Advice for the interregnum

Feb 18, 2022

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WELCOME TO OTTAWA PLAYBOOK. I'm your host ZI-ANN LUM with SUE ALLAN. Today, we talk to Canadian Senators who say they've been hearing from Americans. And Sen. STANLEY KUTCHER offers up ways to think about Covid-19. Thanks for reading Ottawa Playbook. We'll be back on Tuesday morning with NICK TAYLOR-VAISEY at the helm.

DRIVING THE DAY

"UNUSUAL" CAMPAIGNING — Senators are being flooded with calls and emails about Ottawa's convoy occupation thanks in part to increased interest south of the border.

Sen. PETER BOEHM said since the government invoked emergency measures Monday, more Americans have been calling his office. He tells Playbook he received a call from a woman in Chicago voicing support for truckers and telling him, "We really hope you bring down that dictatorship in Canada."

Boehm clocked the call as unusual. "But there are calls like that coming in from all over the U.S.," he said.

Emails have jammed his inbox, Boehm said. "There's obviously a very concerted campaign," he said, noting it's coming from Canadians, too.

While it's normal for senators to receive messages inspired by a campaign in response to specific legislation, Boehm said the messages share discernible similarities.

He tells Playbook his inbox is filled with a hodgepodge of messages.

They range from requests for the Senate to vote against the measures to anti-vaccine messages about the Nuremberg Code and calls for Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU to be tried in a criminal court.

"It's different this time," Bohem said. "Like the virus itself, I guess there's variants in the messaging."

— In related reading: ANDY BLATCHFORD talked to MyPillow CEO MIKE LINDELL.

It's normal for senators to receive thousands of emails. But this latest batch campaign has really gummed up inboxes with "a lot of automated messages," Sen. PAULA SIMONS tells Playbook in a call from Edmonton. When this happens, it can overwhelm the Senate's servers.

"It's a big problem because it makes it impossible to fish out the letters that are real and actually respond to people who have sent you a good faith letter."

Before this convoy-related spam campaign, Simons said she was getting angry mail from all sides. "And those were real letters from real people. You can tell the difference." As with Sen. Boehm, that changed Monday after Ottawa officially announced emergency orders.

— What's changed, what's lost: Simons said when she was a journalist, people would sometimes phone to yell at her. It was unpleasant, she said, but at least she knew they were real. And when she started covering white supremacists and extremist movements in Alberta in the 1980s as a reporter, the weaponization of social media wasn't a method for outreach.

— The looking glass : Simons said she hasn't been able to stop thinking about fake accounts linked to content mills in Bangladesh, Romania and Vietnam and used to amplify campaigns similar to Canada's "Freedom Convoy."

"It's one thing to deal with angry people who are real people. And you can have a real conversation," Simons said. "And maybe you will always disagree, maybe you believe in the ugly, but at least they're a real person and you had a real engagement."

In the post-Trump era, she said it's sometimes hard to distinguish if the people we're engaging with on social media or through email are real people. "It's the degree of inauthenticity that I find really destabilizing."

NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH — Two key organizers of the so-called Freedom Convoy have been arrested, CBC reports.AMANDA CONNOLLY of Global News has more on operations in Ottawa to oust the convoy.

AROUND THE HILL

WEEKEND PLANNING — The House is scheduled to debate the measures of the Emergencies Act until a vote scheduled for Monday at 8 p.m. That means MPs will be in Parliament from 7 a.m. until midnight Friday through Sunday. On Monday, they will gather at 7 a.m. until the vote.

"The eyes of the nation are upon us," Conservative House leader JOHN BRASSARD said Thursday. "The debate we are having in this place, whether we agree or not with the invocation of the Emergencies Act, is probably, and arguably, one of the most important debates we are going to have in a generation — or at least my generation."

Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU will take part in a meeting hosted by U.S. President JOE BIDEN on Friday to discuss Ukraine. Leaders from France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Romania, the United Kingdom, the European Union and NATO will participate.

His itinerary says he will also chair a meeting of the Incident Response Group on the illegal blockades.

