Good Wednesday morning,
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has named his former public safety minister, Ralph Goodale, to help assist the government in its efforts to hold Iran accountable for the death of Canadians killed in the downing of the Ukrainian International Airlines’ Flight 752 in late January. Despite the shift in resources and attention to the pandemic, the government sought to signal that it’s hasn’t entirely put off the procurement of the elusive black boxes way down on its to-do list.
In other appointments, former national security adviser Greta Bossenmaier has been named by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to be part of a group of experts that will be advising the organization on its efforts to strengthen the political alliance. The move comes in the wake of comments made by French President Emmanuel Macron who candidly mused that the alliance is suffering from a brain death.
The anticipated start date for the new NAFTA coming into effect on June 1 is expected to be pushed back, with Canada saying it’s not ready to implement the agreement, even as it raced through its ratification process. The Hill Times previously reported that a member of the NAFTA Council, Hassan Yussuff of the Canadian Labour Congress, said it was unlikely to take effect amid the global pandemic.
Finance Minister Bill Morneau was expected to flesh out the details, including the estimated cost, behind the feds’ 75 per cent wage subsidy for businesses yesterday, but pushed its release back by a day. According to The Canadian Press, TD and RBC put the ballpark figure at between $25-billion and $28-billion.
Mr. Trudeau, meanwhile, announced the feds are planning to spend $2-billion to scale up production of medical supplies with help from three companies that have signed on to carry out those contracts. There are five other letters of intent, including with Irving Ltd. and Precision Biomonitoring.
Asked if those contractors will be producing those goods solely for Canada, not to be put on the global market, as other countries compete in the procurement of these critical supplies, Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains said the government’s No. 1 priority is meeting domestic demand, but should Canada be in a position “down the road” to share its resources, it will do so.
As other countries work to track and trace the spread of the virus, and to keep tabs on those infected, Canadian authorities are exploring how such technology might be adopted. Several authorities, including Ottawa, are in discussions about launching apps that would use location data to track exposure to COVID-19, researchers behind two projects say, according to The Wire Report. While Mr. Trudeau said last week that Canada isn’t looking to use location data to track the virus, he also didn’t rule out its future use.
After Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said his government would spend $1.1-billion to help fund the construction of Keystone XL pipeline, which had been shelved twice by the Obama administration, TC Energy Corp. said it will move forward with the project. Construction is expected to start soon, with pre-construction activities already underway, according to CBC. The company is footing a portion of the $8-billion bill, with $2.7-billion of its own money.
Even if the Conservatives had decided to forge ahead with their leadership convention in June in Toronto, the party would have been forced to reschedule, or at least, change venues, since the city decided to cancel all mass permitted events through to June 30.
The Hill Times
