The ‘paradox’ of reconciliation

Jul 29, 2022

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WELCOME TO OTTAWA PLAYBOOK. I'm your host, Maura Forrest, with Zi-Ann Lum and Nick Taylor-Vaisey. Today, we take a final look at the pope's pilgrimage of penance. National Defence is looking to science-fiction writers to help with a public image boost (yes, really). And is PIERRE POILIEVRE really a populist?

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DRIVING THE DAY

Pope Francis prays during a pause in the Ermineskin Cemetery during his visit.

Pope Francis. | Cole Burston/Getty Images

THE PONTIFF DEPARTS — POPE FRANCIS will head back to the Vatican today, after a brief stop in Iqaluit to meet with residential school survivors, leaving a host of questions in his wake.

— Chief among them: What now?

On Thursday during a mass at the Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré basilica outside Quebec City, the pope delivered perhaps his strongest comments to date on the role of the Catholic Church in Canada's residential schools.

"We too feel the burden of failure," he said. "Why did all this happen? How could this happen in the community of those who follow Jesus?"

— The reactions to the pope's apologies have been as varied as you might expect. "I felt he was speaking from his heart," NORMA DUNNING, an Inuk scholar and author and the daughter of a residential school survivor, told the Edmonton Journal's KEITH GEREIN . "Unlike what I have read by others, I do not think he had to go into a painful litany of what the many harms were. He did not have to name them."

— On the other hand: "It's not enough just to apologize," activist SARAIN FOX told the CBC's ANTONI NERESTANT . "Indigenous people are looking for action and our elders have very little time left to see that action."

Fox took part in a protest ahead of the pope's mass in Quebec, holding up a banner demanding the Catholic Church rescind the Doctrine of Discovery, which was used to justify European colonization of North America.

— But as POLITICO's NICK TAYLOR-VAISEY reports this morning, the Pope didn't promise action. "Francis … didn't broach the topic of reparations, didn't commit to disclosing records that would help locate the final resting places of many Indigenous children, and didn't say a word about revoking … the 'Doctrine of Discovery,'" he writes.

— One development: On Wednesday, organizers of the papal visit said Canada's bishops are working with the Vatican in the hope of issuing a new statement from the church on the Doctrine of Discovery.

— If this is a watershed moment in Canada's journey toward reconciliation, it certainly isn't the first. There was former prime minister STEPHEN HARPER 's 2008 apology for residential schools. There was the landmark report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2015, and the 2019 final report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. Then there was last year's discovery of hundreds of potential unmarked graves at residential school sites.

— And every time, the same question: What now?

"I work on reconciliation every day. And I just call it the paradox of reconciliation," CYNTHIA WESLEY-ESQUIMAUX, the chair on Truth and Reconciliation at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, told POLITICO. "We say all these things, but what are we doing? What's the end goal? How will we know when we get there?"

— Here is what happened this week: The head of a church not known for contrition came to Canada and apologized for residential schools before Indigenous people, on land inhabited by Indigenous peoples for millennia. Nothing less, but nothing more.

What now?

CONSERVATIVE CORNER

IS PIERRE POILIEVRE A POPULIST? Conventional wisdom says yes. His railing against the elites and the gatekeepers , his rallying cry for freedom, his hostility toward the media… it's all there. Isn't it?

— On Thursday: The CBC's AARON WHERRY claimed Poilievre has taken up the populist torch from former prime minister STEPHEN HARPER, who has said his government practiced "populist conservatism."

But while Harper has argued for a populist approach to make conservative ideas relevant to working-class people, Wherry wrote, Poilievre has "fully embraced the language of populism."

"In practice, populism seems to have less to do with proposing practical solutions to real problems than it does with finding someone to blame or resent," Wherry wrote. "It is anti-establishment in a way that can threaten traditional institutions."

— Also on Thursday: Quebec MP and JEAN CHAREST supporter ALAIN RAYES published a call to arms in newspapers across the province that was basically one long subtweet of Poilievre and his populist approach.

