Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is ruling out the use of the military to deal with any of the ongoing protests at the border or in Ottawa, saying it is up to police to deal with them.
“We never want to deploy the army against Canadian citizens,” Mr. Trudeau told a Friday afternoon news conference on Parliament Hill as trucks were parked outside, blocking Wellington Street, not far from where he was speaking.
“Using military forces against civilian populations in Canada or any other democracy is something to avoid having to do at all costs. That’s why the solution right now is focused on police forces enforcing the law that exists, protecting public order in the way that they are trained to do, in a predictable, progressive approach that doesn’t skip any steps, that works to conclude this situation peacefully,” Mr. Trudeau said.
“We are a long way from ever having to call in the military, although, of course, we have to be ready for any eventuality, but it is not something we are seriously contemplating at this time.”
The Prime Minister noted that politicians do not direct police, but the RCMP is working with provincial and local forces to enforce the law. “Everything is on the table because this unlawful activity has to end – and it will end,” he said, adding he could not say much about how that would happen.
He said he hoped the protesters would choose to leave peacefully now that they had been heard.
He said he did not think the city of Ottawa had exhausted its tools and resources, noting the police force has been given resources from the Ontario Provincial Police and the RCMP.
Mr. Trudeau was speaking after talks Friday with U.S. President Joe Biden about protests affecting the flow of goods across the border and the shared challenges of dealing with them.
A statement released from the White House said the two leaders agreed that the actions of the individuals obstructing travel and commerce between the two countries are having significant impacts on people’s lives and livelihoods.
“The President expressed his concern that U.S. companies and workers are experiencing serious effects, including slowdowns in production, shortened work hours, and plant closures. The Prime Minister promised quick action in enforcing the law,” it said.
In Toronto, Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced earlier Friday that he was declaring a state of emergency in response to the ongoing blockades in Ottawa and Windsor, Ont.
Mr. Trudeau described the announcement as “responsible and necessary.”
Mr. Ford said he would use legal measures to enact orders making it “crystal clear” that it is illegal and punishable to block and impede the movement of goods, people and services along critical infrastructure.
The Premier said that includes protecting international border crossings, 400-series highways, airports, ports, bridges and railways.
Queen’s Park Reporter Jeff Gray reports here on Mr. Ford’s announcement.
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TODAY’S HEADLINES
PROTESTS
BIDEN TEAM PUSHING FOR ACTION ON BORDER-CROSSING PROTESTS – The Biden administration is pressing Ottawa to intervene to end blockades at border crossings and is offering help from the Department of Homeland Security. Story here.
TORIES SHIFT PROTEST POLICY – In a reversal of their earlier support for the protesters, federal Conservatives called Thursday for trucker blockades to end, as a new border protest in Manitoba joined similar efforts in Alberta and Ontario. Story here.
DANIEL DALE ON FALSE CANADIAN PROTEST CLAIMS – CNN’s Daniel Dale looks at several false claims about the ongoing Canadian protests against vaccine mandates, COVID-19 restrictions and the federal government. Story here.
POILIEVRE PROUD OF TRUCKERS – Conservative leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre said he is “proud” of the truckers and stands with them. The Ottawa-area MP made the remarks in an interview recorded Thursday for next week’s episode of the Postmedia podcast Full Comment with Anthony Furey. Story here.
SECURITY RISK CLOSES N.S. LEGISLATURE – The Nova Scotia Legislature will be temporarily closed to visitors starting Friday because of a “security risk.” James Charlton, chief clerk of the Nova Scotia Assembly, wouldn’t provide details on the threats or the locations involved but said ongoing protests in Ottawa and at the Ambassador Bridge were “a factor.” Story here from CBC.
MEANWHILE
CHAREST PODERING LEADERSHIP RUN – Le Devoir is reporting that former Quebec premier Jean Charest is seriously considering running for the leadership of the federal Conservatives, with a decision likely in a week. Story here.
BORDER RULES TO CHANGE : DUCLOS – The federal government is reviewing its pandemic-related border restrictions, and Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said it will announce changes next week. Story here.
MANITOBA ANNOUNCES EASING OF RESTRICTIONS – Premier Heather Stefanson says Manitoba is accelerating its plan to ease COVID-19 restrictions and expects to have all public-health orders lifted in the coming weeks. Story here.
