Federal Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole says his party is ready for the challenges of an election held during the continuing pandemic.
“Will we be ready? Absolutely. I’ve been an opposition leader in a minority parliament in a pandemic,” Mr. O’Toole told a news conference on Tuesday. “We’ve had to be ready at every step.”
His comments come amid the expectation that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will call an election later this summer or in the fall.
But Mr. O’Toole said the party was ready to go this past spring, preparing an approach informed by how U.S. President Joe Biden connected with voters during the American campaign last year.
The Tory Leader said he is prepared to use a mix of outreach using a party studio in Ottawa where Tuesday’s news conference was held as well as some form of traditional campaign tour that would take the Leader out across the country.
“We’re going to respect all provincial and municipal rules with respect to health restrictions,” he said, referring to the tour.
On Tuesday, Mr. O’Toole talked about part of his offer to Canadian voters, promising Canada Emergency Preparedness Plan to protect the country from COVID-19 and future pandemics.
Pieces of the plan include working with pharmaceutical companies to escalate domestic manufacturing of critical medicines and active ingredients, working with the United States to strengthen the North American supply chain, and calling an immediate public inquiry into the government’s pandemic response.
The Tory Leader said the federal Liberal government was late to act on the border and securing vaccines.
“I think Canadians are happy we’re finally emerging several months later than countries that were a little more prepared, but I think anyone running to lead this country has to show a commitment that we never make the mistakes that were made this last year by the Trudeau government,” he said.
Later Tuesday, Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc was asked at a news conference about Mr. O’Toole’s criticism of the federal government’s pandemic management.
Mr. LeBlanc said the government recognized that Canada had found itself in a “difficult situation” due to the long-term decline of the biomedical manufacturing capacity to produce vaccines.
As a result, he said the government has been working with the industry to bolster production and that, on another note, the government is committed to a review of the handling of the pandemic.
“We will make sure that a national government never finds itself in this situation again,” said Mr. LeBlanc. “Mr. O’Toole is arriving, in fact, at the same conclusion our government arrived at months and months ago.”
TODAY’S HEADLINES
GUILBEAULT SEEKS SENATORS HELP – Canadian Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault is asking senators to focus on passing Bill C-10, broadcast legislation that has sparked controversy, a day before the Senate is set to break for the summer.
MCKENNA’S EXIT – Infrastructure Minister Catherine McKenna said Monday she will not run in the next election in order to spend more time with her family and on the fight against climate change.
CARNEY WARNING ON DIGITAL CURRENCIES – Commercial banks could face a period of disruption and heightened competition as digital currencies upend payment systems and undermine existing models for bank funding, Mark Carney- the former governor of the Bank of Canada and Bank of England – told a group of leading central bankers on Monday.
PAUL SAYS SHE’S CLEAR -The leader of the federal Green Party says she no longer has to follow through on an order of her party’s federal council that directed her to repudiate a former aide who criticized members of caucus.
CONCERNS ABOUT BLACK ENTREPRENEURSHIP PROGRAM – Some Black businesspeople say a new federal government program meant to bolster Black entrepreneurship is hard to access, offers unclear repayment terms and asks invasive questions about applicants’ sexuality. From CBC.
CANADA SHOULDN’T CRITICIZE CHINA: SENATOR – In a provocative speech in the upper house on Monday, Independent Senators Group Leader Sen. Yuen Pau Woo said Canada should avoid criticizing China for its human rights abuses against Uyghur Muslims because our country has mistreated Indigenous peoples. From CBC.
NOVA SCOTIA MLA CONSIDERS HER OPTIONS – Former Nova Scotia PC MLA Elizabeth Smith-McCrossin hasn’t decided whether she’ll fight to keep her job as MLA now that she’s an Independent. But she says she is certain of one thing. She says she had nothing to do with the protest that shut down traffic on the Trans-Canada Highway most of last Wednesday. From CBC.
THE MOST EXPENSIVE B.C. ELECTION EVER – Vaughn Palmer of The Vancouver Sun writes about recent disclosures from British Columbia’s chief electoral officer about the 2020 provincial election, which turns out to have been the most expensive in B.C. history. It cost 30 per cent more than the last vote, in 2017. “Basically everything cost more – staffing, supplies, space, printing, advertising, mailing, and so on” Column here.
PRIME MINISTER’S DAY
The Prime Minister speaks with the Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud Abbas. He also participates in a fireside chat with Charles Milliard, president and chief executive officer of the Fédération des chambres de commerce du Québec. And he participates in a virtual conversation with Melissa Grelo, co-host of CTV’s The Social, as part of a virtual event celebrating Filipino Heritage Month in Canada.
LEADERS
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet continues his summer tour of Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean.
Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole makes an announcement in Ottawa.
OPINION
Campbell Clark (The Globe and Mail) on how Catherine McKenna and half of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s first. 2015 cabinet are now going or gone: “Mr. Trudeau’s government has, in one way or another, chewed up a lot of its shiny pennies. It’s not about the rate of turnover. Former PM Stephen Harper lost as many ministers, though not so many front-bench leaders. But a lot of Mr. Trudeau’s symbolic stars have been ground out of the game in the past six years. As has the symbolism of a cabinet team driving an agenda.”
André Picard (The Globe and Mail)on uncertainty over the end of the COVID-19 pandemic: “Closing quickly and reopening slowly is the best way to avoid new waves of infection. That lesson, which dates back to the early days of the pandemic in the spring of 2020, remains true. If Canada wants to avoid a fourth wave, we need to heed that warning. Don’t throw away your masks, but wear them in select settings. Have larger gatherings, but don’t overdo it. Head back to restaurants, but don’t recycle the plexiglass barriers quite yet. Travel again, but get tested, before and after.”
Don Braid (The Calgary Herald)on Alberta Premier Jason Kenney considering a cabinet shuffle and a summer of silence.: “The UCP government badly needs two things: a cabinet facelift for post-pandemic times and a summer stretch of deep public silence. UCP insiders judge — correctly, I think — that the public is sick of regular COVID-19 news conferences and proclamations. Kenney has been very public for more than a year. He’ll talk about any issue from many angles. He has probably uttered as many official words in two years as the voluble Ralph Klein emitted in 14. As a result, he’s overexposed. People connect his face and voice with bad news. The premier and the public need a break.”
Steve Paikin (TVO) on an appropriate new name for Ryerson University:“It was two and a half months ago that the university renamed its law school after Canada’s first Black MP and cabinet minister, Lincoln Alexander. Ryerson received a ton of positive publicity after that move. What if Ryerson took a page out of WLU’s playbook? Changing the iconic blue, yellow, and white RU-logo signs all over campus would no doubt cost millions of dollars. But what if the RU could stay, except that the “R” would stand for something else?”
Mark Sutcliffe (The Ottawa Citizen)on why he supports renaming Ottawa’s Sir John. A Macdonald Parkway:“There will be people who will decry this as an example of “cancel culture.” But nothing is being cancelled here. Macdonald is and always will be our first prime minister and his record speaks for itself, both for better and for worse. History is not changed by the naming or un-naming of a road, airport or building. Such honours are subjective to begin with; there are many other Canadians after whom the parkway could have been named. No one’s rights are trampled upon if they don’t have a road named after them or a statue erected in their honour.”
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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.