"Do we want to favor the establishment of American-style populism and guarantee power for JUSTIN TRUDEAU and his New Democrat–Liberal coalition? Or do we prefer to give our party a real chance to form a majority government to serve the interests of Canadians?" he wrote. "Canadians will never trust a Conservative leader who fosters division and who courts the extremes."

— But on the other hand: On the latest episode of Hub Dialogues with SEAN SPEER , a leading expert on populism says nah. Poilievre's politics? "I guess I would still see that as pretty much a standard conservatism, more of an establishment conservatism," says ERIC KAUFMANN, a Canadian professor of politics at Birkbeck, University of London.

(We wonder how Poilievre would react to being called "establishment.")

— Why isn't he the real deal? Kaufmann says real populism is fixated on cultural issues: immigration and social justice politics, for example. Poilievre, for all his angry rhetoric, "has shied away largely from those issues except in a few places," Kaufmann told Speer. "He's largely about economics, which in my view is a relatively safe topic."

Safe. Ouch.

— By the way: Poilievre and LESLYN LEWIS are officially out of the final leadership debate, the CBC's CATHERINE CULLEN reports . They will face C$50,000 fines for being no-shows.

TODAY'S HIGHLIGHTS

Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU is in the National Capital Region for "private meetings."

The 24th International AIDS Conference begins in Montreal.

8:15 a.m. (9:15 a.m. ADT) International Trade Minister MARY NG will highlight a development regarding the Canada Digital Adoption Program in Halifax, N.S.

10 a.m. Liberal MP YASIR NAQVI will make an announcement about the future of downtown Ottawa.

3:50 p.m. POPE FRANCIS will arrive in Iqaluit for a meeting with residential school survivors and a public event. He will depart Canada at 6:15 p.m.

For your radar

NOW WHAT — The text of the $700-billion spending deal brokered between Sen. JOE MANCHIN and Senate Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER is out and the reception from Canadian cabmins and politicians has been predictably cheery.

Amended language in the deal would extend tax credits to electric vehicles assembled in North America, not just in the United States.

"Since day one we've worked tirelessly to position Canada as a global leader in the EV market," Industry Minister FRANÇOIS-PHILIPPE CHAMPAGNE said Thursday on Twitter . "The proposed US Senate deal is a testament to our skilled workers and our strong EV ecosystem."

— Industry reaction: POLITICO's ZI-ANN LUM spoke with BRIAN KINGSTON, president and CEO of the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers' Association, who called the deal great news for Canada. But he also said there's more work ahead.

"We need a serious plan on electric vehicle adoption: We don't have one," Kingston said. "That's what we need to do now that we know what the Americans will be doing through the Senate bill."

— The ask: A serious plan, from the auto industry perspective, would raise the retail price cap under the iZEV program so more EVs, including pickups, SUVs and vans, are eligible for federal incentives.

"We are not keeping pace with the Americans," Kingston said, pointing out the U.S. consumer incentive is equivalent to C$10,000 while the one on offer in Canada is C$5,000 .

Last year's fall economic statement poured another C$73 million into the federal EV rebate program. The Liberals have budgeted nearly C$660 million for the program since 2019.

— Together or bust: Kingston also took aim at the Liberals' plans for a zero-emission vehicle sales mandate.

He believes the policy proposal, included in Environment Minister STEVEN GUILBEAULT's mandate letter , is out of step with the U.S. EV sales target — a potential problem given the new U.S. spending bill's revamped focus on North American-produced EVs.

"That cannot happen," Kingston said of the proposed Canadian EV sales mandate. "We benefit when we align our regulations with the U.S., when we work with the Americans to build out and strengthen our auto industry."

