Pro-business, anti-honcho

Presented by MDA Space: A daily look inside Canadian politics and power.

Mar 12, 2024 View in browser   By Nick Taylor-Vaisey and Zi-Ann Lum Presented by MDA Space Thanks for reading the Ottawa Playbook. Let’s get to it. In today's edition: → Conservative collar hierarchy: Blue, then white. → PERRIN BEATTY calls out Ottawa's “intellectual exhaustion” — on the political side and in the public service. → FRANÇOIS-PHILIPPE CHAMPAGNE's game plan for Washington today. DRIVING THE DAY Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, shown here at the start of the fall session, has been dissing lobbyists and CEOs. | Sean Kilpatrick, The Canadian Press LOBBYISTS BEWARE — PIERRE POILIEVRE's fiery speech at the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade last Friday sure made waves in the fishbowl. Poilievre dissed corporate lobbyists in the capital as “utterly useless in advancing any common sense interests for the people on the ground.” The Conservative leader took aim at resource companies, too. Here's a zinger: "All they do is suck up to the Liberal government." Here's another: "They have no backbone and no courage." — To be clear: Poilievre wasn't saying he'll never listen to a lobbyist. It's not like he has it out for all of them. That could make the day-to-day awkward with JENNI BYRNE, one of his top advisers. Besides, they can be useful. A new government that approaches public service advice with skepticism will need new ideas. Lobbyists will lie in wait, serving up policy that speaks Poilievre. Ever wonder why firms are hiring blue-hued consultants in a hurry? → The substance he wants: "If you want any of your policy agenda pushed forward, you're going to have to convince not just me, but the people of Canada, that it is good for them," Poilievre told the Vancouver crowd. → The tone he doesn't: The Tory leader mocked a recent Beer Canada radio ad. The brewers pushed the Liberals to cap an annual excise tax increase on alcohol at 2 percent — less than half of the 4.7 percent hike they feared. The ad complained that “Ottawa” was behind the measure. That wasn't direct enough for Poilievre, who said he razzed a CEO for avoiding a certain ustin-Jay udeau-Tray (we're paraphrasing here) in the script. "I said, 'Who is Ottawa? I've never met him. What does he look like? Handsome guy, tall, fluffy hair, baby blue eyes?'" His point: Take off the kid gloves. Name and shame. "I know a lot of corporate leaders don't want to say things like that because they want to get along with everybody, but sucking up to the people who are doing the damage has only got us into this mess in the first place." — For the record: Beer Canada, which runs a popular lobby day full of lagers and ales, was in the room on Friday. And the sudsy lobbyists got precisely what they wanted over the weekend, when Finance Minister CHRYSTIA FREELAND made a 2 percent cap official until 2026. Tory House leader ANDREW SCHEER was aghast on Monday that the brewers would applaud the government's move: "How dumb or compromised does a lobbyist have to be to support a tax hike on their own industry?" Scheer has also gone after the Wine Growers Canada. Perhaps it grates on Scheer that JOHN ZERUCELLI, the prime minister's former director of operations and senior adviser, is now Labatt's head of government and corporate affairs — and was posing with Liberals on the day of the tax cap announcement. — Not a new tune: Poilievre has been selectively ragging on corporate Canada since at least December, when he delivered remarks to a C.D. Howe Institute audience in Toronto. "In state capitalism, you get ahead by having the best lobbyist. In free enterprise capitalism, you get ahead by having the best product. In state capitalism, you make profit by pleasing politicians. In free enterprise capitalism, you get ahead by pleasing customers," he said. REGAN WATTS, a corporate consultant and former Hill staffer, amplified the emerging Tory pitch in a piece at The Hub. Watts wrote that the Business Council of Canada "can’t even get a meeting with Poilievre." (Fact-check: True). Poilievre says he prefers to meet workers, not CEOs. "If that’s not a wake-up call for those who run these companies, I don’t know what is," wrote Watts. Translation: The next Tory government will feel free to bypass the C-suite entirely in a bid to connect with the blue-collared set. The Tories are keeping count, too. Poilievre told the Vancouver audience that he's visited 110 shop floors and five union locals since taking over as party leader. — The working class horse race: Poilievre is dominating among men who