Toot of the town

Nov 08, 2022

By Nick Taylor-Vaisey , Zi-Ann Lum and Maura Forrest

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Thanks for reading Ottawa Playbook. I'm your host, Nick Taylor-Vaisey with Zi-Ann Lum and Maura Forrest. Today, we stitch together PIERRE POILIEVRE's west coast swing. Plus, how 'bout the menu on that vice-regal trip to Dubai? Also, Playbook learns how frustrating it is to use Mastodon, the stand-in du jour for the Twitter hellscape.

DRIVING THE DAY

HITTING THE ROAD — While Liberals make a show of all the ground they're covering this week, their primary adversary is in British Columbia. PIERRE POILIEVRE prefers to keep the Parliamentary Press Gallery out of the loop, but his movements are no secret.

— Lower Mainland: Poilievre spent part of Saturday in downtown Vancouver, where he rallied alongside thousands of protesters as part of worldwide demonstrations in the wake of MAHSA AMINI's death at the hands of Iranian morality police.

Poilievre stopped by an ironworkers union local in Maple Ridge . He caught up with South Surrey–White Rock MP KERRY-LYNNE FINDLAY and B.C Liberal leader KEVIN FALCON. He celebrated Hindu Heritage Month and visited Maharaja Sweet Shop in Surrey.

Poilievre met Monday with Port Coquitlam mayor BRAD WEST, and also sat down with the Vancouver Police Union .

— The state of play: The Greater Toronto Area's 905 region gets most of the attention at election time, but Metro Vancouver is always competitive.

338Canada's PHILIPPE J. FOURNIER currently projects three too-close-to-call races in the region: Cloverdale–Langley City (which includes part of Surrey), Port Moody–Coquitlam and Richmond Centre. All three were tight in 2021.

— Donor appreciation: The Tory leader is back downtown at 5 p.m. for an exclusive event at the Fasken law offices on Burrard Street. Poilievre will meet members of BC Blue, a conservative group that bills itself as a "crucial source of financial support" for the Conservative Party and its riding associations across the province.

The event organizer is DAVID BASSETT, a longtime party donor in the Lower Mainland.

— The leader's subject matter: BC Blue expects Poilievre "to share his views on the economy, inflation and affordability, government finances and services, healthcare and the Russian Invasion of Ukraine, among other critical issues."

— The price of admission: BC Blue's annual membership costs C$1,200, and only members are invited to attend. An Elections Canada event listing names the Abbotsford riding association as the evening's beneficiary.

That's where the MP is ED FAST, no friend to Poilievre during the leadership race . Poilievre has banished the former trade minister to the back row in the House.

Fast may be in fence-mending mode. He's hosting a Wednesday morning breakfast fundraiser in his riding where his opening remarks will touch on "the future of the Conservative Party under a new leader."

Tory MP ADAM CHAMBERS, a Poilievre endorser from Ontario, is a featured speaker.

NEW CPC SPOX — The Tories have a new d-comm: SARAH FISCHER, whose appointment was rumored for weeks before she made it LinkedIn official . "Great hire!" cheered digital troublemaker JEFF BALLINGALL.

Fischer has worked for Tory MP RACHAEL THOMAS and ran under the CPC banner in Don Valley North back in 2019. (She lost to HAN DONG.)

— A popular pick: The "likes" on LinkedIn piled up. Among Fischer's fans: MICHAEL FORIAN-ZYTYNSKY, GINNY ROTH, COLE HOGAN, KEITH SHEPPARD, BERT CHEN, STEPHANIE KUSIE, IAN BRODIE , ELIA LOPEZ, ASHTON ARSENAULT, FRASER MACDONALD, MICHELE AUSTIN, BROCK HARRISON, JIM BURNETT, AARON WUDRICK, ANTHONY KOCH, SEBASTIAN SKAMSKI, STEPHANIE DUNLOP.

— What Liberals are sharing: Fischer proudly honking a truck horn in the depths of the Freedom Convoy antics. "There's no other place in the world I would rather be right now than in downtown Ottawa," she tweeted. "The energy is electric, people are hopeful and you can see smiling faces everywhere you look."

Fischer has written extensively about government overreach in the Covid era on her website, dubbed Uncancelled .

— Hints of a comms strategy: "I believe this party, and our country, is desperate for a leader with a backbone," Fischer wrote on Instagram when she endorsed Poilievre's candidacy. "Someone who is principled, who knows what they believe and who is willing to take a firm stand without kowtowing to the media, the opposition or our eternal critics."

