Here's an idea: Ban the swastika

Feb 04, 2022

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WELCOME TO OTTAWA PLAYBOOK. I'm your host, Nick Taylor-Vaisey. TGIF. Or, if you live in downtown Ottawa, TGIF isn't really a thing. We have an exclusive look at the Parliamentary Black Caucus's response to the protests that have consumed the city's core. Plus, did you know Pierre Poilievre once entered an essay-writing contest? Read on for more.

Driving the Day

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — The Parliamentary Black Caucus has a statement out early this morning lambasting the ongoing protests at the foot of Parliament Hill.

The group of seven senators and MPs is "disturbed and alarmed" that the demonstrations "became an opportunity for White supremacists and others with extreme and disturbing views to parade their odious views in public."

— What they want to do about it: The caucus had a message for their colleagues in both the House and Senate: "We urge all parliamentarians to unequivocally, actively, and specifically denounce hatred and violence in all its forms."

They called on the Liberal government to take swift action on three fronts.

→ Prohibit the public display of the Confederate flag and the swastika

"There is no reasonable purpose for the display of such symbols in the public square, where they are used to intimidate those for whom they serve as a reminder of oppression, torture, and death."

→ Strengthen disclosure laws for crowdfunding websites through the Financial Transactions and Report Analysis Centre of Canada

"This protest raised significant sums online with neither transparency nor accountability. The Parliamentary Black Caucus is concerned that these funds could be used to support illicit activities, including domestic White supremacist terrorism."

→ Launch a joint parliamentary study and review of the events surrounding the "Freedom Convoy"

"Parliament must conduct a fulsome examination of the events of the past week, including the role of the various police and intelligence services."

— The first signatories: PBC Co-chairs Sen. ROSEMARY MOODIE and Liberal MP GREG FERGUS. Five other caucus members signed on: Sen. WANDA THOMAS BERNARD, Sen. BERNADETTE CLEMENT, Sen. AMINA GERBA, Sen. MARIE-FRANÇOISE MÉGIE and NDP MP MATTHEW GREEN.

As of this morning, approximately 100 parliamentarians had added their names.

— Call in the Mounties: Late Thursday, Public Safety Minister MARCO MENDICINO confirmed to Ottawa Mayor JIM WATSON that the RCMP had "approved all additional officers requested by the City of Ottawa."

SOUTHERN DISCOMFORT — POLITICO Canada's ANDY BLATCHFORD tracked down a member of Congress who has a beef with Ottawa for deciding against a national security review of a Chinese state-owned mining company's purchase of a Canadian lithium company.

Florida Rep. MICHAEL WALTZ , a Republican on the state's eastern coastline who sits on the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, tells Andy that the lack of a review is "surprising and very alarming."

— The full quote: "It was quite surprising to me to hear of this acquisition, given there's a clear national security nexus and I would think there's clear national security concerns," he said. "Not just any acquisition — but from a Chinese state-owned firm is, again, very surprising and very alarming."

Read Andy's full report here.

AROUND THE HILL

100 DAYS — Government House Leader MARK HOLLAND's vision of his government's "first 100 days" is a genuine attempt to celebrate his party's post-election achievements. Speaking in the House foyer before question period, Holland rhymed off the legislative victories and global commitments that have so far defined JUSTIN TRUDEAU's third term.

— About those 100 days: Take a step back. Holland started the clock when he stepped into his role as part of a substantial Cabinet shuffle Oct. 26 — a perfectly logical calculation, since the Liberals didn't really get down to business until the new team was in place.

But as he stood in the foyer, Holland was 136 days removed from the election. There's a good argument for Dec. 29 as the 100-day mark. And that was more than a month ago.

— What got done: The Liberal election platform made 10 promises for those first 100 days. They checked off four items, including a conversion therapy ban and paid sick leave for federally regulated workers.

They also managed to reintroduce a bill that would remove mandatory minimum sentences on some drug-related offenses; and a revised attempt to amend the Broadcasting Act for the digital age after the previous version, C-10, erupted in controversy. A big asterisk here to note they haven't passed those bills into law. Their only ambition was to re-table them by now.