Are you CHRYSTIA FREELAND or a SENIOR GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL who knows what industry or consumer EV incentives are cooking for this year's fall economic statement? Drop us breadcrumbs: ottawaplaybook@politico.com

OPEN AND CLOSED — H/T to Global News journalist ASHLEIGH STEWART for pointing out that Canada's embassy in Kyiv, despite having been ceremonially opened by Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU in May, still appears to be rather closed .

"The blinds are drawn, gates are padlocked & a sign out front says services are still suspended," she tweeted Thursday. "A security guard told us no one is currently working inside."

— In a statement, Global Affairs Canada told Stewart that Canada's ambassador to Ukraine, LARISA GALADZA , "returned to Kyiv to resume in-person high-level diplomatic engagement." But the statement also says diplomatic personnel is at "reduced capacity," and consular services are being provided from Poland and other European cities.

OUT WITH THE NEW, IN WITH THE OLD — ELIZABETH MAY is set to run for the Green Party leadership, which she relinquished in 2019 after 13 years at the party's helm, the Toronto Star's ALEX BALLINGALL reports .

According to Ballingall, May plans to pitch herself as a co-leader of the party, alongside former human rights worker JONATHAN PEDNEAULT. That wouldn't be unprecedented — Québec Solidaire, a left-leaning provincial party, is led by two spokespeople, one male and one female.

— Related: SaltWire's STU NEATBY also reported this week that another likely Green Party candidate, P.E.I. climate advocate ANNA KEENAN, is planning to run on a co-leadership platform with Montreal-based CHAD WALCOTT.

Leadership hopefuls aren't allowed to publicly announce their candidacy until Aug. 31.

— The background: May is one of just two Green Party MPs in the House of Commons. The party was mired in internal conflict during the ill-fated tenure of May's successor, ANNAMIE PAUL, and has struggled with its finances since Paul's resignation last year.

SUMMERTIME READS

Today's picks come from Liberal MP NATHANIEL ERSKINE-SMITH.

BRAIN FOOD

" Innovation in Real Places — Strategies for Prosperity in an Unforgiving World ," by DAN BREZNITZ

" Home of the Floating Lily ," by SILMY ABDULLAH

" Power to the Public: The Promise of Public Interest Technology ," by TARA DAWSON MCGUINNESS and HANA SCHANK

" Riding the Third Rail: The Story of Ontario's Health Services Restructuring Commission, 1996-2000 ," by DUNCAN SINCLAIR, MARK ROCHON and PEGGY LEATT

GUILTY PLEASURE

No particular book in mind, but I'll keep reading anything and everything I can about the Jays.

Here's our summer 2022 reading list so far .

Send us your reading suggestions — your brain food and your guilty pleasure! We'll share them in the Playbook newsletter.

MEDIA ROOM

— Justice SAMUEL ALITO, who penned last month's Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, took aim during a speech in Rome last week at foreign leaders who lamented his opinion — including JUSTIN TRUDEAU. POLITICO's JOSH GERSTEIN has the story .

— For CBC News, JONATHAN MONTPETIT reports that Quebec's upstart Conservative party, led by former shock jock ÉRIC DUHAIME, has attracted a slew of candidates who "have used their social media accounts during the pandemic to amplify medical misinformation, conspiracy theorists or to engage with far-right extremists."

— For The Logic, DAVID REEVELY looks at how new proposed regulations for Big Tech led to a flood of activity, and a flush of cash, for lobbyists.

— The CBC's CATHERINE TUNNEY reports this morning: Top N.S. Mountie wanted an officer dismissed for sexual misconduct — but Commissioner Lucki disagreed.

— After a brutal year dominated by economic angst, legislative setbacks and sinking approval ratings, President JOE BIDEN is back in the game, POLITICO's ADAM CANCRYN, JONATHAN LEMIRE and CHRISTOPHER CADELAGO report .

— People who call 911 are facing hours-long delays for ambulances in some parts of Canada due to staff shortages and overcrowded hospitals, CARLY WEEKS and JAKE KIVANC write for the Globe and Mail .

