Good Monday morning,
Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU has a rare day between summits on his 10-day international tour. Trudeau and Foreign Minister MÉLANIE JOLY spent the weekend in Cambodia meeting regional leaders, and they will be in Indonesia tomorrow for a G20 summit. Trudeau will also head to Thailand later in the week before switching gears and heading to North Africa.
If the prime minister is looking for tips on how to adapt to the re-emergence of China and India as great powers, he could do worse than to spend some time in Southeast Asia, which has been the site of centuries of economic, military, and cultural competition between the two giants, and which is itself now home to some of the fastest-growing economies in the world.
Meanwhile, most MPs are back in Ottawa today as the House returns for its final stretch before the end of the year. And these final weeks are about to get longer. Government House Leader MARK HOLLAND tweeted last week that he plans to push forward with a motion to give the House the option—via majority vote—to extend its sitting hours on any given night until summer, in order to make better progress on the government’s legislative agenda.
Holland accused the Conservatives of “parliamentary obstruction by stealth,” telling CTV News that they have been lining up too many of their MPs to speak on bills in the House, even bills at early stages and those that they support. Opposition House Leader Andrew Scheer retorted to CTV’s RACHEL AIELLO that “only the Liberals” would describe the appropriate scrutiny of legislation as “a procedural trick.”
The Liberals can expect the NDP to support Holland’s motion, which means MPs and staffers should prepare for more late nights between now and June.
The House may also debate Bill C-32 at second reading. This is the government’s bill to implement portions of Deputy Prime Minister CHRYSTIA FREELAND’s Fall Economic Statement, as well as aspects of Budget 2022.
The Senate will return tomorrow.
Axworthy and Rock to speak out against immigration detention
Former Liberal cabinet ministers LLOYD AXWORTHY and ALLAN ROCK will hold a press conference to call on the government to end the practice of detaining refugee claimants and other immigrants in provincial prisons.
Axworthy and Rock will be joined on Parliament Hill at 11 a.m. Ottawa time by representatives of Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International Canada and by two human rights activists who have themselves been imprisoned while seeking asylum in Canada. The press conference marks the launch of a 12-day campaign to highlight the harmful effects of immigration detention.
Comartin to testify before emergency inquiry
Former NDP MP JOE COMARTIN, who retired in July as Canada’s consul-general in Detroit, is scheduled to appear before the Public Order Emergency Commission today. The Commission heard testimony last week about last winter’s blockades at border crossings at Windsor, Ont., and at Coutts, Alta.
Comartin represented a Windsor riding for 15 years before he was named to represent Canada on the other side of the Detroit River. He told CBC News last month that the blockade on the Ambassador Bridge between Windsor and Detroit was one of the biggest surprises during his time as consul-general, and that he first heard intelligence reports warning of protests at major border crossings about five or six days earlier.
The commission is also scheduled to hear today from ROB STEWART, the former deputy minister of Public Safety Canada; from DOMINIC ROCHON, previously a senior official with the national and cyber security branch of Public Safety Canada; and from CINDY TERMORSHUIZEN, currently an associate deputy minister at Global Affairs Canada.
Hearings begin at 9:30 a.m. Ottawa time.
What’s happening in committee today?
MARCI IEN, the minister for women and gender equality and youth, and CAROLYN BENNETT, the minister for mental health and addictions, will each appear before the House Committee on the Status of Women, at 11 a.m. and 12 p.m. respectively (Ottawa time) as part of the committee’s study of the mental health of young women and girls.
The House Committee on Government Operations will meet at 11 a.m. Ottawa time to resume its study of the payments and contracts related to the government’s ArriveCan border app. The opposition parties have also passed a motion in the House to ask the auditor general to conduct a separate performance audit of the contracts behind the app. The committee will hear today from officials from several federal departments.
The House Committee on Procedure and House Affairs will meet at 11 a.m. Ottawa time after six members of the committee requested a meeting to discuss recent media reports about Chinese Community Party interference in the 2019 federal election. Global News reported on Nov. 7 that Canadian intelligence officials warned the government that China’s consulate in Toronto directed the transfer of funds to at least 11 Liberal and Conservative candidates in the 2019 election.
What else is happening today?
Environment Minister STEVEN GUILBEAULT will be in Egypt for the second week of the two-week COP27 climate conference. A spokesperson for the Climate Action Network told PTM in an email that the weekend was a chance to take stock and “start to sniff out the dynamics of a deal before ministers arrive.” Based on a preliminary list of registered delegates, Guilbeault will probably be joined in Egypt at some point this week by Natural Resources Minister JONATHAN WILKINSON, Transport Minister OMAR ALGHABRA, and International Development Minister HARJIT SAJJAN.
Bank of Canada Governor TIFF MACKLEM will play host today as representatives of the U.S. Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, and the Bank of England arrive at the Bank of Canada’s Ottawa headquarters for a two-day conference on diversity and inclusion. Macklem will deliver remarks at 9 a.m. Ottawa time. The text of the remarks will be posted on the central bank’s website 15 minutes earlier.
Unifor National President LANA PAYNE and NDP MP MATTHEW GREEN will hold a press conference on Parliament Hill at 10 a.m. Ottawa time to mark the beginning of a week of lobbying. Payne, the leader of Canada’s largest private sector union, is coming in with some momentum after she and other union leaders closed ranks and forced Ontario Premier DOUG FORD to back down on his plan to use the notwithstanding clause to prevent education workers in Ontario from going on strike. Ford actually thanked Payne, twice, when he announced he was backing down.
In the news
In part three of a series on hate and harassment in federal politics, experts tell CHELSEA NASH that more regulation of social media and better coordination among police are important steps in dealing with an increasingly toxic political environment.
Political insiders tell ABBAS RANA that the results of the U.S. mid-term elections, where a predicted “red wave” failed to materialize, are proof that PIERRE POILIEVRE’s Conservatives will have to moderate their views if they want to win the next general election in Canada.
And some federal Conservatives say they’re worried that Ontario Premier DOUG FORD’s ongoing contract dispute with the lowest-paid education workers in his province will paint all conservatives as “black-hearted accountants,” reports ABBAS RANA.
The Hill Times
