Erin O’Toole appealed to “angry” voters who are supporting smaller parties to instead vote Conservative and block a Liberal re-election, while maintaining his practice of never directly naming Maxime Bernier and his People’s Party of Canada in his public comments.
Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau was repeating his own late-campaign pitch for strategic voting Friday, specifically naming the Green Party and the NDP and claiming the Liberals have a stronger climate-change platform. The NDP and Greens disagree.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh’s entire campaign message has largely aimed at pushing back on the strategic voting pitch, by arguing on the campaign trail and through advertising that the Liberals can’t be trusted to deliver on their promises.
Speaking in London, Ont., Mr. O’Toole made several references to angry and tired voters Friday.
“To Canadians who are fearful, angry and feeling let down. Let me say this: I get it,” he said. “We deserve change here, and If people vote for anything other than the Conservative party of Canada for that change, they’re voting for Justin Trudeau.”
Mr. Bernier is a former federal Conservative cabinet minister who finished a narrow second to Andrew Scheer for the party’s 2017 leadership race. Mr. O’Toole finished third. Mr. Bernier then formed the PPC, which failed to win a single seat in 2019 but is polling higher during this campaign. His campaign has focused heavily on opposition to vaccine mandates, but he has also accused Mr. O’Toole of proposing big-spending policies that are not much different from the Liberals.
Mr. O’Toole’s comments Friday suggest the party is concerned that it is bleeding some of its traditional support to the PPC.
The Toronto Star reported on Thursday that Kevin Vuong, who is running for the Liberals in Spadina–Fort York, was charged in 2019 with sexual assault but the charge was dropped later that year. Mr. Vuong told the newspaper the allegations are false and that he “vigorously fought” them. The Globe and Mail has not verified the allegations and has reached out to Mr. Vuong’s campaign team for comment. Mr. Vuong did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Mr. Vuong is also facing a $1.5-million lawsuit from a former business associate in a pandemic mask-making business, first reported on by The Globe and Mail.
On a lighter note, Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet was asked about this week’s campaign appearances by former Liberal prime minister Jean Chrétien and former Progressive Conservative prime minister Brian Mulroney and why he has not appeared with former Bloc leaders. Mr. Blanchet noted that Lucien Bouchard has stayed out of federal politics for a long time and Gilles Duceppe, another long-time Bloc leader, is busy as a TV analyst.
“I must say… I listened to Mr. Chrétien and I listened to Mr. Mulroney, and I said they are so much more interesting than the new ones,” he told reporters Friday. “Maybe I don’t want to compare myself to Mr. Bouchard.”
Hello,
This is the daily Politics Briefing newsletter, written by Ian Bailey. Filling in today is Bill Curry. 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 signup page. Have any feedback? Let us know what you think.
TODAY’S HEADLINES
CANADA CAUGHT OFF-GUARD BY NEW SECURITY PACT BETWEEN U.S., AUSTRALIA AND BRITAIN: The Canadian government was surprised this week by the announcement of a new security pact between the United States, Britain and Australia, one that excluded Canada and is aimed at confronting China’s growing military and political influence in the Indo-Pacific region, according to senior government officials. Story by The Globe and Mail’s Robert Fife and Steven Chase is here.
CHINESE MAJOR-GENERAL WORKED WITH FIRED SCIENTIST AT CANADA’S TOP INFECTIOUS DISEASE LAB: A high-ranking officer in the People’s Liberation Army, recently lauded by President Xi Jinping for developing a Chinese COVID-19 vaccine, collaborated on Ebola research with one of the scientists who was later fired from Canada’s high-security infectious disease laboratory in Winnipeg. Story by The Globe and Mail’s Robert Fife and Steven Chase is here.
PANDEMIC ELECTION PUSHES PARTIES TO PUT MENTAL HEALTH IN SPOTLIGHT: During a year of unprecedented stress, mental-health care is garnering more than its usual share of the political spotlight in the federal election. The three main national parties are variously promising money, tax credits and policy changes aimed at correcting a chronic inequity in the system: too many Canadians waiting too long for help, unless they can pay out of pocket for the treatment they need. A Globe and Mail analysis by Erin Anderssen can be found here.
THROUGH TIKTOK, COMMUNITY VISITS, ACTIVISTS AND CANDIDATES CAMPAIGN TO ENSURE INDIGENOUS VOICES ARE HEARD IN THE COMMONS: AFN National Chief RoseAnne Archibald said she is encouraging First Nations people to vote for the party that offers the best solutions and partnerships to keep the country moving forward on the path to truth and reconciliation. She said Indigenous people and Canadians want reconciliation and healing, particularly after the horrific discoveryof unmarked graves at former residential schools. The Globe and Mail story by Willow Fiddler and Ntawnis Piapot is here.