work for private sector unions, Abacus Data's DAVID COLETTO reported based on polling. Poilievre is winning 46 percent of those votes, more than double the Liberals' 22 percent and miles ahead of the NDP's 18 percent. That's a massive shift from 2021, when the contest for the same voters was much tighter (34 percent CPC, 32 percent LPC, 19 percent NDP). Those trends could explain the Tories' votes in favor of Liberal legislation banning replacement workers in federally regulated workplaces. The CPC position was an open question for months as the party debated behind closed doors. Bill C-58's journey through committee may be rocky, but Poilievre's team isn't parroting the critical talking points of, say, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. — Top-dollar donors: Still, Poilievre headlines fundraisers at mansions and private clubs all over Canada. He courts and earns donations from some of the wealthiest people in the country. Investment bankers and real estate bigwigs are staples. Corporate Canada might be on the receiving end of Poilievre's sharp tongue. But when the Tory leader and potential next prime minister is filling his war chest, people who turn a big profit still want to be in the room. — More listening: The Curse of Politics crew dug into the speech in this week's pod.   A message from MDA Space: MDA SPACE – Same trusted mission partner. New space. Our new name – MDA Space – is a natural identity evolution that honours the past, recognizes the present, and further positions the company to lead in a new era of space innovation. With a 55-year record of firsts and 450+ missions, MDA Space is a trusted space mission partner to the rapidly expanding global space industry, building the space between proven and possible. www.mda.space   For your radar Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne, shown here in France, is in Washington today armed with a to-do list. | Julie Glassberg/POLITICO D.C. DATEBOOK — Industry Minister FRANÇOIS-PHILIPPE CHAMPAGNE is in Washington where selling America on Canadian nuclear power is one item on his agenda. Playbook was in the room with Champagne last week when he advised Canada-United States Business Association members in Detroit that he’d be heading to the capital stateside to talk about nuclear and small modular reactors. → Related reading from POLITICO’s JAMES BIKALES and CATHERINE MOREHOUSE: Forget “Oppenheimer” — nuclear power is having its moment in Washington. The focus on nuclear power in D.C. plays into the government's “Team Canada” strategy to replace the country’s “nice guys up north” reputation and to improve recognition among the Americans that Canada is a “strategic partner,” Champagne told Playbook during an interview while munching an apple he dug out of his luggage. (For the record: Playbook’s interview did not inspire partisan merch.) “You have to go back to BRIAN MULRONEY who saw that the economic prosperity of Canada was certainly linked to a very stable and predictable access to the North American market and the U.S. market,” he said. “It's certainly a good time in an election year to make sure that everyone understands the strategic nature of that relationship.” — Meeting log: Champagne dined with Sen. CHRIS COONS (D-Del.), Canadian Ambassador KIRSTEN HILLMAN and Sen. ANGUS KING (I-Maine) last night in Washington. — On the down-low: Champagne has meetings today with South Carolina Gov. HENRY MCMASTER before seeing Alliance for Automotive Innovation CEO JOHN BOZZELLA and Business Roundtable CEO JOSHUA BOLTEN. He’ll join the Safe Summit for a fireside chat at 2:15 p.m. to talk about critical minerals on a panel aptly named “Rock Solid Allies.” — What’s next: Champagne started this week in Atlanta meeting Republican Georgia Gov. BRIAN KEMP. From Washington, he’ll next trot to Italy for G7-related talks. Where the leaders are — Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU will meet with NATAN OBED, president of the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, at 11 a.m. — Deputy PM CHRYSTIA FREELAND is in Vancouver with no public events on her itinerary. — Conservative Leader PIERRE POILIEVRE is in St. John's, where he'll celebrate an early St. Paddy's Day at Sláinte — a whisky piano bar where Poilievre will meet party donors. — NDP Leader JAGMEET SINGH is in Coquitlam, British Columbia. At 10:15 a.m. local time, he and NDP MP BONITA ZARRILLO will share with the media their ideas on how to lower rent. The pair will later host a community forum on dental care. At 6:45 p.m. PT, Singh will speak at the Coquitlam Nowruz Fire Festival. DULY NOTED 10:15 a.m. Justice Minister ARIF VIRANI joins Liberal MP JULIE DABRUSIN and Aboriginal Legal Services Executive Director CHANTELL BARKER in Toronto for a funding announcement "to address the overrepresentation of Indigenous people in Canada’s justice system." 