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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Tofino vacation is over.
Earlier this morning, Mr. Trudeau’s office issued an advisory saying he would also be in Ottawa today for “private meetings” and to speak with Scott Morrison, the Prime Minister of Australia.
Mr. Trudeau’s return to the nation’s capital ends his break in the Vancouver Island community that caused sustained political controversy because it began last week on Canada’s first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
Over the weekend, Mr. Trudeau apologized to the chief of a B.C. First Nation after choosing to vacation in Tofino rather than attend the community’s Truth and Reconciliation Day event.
Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc had sent the Prime Minister two invitations to attend its ceremonial event near the former Kamloops Indian Residential School, where the remains of about 200 children were discovered at the site in late May. Story here.
Victoria-based national correspondentJustine Hunter sends the following Reporter’s Commentfrom Tofino, B.C.:“Standing in the drizzle on a surfing beach near the resort town of Tofino on Saturday morning, I could make out about two dozen surfers bobbing, indistinguishable in their black wetsuits, out where the surf breaks. One of them was Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, some were part of his security detail, and the rest were tourists and locals. Surfing protocol is all very democratic – you are supposed to wait your turn, no matter who you are. But Lyla Enns, a teenager from North Vancouver, later explained that she deferred to the Prime Minister when deciding who would get to catch the next wave. “I didn’t get up because I didn’t want to hit him,” she explained to me. Another young woman, Leila Nabavi, laughed as she described a near miss with Mr. Trudeau when he caught a wave and just about crashed into her as she paddled out into the break zone.
“Mr. Trudeau is a regular visitor to Tofino and lots of locals here have had the chance to share the surf, and to take away stories like these. While the controversy swirled around his decision to come here instead of marking his newly declared National Day for Truth and Reconciliation last Thursday, the local etiquette calls for leaving him be when he is on the beach. But at some point during the day, he called the chief of the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation to apologize for opting to fly to Tofino for a holiday rather than to attend Thursday’s ceremonial event near the former Kamloops Indian Residential School, where the remains of about 200 children were located earlier this year.
“He also could have attended a local truth and reconciliation ceremony in Tofino on Thursday, but didn’t. The locals I spoke with were unimpressed with that decision.”
Vacation consternation – Mr. Trudeau is not the first Canadian politician to face trouble lately for their vacation choices.
Earlier this year, B.C. Premier John Horgan faced political turmoil, detailed here, for taking a break. And Alberta Premier Jason Kenney was under fire for a recent vacation, in a situation detailed here. Former Manitoba premier Brian Pallister faced political pressure for his regular vacationing in Costa Rica, chronicled here in Maclean’s by Nancy Macdonald, now with The Globe and Mail. Vacation choices have also been a challenge for U.S. presidents, as detailed here.
John Ibbitson (The Globe and Mail)on why the Tofino trip may hasten Mr. Trudeau’s political departure:“In political terms, the timing is especially unfortunate for Mr. Trudeau, because it reminds Liberal supporters of something they must already have been wondering: whether it is time to change horses… While the Prime Minister typically brazens through his misjudgments, this time Mr. Trudeau apologized. No doubt he was genuinely sorry. But also, he must have realized he was starting to run out of political lives.”
GOVERNMENT URGED TO EXTEND EMERGENCY COVID-19 BENEFITS – The federal government is facing calls from business and labour leaders to extend emergency COVID-19 benefits before they expire on Oct. 23, a move that was not explicitly promised in the Liberal Party’s election platform.
ONTARIO PROMISES CAUTIOUS COVID-19 REOPENING – Ontario remains committed to “the most cautious reopening in Canada” to avoid future COVID-19 lockdowns, the provincial government said in a Throne Speech on Monday, while promising an economic recovery fuelled by growth and not “painful tax hikes or spending cuts.”
THE CURRENT STATE OF CANADA’S KABUL EMBASSY – Senior international correspondent Mark MacKinnon checks out Canada’s abandoned embassy in Kabul under Taliban rule. Islamist militants now guard the former headquarters of Canada’s diplomatic mission in the Afghan capital – and they say the Canadians can come back any time. Story here.
AFGHAN WOMEN SOUGHT CANADA’S HELP – Afghan women ministers made pleas to Canadian politicians for help – and shared warnings about atrocities and the erosion of women’s rights – two months before the Taliban took control of Kabul. The desperate request was made during a Zoom meeting of the Canada-Afghanistan Parliamentary Friendship Group, attended by Canadian ministers, MPs and senators. Story here.
PAUL HURTING GREENS: MAY – Saanich-Gulf Islands Green Party MP Elizabeth May, the party’s former leader, says departing leader Annamie Paul is hurting the Green Party by remaining in control of its communications. From CTV.
