Former federal cabinet minister Peter MacKay is wading into Alberta politics, endorsing a newly elected member of the Alberta legislature intent on ousting Premier Jason Kenney.
“I count loyalty as a rare commodity in public life. Brian has demonstrated that to me over the years, and I will always return his loyalty,” Mr. MacKay said in an e-mailed response to Globe and Mail questions about Brian Jean.
“Endorsing him in his return to politics is the least I can do. My support has everything to do with friendship and how I feel about Brian, his considerable qualities , his decency, and nothing else. Alberta is lucky to have him and I wish him well in every pursuit.”
On Wednesday, Mr. MacKay tweeted out his support for Mr. Jean, a former Conservative MP, who, this week, was elected MLA for the United Conservative Party in Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche. Mr. Jean’s win marks a return to provincial politics after he previously served as opposition leader in Alberta, and the last leader of the provincial Wildrose party. Mr. Kenney defeated Mr. Jean in 2018 to become UCP leader.
Mr. Jean has been challenging the leadership of Mr. Kenney, who faces a leadership review on April. 9.
Mr. MacKay retweeted a column about Mr. Jean’s win, adding the comment, “Congratulations to my friend Brian Jean on his impressive win in Fort Mac. Onward and upward in his return to politics in Alberta. Brian Jean’s byelection win sets the stage for showdown with Alberta Premier Jason Kenney.”
Subsequently, in response to a twitter query he added, “Oh this equals an endorsement I assure you !”
In 2020, Mr. Kenney endorsed Erin O’Toole in the last Conservative leadership race. Mr. MacKay came second in that race. However, Mr. MacKay said the endorsement was linked entirely to his friendship with Mr. Jean and the personal qualities of the new MLA, who he has known for 20 years serving together as MPs in opposition and government. Mr. MacKay had cabinet stints in justice, foreign affairs and defence under former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper.
“I have met loads of people inside and outside politics and Brian is one of the best, an extremely decent and honourable man who I am proud to call a friend.”
Alberta reporter Kelly Cryderman wrote here about how Mr. Jean’s by-election victory sets stage for a clash among Alberta’s United Conservatives.
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TODAY’S HEADLINES
3,368 UKRAINIANS HAVE ARRIVED IN CANADA – As millions of Ukrainian refugees flee the Russian invasion, flooding into neighbouring countries, Canada’s border agency says 3,368 Ukrainians have arrived in Canada since the start of the war. Story here.
RT OFF THE AIR IN CANADA – Canada’s federal broadcast regulator has ruled that RT, a Kremlin-controlled network, can no longer legally be carried on Canadian television screens. Story here.
CANADA ENDS NECESSITY FOR COVID-19 TESTS FOR VACCINATED TRAVELLERS TO ENTER COUNTRY – Vaccinated travellers will no longer need to show a COVID-19 test to enter Canada beginning April 1, Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos officially announced Thursday. Story here.
BUSINESS LEADERS RAP MICHIGAN ON LINE 5 – Business leaders from the United States and Canada are again wading into the fray over Line 5, accusing the state of Michigan of dragging its heels to ensure the controversial cross-border pipeline remains in a state of legal limbo even as both countries contend with a looming energy crisis. Story here.
ANAND TALKS DEFENCE BUDGET – Defence Minister Anita Anand says she will present a range of military spending options to cabinet ahead of the upcoming spring budget — some of which could result in a significant jump in Canada’s defence spending. Story here from CBC.
JOLY MILITARY COMMENTS CAUSE A STIR – Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly is selling Canada’s military short, according to former generals who expressed surprise at comments she made this week. Story here from The National Post.
GG WANTED INDIAN-ACT BRIEFING – Canada’s first Indigenous Governor-General, within months of being appointed to the role, requested government officials outline what departments were doing to allow First Nations to move away from the Indian Act. Story here.
HORGAN RAISES CONCERNS ABOUT OTTAWA FISH-FARM POLICY – Any federal government plans to move away from open-net pen salmon farms in British Columbia should come with transition help for the industry and workers, says Premier John Horgan. Story here.