12 p.m. (9 p.m. PT) Health Minister MARK HOLLAND joins his counterpart in Yukon, TRACY-ANNE MCPHEE, for a health care announcement. 5 p.m. Industry Minister FRANÇOIS-PHILIPPE CHAMPAGNE will hold a media availability at the Embassy of Canada in Washington. We're tracking every major political event of 2024 on a mega-calendar. Send us events and download the calendar yourself for Google and other clients . HALLWAY CONVERSATION Perrin Beatty | Photo courtesy of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce PARTING THOUGHTS — Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU wasn't even a year old when PERRIN BEATTY won his first election. Beatty took his seat as a Progressive Conservative in the Commons in 1972, at the age of 22. During 21 years in the House, he was a Cabinet minister in seven portfolios. He ran the CBC and then the Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters lobby group. Now 73, Beatty will leave the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in August after heading it up for 17 years. He insists this is more “see ya later” than “goodbye forever.” He’s not finished with the intersecting worlds of business and public policy, though he didn't dish on what's next. Still, Playbook asked Beatty to reflect on the ways in which Ottawa has changed over five decades. Here’s what jumped out at us, in his own words. → On the public service: When I look at Ottawa, I get a sense that there’s intellectual exhaustion — and not simply at the political level, but in the public service as well. Increasingly, it will be up to people outside of government, whether it’s business or NGOs or a range of other organizations, to inject new ideas into the system, and to suggest things that aren't being generated internally. We're very fortunate in having a professional public service in Canada, one that believes in the rule of law, where there’s very little — notwithstanding the headlines, relative to other countries — corruption in our system. But it’s important for us to recruit the best possible people in the public service and have systems that draw upon those people, encourage creativity, and encourage fresh ideas. Or government can go stale. → On ministerial responsibility: We've created all sorts of commissioners of one thing or another who have set criteria of what's acceptable and what isn’t. We’ve moved away from judging officials on whether they did what was right. If an allegation is made that a politician has acted improperly, the response is, “Did you clear this with the ethics commissioner?” The issue isn’t: “Did you do the right thing or the wrong thing?” We look to our leaders to set a moral example for the nation. And if the standard that we use is “Was this permissible?” as opposed to “Was this ethical?”, then I think we do a disservice to the citizens. The argument is often: “I couldn't possibly have known that my department is large and complex. I wasn't told. Somebody else let me down here. I shouldn't be held accountable for that." One of the minister’s responsibilities is to ensure that he or she knows exactly what’s happening. Ultimately, accountability rests with the minister. But we’ve made it so diffuse, so widely spread, there’s really no accountability. → On what gives him hope for Canada: That we live in the most blessed country anywhere in the world. The test of any country is which way people want to cross its borders. We know in the case of Canada, that tens of millions of people around the world would give everything that they have for the opportunity to come to this country. You look at our resource inheritance; you look at the size of our country; you look at the fact that we’re next door to the world’s one superpower, the richest market anywhere in the world; you look at the fact that we have a well-educated population; that we have a multicultural society where people get along with with each other; and where we have a tradition of tolerance. We have all of the advantages, and there's nothing holding us back but ourselves. Any of the issues that we’ve talked about are fixable with the proper vision and leadership. Tell us: We know Beatty et al. will conduct a thorough search for the next head of the Canadian chamber. But who do you think should take over? Drop us a line . MEDIA ROOM — Former Calgary mayor NAHEED NENSHI wants to win the Alberta NDP leadership. Ottawa New