HOW TO BE A PRIME MINISTER
From Governing Canada, A Guide to the Tradecraft of Politics by Michael Wernick (Published by On Point Press, an imprint of UBC Press)
As clerk of the privy council from 2016 to 2019, Michael Wernick was the head of the federal public service with responsibility for advising the prime minister and elected government officials. It was a key role in a public-service career that included senior roles serving four prime ministers.
Mr. Wernick has now written a newly published book about the operation of government. Governing Canada, A Guide to the Tradecraft of Politics occasionally reads like the manual that would be given to a rookie prime minister, cabinet minister or deputy minister – which makes it a very interesting book. (Parliamentary reporter Kristy Kirkup reported on the project here.) It is not a tell-all – it is, at 212 pages, succinct, evocative, blunt and never dull.
This week, the Politics Briefing newsletter will include short excerpts from a key chapter in the book, Advice to a Prime Minister. We’ll begin with Mr. Wernick’s observations on an aspect of being a prime minister that may be timely in light of current events:
“Being a prime minister is all about continuous multitasking, which won’t stop until you leave the job…Time for family, for exercise or relaxation, and for old friends outside of politics will be squeezed to the margins unless you work to protect it. By now, you have figured out what seems to work for you – your own approach to exercise and relaxation and to work. Do you prefer to finish up as much as you can at the office, or do you like to take work home?
“Try to consciously create a structure and a routine that work for your family so that you can return to that routine any time you are knocked off stride. It isn’t easy to fit spouses, children and parents into the grind of your new job. Work will tend to crowd out time for things that you used to do, like watching sports, binge-watching television series, or staying current on pop culture. Reading anything other than work-related documents will soon start to feel like a luxury. If your past pursuits are important to you, you will have to force time for them into your schedule.”
PRIME MINISTER’S DAY
Private meetings in Ottawa, and the Prime Minister talks with Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
Andrew Cohen (Contributor to The Globe and Mail)on how Justin Trudeau became Lester Pearson:“Today, Justin Trudeau is in an eerily similar position. Like Mr. Pearson, he rebuilt a shattered party and led it back to power. Like Mr. Pearson, he called a snap election that gave him only two more seats, 11 short of a majority.Like Mr. Pearson, he has weathered scandal. Like Mr. Pearson, he faces a second minority government, navigating the shallows of a hung Parliament. But in calamity, opportunity. If Mr. Trudeau learns from his mistakes, rallies progressives and puts policy before politics, he can do much. Rather than spending the next three years contemplating his place in Parliament, he can find his place in history.”
Erica Ifill (Contributor to The Globe and Mail) on why Annamie Paul’s leadership never really had a chance: “There will be those who insist that race wasn’t a factor in the Green Party’s marginalization of Annamie Paul. But of course race is a factor when the first Black woman to lead a federal party doesn’t actually get a real chance to lead over a short term, and is instead bogged down by internal attacks, leadership questions and a lack of support that wasn’t evident before she arrived. This is misogynoir – and it’s the status quo in our political structures.”
Tasha Kheiriddin (National Post)on why rebuilding the Tories `big tent’ starts with new Canadians: “Ironically, at the same time the Tories curbed family reunification, they aggressively sought to capture the votes of so-called “cultural communities,” notably in the suburbs of Vancouver and Toronto. However, then-immigration minister Jason Kenney’s infamous “curry in a hurry” strategy produced little more than indigestion. The lesson here is that opportunism will not build connection. There has to be more on offer than the promise of a say in government, or the implicit benefits of siding with the “winning” party. That something is making conservatism – the worldview, the philosophy, the vision – relevant to new Canadians. It is allowing them to identify with and see themselves in its future. To do this, the party has to both talk the talk, and walk the walk.”
Send along your political questions and we will look at getting answers to run in this newsletter. Please note, it is not possible to answer each one personally. Questions and answers will be edited for length and clarity.
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RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Democrats who control both chambers of the Virginia legislature are hoping to make good on promises made on the campaign trail, including becoming the first Southern state to expand constitutional protections for abortion access.
The House Privileges and Elections Committee advanced three proposed constitutional amendments Wednesday, including a measure to protect reproductive rights. Its members also discussed measures to repeal a now-defunct state constitutional ban on same-sex marriage and ways to revise Virginia’s process to restore voting rights for people who served time for felony crimes.
“This meeting was an important next step considering the moment in history we find ourselves in,” Democratic Del. Cia Price, the committee chair, said during a news conference. “We have urgent threats to our freedoms that could impact constituents in all of the districts we serve.”
The at-times raucous meeting will pave the way for the House and Senate to take up the resolutions early next year after lawmakers tabled the measures last January. Democrats previously said the move was standard practice, given that amendments are typically introduced in odd-numbered years. But Republican Minority Leader Todd Gilbert said Wednesday the committee should not have delved into the amendments before next year’s legislative session. He said the resolutions, particularly the abortion amendment, need further vetting.
