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Hello,
An independent inquiry has been established to review the invocation of the Emergencies Act and will be led by jurist Paul Rouleau, the Prime Minister’s Office said Monday.
The PMO also said that Justice Rouleau brings 20 years of experience on the bench to the role.
He is to submit a final report to the federal government with his findings and recommendations, which must be tabled in the House of Commons and Senate by Feb. 20, 2023.
Parliamentary reporter Kristy Kirkup reports here.
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TODAY’S HEADLINES
RCMP CONSIDERED CHARGING PRIME MINISTER TRUDEAU OVER VACATION – The RCMP considered charging Justin Trudeau with fraud over a family vacation at the Aga Khan’s private island in the Bahamas, but decided against doing so because it was unclear if the Prime Minister had the authority to approve the all-expenses-paid gift for himself. Story here.
Reporter’s Comment, Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife – “Unbeknownst to Canadians, the RCMP were seriously engaged an investigation of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his families’ acceptance of an all-expense holiday at the luxurious Bahamian retreat of the Aga Khan in Christmas, 2016.
After the Ethics Commissioner released a report in 2017 finding Mr. Trudeau violated ethics rules, the Mounties did an 84-page analysis of the Trudeau family vacation and decided against a criminal investigation.
However, they reopened the matter after they received a 26-page letter in 2019 from then-Conservative ethics critic Peter Kent, who called on the RCMP to launch a criminal probe.
We now know from Access to Information documents obtained by the Conservatives that the RCMP considered whether to lay charges against Mr. Trudeau for fraud.
Had that been publicly known it would have put the Prime Minister on the defensive during the 2019 election in which he lost his majority. At the time Mr. Trudeau was already facing heavy opposition criticism on the election trail over the SNC-Lavalin scandal.”
BANK GOVERNOR SAYS BANK WILL CONSIDER RATE INCREASE – Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem said that the central bank will consider a 50-basis-point increase to its policy rate in June as it looks to push borrowing costs higher to tackle inflation. Story here.
MILITARY FALLING SHORT IN DEALING WITH WHITE SUPREMACIST, EXTREMIST INFILTRATION: REPORT – A scathing new report on racism in the Canadian Armed Forces says the military is not doing enough to detect and prevent white supremacists and other violent extremists from infiltrating its ranks. Story here.
UNEXPLAINED MILITARY SPENDING RAISES QUESTIONS – Parliament’s fiscal watchdog is raising concerns about nearly $15-billion of unexplained military spending buried in the 2022 federal budget – money in excess of what’s spelled out in the Department of National Defence’s spending plan released earlier this year. Story here.
`FREE-FOR-ALL’ POSSIBLE: ORGANIZER OF OTTAWA MOTORCYCLE CONVOY – One of the organizers of a planned motorcycle convoy is warning of a “free-for-all” on Friday if Ottawa police don’t allow hundreds of protesters to bring their bikes onto the streets around Parliament Hill. Story here.
FREEZE ON INCOME TAX FOR SOME AMONG MEASURES IN ONTARIO NDP ELECTION PLATFORM – The Ontario New Democrats’ election platform includes promises of accelerated universal pharmacare and dental care, a freeze on income tax for some residents and hiring tens of thousands of health-care and education workers. Story here.
MLAS ACCUSE N.S. PREMIER OF INTIMIDATION – Two MLAs are accusing Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston of abusive behaviour meant to intimidate opposition members, particularly women. Story here from CBC.
NDP PREMIER JOHN HORGAN’S LIBERAL RIVAL COULD BE HEADED FOR LEGISLATURE SEAT – A by-election that could put new British Columbia Liberal Leader Kevin Falcon back in the province’s legislature is a race about the past and future, say both the candidates and political experts. Voters in the upscale Vancouver-Quilchena riding, previously held by two former BC Liberal leaders, will choose a new member on April 30. Story here.
CONSERVATIVE LEADERSHIP RACE
TORY LEADERSHIP CAMPAIGNING – Among Tory leadership candidates Monday, Scott Aitchison was in Ottawa, attending to parliamentary business. Patrick Brown was, according to his Twitter account, at a municipal event in Brampton, Ont., where he is mayor, Jean Charest will be in New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island this week and is, along the way, expected to release policy announcements on climate change and energy. Leslyn Lewis had no scheduled events on Monday, but was in Halifax on Sunday and, on Thursday, Friday and Saturday will be campaigning in Fredericton, Saint John and other New Brunswick communities. Pierre Poilievre also has no scheduled events Monday, but is scheduled to hold a news conference in Gatineau on Tuesday as well as an evening rally.
JENNI BYRNE – The Hill Times reports here on Jenni Byrne, the veteran Conservative political operative, who is a key adviser to Mr. Poilievre. “[Ms. Byrne] —who in 2011 became “the first woman to win a majority government as campaign manager for Stephen Harper at age 34″ as she highlights on the website of her consulting firm, Jenni Byrne + Associates—has had an undeniable impact on the shape and direction of the Conservative Party of Canada.”
THIS AND THAT
TODAY IN THE COMMONS – Projected Order of Business at the House of Commons, April. 25, accessible here.
CONCERNS ABOUT APPEARANCES BY PRIME MINISTER, ONTARIO PREMIER AND ONTARIO HEALTH OFFICER – A pair of law professors, one from the University of Ottawa and the other from the University of Western Ontario (UWO), have raised concerns about Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, Kieran Moore breaking quarantine law by not wearing masks in public settings after travels abroad. Amir Attaran at Ottawa and Jacob Shelley at UWO have written to relevant police departments about their concerns. At issue, for the pair, are appearances by Mr. Trudeau, in March, attending the GLOBE forum at the Vancouver Convention Centre after returning from a trip to Belgium, Mr. Ford visiting an Ottawa hospital in March after a trip to Washington and Dr. Moore giving a news conference at Queen’s Park in Toronto in early April, after returning from a vacation in the Dominican Republic.
