Unions representing tens of thousands of federal workers are promising legal actions, a tide of grievances from workers and other measures to engineer a summer of discontent to counter a new rule that says workers must be in the office for a minimum of three days a week.
Chris Aylward, national president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, offered the warning as public-sector union leaders gathered for a news conference in Ottawa today.
“The Trudeau Liberal government better prepare itself for a summer of discontent,” Aylward said, adding the fight has begun against the new hybrid-work policy, which was announced last week.
He said workers will be taking to the streets and their workplaces in “concerted, co-ordinated actions across the country.”
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 sign-up page. Have any feedback? Let us know what you think.
TODAY’S HEADLINES
Former journalist Joyce Napier named Canada’s ambassador to the Vatican: Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly announced Napier’s appointment today and says Napier will work to advance reconciliation with Indigenous peoples in the new role.
Pierre Poilievre called lobbyists ‘utterly useless,’ but they’re still attending his fundraisers: Although the federal Conservative Leader presents himself as a champion of “the working-class people,” a CBC News analysis shows fundraisers featuring Poilievre have attracted dozens of registered federal lobbyists who paid up to $1,725 each to attend them.
City of Ottawa cancels public ceremony for Israeli flag-raising, citing security concerns: The city said it has intelligence that suggests the event would pose “a substantial risk to public safety.” It did not offer details about the concern.
Indian High Commissioner says he is concerned by perceived national security threats coming from Canada: High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma was speaking in Montreal at a gathering of business leaders on the same day as three Indian nationals appeared in court on charges of killing a Sikh separatist leader in B.C.
Ottawa pushes Crown corporations to make riskier financial deals: The new direction, mentioned in last month’s federal budget, is being worked out between the Department of Finance and three Crown corporations: the Business Development Bank of Canada, Export Development Canada and Farm Credit Canada. Story here.
Ottawa not sufficiently addressing flood of access requests for immigration records, watchdog says: In particular, the federal information watchdog says Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada has made “insufficient progress” in improving immigrants’ access to information about their applications, and that failure is now affecting operations at the Canada Border Services Agency.
CBC boss says no need for 800 job cuts, rules out merger with Radio-Canada: Catherine Tait told the Commons heritage committee the estimated shortfall of $125-million has now been reduced to about $20-million for the fiscal year so there is now no need for “significant jobs cuts relating to balancing our books.” Story here.
Saskatchewan NDP questions provincial contract with Stephen Harper’s consulting firm: The Regina Leader-Post reports that the Saskatchewan government has been paying former prime minister Stephen Harper’s consulting company about $240,000 a year over the past four years for largely undisclosed services.
John Vaillant wins Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing for Fire Weather: The award for the book on the 2016 Fort McMurray, Alta., forest fire was announced at the Politics and the Pen fundraising event in Ottawa. Story here.
“Everything I do, there’s cameras and there’s journalists and there’s people. So it is public.” – Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne on being in the spotlight, as he answered media questions on arrival for this week’s Liberal caucus meeting on Parliament Hill.
”The Senators, the Leafs should get together and maybe they’d have one professional hockey team that could win the Stanley Cup. It’s still the same message as last time.” – MP Martin Shields, speaking to journalists monitoring the federal Conservative caucus meeting today on Parliament Hill.
“Attempting to book a seat for a week is now like trying to get tickets to a Taylor Swift concert, staying up late on a Sunday night to ensure you can secure the best seat.” – Sean O’Reilly, vice-president of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada, at a Parliament Hill news conference today on the challenges federal public servants face getting into their offices.
THIS AND THAT
Carney before Senate committee: Former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney, also an ex-governor of the Bank of England and seen as a possible future leader of the federal Liberal Party, is appearing before the Senate banking committee this afternoon. The subject is Bill S-243, which would force Canada’s financial sector to consider climate risks.
