are, and they know what growth is sustainable.”
In response, Houston said his commitment to double the population was a “stretch goal.” And he said the province had long struggled with a declining population before that trend was recently reversed.
“The only immigration that can come into this province at this time is if they are a skilled trade worker or a health-care worker,” Houston said. “The population has grown by two per cent a year, actually quite similar growth to what we experienced under the Liberal government before us.”
Still, Houston said he’s heard Nova Scotians’ concerns about population growth, and he then pivoted to criticize Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for trying to send 6,000 asylum seekers to Nova Scotia, an assertion the federal government has denied.
Churchill said Houston’s claim about asylum seekers was shameful.
“It’s smoke and mirrors,” the Liberal leader said. “He is overshooting his own department’s numbers for sustainable population growth and yet he is trying to blame this on asylum seekers … who aren’t even here.”
In September, federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller said there is no plan to send any asylum seekers to the province without compensation or the consent of the premier. He said the 6,000 number was an “aspirational” figure based on models that reflect each province’s population.
In Halifax, NDP Leader Claudia Chender said it’s clear Nova Scotia needs more doctors, nurses and skilled trades people.
“Immigration has been and always will be a part of the Nova Scotia story, but we need to build as we grow,” Chender said. “This is why we have been pushing the Houston government to build more affordable housing.”
Chender was in a Halifax cafe on Thursday when she promised her party would remove the province’s portion of the harmonized sales tax from all grocery, cellphone and internet bills if elected to govern on Nov. 26. The tax would also be removed from the sale and installation of heat pumps.
“Our focus is on helping people to afford their lives,” Chender told reporters. “We know there are certain things that you can’t live without: food, internet and a phone …. So we know this will have the single biggest impact.”
The party estimates the measure would save the average Nova Scotia family about $1,300 a year.
“That’s a lot more than a one or two per cent HST cut,” Chender said, referring to the Progressive Conservative pledge to reduce the tax by one percentage point and the Liberal promise to trim it by two percentage points.
Elsewhere on the campaign trail, Houston announced that a Progressive Conservative government would make parking free at all Nova Scotia hospitals and health-care centres. The promise was also made by the Liberals in their election platform released Monday.
“Free parking may not seem like a big deal to some, but … the parking, especially for people working at the facilities, can add up to hundreds of dollars,” the premier told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