THIS AND THAT
The projected order of business at the House of Commons for Feb.11 is here.
BERGEN NAMES NEW CHIEF OF STAFF – Interim Conservative Leader Candice Bergen has appointed William Stairs as her chief of staff. The previous chief of staff in the office of the leader of the Official Opposition was Tausha Michaud. Mr. Stairs was a communications director for former prime minister Stephen Harper, among other senior government roles that included chief of staff in the minister’s office at Treasury Board and the Justice Department. Since leaving politics, he has run his own communications consulting firm and taught strategic communications at Carleton University.
RAE ON PROTESTS – Canada’s ambassador to the United Nations is here speaking out on what he thinks is really going on with the protests.
KIND WEEK AHEAD – Next week is the third week of February, which means it’s Canada’s first National Kindness Week. It’s the result of an act brought forward by former senator Jim Munson as a private member’s bill in the Senate and sponsored in the House by Conservative MP Michael Barrett and Liberal MP Emmanuella Lambropoulos. All three will participate in a Tuesday news conference on the subject.
THE DECIBEL – Friday’s edition of The Globe and Mail podcast features Zexi Li, an Ottawa resident who was key to a civil suit that muted the honking of trucker convoy horns in the city’s downtown. Zexi shares what it’s been like living among the cacophony, how she slept and why she agreed to be the public face of the class-action suit. The Decibel is here.
PRIME MINISTER’S DAY
Private meetings. The Prime Minister received a COVID–19 briefing from Theresa Tam, the Chief Public Health Officer of Canada. He also participated in a meeting hosted by U.S. President Joe Biden to discuss Ukraine with the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Poland, the United Kingdom, the European Union and NATO. A news conference was also scheduled.
LEADERS
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, with MP Niki Ashton, met with chiefs about internet connectivity over Indigenous lands.
No schedule released for other party leaders.
OPINION
Andrew Coyne (The Globe and Mail)on time being an ally and boredom a friend in ending the trucker protests: “Much as many may be desiring a quick end to the standoff, that option is not realistically open to us. The better course is what might for want of a better word be called containment, neither assaulting the encampment nor allowing it to spread, but slowly squeezing it: shrinking its footprint, restricting access in or out (a perimeter fence could be useful in this regard), controlling and curtailing its supply lines, increasing the legal and financial pressures on the participants (licences and insurance would both seem points of vulnerability) and depriving them, as much as possible, of the oxygen of publicity – smothering them, as it were, with inactivity. As time goes on, nothing happens, and the media gets bored, so will many of them. That will make it easier to separate the hard-core ideologues from the ones who are just along for the ride – not all at once, most likely, but by attrition, an arrest here, an injunction there.”
John Ibbitson (The Globe and Mail)on how Ontario Premier Doug Ford has astutely shifted blame to Ottawa in the runup to Ontario’s spring election: “Ontario is in turmoil from one end of the province to the other – from a blockade in Windsor to trucker protests in Ottawa. But those disturbances are unlikely to reshape the outcome of the June 2 provincial election. Progressive Conservative Premier Doug Ford appears to be pursuing the politically astute tactic of shifting responsibility to the federal government, while at the same time not alienating voters who may share the protesters’ opposition to pandemic restrictions. It could help him get re-elected.”
Adam Radwanski (The Globe and Mail)on high-profile Conservatives launching a bid to convince party leaders that climate policy matters: “Even as their party appears to be abandoning its short-lived support for carbon pricing, a small group of high-profile Conservatives is launching an effort to get their next leader to take climate policy seriously. Conservatives for Clean Growth, launched on Thursday morning, bills itself as an organization of long-term “activists, advisers and members” who believe “it’s critical for the Conservative Party of Canada to have a credible plan on the environment.”
Daniel Panneton (Contributed to The Globe and Mail)on how the trucker convoy shows how Canadians are being sucked into larger conspiratorial narratives: “Rising food costs and supply chain issues were among the legitimate issues highlighted during the protests, but panic-shopping in the early days of the pandemic demonstrated how the prospect of empty shelves can easily induce irrational behaviour. Already, right-wing extremist activity has surged and increasing numbers of Canadians are thinking conspiratorially. Trust in institutions is failing, and it’s vital that journalists and particularly lawmakers recognize how extremists can opportunistically redefine and hijack existing issues, and hold their peers accountable when they amplify or normalize accelerationist narratives. Failure to do so, or worse, attempting to harness and manipulate them for political gain, will only pull Canada deeper into our present quagmire.”