— What's missing: For one reason or another, six other urgent priorities haven't seen the light of day. The government hasn't forced big tech companies that publish news content to compensate the companies that generate that news. Holland insisted that's coming soon.

They'll also table a retooled bill to revamp official language laws.

There were other shortcomings. The Liberals haven't completed a federal LGBTQ2 action plan or appointed a federal housing advocate to hold the government to account on that file.

They had planned a January summit on restarting the arts and culture sector, but they can hardly be blamed for Omicron forcing its cancellation. Holland also said a bill to combat serious forms of harmful online content is coming soon.

— Whither unanimity? Holland celebrated the spirit of collaboration that was contagious in the Commons late last year. But he told reporters that he's not sure what's what on certain opposition benches. "I don't know where we're at right now," he said. "The Conservative Party seems to be very busy dealing with its own internal machinations and problems."

TODAY'S HIGHLIGHTS

— PM Trudeau will speak with Norwegian Prime Minister JONAS GAHR STØRE.

8:30 a.m. Statistics Canada will release its Labour Force Survey for January.

11:00 a.m. Trudeau will virtually meet with Grade 9 and Grade 12 students from Smallwood Academy in Gambo, Newfoundland and Labrador.

1 p.m. The House Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee will hear from experts on economic development.

1 p.m. Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux will be at the House Operations and Estimates Committee to discuss his fiscal analysis on the Polar Icebreaker Project.

1 p.m. The House Industry Committee will hear from the Mining Association of Canada, Frontier Lithium and other experts on the sourcing and processing of critical minerals.

1 p.m. The House committee on the status of women will be briefed by department officials and the Public Health Agency of Canada as it studies intimate partner and domestic violence.

1:30 p.m. Deputy PM CHRYSTIA FREELAND will host a virtual roundtable with the Canadian Chamber of Commerce as part of the government's pre-budget consultations.

3 p.m. Canada's Premiers will hold a press conference chaired by British Columbia Premier JOHN HORGAN from Victoria.

6:45 p.m. The federal Liberal Party's Ontario convention kicks off its first panel on public safety during Covid. Four ministers are on the agenda: Freeland, MARCO MENDICINO, BILL BLAIR and KAMAL KHERA.

ASK US ANYTHING

What are you hearing that you need Playbook to know? Send it all our way.

Tory leadership watch

MARKS FOR CONSISTENCY — Guess the Conservative MP who once penned these words for an essay-writing contest:

"Although we Canadians seldom recognize it, the most important guardian of our living standards is freedom: the freedom to earn a living and share the fruits of our labour with loved ones, the freedom to build personal prosperity through risk taking and a strong work ethic, the freedom of thought and speech, the freedom to make personal choices, and the collective freedom of citizens to govern their own affairs democratically. Government's job is constantly to find ways to remove itself from obstructing such freedoms."

— A familiar voice: The author of those words was PIERRE MARCEL POILIEVRE. They were part of "Building Canada through Freedom," a 1999 essay the 20-year-old university student wrote for the "As Prime Minister…" Awards, a program sponsored by auto-parts giant Magna. He pulled an all-nighter and submitted the paper just before the deadline. His prize for being a finalist? C$10,000 and a summer internship.

— Fast forward to 2022: Poilievre is still championing the F-word at every opportunity — say, in response to JUSTIN TRUDEAU's dismissal of a trucker protest as merely a fringe minority group. "The Prime Minister's tactic is to divide, demonize and distract. It won't work," he said. "Canadians are uniting for freedom."

— Wait, there's more: The University of Calgary Gazette published a story about Poilievre's clarion call for freedom, along with an accompanying excerpt, back in 1999. Go check out the digital version, and don't miss the snapshot of the young man's proud mug.

— The only inconsistency: Poilievre gave the Gazette a quote that might sound unfamiliar to anyone who watches the motor-mouthed parliamentarian unleash his oratory in the chamber or at committee: "I feel unworthy of the whole ordeal."

AROUND THE WORLD

In POLITICO's China Watcher newsletter, PHELIM KINE pulled together an expert panel Wednesday on the most pressing issues affecting the 2022 Beijing Olympics. Here's U.S. Sen. JEFF MERKLEY (D-Ore.), co-chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, commenting on U.N. Secretary-General ANTÓNIO GUTERRES attending the opening ceremonies.

