| | | | |  | | By Kyle Duggan and Zi-Ann Lum | Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Ottawa Playbook | Follow Politico Canada Thanks for reading Ottawa Playbook. Let’s get to it. In today's edition: → Playbook catches up with STEPHEN MAHER to talk Canadian princes and Machiavellian politics. → A snapshot of the government’s move this week on foreign interference that targets diaspora communities. → Who’s up, Who’s down |  | Talk of the town | | | 
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, shown here in January, is the subject of a new book by Stephen Maher. | Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP | REGAL POLITICS — Journalist STEPHEN MAHER has had a busy year and a half. He crisscrossed Eastern Canada and worked the phone to nab some 200+ interviews, including with JUSTIN TRUDEAU, in a bid to tell the definitive tale of the Trudeau years. In his new 400~ pager of a book, “The Prince: The Turbulent Reign of Justin Trudeau,” the PM and his inner circle open up about his life and even about those politically fraught vacations, plus Maher gives a behind-the-scenes blow-by-blow of how the SNC-Lavalin scandal broke and developed. It’s a pretty exhaustive account of Trudeau’s time in power — though, of course, the story is not over yet. Maher tells Playbook he banged much of it out on his sailboat in the Caribbean, where he had access to Starlink internet. Playbook did a speed read and caught up with the shoe-leather author ahead of the book’s May 28 release. This interview was edited for length and clarity. → You write: “With his carefully guarded inner self, his stage-managed and scripted public appearances, and his unusual upbringing, Trudeau is hard to read. But he reveals himself through his actions.” What did a decade of Trudeau reveal to you? That he has a princely character. He is unlike other people. In some ways, he's like a child star. From the time that he was born, he was surrounded by people yearning to get close to him. And so he has had to set up barriers and construct a persona, what one person who knows him well calls a mask of affability. This makes him quite different from other recent prime ministers and from other provincial politicians. He is passionate about the country. He believes that he knows Canada and is protecting it — his vision of Canada. People who are critical of him see narcissism in that. I'll leave that ultimately to readers to decide. → What was it like interviewing Trudeau now compared to before he was PM? It was much more stressful. It was difficult to arrange the interview and only happened at the very end of the process — actually, after the manuscript had been completed and edited. He gave the impression of being energetic, confident, robust, thoughtful. It was interesting but I thought it was stressful — I had this one shot to ask the guy some questions for a book I’ve been working on for a year and a half. → Do you share PAUL WELLS’ impression that Trudeau does not mind being on the ropes? Yes. We saw he came from behind in all three previous elections, in the Sen. PATRICK BRAZEAU incident. He managed to deal with blackface, SNC-Lavalin. But I don’t think his current situation is similar to those. I don't see him making a comeback now. The people who I talked to who previously expressed faith in his ability to make a comeback … that cadre of people who think that he's on the ropes, and he’s going to shock us all by coming back and trouncing PIERRE POILIEVRE, is getting smaller by the day. → What part of the book are you most proud of? The SNC-Lavalin chapter, which I spent more time researching. I felt it raised important issues in a sort of 3-D chess kind of way — issues of competence, of values, human rights issues, legal issues, Indigenous issues, all overlapping in this slow-motion train wreck. → Is there anything you didn’t unearth in your research but sought out in the beginning? There are some things around Canada's relations with India and China and foreign interference that I tried to get answers to, but you can't push that hard when the people with the information have taken oaths to keep the information secret. → You quote NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI [from his similarly titled 1513 work, “The Prince”] throughout the book. Are you a fan? Yeah! I reread it at my publisher’s suggestion, actually, while researching this. I don't see Trudeau as a Machiavellian character, but I thought there were certain insights made about 15th-century Italian politics that applied perfectly to 21st-century Canadian politics. → What’s one thing Trudeau could learn from him? There was a Machiavelli quote I’ll paraphrase: A prince who tries to introduce new policy creates discord because the people who benefit from the new policy can't be certain it will succeed, and the people who stand to lose will oppose it. You can see that with various things Trudeau did, particularly early on. The small-business tax changes former Finance Minister BILL MORNEAU brought in perfectly illustrated that: an early moment where the government seemed to not be minimizing the political pain for what I thought was a prudent policy change.