SOCIAL MEDIA A CHALLENGE FOR PUBLIC SERVANTS – Social media is a part of life that is increasingly treacherous for Canada’s public servants, who may need better guidance to navigate their public and private lives online. Story here from Policy Options.
CONSERVATIVE LEADERSHIP RACE
MULRONEY ON LEADERSHIP RACE – Brian Mulroney says the choice for the federal Conservatives in their continuing leadership race is whether they want to elect a candidate who can win a convention or an election. “There’s a big, big difference in that regard,” the former prime minister said in a Zoom interview Wednesday with Dr. Adam Lajeunesse, assistant professor at the Brian Mulroney Institute of Government at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, N.S. “If you want to be a Conservative leader, you’ve got to campaign with the broad middle class in mind. There are no victories on the extremes. You can’t win from the left wing and you can’t win from the far right wing. It’s just not doable.” Mr. Mulroney, prime minister from 1984 to 1993 as leader of the Progressive Conservative Party, in particular praised three candidates om the race: Pierre Poilievre, Jean Charest and Patrick Brown. The video is here.
AITCHISON RUNNING FOR TORY LEADERSHIP – Parry Sound-Muskoka MP Scott Aitchison, the former mayor of Huntsville, is running for the leadership of the federal Conservatives. His Twitter account bio has been amended to read, “Candidate for Conservative Party leader,” and there’s the tweet with a video here. An official launch is expected on Sunday.
CHAREST MILITARY POLICY – Jean Charest says a Conservative government he led would “move quickly” to ramp up Canadian defence spending to 2 per cent of GDP, and increase personnel to 100,000. Details here.
THIS AND THAT
TODAY IN THE COMMONS -The House of Commons is not sitting again until March 21.
CANADA AND U.S DEFENCE LEADERS MEET – Defence Minister Anita Anand is scheduled to meet with U.S. Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin III on Thursday while attending a North Atlantic Treaty Organization Extraordinary Defence Ministers’ Meeting in Brussels, Belgium, to discuss Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.
THE DECIBEL
On Thursday’s edition of The Globe and Mail podcast, David Shribman, a contributing columnist at The Globe and a Pulitzer Prize recipient for his coverage of U.S. politics, talks about the power of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s speech by video to the U.S. Congress on Wednesday. Mr. Schribman talks about the power of Mr. Zelensky’s speech, how it compares to his address to Canadian Parliament on Tuesday and why, despite strong support for Ukraine, U.S. President Joe Biden most likely won’t ever deliver on President Zelensky’s requests. The Decibel is here.
PRIME MINISTER’S DAY
In the Greater Toronto area, the Prime Minister had private meetings and spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, and then participated virtually in a panel discussion as part of the SHE Conference. The Prime Minister also visited a local Persian business to highlight Nowruz, and was scheduled, with Mental Health Minister Carolyn Bennett, to visit a supervised consumption site and meet with workers and volunteers. In the evening, the Prime Minister was scheduled to attend a Liberal fundraising event in Mississauga.
LEADERS
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, in Scarborough, holds a press conference on the rising cost of living and mainstreets with Ontario NDP candidate Neethan Shan at the Majestic City shopping mall in Scarborough.
No schedule released for other leaders.
OPINION
John Ibbitson (The Globe and Mail)on Canada needing to speed up the process for welcoming displaced Ukrainians: “When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declared that Canada would accept an unlimited number of displaced Ukrainians, Polish President Andrzej Duda thanked him, but added, “Please, Justin, try to introduce some very, very, very simple procedures … to move this process faster, to accelerate it.” But simple isn’t the Canadian way. Mr. Trudeau’s government is unwilling to waive Ukrainian visa requirements, citing security concerns. Instead, the new special measures will make it easier to apply for a modified visitor’s visa that will allow new arrivals to stay and work or study in Canada for up to two years, with further extensions possible. But biometric requirements remain; security checks remain.”