“No one who is still serving remembers it being done in this way ever,” Gilbert said after the meeting. “Certainly not for something this important. This is as big and weighty an issue as it gets.”
The Democrats’ legislative lineup comes after Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin, to the dismay of voting-rights advocates, rolled back a process to restore people’s civil rights after they completed sentences for felonies. Virginia is the only state that permanently bans anyone convicted of a felony from voting unless a governor restores their rights.
“This amendment creates a process that is bounded by transparent rules and criteria that will apply to everybody — it’s not left to the discretion of a single individual,” Del. Elizabeth Bennett-Parker, the patron of the voting rights resolution, which passed along party lines, said at the news conference.
Though Democrats have sparred with the governor over their legislative agenda, constitutional amendments put forth by lawmakers do not require his signature, allowing the Democrat-led House and Senate to bypass Youngkin’s blessing.
Instead, the General Assembly must pass proposed amendments twice in at least two years, with a legislative election sandwiched between each statehouse session. After that, the public can vote by referendum on the issues. The cumbersome process will likely hinge upon the success of all three amendments on Democrats’ ability to preserve their edge in the House and Senate, where they hold razor-thin majorities.
It’s not the first time lawmakers have attempted to champion the three amendments. Republicans in a House subcommittee killed a constitutional amendment to restore voting rights in 2022, a year after the measure passed in a Democrat-led House. The same subcommittee also struck down legislation supporting a constitutional amendment to repeal an amendment from 2006 banning marriage equality.
On Wednesday, a bipartisan group of lawmakers voted 16-5 in favor of legislation protecting same-sex marriage, with four Republicans supporting the resolution.
“To say the least, voters enacted this (amendment) in 2006, and we have had 100,000 voters a year become of voting age since then,” said Del. Mark Sickles, who sponsored the amendment as one of the first openly gay men serving in the General Assembly. “Many people have changed their opinions of this as the years have passed.”
A constitutional amendment protecting abortion previously passed the Senate in 2023 but died in a Republican-led House. On Wednesday, the amendment passed on party lines.
If successful, the resolution proposed by House Majority Leader Charniele Herring would be part of a growing trend of reproductive rights-related ballot questions given to voters. Since 2022, 18 questions have gone before voters across the U.S., and they have sided with abortion rights advocates 14 times.
The voters have approved constitutional amendments ensuring the right to abortion until fetal viability in nine states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Ohio and Vermont. Voters also passed a right-to-abortion measure in Nevada in 2024, but it must be passed again in 2026 to be added to the state constitution.
As lawmakers debated the measure, roughly 18 members spoke. Mercedes Perkins, at 38 weeks pregnant, described the importance of women making decisions about their own bodies. Rhea Simon, another Virginia resident, anecdotally described how reproductive health care shaped her life.
Then all at once, more than 50 people lined up to speak against the abortion amendment.
“Let’s do the compassionate thing and care for mothers and all unborn children,” resident Sheila Furey said.
The audience gave a collective “Amen,” followed by a round of applause.
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Associated Press writer Geoff Mulvihill in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, contributed to this report.
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Olivia Diaz is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative.
NEW YORK (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump says he will nominate anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, putting him in charge of a massive agency that oversees everything from drug, vaccine and food safety to medical research and the social safety net programs Medicare and Medicaid.
“For too long, Americans have been crushed by the industrial food complex and drug companies who have engaged in deception, misinformation, and disinformation when it comes to Public Health,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social site announcing the appointment. Kennedy, he said, would “Make America Great and Healthy Again!”
Kennedy, a former Democrat who ran as an independent in this year’s presidential race, abandoned his bid after striking a deal to give Trump his endorsement with a promise to have a role in health policy in the administration.
He and Trump have since become good friends, with Kennedy frequently receiving loud applause at Trump’s rallies.
The expected appointment was first reported by Politico Thursday.
A longtime vaccine skeptic, Kennedy is an attorney who has built a loyal following over several decades of people who admire his lawsuits against major pesticide and pharmaceutical companies. He has pushed for tighter regulations around the ingredients in foods.
With the Trump campaign, he worked to shore up support among young mothers in particular, with his message of making food healthier in the U.S., promising to model regulations imposed in Europe. In a nod to Trump’s original campaign slogan, he named the effort “Make America Healthy Again.”
It remains unclear how that will square with Trump’s history of deregulation of big industries, including food. Trump pushed for fewer inspections of the meat industry, for example.
