Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says six members of his team have tested positive for COVID-19.
During a news conference Wednesday, Mr. Trudeau said three members of his staff and three members of his security detail have contracted the virus.
“They’re following all public-health guidance. So am I,” Mr. Trudeau said. “It’s a reminder that the virus is all around us. It’s very much a threat. We have to keep our guard up.”
Several Canadian politicians have disclosed their infections, including Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly, Bloc Québécois deputy House leader Christine Normandin and MP Kristina Michaud, as well as the mayors of Montreal and Ottawa.
Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, who appeared at the virtual news conference with the Prime Minister, delivered her recent fiscal and economic update virtually after two members of her staff tested positive for COVID-19.
Mr. Trudeau said his team has been working with public-health officials on the situation affecting his inner circle, and the recommendation has been for him to reduce his contacts as much as possible, self-monitor, and do rapid tests regularly.
“So far, it’s all been negative. You will know if ever it becomes positive – I promise you that,” he said.
Given the nature of his contacts with the affected staff, he said there has been no recommendation for him to go into full isolation.
Mr. Trudeau’s comments came as his government announced an adjustment to COVID-19 benefit programs in light of the Omicron variant.
Deputy Ottawa bureau chief Bill Curry and parliamentary reporter Marieke Walsh report here on the federal government expanding eligibility for pandemic support programs to address the current wave of capacity restrictions in various regions across the country.
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PLEASE NOTE: The Politics Briefing newsletter is taking a holiday break. After today, we will be back on Jan. 5. Merry Christmas and best wishes for the holidays. See you in 2022.
TODAY’S HEADLINES
TORY MP DEFENDS UNVACCINATED – Alberta Conservative MP Rachael Thomas posted false information about vaccines and their efficacy as she defended people who choose not to be vaccinated, saying they are being “demonized.” Story here.
OTTAWA FACING WORKER DRAIN – Canada’s capital was once abuzz with thousands of employees who commuted into its downtown core to work, including in many government buildings. But nearly two years into the global pandemic, it remains unclear when and if many of those workers, previously drivers of the local economy, will return to their offices – creating enormous unknowns for downtown businesses and concerns for the city’s mayor. Story here.
TORY ELECTION REVIEW TO BE COMPLETED SOON – Conservative Party Leader Erin O’Toole, who is under some pressure for an early leadership review, is expected to receive the much-awaited campaign review next month on why his party lost the last election to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals. Story here from The Hill Times.
ALBERTA NDP MLA LEAVES CAUCUS DUE TO CRIMINAL PROBE – A member of the Alberta Opposition has left the NDP caucus after reporting he is involved in an RCMP investigation into a computer privacy breach. Story here.
QUEBEC MAYOR DENOUNCES CITIES’ ADVOCACY AGAINST BILL 21 – Quebec City’s mayor has criticized other Canadian cities, including Quebec’s sister city of Calgary, for wanting to finance legal challenges against the province’s state secularism law, Bill 21 . Story here from The Montreal Gazette.
KENNEY REBOUND? – Could Alberta Premier Jason Kenney stage a rebound from his current political challenges? CBC reporter Elise von Scheel and academic Brooks DeCillia reflect here on how it might happen.
MILITARY PROCUREMENT CHIEF STANDS BY HELICOPTERS – The Defence Department’s top procurement official says he would feel safe flying on one of the military’s new naval helicopters despite the fleet’s rash of recent problems. Story here.
$6.8M FOR FAIRY CREEK POLICING COSTS – According to documents obtained by Global News, the RCMP has spent more than $6.8-million enforcing a court injunction against anti-logging protesters camped out at Fairy Creek in B.C., which has led to nearly 1,200 arrests this year. Details here.
THIS AND THAT
GARNEAU HAS `SPARE TIME’ TO WRITE BOOK – Former astronaut Marc Garneau, also the ex-foreign affairs minister, says he is thinking of writing a book as a fun “spare time” exercise. “I was asked to write a book after my first flight in 1984. My answer: I’m 35 and too busy living,” he tweeted. “Now I’m finally starting to think about a memoir for my children. Could be fun in my spare time.” The Liberal MP for Notre-Dame-de-Grâce–Westmount first flew in space as a payload specialist on the space shuttle Challenger in October, 1984. He is now chair of the standing committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs and chair of the subcommittee on agenda and procedure of the standing committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs.
GG’s NEW YEAR’S MESSAGE – Mary Simon will be delivering her first New Year’s message as Governor-General on Dec. 30. It will be delivered in three languages: English, French and Inuktitut.
COMMONS ON A BREAK – The House of Commons has adjourned until Monday, Jan. 31, 2022, at 11 a.m. ET.
THE DECIBEL – In the latest edition of The Globe and Mail podcast, feature writer Ian Brown speaks with Al Etmanski about a proposed federal fund to help top up disability benefits offered by the provinces and territories. Mr. Etmanski, who has spent his life working to help improve life for Canadians with disabilities, also talks about why poverty among disabled people has been ignored for so long, and his career as a parent activist for people with disabilities. Listen here.
PRIME MINISTER’S DAY
Private meetings. The Prime Minister spoke with Gabriel Boric, the president-elect of Chile, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. The Prime Minister also virtually addressed Canadians on the COVID-19 situation, and made an announcement with Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos and Employment Minister Carla Qualtrough. Also participating were Dr. Theresa Tam, the Chief Public Health Officer of Canada, and Dr. Howard Njoo, the deputy chief public health officer.
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER
From Toronto, the Deputy Prime Minister participated virtually in an announcement with the Prime Minister.
LEADERS
No schedules released for party leaders.
OPINION
Andrew Coyne (The Globe and Mail)on why something is bound to break when the PMO tries to run everything:“Is it just me or is there something a little off about the Prime Minister’s Office lately? I don’t mean the Prime Minister himself, who has always had, needless to say, an erratic streak to him. I mean the people around him – the brain trust, the pros – the people who are supposed to keep the ship tight and the clocks wound. Because some of the decisions coming out of there of late have been more than a little odd. Again, there will always be strange decisions coming out of any prime minister’s office from time to time. But usually these show some evidence of being the product of, well, not thought exactly, but at least intent. Whereas I’m not sure the current PMO is even aware of some of the things they’re doing.”
Kelly S. Thompson (Contributed to The Globe and Mail)on what the Canadian military’s sexual-misconduct apology means to her: “But if this apology is to be the start of powerful change, then our Prime Minister – the leader of our country – should have been standing next to his representatives. Yes, these problems existed before him; each prime minister has unfortunately, at one point or another, empowered alleged harassers or abusers with positions of authority. But someone will always be left holding the proverbial hot potato. If Justin Trudeau isn’t ready to accept that kind of accountability, I don’t know how the survivors are meant to trust his government’s assurances. We said we’d die for our country. Survivors are owed a similarly weighted pledge in return. So while I’m hopeful, I remain guarded.”
Jason Thistlethwaite and Daniel Henstra (Policy Options) on how Canada’s flood-risk management needs stronger leadership:“Politicians comfort flood victims, pledging money to rebuild and promising that life will soon be back to normal. Although welcome in the immediate aftermath of catastrophic flooding, this rhetoric distracts Canadians from the fundamental responsibility of governments to prevent flooding before it happens. It’s too easy to pass the buck in Canada’s federal system, where responsibility for flood-risk management is informally and opaquely divided between national, provincial and municipal governments.”
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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.