Lawrence Martin (The Globe and Mail)on how Jean Charest winning the federal Conservative leadership would mean the political end of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau: “At stake, too, could well be the future of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Many Liberals will tell you that if Mr. Charest wins, Mr. Trudeau won’t run again. Not against a fellow Quebecker who could dip deeply into his harvest of seats in la belle province. Not against a fellow moderate who would broaden Conservative appeal in the east and likely hold the lion’s share of his party’s seats in the west. Add in the country’s fatigue factor with a Trudeau who’s been in power for three terms, and Mr. Charest would be the odds-on favourite. But should convoy Conservative Mr. Poilievre win the prize, the chances of a Trudeau retirement shrink. The thought of the Tory finance critic taking over the country would be anathema to this Prime Minister, who would envisage his policy legacy being shredded.”
Robyn Urback (The Globe and Mail)on how Canada can’t save the world, but can fulfill its commitment to Afghan refugees: “We are a fickle species by nature, which is why the time to act on resettling Afghan refugees was back before another occasion of mass human suffering would capture the world’s attention. Seven months ago, we were captivated and horrified by images of Afghan citizens desperately clinging to planes while trying to evacuate Kabul to escape Taliban rule. This week, we are captivated and horrified by images of pregnant Ukrainian women clinging to their bellies as they evacuate a maternity hospital bombed in Mariupol. But even if the world’s focus is now elsewhere, the suffering in Afghanistan endures.”
Petros Kusmu (Contributed to The Globe and Mail) on how Canada’s political parties can get more Black candidates elected: “First, provincial parties should give Black and equity-seeking candidates a shot by enabling them to run in winnable ridings. So often is the case that talented and diverse candidates are slotted in unwinnable ridings – ridings that are a historical stronghold by a rival party or feature rival candidates with significantly higher public profiles. By electoral district associations (EDAs) actively identifying and inviting Black and equity-seeking candidates to run for a nomination, particularly in “safe” ridings, parties can remove some of the initial barriers these candidates face. The BC NDP’s equity policy, mandating EDAs to nominate female or male equity-seeking candidates once a male NDP MLA has retired, is an approach that has proved successful in producing a more diverse caucus relative to other parties in the BC legislature.”
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PHOENIX (AP) — Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a prominent proponent of debunked public health claims whom Donald Trump has promised to put in charge of health initiatives, said Saturday that Trump would push to remove fluoride from drinking water on his first day in office if elected president.
Fluoride strengthens teeth and reduces cavities by replacing minerals lost during normal wear and tear, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The addition of low levels of fluoride to drinking water has long been considered one of the greatest public health achievements of the last century.
Kennedy made the declaration Saturday on the social media platform X alongside a variety of claims about the heath effects of fluoride.
“On January 20, the Trump White House will advise all U.S. water systems to remove fluoride from public water,” Kennedy wrote. Trump and his wife, Melania Trump, “want to Make America Healthy Again,” he added, repeating a phrase Trump often uses and links to Kennedy.
Trump told NBC News on Sunday that he had not spoken to Kennedy about fluoride yet, “but it sounds OK to me. You know it’s possible.”
The former president declined to say whether he would seek a Cabinet role for Kennedy, a job that would require Senate confirmation, but added, “He’s going to have a big role in the administration.”
Asked whether banning certain vaccines would be on the table, Trump said he would talk to Kennedy and others about that. Trump described Kennedy as “a very talented guy and has strong views.”
The sudden and unexpected weekend social media post evoked the chaotic policymaking that defined Trump’s White House tenure, when he would issue policy declarations on Twitter at virtually all hours. It also underscored the concerns many experts have about Kennedy, who has long promoted debunked theories about vaccine safety, having influence over U.S. public health.
In 1950, federal officials endorsed water fluoridation to prevent tooth decay, and continued to promote it even after fluoride toothpaste brands hit the market several years later. Though fluoride can come from a number of sources, drinking water is the main source for Americans, researchers say.
Officials lowered their recommendation for drinking water fluoride levels in 2015 to address a tooth condition called fluorosis, that can cause splotches on teeth and was becoming more common in U.S. kids.