Merkley: The U.N. has basically failed in its human rights role here and it's shameful for Guterres to appear at the Games. If he were to stand up at the games and draw attention to the human rights issues in China, that would be an appropriate moment of courage. If he were to say that the International Olympic Committee has turned athletes into pawns in China's propaganda machine, insist that they have their full freedom of speech, criticize the surveillance state and what it has meant for crushing the prospect of freedom in the world, and the importance of the world not following that, that path would be brave. I expect none of the above. So, the U.N. is really failing on this, and his leadership is failing.

Listen to the full conversation here.

HALLWAY CONVERSATION

OUTSIDE VOICES — A tweet from former STEPHEN HARPER ad guy DENNIS MATTHEWS got Playbook thinking: "With conservative governments in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia + PEI, how are there not fresh provincial rising stars ready to make a move up?"

And so a hallway conversation was born. We'll be asking politicos in conservative-governed provinces to trawl the provincial ranks for potential candidates — slam dunk, dark horse or longshot — for the Tory leadership.

First up, Proof Strategies COLE HOGAN, who writes from his home province of Saskatchewan:

— Let's add a major caveat off the top. Not a single Cabinet minister in Saskatchewan will enter the federal Conservative leadership race. If we're speculating wildly, however, here's the best bet for who would consider it — and why he would be Saskatchewan's strongest contender.

— JEREMY HARRISON is Saskatchewan's minister of trade and export development, and is JASON KENNEY-esque in the multitude of ministries he's served in, the length of time he's held elected office, and his general political aptitude.

Originally an early 2000s federal Conservative backbencher, Harrison is a prairie populist from the same Harper school of politics as his close friend Pierre Poilievre.

Having served as Saskatchewan's minister-of-everything under premiers BRAD WALL and SCOTT MOE, Harrison would have major Western Canadian appeal.

PAPER TRAIL

Redacted details from a federal briefing note

Redacted details from a briefing note on the TransMountain pipeline | Screenshot from briefing note

REDACTION OF THE DAY: Playbook obtained three briefing notes dating to 2019 that prepped DANIEL WATSON, the deputy minister for Crown-Indigenous Relations, for meetings of an oversight committee on the TransMountain pipeline expansion. The documents were obtained via access-to-information request.

— Who was at the table: Natural resources DM CHRISTYNE TREMBLAY chaired the committee. The other six members were RON HALLMAN, the president of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency; TIMOTHY SARGENT, DM for fisheries and oceans; STEPHEN LUCAS, DM for environment and climate change; NATHALIE DROUIN, DM for justice; PETER WATSON, president of the National Energy Board; and MICHAEL KEENAN, DM for transport.

— Few details: The memos are mostly redacted, but one recurring detail in all three acknowledged that Indigenous views about the pipeline were not monolithic.

"There are distinct differences in Indigenous perspectives between the provinces of Alberta and British Columbia regarding the TransMountain Pipeline Expansion:"

The paragraph that elaborated on that observation was, however, blacked out.

PROZONE

For POLITICO Pro subscribers: 100 days — and what comes next.

In other headlines for Pros:

— U.S. holsters retaliation threat as Canada dairy talks continue.
— Fears Partygate could kill off U.K.'s net zero plans.
— Experts, Covid survivors recommend 'next steps' on long haul cases.
— House Oversight gives oil company board members deadline for climate hearing.
— Weed banking: Sixth time's the charm?

MEDIA ROOM

— This week's edition of The Hot Room pod features Liberal MP GREG FERGUS.

— The Uncommons pod is back with an interview with Cabinet minister MARCI IEN.

— JENNIFER DITCHBURN, CEO of the Institute for Research on Public Policy, shares an insider's look at political platforms. Read the transcript here.

— The Star's STEPHANIE LEVITZ has the inside story on ERIN O'TOOLE's downfall: "It's about character"

— At TVO, MATT GURNEY has a long post-mortem conversation with an unnamed member of O'Toole's team.