MILLIONS OF CANADIANS RENT, BUT THEY HAVE BEEN LEFT OUT OF FEDERAL CAMPAIGN PROMISES: Renters have largely been left out of federal election campaign promises to make housing more affordable, even though a growing portion of Canada’s population rents and struggles to make their payments, The Globe and Mail’s Rachelle Younglai reports here.
LEADERS
Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau held a news conference in Windsor, Ont.
Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole held a news conference in London, Ont., and is scheduled to hold an evening event in St. Catharines.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh held a morning news conference in Sherbrooke, Que. He is then scheduled to campaign in Nova Scotia, with stops in Sackville and Halifax.
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet held a news conference in Saint-Étienne-des-Grès, Que. His schedule includes campaign stops in Trois-Rivières, Lévis and Quebec City.
Green Party Leader Annamie Paul is scheduled to hold an afternoon news conference in Toronto.
People’s Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier is scheduled to spend Friday through Sunday in Alberta, beginning with a Friday evening rally in Strathmore.
OPINION
Kelly Cryderman (The Globe and Mail) on how all roads in Alberta’s latest COVID crisis lead back to Premier Jason Kenney: “[Mr. Kenney] continues to present the government’s choices as binary – between ‘permanent, unmovable, consistent, hard, lockdown-style policies,’ and throwing everything open. In fact, there is a lot of grey area in between… So, yes. The province’s health care system is on the verge of a full-blown crisis. It shouldn’t be about Jason Kenney. But it still is.”
Don Braid (The Calgary Herald) on Jason Kenney’s handling of COVID-19: “There seems to be no situation — not even the impending collapse of the health-care system — that will mute this man’s impulse to deflect… His Wednesday news conference was a litany of denials for the government’s cluelessness about what was happening in Alberta. The Premier did not apologize for lifting COVID-19 measures in July, only for pushing ‘Open for Summer’ too hard and declaring the pandemic to be over.”
Send along your political questions and we will look at getting answers to run in this newsletter. It’s not possible to answer each one personally. Questions and answers will be edited for length and clarity.
Got a news tip that you’d like us to look into? E-mail us at tips@globeandmail.com. Need to share documents securely? Reach out via SecureDrop
FREDERICTON – A look at Blaine Higgs, leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick.
Born: March 1, 1954.
Early years: The son of a customs officer, he grew up in Forest City, N.B., near the Canada-U.S. border.
Education: Graduated from the University of New Brunswick with a degree in mechanical engineering in 1977.
Family: Married his high-school sweetheart, Marcia, and settled in Saint John, N.B., where they had four daughters: Lindsey, Laura, Sarah and Rachel.
Before politics: Hired by Irving Oil a week after he graduated from university and was eventually promoted to director of distribution. Worked for 33 years at the company.
Politics: Elected to the legislature in 2010 and later served as finance minister under former Progressive Conservative Premier David Alward. Elected Tory leader in 2016 and has been premier since 2018.
Quote: “I’ve always felt parents should play the main role in raising children. No one is denying gender diversity is real. But we need to figure out how to manage it.” — Blaine Higgs in a year-end interview in 2023, explaining changes to school policies about gender identity.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
OTTAWA – The pressing issues of climate change and food security join more familiar ones like violent extremism and espionage on a new list of Canada’s intelligence priorities.
The federal government says publishing the list of priorities for the first time is an important step toward greater transparency.
The government revises the priorities every two years, based on recommendations from the national security adviser and the intelligence community.
Once the priorities are reviewed and approved by the federal cabinet, key ministers issue directives to federal agencies that produce intelligence.
Among the priorities are the security of global health, food, water and biodiversity, as well as the issues of climate change and global sustainability.
The new list also includes foreign interference and malign influence, cyberthreats, infrastructure security, Arctic sovereignty, border integrity and transnational organized crime.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
GATINEAU, Que. – Treasury Board President Anita Anand will take on the additional role of transport minister this afternoon, after Pablo Rodriguez resigned from cabinet to run for the Quebec Liberal leadership.
A government source who was not authorized to speak publicly says Anand will be sworn in at a small ceremony at Rideau Hall.
Public Services and Procurement Minister Jean-Yves Duclos will become the government’s new Quebec lieutenant, but he is not expected to be at the ceremony because that is not an official role in cabinet.
Rodriguez announced this morning that he’s leaving cabinet and the federal Liberal caucus and will sit as an Independent member of Parliament until January.
That’s when the Quebec Liberal leadership race is set to officially begin.
Rodriguez says sitting as an Independent will allow him to focus on his own vision, but he plans to vote with the Liberals on a non-confidence motion next week.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