In August, a federal agency determined “with moderate confidence” that there is a link between higher levels of fluoride exposure and lower IQ in kids. The National Toxicology Program based its conclusion on studies involving fluoride levels at about twice the recommended limit for drinking water.
A federal judge later cited that study in ordering the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to further regulate fluoride in drinking water. U.S. District Judge Edward Chen cautioned that it’s not certain that the amount of fluoride typically added to water is causing lower IQ in kids, but he concluded that mounting research points to an unreasonable risk that it could be. He ordered the EPA to take steps to lower that risk, but didn’t say what those measures should be.
In his X post Saturday, Kennedy tagged Michael Connett, the lead attorney representing the plaintiff in that lawsuit, the environmental advocacy group Food & Water Watch.
Kennedy’s anti-vaccine organization has a lawsuit pending against news organizations including The Associated Press, accusing them of violating antitrust laws by taking action to identify misinformation, including about COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccines. Kennedy is on leave from the group but is listed as one of its attorneys in the lawsuit.
What role Kennedy might hold if Trump wins on Tuesday remains unclear. Kennedy recently told NewsNation that Trump asked him to “reorganize” agencies including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration and some agencies under the Department of Agriculture.
But for now, the former independent presidential candidate has become one of Trump’s top surrogates. Trump frequently mentions having the support of Kennedy, a scion of a Democratic dynasty and the son of former Attorney General Robert Kennedy and nephew of President John F. Kennedy.
Kennedy traveled with Trump Friday and spoke at his rallies in Michigan and Wisconsin.
Trump said Saturday that he told Kennedy: “You can work on food, you can work on anything you want” except oil policy.
“He wants health, he wants women’s health, he wants men’s health, he wants kids, he wants everything,” Trump added.
Americans and Canadians are cousins that is true. Allies today but long ago people were at loggerheads mostly because of the British Empire and American ambitions.
Canadians appreciate our cousins down south enough to visit them many millions of times over the year. America is Canada’s largest and most important trading partner. As a manufacturer, I can attest to this personally. My American clients have allowed our firm to grow and prosper over the past few decades. There is a problem we have been seeing, a problem where nationalism, both political and economic has been creating a roadblock to our trade relationship.
Both Democrats and Republicans have shown a willingness to play the “buy only American Made product” card, a sounding board for all things isolationist, nationalistic and small-mindedness. We all live on this small planet, and purchase items made from all over the world. Preferences as to what to buy and where it is made are personal choices, never should they become a platform of national pride and thuggery. This has brought fear into the hearts of many Canadians who manufacture for and service the American Economy in some way. This fear will be apparent when the election is over next week.
Canadians are not enemies of America, but allies and friends with a long tradition of supporting our cousins back when bad sh*t happens. We have had enough of the American claim that they want free trade, only to realize that they do so long as it is to their benefit. Tariffs, and undue regulations applied to exporters into America are applied, yet American industry complains when other nations do the very same to them. Seriously! Democrats have said they would place a preference upon doing business with American firms before foreign ones, and Republicans wish to tariff many foreign nations into oblivion. Rhetoric perhaps, but we need to take these threats seriously. As to you the repercussions that will come should America close its doors to us.
Tit for tat neighbors. Tariff for tariff, true selfish competition with no fear of the American Giant. Do you want to build homes in America? Over 33% of all wood comes from Canada. Tit for tat. Canada’s mineral wealth can be sold to others and place preference upon the highest bidder always. You know who will win there don’t you America, the deep-pocketed Chinese.
Reshaping our alliances with others. If America responds as has been threatened, Canadians will find ways to entertain themselves elsewhere. Imagine no Canadian dollars flowing into the Northern States, Florida or California? The Big Apple without its friendly Maple Syrup dip. Canadians will realize just how significant their spending is to America and use it to our benefit, not theirs.
Clearly we will know if you prefer Canadian friendship to Donald Trumps Bravado.
China, Saudi Arabia & Russia are not your friends in America. Canada, Japan, Taiwan the EU and many other nations most definitely are. Stop playing politics, and carry out business in an unethical fashion. Treat allies as they should be treated.