— Global's DAVID AKIN teases out a theory on why Tory interim leader CANDICE BERGEN doesn't mind being associated with the protesters in downtown Ottawa.

— In case you missed it, the latest from JOANNE CHIANELLO: If police can't restore normalcy, then who's got the solution?

PLAYBOOKERS

Birthdays: HBD to Liberal MP KAMAL KHERA and Nova Scotia MLA KELLY REGAN.

HBD + 1 to Liberal MP TIM LOUIS. (h/t BOB ERNEST)

Spotted: Former Tory deputy leader LISA RAITT letting us in on her eldest son's opinion of any run for the party leadership: "If she does I'll be filing for emancipation."

Transport Minister OMAR ALGHABRA and his Tory critic, MELISSA LANTSMAN, a row apart on a flight to YYZ.

Ex-Tory immigration minister CHRIS ALEXANDER, calling his party's labeling of PM Trudeau as the country's greatest threat to freedom in Canada "disgraceful & inexcusable."

Tory MP DEAN ALLISON, accusing "ivory tower elite journalists" of "running interference" for the government as protests continue to snarl downtown Ottawa. … Some of those protesters, building a structure without a permit and stockpiling propane in Ottawa's Confederation Park.

Canadian Digital Service policy guy MICHAEL KARLIN, musing about the lack of a federal district in Ottawa akin to most OECD countries. Former Hill staffer STEPHEN KELLY, pointing out that the trucker protest could fall under federal jurisdiction.

Movers and shakers: PM TRUDEAU's director of outreach, ZUBAIR PATEL, is on the way out of the PMO : "Here is my story of a young brown kid who wasn't sure if he would graduate high school to working in the highest office & whose love for serving people & Canada grew."

Said MP SALMA ZAHID: "You make Scarborough proud."

BRAYDEN AKERS, a staffer for a time in HARPER's PMO, was promoted to associate principal at Navigator in Toronto.

RACHEL RAPPAPORT is moving on from Justice Minister DAVID LAMETTI's office. Among her reflections: "Being a political staffer is one of those rare jobs where uncertainty is the constant."

MICHEL-ANTOINE RENAUD has departed Agriculture Minister MARIE-CLAUDE BIBEAU's office, where he was director of parliamentary affairs.

Senior finance bureaucrat ADAM MOSCOE taking on the #CanStudyUS2022 Fellowship.

From the tenders: Fisheries and Oceans, chartering a vessel to sail the Salish Sea where an "ambiguous status quo" blurs the boundary between British Columbia and Washington. … Elections Canada, buying up voting screens and ballot boxes. (Do they know something we don't?) … The Canadian Armed Forces, booking hotel rooms for an Arctic military exercise later this month in Fairbanks, Alaska.

Health Canada, finding a contractor to smoke out the "estimated market size, top brands, popular flavors, nicotine content, average prices, growth rates and other market-based characteristics" of vaping products.

Ethics files: MARIO DION published a status report Wednesday that revealed only a single MP hasn't yet filed an initial disclosure statement: Liberal MP ALEXANDRA MENDÈS.

TRIVIA

Thursday's answer: PM STEPHEN HARPER appeared on Murdoch Mysteries.

Props to AMY CASTLE, ANNE-MARIE STACEY, LAURA JARVIS, GUY SKIPWORTH, DALE BARBOUR, MICHAEL MACDONALD, LAURIE MACE, JOHN GUOBA, JOHN ECKER, WAYNE FLEMING, ALAN KAN, GEORGE YOUNG, GORD MCINTOSH, CULLY ROBINSON, GWENDOLYN MONCRIEFF-GOULD, ROSE MCCONVILLE, ELIZABETH BURN, PAUL GILLETT, HARRY MCKONE, NEIL SWEENEY, SHEILA GERVAIS, DOROTHY MCCABE, KAREN DIEPEVEEN SUMMERFIELD, CHRIS HYDE, AMY BOUGHNER, LEIGH LAMPERT and MAUREEN MACGILLIVRAY.

Friday's question: Who was the first woman elected to a legislative assembly in the entire British Empire? And which province's voters sent her there?

Send your answers to ottawaplaybook@politico.com

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