New Telefilm Canada chairperson: Sylvain Lafrance, who chairs the board of directors of TV5 Numérique, has been named to the post leading the federal Crown corporation that works to develop and promote the Canadian audiovisual industry. His five-year term begins Thursday,
Taking time to answer: Conservative heritage critic Rachael Thomas takes time to answer a question about whether Radio-Canada has to stay open.
Today in the Commons: Projected Order of Business at the House of Commons, today, accessible here.
Deputy Prime Minister’s day: In Ontario’s Brant County, Chrystia Freeland toured a local fire station, accompanied by King’s Privy Council President Harjit Sajjan, to highlight budget supports for firefighters and first responders.
In Ottawa, Justin Trudeau attended the weekly Liberal caucus meeting and later Question Period. In the evening, Trudeau was scheduled to deliver remarks at an Asian Heritage Month reception.
LEADERS
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet held a media scrum at the House of Commons ahead of Question Period. He also attended Question Period.
Green Party Leader Elizabeth May attended the House of Commons. She met with Salvation Army leaders on their operations as well as the senior management team of the First Nations’ Emergency Services Society of British Columbia on the coming fire season. Also, she met with the Green caucus team.
NDP Jagmeet Singh, in Ottawa, attended the NDP caucus meeting, held a news conference with NDP MP Lori Idlout (Nunavut) on food prices, and participated in Question Period.
No schedule released for Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre.
Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives, common sense and the courts
“Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre raised a lot of eyebrows, not to mention the hopes of his base, when he said last week that he would invoke the Constitution’s notwithstanding clause if that’s what it took to ensure that the only way a convicted mass murderer ever left prison was “in a box.” Mr. Poilievre’s common-sense tough-guy persona is old hat in conservative politics. What’s new and worrisome is his threat to gut the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in the name of right-wing virtue-signalling.” – The Globe and Mail Editorial Board
Poilievre to business: Stop sucking up to Liberals and start sucking up to me
“Ever since the Liberals unveiled their surprise increase in the capital-gains tax in last month’s budget, the question on everyone’s lips has been: What will Pierre Poilievre say about it? Well, maybe not on everyone’s lips. But certainly on some people’s. Conservatives, for instance. After all, conservatives are supposed to be against taxes and tax hikes, of all kinds. And leaders of the Opposition are supposed to oppose.” – Andrew Coyne
Of course the keffiyeh is political. But it still shouldn’t be banned from Ontario’s legislature
“Unless I misread their biographies, I don’t believe NDP MPPs Kristyn Wong-Tam and Joel Harden trace their lineage to the Levant. Was Mr. Harden’s activism born from his experience as a young Palestinian trying to survive in Gaza? Or was it from his position as a student activist railing against capitalism within the comfy confines of Canadian universities? I suppose I will leave it to Mr. Harden, as well as Ms. Wong-Tam, to clarify.” – Robyn Urback
A score-settling book by Brian Mulroney is being kept under wraps
“In the acknowledgments pages of the book, however, Mr. Mulroney made a little-noticed reference to Airbus. He referred to how he was “confronted with the horror of false allegations” by the Liberal government. “I will deal with this extraordinary abuse of a citizen’s rights and the attempt to destroy a former prime minister of Canada,” he wrote “in another book at another time.” Though very few know it, Mr. Mulroney, who died in February, did write that book. It’s not yet published. It might never be published. It’s described to me as a lengthy score-settling blockbuster that attempts to clear his name on Airbus while eviscerating the Chrétien government for its treatment of him.” – Lawrence Martin
We are in a new space race – this time, with China
“Chang’e, the Chinese moon goddess, has lent her name to China’s lunar exploration program. Under this divine nomenclature, a new space race is under way: Artemis, the Greek moon goddess, is the namesake of the U.S.-led lunar program, of which Canada is a part. Tidal forces long ago synchronized the moon’s rotation and orbital periods, creating a side that always faces Earth (the near side), and one that always faces away. Last week, China launched a spacecraft, Chang’e 6, to that elusive far side.” – Michael Byers and Aaron Boley.
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.