Kennedy’s stance on vaccines has also made him a controversial figure among Democrats and some Republicans, raising question about his ability to get confirmed, even in a GOP-controlled Senate. Kennedy has espoused misinformation around the safety of vaccines, including pushing a totally discredited theory that childhood vaccines cause autism.
He also has said he would recommend removing fluoride from drinking water. The addition of the material has been cited as leading to improved dental health.
HHS has more than 80,000 employees across the country. It houses the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Medicare and Medicaid programs and the National Institutes of Health.
Kennedy’s anti-vaccine nonprofit group, Children’s Health Defense, currently has a lawsuit pending against a number of news organizations, among them The Associated Press, accusing them of violating antitrust laws by taking action to identify misinformation, including about COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccines. Kennedy took leave from the group when he announced his run for president but is listed as one of its attorneys in the lawsuit.
NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — In a Cypriot National Guard camp, Ukrainians are being trained on how to identify, locate and dispose of landmines and other unexploded munitions that litter huge swaths of their country, killing and maiming hundreds of people, including children.
Analysts say Ukraine is among the countries that are the most affected by landmines and discarded explosives, as a result of Russia’s ongoing war.
According to U.N. figures, some 399 people have been killed and 915 wounded from landmines and other munitions since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, equal to the number of casualties reported from 2014-2021. More than 1 in 10 of those casualties have been children.
The economic impact is costing billions to the Ukrainian economy. Landmines and other munitions are preventing the sowing of 5 million hectares, or 10%, of the country’s agricultural land.
Cyprus stepped up to offer its facilities as part of the European Union’s Military Assistance Mission to Ukraine. So far, almost 100 Ukrainian armed forces personnel have taken part in three training cycles over the last two years, said Cyprus Foreign Ministry spokesperson Theodoros Gotsis.
“We are committed to continuing this support for as long as it takes,” Gotsis told the Associated Press, adding that the Cyprus government has covered the 250,000 euro ($262,600) training cost.
Cyprus opted to offer such training owing to its own landmine issues dating back five decades when the island nation was ethnically divided when Turkey invaded following a coup that sought union with Greece. The United Nations has removed some 27,000 landmines from a buffer zone that cuts across the island, but minefields remain on either side. The Cypriot government says it has disposed of all anti-personnel mines in line with its obligations under an international treaty that bans the use of such munitions.
In Cyprus, Ukrainians undergo rigorous theoretical and practical training over a five-week Basic Demining and Clearance course that includes instruction on distinguishing and safely handling landmines and other explosive munitions, such as rockets, 155 mm artillery shells, rocket-propelled grenades and mortar shells.
Theoretical training uses inert munitions identical to the actual explosives.
Most of the course is comprised of hands-on training focusing on the on-site destruction of unexploded munitions using explosives, the chief training officer told the Associated Press. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity because he’s not authorized to disclose his identity for security reasons.
“They’re trained on ordnance disposal using real explosives,” the officer said. “That will be the trainees’ primary task when they return.”
Cypriot officials said the Ukrainian trainees did not want to be either interviewed or photographed.
Defusing discarded munitions or landmines in areas where explosive charges can’t be used — for instance, near a hospital — is not part of this course because that’s the task of highly trained teams of disposal experts whose training can last as long as eight months, the officer said.
Trainees, divided into groups of eight, are taught how to operate metal detectors and other tools for detecting munitions like prodders — long, thin rods which are used to gently probe beneath the ground’s surface in search of landmines and other explosive ordnance.
Another tool is a feeler, a rod that’s used to detect booby-trapped munitions. There are many ways to booby-trap such munitions, unlike landmines which require direct pressure to detonate.
“Booby-trapped munitions are a widespread phenomenon in Ukraine,” the chief training officer explained.
Training, primarily conducted by experts from other European Union countries, takes place both in forested and urban areas at different army camps and follows strict safety protocols.
The short, intense training period keeps the Ukrainians focused.
“You see the interest they show during instruction: they ask questions, they want to know what mistakes they’ve made and the correct way of doing it,” the officer said.
Humanitarian data and analysis group ACAPS said in a Jan. 2024 report that 174,000 sq. kilometers (67,182 sq. miles) or nearly 29% of Ukraine’s territory needs to be surveyed for landmines and other explosive ordnance.
More than 10 million people are said to live in areas where demining action is needed.
Since 2022, Russian forces have used at least 13 types of anti-personnel mines, which target people. Russia never signed the 1997 Ottawa Convention banning the use of anti-personnel mines, but the use of such mines is nonetheless considered a violation of its obligations under international law.
Russia also uses 13 types of anti-tank mines.
The International Campaign to Ban Landmines said in its 2023 Landmine Monitor report that Ukrainian government forces may have also used antipersonnel landmines in contravention of the Mine Ban Treaty in and around the city of Izium during 2022, when the city was under Russian control.