MINISTERS, MINISTERS EVERYWHERE — Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU is in New Brunswick today. Deputy PM CHRYSTIA FREELAND is in Montreal. JONATHAN WILKINSON is at Simon Fraser University. FRANÇOIS-PHILIPPE CHAMPAGNE is in Edmonton. KARINA GOULD is at George Brown College. DAN VANDAL is in Iqaluit. MARCO MENDICINO is in Windsor. HELENA JACZEK is in Ottawa. PASCALE ST-ONGE is in Rouyn-Noranda. JOYCE MURRAY and GUDIE HUTCHINGS are in St. John's.

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A message from the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Our Trading Future campaign:

For Canadians and Americans alike, new challenges have forced us to rethink many of our assumptions about how we do business. Global supply chains are under stress, geopolitical tensions are escalating, and post-pandemic economic recovery continues to be challenging. Amid all of this, it's midterm season in the United States! In this moment, Canada and the United States must rediscover the depth of our economic and strategic partnership. To learn more, visit Our Trading Future.

For your radar

HEALTHCARE CONFAB — Health Minister JEAN-YVES DUCLOS is in Vancouver for the first in-person fed-prov meeting of ministers since 2018.

Provinces want more money to boost their overtaxed systems. (D'uh.)

Duclos teed up the meetup with a commitment to send more money to the provinces if they "are prepared to commit to a meaningful expansion in the sharing and use of common key health indicators and to build a world-class health data system for Canada."

Duclos also pledged to ink "tailor-made agreements" with provinces and territories on priorities such as "health workers, and increased access to family health teams and mental health services."

— Translation: It's all about targeted side deals for the feds instead of simply an expanded Canada Health Transfer that leaves all the spending decisions to the provinces.

— CAMPBELL CLARK in the Globe : "Canada's provinces have not embarked on a massive healthcare rebuild. They squabble with Ottawa over money. The public is caught in an endless federal-provincial political feedback loop."

TODAY'S HIGHLIGHTS

— PM Trudeau is in Oromocto, New Brunswick.

— Deputy PM Freeland is in Montreal. She heads to Calgary Wednesday for a conversation with the business community at the Calgary Chamber of Commerce.

— Residents of Brooks–Medicine Hat head to polls today in a provincial byelection where Alberta Premier DANIELLE SMITH hopes to win a seat .

3:30 a.m. ET (9:30 a.m. local time) NDP leader JAGMEET SINGH tours the Permanent Exhibition at the Topography of Terror.

9 a.m. ET (3 p.m. local time) Singh meets with ÜLKER RADZIWILL , Berlin State Secretary for Neighbourhood Development & Tenant Protection.

10 a.m. The parliamentary budget officer will post a new report titled "Global greenhouse gas emissions and Canadian GDP."

10:15 a.m. Trudeau will visit the 5th Canadian Division Support Base Gagetown. National Defense Minister ANITA ANAND, Infrastructure Minister DOMINIC LEBLANC, Veterans Affairs MInister LAWRENCE MACAULAY, and Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency Minister GINETTE PETITPAS TAYLOR will also be in attendance.

11:10 a.m. (12:40 p.m. NT) Fisheries Minister JOYCE MURRAY is in St. John's to kick off the Seal Summit.

12:30 p.m. Industry Minister FRANÇOIS-PHILIPPE CHAMPAGNE and Alberta Energy Minister PETE GUTHRIE are in Edmonton to talk about "strengthening Canada's economy for the low-carbon future and talk about how the Government of Canada is contributing to emissions reduction." Tourism Minister RANDY BOISSONNAULT will join.

1 p.m. (2 p.m. AT) Trudeau will participate in a wreath-laying ceremony. LeBlanc, MacAulay and Petitpas Taylor will join.

1:30 p.m. (2:30 p.m. AT) Trudeau makes an announcement about high-speed internet and holds a media availability. LeBlanc and Petitpas Taylor will also be in attendance.

1:45 p.m. Freeland will tour a Quebec energy company and meet with workers.

2:45 p.m. (3:45 p.m. AT) Trudeau meets with New Brunswick Premier BLAINE HIGGS.

4 p.m. Freeland will meet with leaders of major employers in Quebec.

5:45 p.m . A two-day meeting of federal-provincial-territorial health ministers wraps in Vancouver with a closing press conference at the Pan Pacific Hotel.

6:30 p.m. The final in-person hearing held by Ontario's riding redistribution commission goes down at the Valhalla Hotel in Thunder Bay. (Most of the commissions, including Ontario, will publish final reports Dec. 9.)