ANAND HEADED FOR GERMANY – Defence Minister Anita Anand will be in Germany on Tuesday, attending meetings of the Ukraine Defense Consultative Group hosted by U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. The gathering is intended for partners and allies to discuss Ukraine’s current and future defence needs. After Germany, the minister and a delegation that includes Canadian Chief of Defence Staff General Wayne Eyre, will travel to Washington for further meetings, including talks at the Pentagon with Mr. Austin on topics including the modernization of NORAD and efforts by Canada and the United States to support Ukraine.
THE DECIBEL
On Monday’s edition of The Globe and Mail podcast, The Globe’s science reporter Ivan Semeniuk talks about Canadian businessman and philanthropist Mark Pathy who spent US$50-million for a ticket to spend 10 days on the International Space Station. Mr. Semeniuk got the chance to interview Mr. Pathy while he was floating around the ISS and discusses what he is doing with his time in space, why he decided to pay the large price tag to go and what this could mean for the future of space tourism. The Decibel is here.
PRIME MINISTER’S DAY
Private meetings, and the Prime Minister is scheduled to meet with members of the Parliamentary Internship Programme.
LEADERS
No schedules released for party leaders.
OPINION
John Ibbitson (The Globe and Mail) on how Ottawa should help Wilfrid Laurier University’s initiative for students in war zone: “Students and faculty from Wilfrid Laurier University arrive in Ottawa Monday with an urgent plea: help them get students who have been put at risk out of conflict zones and on their campus. Laurier is on to a good idea. If everyone acted smartly, displaced students from Ukraine and elsewhere could be on campus this fall or winter. The odds against such swift action from the federal government are high. But that’s no reason not to try.”
Jeffrey Jones (The Globe and Mail) on whether Mark Carney can keep his green finance push on track as the climate fight is getting harder: “Mark Carney’s green financial revolution was never going to be easy. Now it’s getting harder. Last year, the former central banker announced that he had secured commitments from 450 global banks, insurers and asset managers to align their lending and investing to the goals of the Paris agreement on limiting climate change. The expanded membership was one of the marquee announcements at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow. Since then, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and surging inflation have returned the spotlight to oil and natural gas, and shortages thereof, just as it seemed the transition to clean energy was about to hit its stride.”
Lloyd Axworthy (Contributed to The Globe and Mail) on how two wise men from Lviv gave us the legal foundation to prosecute Putin for war crimes: “As Russian atrocities in Ukraine compound, the debate over how to hold Russian President Vladimir Putin and his accomplices accountable for their crimes is mounting amongst international-law experts and government policy makers. Missing from that discourse is a recognition of a striking irony: Our modern concept of international criminal law derives largely from the work of two lawyers from Lviv, Ukraine. Hersch Lauterpacht and Raphael Lemkin are the originators of the concepts of crimes against humanity and genocide, which have influenced the creation of tribunals and courts in which prosecution for these international crimes can take place.”
Isabel Macdonald (Policy Options) on whether Canada’s Online News Act is repeating Australia’s mistakes: “The government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently tabled the Online News Act, a proposed news media bargaining code law similar to one that Australian authorities have used to force Google and Meta (Facebook), to sign multimillion-dollar deals with many of Australia’s largest news publishers and broadcasters. Yet major concerns have been raised about the lack of transparency surrounding these deals. Moreover, some experts have warned that instituting an Australian-style bargaining code in Canada could compromise the independence of the press and increase Canadian news outlets’ dependence on the world’s most powerful tech companies. For these reasons, the government should consider an alternative policy option: redistributing revenues from digital platforms through an independent fund – an approach which many stakeholders say would be a more effective and accessible way of supporting journalism.”
Steve Paikin (TVO) on why Doug Ford fans must be feeling pretty good about the election: “When Ford won the 2018 election, I asked a former veteran PC cabinet minister what the new premier needed to do to be successful, given his lack of experience. The answer was: show a capacity to learn and grow. Whether you love the premier or hate him, whether you think he’s led Ontario through the pandemic well or been a complete bust, it’s undeniable that he has learned and grown in the job. He’s never been the smartest guy in the room, which bothers progressive voters, who want their leaders to be just that. But he does connect with average people in a way that drives progressives batty. Once the election campaign begins in earnest next month, it’ll be up to the opposition parties to show why a change of government is imperative for Ontario to succeed as it emerges from the pandemic.”
Mark Sutcliffe (The Ottawa Citizen) on the necessity of envisioning a new downtown for Canada’s national capital: Much of Ottawa’s downtown is a bit too boxy and practical, with narrow walkways, buildings abutting the streets, and very few gathering places and pleasant surprises. If fewer cars and buses will be travelling through downtown, let’s expand sidewalks and create room for patios and street life throughout the core. Let’s also think about creating more destinations in the downtown. The refurbished National Arts Centre is a terrific new anchor at the east end of the core. And a new public library and — if we’re lucky — a future hockey arena will combine with the Canadian War Museum to drive people to LeBreton Flats on the west side. But what will bring people right into the heart of downtown? Is it a new museum or attraction, perhaps the long-awaited portrait gallery? A hub for creative thinkers, artists, and entrepreneurs? A music venue? Some green space surrounded by restaurants?”
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