Hamish Telford (Contributed to The Globe and Mail) on how returning the BC Liberals to glory will be a very tall order for Kevin Falcon: “Under the successful leadership of both Mr. Campbell and Ms. Clark, the liberal and conservative factions in the party were held together by a relentless focus on economic issues, while social issues were generally held in abeyance. Even party stalwarts such as Rich Coleman and Mary Polak held their socially conservative views in check. However, in the past election, some social conservatives in the party were unwilling to suppress their convictions. One candidate suggested that free contraception was akin to eugenics, while another opposed rainbow crosswalks in her community. These candidates did the party irreparable harm in many urban ridings. It will be difficult for Mr. Falcon to put this genie back in the bottle, and even if he is successful it may not be enough.”
Mohammed Adam (The Ottawa Citizen)on how Ottawa is under siege because police inaction enabled it: “Yes, policing is hard even at the best of times, and harder still, when faced with protesters who have turned into occupiers. But let’s be clear about one thing: Ottawa is under siege because police inaction enabled it. Police are now having a hard time ending the demonstration because they let it fester in the first place. They have a lot of questions to answer, not only for how they handled this protest but, critically, going forward.”
Susan Prentice and Lisa Pasolli (Policy Options)on why there is no go reason for Ontario to delay signing a child-care agreement: “All Ontarians – not just parents of young children – should welcome Ottawa’s national child-care policy and urge the province to sign on. Ontario is the last holdout on the national initiative. While Premier Doug Ford dithers, a small minority is trying to weaken the pan-Canadian policy. They are trying to undermine the national approach, for reasons that include skepticism, financial self-interest and old-fashioned nostalgia for the 1950s family. While they may have the Ford government’s ear, they should not.”
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EDMONTON – Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says her government’s $8.6-billion plan to fast-track building new schools will include a pilot project to incentivize private ones.
Smith said the ultimate goal is to create thousands of new spaces for an exploding number of new students at a reduced cost to taxpayers.
“We want to put all of the different school options on the same level playing field,” Smith told a news conference in Calgary Wednesday.
Smith did not offer details about how much private school construction costs might be incentivized, but said she wants to see what independent schools might pitch.
“We’re putting it out there as a pilot to see if there is any interest in partnering on the same basis that we’ll be building the other schools with the different (public) school boards,” she said.
Smith made the announcement a day after she announced the multibillion-dollar school build to address soaring numbers of new students.
By quadrupling the current school construction budget to $8.6 billion, the province aims to offer up 30 new schools each year, adding 50,000 new student spaces within three years.
The government also wants to build or expand five charter school buildings per year, starting in next year’s budget, adding 12,500 spaces within four years.
Currently, non-profit independent schools can get some grants worth about 70 per cent of what students in public schools receive per student from the province.
However, those grants don’t cover major construction costs.
John Jagersma, executive director of the Association of Independent Schools and Colleges of Alberta, said he’s interested in having conversations with the government about incentives.
He said the province has never directly funded major capital costs for their facilities before, and said he doesn’t think the association has ever asked for full capital funding.
He said community or religious groups traditionally cover those costs, but they can help take the pressure off the public or separate systems.
“We think we can do our part,” Jagersma said.
Dennis MacNeil, head of the Public School Boards Association of Alberta, said they welcome the new funding, but said money for private school builds would set a precedent that could ultimately hurt the public system.
“We believe that the first school in any community should be a public school, because only public schools accept all kids that come through their doors and provide programming for them,” he said.
Jason Schilling, president of the Alberta Teachers’ Association, said if public dollars are going to be spent on building private schools, then students in the public system should be able to equitably access those schools.
“No other province spends as much money on private schools as Alberta does, and it’s at the detriment of public schools, where over 90 per cent of students go to school,” he said.
Schilling also said the province needs about 5,000 teachers now, but the government announcement didn’t offer a plan to train and hire thousands more over the next few years.
Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi on Tuesday praised the $8.6 billion as a “generational investment” in education, but said private schools have different mandates and the result could be schools not being built where they are needed most.
“Using that money to build public schools is more efficient, it’s smarter, it’s faster, and it will serve students better,” Nenshi said.
Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides’ office declined to answer specific questions about the pilot project Wednesday, saying it’s still under development.
“Options and considerations for making capital more affordable for independent schools are being explored,” a spokesperson said. “Further information on this program will be forthcoming in the near future.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2024.
OTTAWA – Health Minister Mark Holland urged a committee of senators Wednesday not to tweak the pharmacare bill he carefully negotiated with the NDP earlier this year.
The bill would underpin a potential national, single-payer pharmacare program and allow the health minister to negotiate with provinces and territories to cover some diabetes and contraceptive medications.
It was the result of weeks of political negotiations with the New Democrats, who early this year threatened to pull out of their supply-and-confidence deal with the Liberals unless they could agree on the wording.
“Academics and experts have suggested amendments to this bill to most of us here, I think,” Independent Senator Rosemary Moodie told Holland at a meeting of the Senate’s social affairs committee.
Holland appeared before the committee as it considers the bill. He said he respects the role of the Senate, but that the pharmacare legislation is, in his view, “a little bit different.”
“It was balanced on a pinhead,” he told the committee.
“This is by far — and I’ve been involved in a lot of complex things — the most difficult bit of business I’ve ever been in. Every syllable, every word in this bill was debated and argued over.”
Holland also asked the senators to move quickly to pass the legislation, to avoid lending credence to Conservative critiques that the program is a fantasy.
When asked about the Liberals’ proposed pharmacare program for diabetes and birth control, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has often responded that the program isn’t real. Once the legislation is passed, the minister must negotiate with every provincial government to actually administer the program, which could take many months.
“If we spend a long time wordsmithing and trying to make the legislation perfect, then the criticism that it’s not real starts to feel real for people, because they don’t actually get drugs, they don’t get an improvement in their life,” Holland told the committee.
He told the committee that one of the reasons he signed a preliminary deal with his counterpart in British Columbia was to help answer some of the Senate’s questions about how the program would work in practice.
The memorandum of understanding between Ottawa and B.C. lays out how to province will use funds from the pharmacare bill to expand on its existing public coverage of contraceptives to include hormone replacement therapy to treat menopausal symptoms.
The agreement isn’t binding, and Holland would still need to formalize talks with the province when and if the Senate passes the bill based on any changes the senators decide to make.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2024.
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia’s NDP are accusing the government of prioritizing landlords over residents who need an affordable place to live, as the opposition party tables a bill aimed at addressing the housing crisis.
NDP Leader Claudia Chender took aim at the Progressive Conservatives Wednesday ahead of introducing two new housing bills, saying the government “seems to be more focused on helping wealthy developers than everyday families.”
The Minister of Service Nova Scotia has said the government’s own housing legislation will “balance” the needs of tenants and landlords by extending the five per cent cap on rent until the end of 2027. But critics have called the cap extension useless because it allows landlords to raise rents past five per cent on fixed-term leases as long as property owners sign with a new renter.
Chender said the rules around fixed-term leases give landlords the “financial incentive to evict,” resulting in more people pushed into homelessness. She also criticized the part of the government bill that will permit landlords to issue eviction notices after three days of unpaid rent instead of 15.
The Tories’ housing bill, she said, represents a “shocking admission from this government that they are more concerned with conversations around landlord profits … than they are about Nova Scotians who are trying to find a home they can afford.”
The premier’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Also included in the government’s new housing legislation are clearer conditions for landlords to end a tenancy, such as criminal behaviour, disturbing fellow tenants, repeated late rental payments and extraordinary damage to a unit. It will also prohibit tenants from subletting units for more than they are paying.
The first NDP bill tabled Wednesday would create a “homelessness task force” to gather data to try to prevent homelessness, and the second would set limits on evictions during the winter and for seniors who meet income eligibility requirements for social housing and have lived in the same home for more than 10 years.
The NDP has previously tabled legislation that would create a $500 tax credit for renters and tie rent control to housing units instead of the individual.
Earlier this week landlords defended the use of the contentious fixed-term leases, saying they need to have the option to raise rent higher than five per cent to maintain their properties and recoup costs. Landlord Yarviv Gadish, who manages three properties in the Halifax area, called the use of fixed-term leases “absolutely essential” in order to keep his apartments presentable and to get a return on his investment.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2024.