Deputy Prime Minister CHRYSTIA FREELAND has a press briefing scheduled for 12:30 p.m. with Public Safety Minister MARCO MENDICINO, Justice Minister DAVID LAMETTI and Emergency Preparedness Minister BILL BLAIR.

ALSO FOR YOUR RADAR

UKRAINE WAITS, AND WONDERS — U.S. President Joe Biden warned Thursday that Russia could invade Ukraine again "in the next several days." U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said: "The evidence on the ground is that Russia is moving toward an imminent invasion." To try to make sense of what is ahead, POLITICO's Nightly spoke with world and national security editor BEN PAUKER:

Read the complete interview here

The U.S. government and allies say Russia is "imminently" going to have war, a thing they've said on and off now for some time. But if it doesn't happen in three-four days, what then?

It doesn't change much. Part of this is a pure intel assessment — that Putin has enough troops in place now to do what he wants to do when he wants to do it.

The other part is a signaling exercise: that Biden and co. need to continually shout that this is urgent to Western allies, and let the Kremlin know that they're not underestimating the danger.

Follow POLITICO's coverage here.

EXTREMISM IN B.C. — A criminal investigation is underway in British Columbia after approximately 20 people allegedly attacked security guards and confronted Coastal GasLink employees and police near Houston in the province's northern interior.

Damage is estimated in the millions,the company said in a statement : "The attackers also wielded axes … Flare guns were also fired at workers." No employees were physically injured, Coastal GasLink said. CHERYL CHAN has an early report in the National Post.

The incident is poised to get political play in Ottawa. Conservative MP CHUCK STRAHL tweeted late Thursday : "Looking forward to comments from media, PM Trudeau, Liberal/NDP MPs on Emergencies Act thresholds."

PAPER TRAIL

— The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions is looking for a contractor, on an as-needed basis, to coach executives and employees. From the tender: "The objective of the coaching sessions is to upgrade and sharpen OSFI employees' parliamentary appearance skills so they can deliver messages in comfort and with confidence."

— National defence confirmed in an amendment Thursday that its request for a standing offer for nicotine patches, nicotine gum, and nicotine lozenges of varying strengths is only for the department, and federal correctional facilities are not included.

— To 2046: Public Services and Procurement Canada is in the market for a 23-year contract for bulk clean electricity ("approximately 250,000 megawatt hours per year") and related services for eleven federal organizations in Alberta. Value: Up to C$633,800,000.

HOUSE BUSINESS

1 p.m. The House Standing Committee on the Status of Women continues its study of intimate partner and domestic violence in Canada.

1 p.m. The House Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs meets to study barriers to Indigenous economic development.

1 p.m.The House Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights is at work on a review of the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act.

1 p.m.The House Standing Committee on Industry and Technology continues its study of critical minerals. On Friday afternoon, it will hear from Ontario's Natural Resources Minister Greg Rickford as well as representatives from Glencore Canada, Québec Mining Association, Summit Nanotech Corporation and Vale Canada Limited.

1 p.m. The House Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs will hear from the Royal Canadian Legion on the desecration of monuments.

1 p.m.The House Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates will receive a briefing from the Procurement Ombudsman.

HALLWAY CONVERSATION

When Playbook spoke to Sen. STANLEY KUTCHER in September 2020, he advised that Canadians were in the slogging phase of the pandemic. "It's like moving through muck. It's not pleasant, but it's the reality," the distinguished mental health expert told us.

So where are we now in February 2022? Playbook spoke to Kutcher on Wednesday night.

His response has been ever so lightly edited:

The period we're in right now, if I had to give it a name, I would call it an interregnum. It is a pause between what we have known — two years of living with Covid — and what we don't know is coming. But we're hoping right?

We're at this critical juncture. Everyone's tired of it. We're waiting to see what's coming next. We're sick of the virus. But that's not how it works, because it may not be sick of us.

It's like saying in 1943, that we're sick of World War II. You had to keep on going to the bitter end. That's something people have to realize — even though we're sick of it, we have to go to the bitter end.

Four things I recommend:

— Be patient: We all want to get back to doing something different. There's an urge to get over it. We have to walk before we run. We have to ease into getting back to our lives, thoughtfully and carefully.