A message from the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Our Trading Future campaign:

Talk of the town

TOOT OF THE TOWN — Could Mastodon be the new Twitter?

You may have heard by now of the social network that has seen an influx of new users since ELON MUSK's Twitter takeover. A big part of Mastodon's appeal is that it's decentralized, meaning it's not owned by one person and subject to their whims.

It's also supposedly less toxic than Twitter, which might be due to the way it's designed, but might also just be because the trolls haven't found it yet. Otherwise, it's… a lot like Twitter.

— The inside scoop: POLITICO's MAURA FORREST volunteered to see what the fuss is all about. Here are her notes from her first day on Mastodon.

10:59 a.m. I'm attempting to set up my Mastodon account. I'm told I need to choose a server. What is a server? If I choose a lame one, will everyone secretly judge me? "Getting started with Mastodon is easy," the website tells me, unhelpfully.

11:16 a.m. I've chosen a server. It has seven rules, which basically amount to "don't be a jerk." I agree to not be a jerk.

11:45 a.m. I have started to follow people. They are people I follow on Twitter. Why am I here?

11:55 a.m. It takes several steps to find and follow some people. I gather this is to do with the multiple servers.

12:46 p.m. Having attempted to follow a few dozen people, I discover that I'm only listed as following six. Perhaps this is also to do with the multiple servers. My homepage feed is 90 percent tweets (sorry, toots) from a single Globe and Mail reporter.

12:48 p.m. I have my first follower. It's DAVID REEVELY. We follow each other on Twitter.

4:15 p.m. I'm now following 12 people (I swear I've added more than this) and have three followers. A slow start, but who's counting? Definitely not me.

6:10 p.m. I have not, uh, tooted. Must we really call it that? I haven't yet thought of anything my three followers absolutely need to see. But maybe I'll be inspired… tomorrow.

— So could Mastodon be the new Twitter? Maybe, if the kinks get worked out and enough people are sufficiently put off by Twitter à la Musk. At this point, though, it seems equally possible it could be the new Clubhouse. Remember Clubhouse? No? Exactly.

— One thing is clear, though: We journalists and politicos simply must have an online forum in which to wildly misgauge what everyone else cares about. And if Twitter isn't it, so help us, we will bring our Very Interesting Thoughts elsewhere!

PAPER TRAIL

FLY THE HUNGRY SKIES — The only thing missing from the menu of Governor General MARY SIMON's controversial C$80,000 in-flight catering bill is vanilla ice cream.

Global Affairs Canada shared a copy of the menu with MPs . Taxpayers can now feast on the details of what constitutes a travel meal fit for the monarch's representative in Canada. The meals were served on an eight-day trip in March to Expo 2020 in Dubai.

— Answer : Indian-inspired butter chicken tikka masala with cauliflower rice and steamed zucchini; Italian-inspired pan-fried chicken scallopini on fettuccine covered in a "creamy mushroom wine sauce with capers" saddled with steamed asparagus and grilled red peppers; and Thai-inspired green curry with chicken, jasmine rice and "stir fried mixed pepper medley."

Recall the GG's deputy secretary CHRISTINE MACINTYRE expressed her shock over the cost, telling a parliamentary committee in September: "We had eggs! We had omelets!"

Those omelets were served as breakfast during a seven-hour leg from London's Stansted airport to Dubai.

What MacIntyre didn't say was that those shaggy plane eggs included pats of Boursin cheese, plus a sprinkling of sun-dried tomatoes and chives with "grilled artisan" pork sausages and sautéed button mushrooms on the side.

How do you wash down C$80,000 in aerial cuisine while wondering what Emirates serves in economy? With exclusively Ontario beers (Beau's, Moosehead and Steam Whistle) and four wine selections — half Ontario VQA and half from British Columbia.

— Speaking of which: Federally commissioned polling for Global Affairs Canada — cost: C$123,413.70 — found the benefits of the Canadian pavilion at Expo 2020 "might only be felt in the longer term, not within the next few months or years."

ASK US ANYTHING

TELL US WHAT YOU KNOW — We welcome tips and scoops. What are you hearing that you need Playbook to know? What are you watching this week? Send details .

A message from the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Our Trading Future campaign:

It is important that we address the elephant (and donkey) in the room. As we have seen this midterm season, protectionism remains a challenge on both sides of the political aisle in the United States. This is economically harmful to ordinary citizens and businesses from both countries and is also strategically short sighted.

Canada and the United States together are facing a time of great uncertainty, but also opportunity. As neighbours and allies, a renewed focus on building trade security and resiliency is of vital interest for Canadians and Americans alike in the current precarious moment.