|  Simon & Schuster | | — Dog-eared pages in Playbook's advance reader copy: 8, 9, 35, 60, 68, 77, 89, 99, 100, 102, 103, 148, 172, 190, 293, 299, 325, 346, 347, plus the chapters on SNC and DONALD TRUMP. — Notable namechecks: BRIAN MULRONEY, KATE PURCHASE, CAMERON AHMAD, BOB FIFE, ZITA ASTRAVAS, JANE PHILPOTT, JODY WILSON-RAYBOULD, DAVID HERLE, ROBERT ASSELIN, ANNE MCGRATH, GERALD BUTTS, KATIE TELFORD, DAVID AKIN, BRAD WALL, JENNI BYRNE, JEREMY BROADHURST, BRIAN CLOW, BILL MORNEAU, FRED DELOREY, DOMINIC LEBLANC, MICHAEL MCNAIR, GLEN MCGREGOR, KORY TENEYCKE, KARL BÉLANGER … and the rest of the usual cast of characters. | | Where the leaders are | | — Deputy Prime Minister CHRYSTIA FREELAND is in Toronto for a noon-hour roundtable with media and Black community stakeholders to talk about the spring budget. — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Conservative Leader PIERRE POILIEVRE had not released public itineraries by the time of this newsletter send. — NDP Leader JAGMEET SINGH is stumping with Toronto Danforth candidate CLARE HACKSEL to talk “ending corporate handouts” outside a Loblaws at 11 a.m., after which he’ll join Nestlé workers from Unifor Local 252 on the picket line. — Bloc Leader YVES-FRANÇOIS BLANCHET is on the left coast in her riding with plans to beam into parliamentary proceedings virtually. — Green Party Leader ELIZABETH MAY participates in Parliament virtually from her riding. | | DULY NOTED | |
11:40 a.m. Defense Minister BILL BLAIR holds a media avail with German counterpart BORIS PISTORIUS in Ottawa after their big bilat.
4 p.m. Immigration Minister MARC MILLER holds a media availability after a meeting of the Forum of Ministers Responsible for Immigration. | | | For your radar | | | 
Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc at a press briefing in the House foyer earlier this week. | Spencer Colby, The Canadian Press | THINGS LEFT UNSAID — If potted plants could talk. When Democratic Institutions Minister DOMINIC LEBLANC and Justice Minister ARIF VIRANI stood in West Block this week to announce legislation to combat foreign interference, they were joined by a backdrop of MPs. The lawmakers, most of them from Toronto and Metro Vancouver ridings, had responded to an open callout to join LeBlanc and Virani at the media announcement. — The spotted potted: Liberal MPs WILSON MIAO, JEAN YIP, TALEEB NOORMOHAMED, RUBY SAHOTA, RANDEEP SARAI, SUKH DHALIWAL, PARM BAINS, PAM DAMOFF and Cabmin KAMAL KHERA. “We know that foreign interference primarily targets diaspora communities,” a senior Canadian government official not authorized to talk publicly about the photo-op and legislation told Playbook. “It’s not a surprise that MPs with very multicultural ridings would be chiefly interested in what the government is doing in that space.” JENNIFER O'CONNELL, LeBlanc’s parliamentary secretary, was also on hand when the Liberals shared details of legislation that would grant new powers to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and create a new foreign agents registry — an idea supported by all parties. — Missing from the zeitgeist: The potted plants — MPs without speaking roles at the event — represent ridings where diaspora communities often get their news from non-mainstream, non-English or French-language sources. These outlets, as countless parliamentary committees have been told, can be susceptible to foreign interference. — Recco for resilience: “For some time now, a resilient and informed population is our best defense against foreign interference,” LeBlanc said Monday. When U of T poli science prof LYNETTE ONG made the same observation three years ago, she offered MPs some advice: “Increase funding of Chinese media to reduce reliance on foreign media sources coming from China.” — Foreign inspiration: While the United States has had a foreign agents registry since 1938, Canadian drafters looked to Australia’s 2018 scheme because “it was developed in a more modern context,” according to the government official. — Intentionally broad: The official emphasized that the current language on the foreign agents registry is only a framework. Whether the registry has teeth will depend on who is picked to be foreign influence transparency commissioner. — What’s next: The legislation needs to get passed. That will be followed by new consultations in the regulatory process. That means waiting for proposed regulations to be gazetted in Canada I and II. — Spoiler alert: It'll be awhile before anyone’s appointed — and longer still before the registry is in place. | | | WHO'S UP, WHO'S DOWN | | | |  Sophie Grégoire Trudeau's new book is top of the charts in the Star this week. | AFP via Getty Images | UP: SOPHIE GRÉGOIRE TRUDEAU — No. 1 on the Star’s Canadian non-fiction list. DOWN: The Canadian Chamber of Commerce, which backtracked on a claim about capital gains taxation after CP reporter NOJOUD AL MALLEES checked the math. | | MEDIA ROOM | | | | 
Sabrina Maddeaux has suspended her campaign for a Conservative nomination. | Courtesy of Sabrina Maddeaux | — NP’s CATHERINE LÉVESQUE nabbed an interview with SABRINA MADDEAUX, who suspended her campaign for the CPC nomination in Aurora–Oak Ridges–Richmond Hill alleging misconduct. — The number of far-right groups in Canada has tripled since 2015. “How did we get here?” TVO’s THE AGENDA asks. “Well, we’ve been here.” — Top of POLITICO this hour: DONALD TRUMP, livid at STORMY DANIELS' testimony, enlists allies to undercut her. — KATHRYN MAY takes on changes to hybrid work rules: “Lots of brouhaha, plenty of anger and emotional pushback.” — The Star's MARK RAMZY writes that there are Green Party members calling for a leadership election a year and a half after ELIZABETH MAY returned to power on a mandate with JONATHAN PEDNEAULT. — The Walrus has a timely read from JON PEIRCE: “Hybrid workplaces are still a headache.” — From the ANGUS REID INSTITUTE: “Canada’s national party leaders have never been less popular, and 50 years of data demonstrates that.” — “We’ve come to expect our elected officials will lie to us, and they’ve been more than happy to live up — or down — to that standard,” writes the National Observer’s MAX FAWCETT. | | PROZONE | |
Our latest policy newsletter for Pro subscribers from ZI-ANN LUM: Canada braces for ‘difficult’ wildfire season.