Democrats, take heed. CBC News says Nenshi wants to modernize the party constitution and rethink its relationship with the federal NDP. — The Globe's BILL CURRY reports that Public Sector Integrity Commissioner HARRIET SOLLOWAY is launching an investigation into alleged wrongdoing related to the ArriveCan app. — Top of POLITICO this hour: DONALD TRUMP's newly installed leadership team at the Republican National Committee is in the process of pushing out more than 60 RNC staffers, ALEX ISENSTADT reports. — ABBAS RANA of The Hill Times reports: “Only 89 of 156 Liberal MPs have so far been nominated for next election, a year after deadline.” — The Star’s RAISA PATEL talked to experts distressed by Ottawa’s attempts to rein in hate speech. — French President EMMANUEL MACRON has outlined plans for a bill to allow certain patients to receive medical assistance in dying. POLITICO Europe has the details. — In case you need it, menswear writer DEREK GUY explains how to wear the Trump line of “Never Surrender” high-tops. One option: “Wear them with a gold-striped navy tracksuit, a bucket hat, big gold chains and thick Cazel frames. Only an outfit with a bit of swagger can hold its own with these shoes.” — SaltWire Network, owner of the Halifax Chronicle-Herald, has filed for creditor protection. PROZONE Don’t miss our latest newsletter for Pro subscribers from KYLE DUGGAN and ZI-ANN LUM: Renewable energy’s border headache. In other news for Pros:  — Nuclear power is having its moment in Washington. — Canada, US and allies pledge to fight online fraud. — International AI rights treaty hangs by a thread. — Biden rule closes loophole allowing foreign meat to get USA label. — States join legal fray over landmark SEC climate rule. PLAYBOOKERS Birthdays: HBD to Immigration Minister MARC MILLER. HBD + 1 to GARY CLEMENT, director of government relations at TD. Celebrate your day with the Playbook community. Send us the details. We’ll let everyone know.  Spotted: A Liberal fundraiser, scheduled for Thursday at Montreal's Hôtel William Gray, which boasts seven Cabinet ministers: MÉLANIE JOLY, PABLO RODRIGUEZ, MARC MILLER, PASCALE ST-ONGE, MARIE-CLAUDE BIBEAU, DIANE LEBOUTHILLIER and SORAYA MARTINEZ FERRADA … Another Liberal fundraiser, scheduled for Friday evening at Toronto's Omni King Edward Hotel. Headliner: JUSTIN TRUDEAU. Attempted protest: likely, given the events that disrupted a party fundraiser last week — and a Trudeau reception with Italian PM GIORGIA MELONI a few days earlier. Minister Lebouthillier, showing off lobster (and boasting about it to Conservatives) ... Also Lebouthillier, announcing the elver fishery — a type of baby eel — will close for 2024. The Hogue Commission, announcing new dates for public hearings: March 27-April 10. Movers and shakers: Liberal MP TONY VAN BYNEN won't run for reelection in Newmarket-Aurora, STEPHANIE LEVITZ reported in the Toronto Star.   A message from MDA Space:   ON THE HILL → Find House committees here. → Keep track of Senate committees here. TRIVIA Monday’s answer: R.B. BENNETT is the only former PM whose grave lies outside of Canada. Props to MP DAN ALBAS, NATHAN CARR, BRANDON RABIDEAU, DEREK DECLOET, PATRICK ST-JACQUES, JOHN ECKER, KEVIN BOSCH, MARCEL MARCOTTE, BOB GORDON, HUGUES THÉORÊT, RALPH LEVENSTEIN, MATT DELISLE, DARREN SUAREZ, GOZDE KAZAZOGLU, GUY SKIPWORTH, ALYSON FAIR, JIM CAMPBELL, ROBERT MCDOUGALL, MATT CONLEY, ELIZABETH BURN, ETHAN SPENCER, BOB ERNEST, FERNANDO MELO, WALTER ROBINSON, JEFFREY VALOIS, FRANCIS DOWNEY, JDM STEWART, NOEL BREEN, GANGA WIGNARAJAH and CASEY HALLADAY. Today’s question: Name the politician who boiled down the contents of their 336-page memoir to four themes: “Immigration, adversity, public service and love.” For full marks, explain how this author connects to this date in history. 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? Run a Playbook ad campaign. Contact Jesse Shapiro to find out how: jshapiro@politico.com. Playbook wouldn’t happen without: POLITICO Canada editor Sue Allan, editor Willa Plank and Luiza Ch. Savage.   Follow us on Twitter Nick Taylor-Vaisey @TaylorVaisey Sue Allan @susan_allan Maura Forrest @MauraForrest Kyle Duggan @Kyle_Duggan Zi-Ann Lum @ziannlum POLITICO Canada @politicoottawa   Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook  |  Playbook PM  |  California Playbook  |  Florida Playbook  |  Illinois Playbook  |  Massachusetts Playbook  |  New Jersey Playbook  |  New York Playbook  |  Ottawa Playbook  |  Brussels Playbook  |  London Playbook View all our political and policy newsletters Follow us

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