— Be vigilant. We can't predict what happens to viruses — they can mutate, so all of a sudden stuff happens that you hadn't predicted. We have to keep vigilant, make sure we follow public health guidelines and expect there are going to be bumps in the road. This pandemic hasn't been smooth sailing for the last two years, why would we expect the next three to four months to be anything different?

— Be thankful: This is going to sound a little bit strange, but maybe we have to be thankful for what we as Canadians have done. We have been far from perfect. But when we look at what we've done to keep ourselves safe, and other people safe, doing the best we can for others and compare it to, say, our neighbor to the south — there's a huge difference. We should be proud that we've actually been able to come together as well as we have.

— Be critical: The sad thing that we've seen in the last month or so — certainly in the last two weeks — is that the issues around Covid vaccines and mass public health measures have become weaponized. This is really unfortunate, but they have been.

The weaponization is being driven by a populist agenda, conspiracy theories. We see that globally and unfortunately Canada is the same. Misinformation and disinformation is running rampant, but it's now being linked to the ideological weaponization of the Covid.

So we have to be really critical about the kinds of things that we're hearing — looking at them and saying, "Are they really the truth, or are we just going to spread this disinformation in our wish to get this over with?"

TWEET OF THE DAY

Via Conservative MP MIKE LAKE: "Wonderful people can vehemently disagree with each other and still remain wonderful people (and even friends). Be kind to one another, Canada. These are difficult times for all of us."

PROZONE

For POLITICO Pro subscribers, our PM policy newsletter: Freeland: Freeze is on convoy funds.

In other headlines for Pros:
— DOJ reorganizes, adds staff to cryptocurrency enforcement efforts.
— Senate reaches deal to avoid government shutdown.
— EPA touts $1 billion in infrastructure funds for Great Lakes cleanups.
— USTR drops Amazon from 'notorious markets' list.
— Biden administration says it needs new trade tools to confront China.

MEDIA ROOM

— The truckers' protests have opened the door for the radical right,ERIC MERKLEY writes in Foreign Affairs.

— From National Review editor RICH LOWRY: How Canadian truckers brought peace to the GOP's warring tribes.

— From ED YOUNG in The Atlantic: The millions of people stuck in pandemic limbo.

— The Globe's banking reporter JAMES BRADSHAW joins The Decibel podcast to talk about the new expanded powers banks have under the Emergencies Act.

— STEPHANIE HUGHES and BARBARA SCHECTER explain why halting the flow of crypto to protesters may be harder than the government thinks.

— The Citizen's ANDREW DUFFY talked to former police board member RAWLSON KING. "I ultimately left because I believe public safety should not be a wedge issue," he said.

THE BUZZ

Birthdays: HBD to DEAN ALLISON, DAVID TKACHUK, MOE SIHOTA, BERNARD VALCOURT, ALEX CULLEN, TED MENZIES and CHRISTINE LEADMAN.

Arrivals: Welcome to the world, JOELLE SAGE! h/t ADAM MOSCOE.

Spotted: DALE SMITH clocks Tory MP MICHAEL COOPER giving thumbs up to Hill occupiers … MICHAEL BARRETT and EMMANUELLA LAMBROUPOULOS handing out random-act-of-kindness cookies [h/t Star's STEPHANIE LEVITZ].

Movers and shakers: KELLY HUTCHINSON, GRAHAM MILNER and longtime Ottawa broadcaster LUCY VAN OLDENBARNEVELD has joined Compass Rose. "At times like these, much sun!" JACQUIE LAROCQUE said as she shared the news.

McMillan Vantage has welcomed SHAWN JEFFORDS to its team.

TRIVIA

Thursday's answer: MP SCOT DAVIDSON registered a no vote from a boat on Lake Simcoe in June.

Props to CHRIS MCCLUSKEY, MICHEL BREAU, LEIGH LAMPERT, ROBERT MCDOUGALL, DAVE EPP, JONATHAN SCOTT and ALYSON FAIR.

Friday's question: What is the motto of the Order of the Garter, inscribed on the Black Rod, used to knock on the door of the House of Commons when it is summoned to the Senate?

Send your answers to ottawaplaybook@politico.com

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