Published this morning by MALLORY CULHANE and ROSMERY IZAGUIRRE: What you need to know about U.S. tech policy and 2024. In other news for Pro readers: — Airlines clash with the EU over greenwashing claims. — Alaska mining road dealt another blow as support shrinks. — GAVIN NEWSOM is coming for your car, and he wants you to know it. — TikTok to automatically label AI-generated image, video content. | | PLAYBOOKERS | | Birthdays: HBD to former Cabmin and current BMO bigwig SCOTT BRISON and to Rubicon’s ANDREW BALFOUR. Also celebrating today: Sen. DOUG BLACK, Mississauga Ward 11 councillor BRAD BUTT, former MPs PAUL STECKLE and PAUL SZABO and former New Brunswick House Speaker BEV HARRISON. On Saturday: HBD to Conservative MP JOHN BRASSARD (60!) and to former Senator NANCY GREENE RAINE. On Sunday: HBD to former to Sen. GEORGE FUREY, journalist and former Sen. ANDRÉ PRATTE, professor and former Liberal leader MICHAEL IGNATIEFF and former parliamentarian and ambassador SERGIO MARCHI. Birthdays, gatherings, social notices for this community: Send them our way. Spotted: Conservative MP LIANNE ROOD calling out Tim Hortons for its “wacko menu items” and “woke paper lids.” Public Safety Minister DOMINIC LEBLANC dropping by the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa to chat with Ambassador DAVID COHEN about transnational gangs, fentanyl and border security. Ukrainian Ambassador YULIYA KOVALIV on the floor of the House of Commons, marking Vyshyvanka Day on the Hill with MPs wearing theirs: MARIE-FRANCE LALONDE, LEAH TAYLOR ROY, HELENA JACZEK, TERRY DUGUID, JUDY SGRO and YVAN BAKER. Dr. MELITA GABRIČ marking her last Europe Day as ambassador of the European Union to Canada with a fête at the National Gallery of Canada with House Speaker GREG FERGUS, Liberal MP ROB OLIPHANT, FRANCESCO SORBARA and dignitaries including Lithuanian Ambassador DARIUS SKUSEVIČIUS, Swedish Ambassador SIGNE BURGSTALLER, Hungarian Ambassador MARIA VASS-SALAZAR, German Ambassador SABINE SPARWASSER, Dutch Ambassador INES COPPOOLSE, Estonian Ambassador MARGUS RAVA and Ukrainian Ambassador YULIYA KOVALIV. Movers and shakers: ALEX JAGRIC, the PMO’s outgoing director of parliamentary affairs and issues management, gets the Poli LEGO farewell treatment … SHAILA ANWAR making history this week as the first woman to permanently hold the roles of “Clerk of the Senate and Clerk of the Parliaments.” Media mentions: JOE BONGIORNO has joined The Canadian Press. Farewells: Renowned Canadian commentator REX MURPHY has died at the age of 77. NP reports: “A fixture of the Canadian media and punditry scene, a regular on the public-speaking circuit, and, perhaps less well-known, an aficionado of The Simpsons and, at least until the pandemic, when he was forced to learn how to toss together Kraft Dinner, a dreadful cook.” Send Playbookers tips to ottawaplaybook@politico.com . | | ON THE HILL | |
→ Find House committees here.
→ Keep track of Senate committees here. 8:30 a.m. Statistics Canada will release its April labor force survey. The statistics agency will also release new reports on international arrivals to Canada and real-time local business conditions. 10 a.m. Bloc Québécois Deputy House Leader CHRISTINE NORMANDIN will hold a press conference in West Block to show support for civilian staff on military bases. 11:40 a.m. National Defense Minister BILL BLAIR will hold a joint media availability with German Defense Minister BORIS PISTORIUS at national defense headquarters in Ottawa. | | TRIVIA | |
Thursday’s answer: A minister's chief of staff is a "two-key" hire, which means the Cabinet minister and the Prime Minister's Office must sign off.
Props to BARBARA GRANTHAM, PHAEDRA DE SAINT-ROME, CHRISTOPHER LALANDE, MATT DELISLE, KOEN BERTENS, MARC LEBLANC, SHAUGHN MCARTHUR, BOB HOWSAM, D.G. STRINGER, MARCEL MARCOTTE, LORETTA O’CONNOR, CHRIS RANDS, JOHN MERRIMAN and BOB ERNEST. Friday’s question: What was the subject of Canada’s first commission of inquiry in 1869?
- Tobacco trade
- Canadian Pacific Railway
- Public service reform
- Lobster industry
Answer to ottawaplaybook@politico.com Writing Monday’s Ottawa Playbook: KYLE DUGGAN Playbook wouldn’t happen without: POLITICO Canada editor Sue Allan, editor Willa Plank and Luiza Ch. Savage. 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. | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | 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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