This is a critical year to strengthen the foundations of the Canada-U.S. relationship by seizing opportunities to deepen our partnerships in areas such as energy security, continental defence, regulatory cooperation, and border management. Visit Our Trading Future to learn more about how we can achieve these shared goals.

MEDIA ROOM

— From POLITICO: An hour-by-hour guide to watching election night

— The CBC's ALEX PANETTA explains 7 things that could change after the midterms

— A bigread from SHANNON PROUDFOOT in the Globe's Ottawa bureau: How a perfect storm swamped Canada's bureaucracy . The typically Proudfootian opening scene is a "dingy strip mall that seems ready to collapse from low self-esteem."

— The Toronto Star's KIERAN LEAVITT asks an increasingly familiar question in the DANIELLE SMITH era: "Is Alberta the new Quebec?" (We feel compelled to remind readers that Quebec is still Quebec .)

— Global News investigative journo SAM COOPER reveals a CSIS allegation that China's consulate in Toronto "directed a large clandestine transfer of funds" in 2019 "to a network of at least 11 federal election candidates and numerous Beijing operatives who worked as their campaign staffers." The names of those candidates remains shrouded in secrecy.

— Postmedia's TOM SPEARS adds up the upkeep receipts for 24 Sussex Drive . (Spears has turned the official residence into its own recurring beat .)

PROZONE

For POLITICO Pro subscribers, our latest policy newsletter: Inside the Ambassador Bridge blockade.

In news for POLITICO Pro subscribers:

— Putin ally admits interfering in U.S. elections.
— EU launches broad attack on new U.S. clean energy tax incentives.
— Germany wants new trade talks with U.S. after midterms.
— 6 election security threats to watch for on Election Day.

DON'T MISS A THING FROM THE MILKEN INSTITUTE'S MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA SUMMIT: POLITICO is partnering with the Milken Institute to produce a special edition "Digital Future Daily" newsletter with insider reporting and insights from the Milken Institute's Middle East and Africa Summit happening November 17-18. Hundreds of global leaders will convene, highlighting the important role connection plays in advancing global well-being. Whether you're in-person at the event or following online, sign up for this special edition newsletter for daily coverage of the event. SUBSCRIBE TODAY .

PLAYBOOKERS

Birthdays: HBD to Conservative MP BLAKE RICHARDS, veteran journo CRAIG OLIVER, MNA FRANÇOIS BONNARDEL and former Vancouver Mayor KENNEDY STEWART.

Movers and shakers: Quebec Liberal leader DOMINIQUE ANGLADE resigned. A familiar name topped a Léger poll on who should replace Angalde: former Montreal mayor and federal Cabmin DENIS CODERRE. (He was the pick of 17 percent of respondents, far fewer than the 62 percent who were "unsure.")

JENNIFER LAEWETZ, a former constit office staffer to Tory MP RANDY HOBACK, started as a strategist at Indigenous-focused GR firm Warshield.

Spotted: U.S. ambo DAVID COHEN, hosting American consuls general from across Canada at J'TM Resto Bar in the ByWard Market, one of his local faves.

— The guest list included BRIAN CLOW, a PMO veteran of the NAFTA renegotiations; JACQUELINE O'NEILL, Canada's ambo for women, peace and security; and SARA WILSHAW, Canada's chief trade commissioner.

— On the menu: Korean-style BBQ cauliflower

Former PM STEPHEN HARPER and former premier JASON KENNEY took in the Jewish National Fund Breakfast for Israel in Calgary on Monday.

On the Hill

→ Find upcoming House committees here

→ Keep track of Senate committees here

Tune in as international security leaders from democracies around the world discuss key challenges at the 14th annual Halifax International Security Forum live from Nova Scotia. As an official media partner, POLITICO will livestream the conversation beginning at 3 p.m. on November 18. The full three-day agenda is here .

TRIVIA

Monday's answer: ELIZABETH MAY attended the Warsaw Climate Change Conference (COP19) as part of the Afghanistan delegation. At the time, in November 2013, she spoke with the CBC's As It Happens about the situation .

Props to KATE DALGLEISH, NANCI WAUGH, ALLAN FABRYKANT, JOHN ECKER, DOUG RICE and ROBERT MCDOUGALL.

Tuesday's question: Who was the first-ever female defense minister in a NATO nation?

Send your answers to ottawaplaybook@politico.com .

Want to grab the attention of movers and shakers on Parliament Hill? Want your brand in front of a key audience of Ottawa influencers? Playbook can help. Contact Jesse Shapiro to find out how: jshapiro@politico.com .

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