PAPER TRAIL

CHANGE THE NARRATIVE — The Department of National Defence is calling in a group of beltway bandits who can help the perpetually PR-challenged corner of government improve a public image somewhat lacking in positivity.

For a mere C$76,800, a "teaching team" of "world-class futurists, science fiction and entertainment creators, and military and business leaders" will "teach the 'how' of forecasting and narrative communication, in order to better reach and influence target audiences."

— The contractor's name: Useful Fiction .

— What is that? "The use of research and narrative to build 'synthetic environments' as a tool for analysis, prediction, explanation, and communication … Research is turned into insightful character-driven stories that can help individuals and organizations understand complex concepts, distill key themes, explore alternative points of view, reveal analytical blind spots, and/or project future issues and dilemmas."

— The roster: Useful Fiction once trained United States Air Force mid-career leaders "on forecasting and narrative for more effective communications."

Their trainers included: "New York Times best-selling authors, a venture capitalist investor, a corporate futurist, the head of Australian military officer training, the former Commander of US Special Operations, the co-writers of Game of Thrones, the producer of Hunger Games and Crazy Rich Asians, and the team behind The Walking Dead and Good Lord Bird."

The company lists Giller Prize-winning author OMAR EL AKKAD on its list of contributors.

— Client list: "Useful Fiction™ has provided such classes to organizations that range from the NATO military alliance to Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs training program for US government executives."

PROZONE

For POLITICO Pro subscribers, catch up to our latest policy newsletter from ZI-ANN LUM and ANDY BLATCHFORD: What Manchin's deal means for Canada.

In other news for subscribers:

— Canada 'encouraged' by EV tax tweak in Manchin deal.
— 'Easter eggs' in climate bill delight oil and gas industry.
— Alaska Republican to delay DoD nominees over rare earth minerals.
— Ukrainians doing 'everything we can' to make Russia grain deal work.
— Arabic social media remains an unchecked Wild West.

PLAYBOOKERS

Birthdays: HBD to Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth MARCI IEN and former MP DAVID DE BURGH GRAHAM.

Saturday celebrations: Ottawa Mayor JIM WATSON, Quebec MNA LORRAINE RICHARD, Alberta MLA JOE CECI, former Conservative MP KELLIE LEITCH and former trade minister JIM PETERSON.

Sunday: Bloc MP and "dean of the House" LOUIS PLAMONDON, Conservative MP TOM KMIEC, Saskatchewan Premier SCOTT MOE and SHEILA MARTIN, wife of former PM PAUL MARTIN.

Monday: Senator WANDA THOMAS BERNARD.

Send birthdays to ottawaplaybook@politico.com .

Spotted: MICHAEL GEIST was so struck by how similar CRTC Chair IAN SCOTT sounded to Rogers CEO TONY STAFFIERI during this week's parliamentary committee hearings on the Rogers outage that he created a quiz with quotes from both men to see if people could tell the difference.

A day later, more than 600 people had taken the quiz and a grand total of zero people had managed to get all 12 quotes right. (Your Playbook host, who didn't watch the hearings, took the quiz and scored a modest nine out of 12 — nothing to humble-brag about.)

GEORGE SOULE, double-boosted .

Media mentions: Postmedia chairman PAUL GODFREY is stepping down at the end of the year , to be replaced by board member JAMIE IRVING. Godfrey will serve as a special adviser following the end of his term.

TRIVIA

Thursday's answer: The RCMP consulted the British MI5 security agency (and Soviet defector IGOR GOUZENKO) while attempting to plant microphones in the new Soviet embassy while it was under construction in 1956.

Props to BRAM ABRAMSON , ROBERT MCDOUGALL and ROBERT BOSTELAAR.

Friday's question: LOUIS PLAMONDON, the longest-serving current member of the House of Commons, turns 79 on Sunday. Plamondon has won his seat in a whopping 12 consecutive elections. What two federal parties has he represented?

Send your answers to ottawaplaybook@politico.com

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