Dairy cows are shown in a barn on a farm in Eastern Ontario on April 19, 2017.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
CANADIAN POLITICS
Although Canada has yet to formally launch negotiations for a free-trade agreement with China, the Trudeau Liberals are eager to move quickly on the file and "demonstrate progress in our first mandate," Finance Minister Bill Morneau told The Globe. Mr. Morneau said that the government may look to pursue a range of smaller sector-specific trade deals as opposed to a comprehensive trade deal. A poll conducted by The Globe earlier this month showed that Canadians were wary of deepening economic ties with China.
I can't believe it's butter...that caused U.S. President Donald Trump to target Canada's dairy industry. Milk is made of two primary components, skim and "butterfat." In recent years the latter's popularity has risen significantly, leading to a predicament for Canadian dairy farmers who were left with excess skim. The result has been a raft of cross-border dairy-based issues.
The other long-running trade irritant between Canada and the U.S., softwood lumber, is expected to flare up on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has had to pay much more attention to the Senate than before, documents show.
The introduction of Pat Stogran, the former veterans watchdog, into the NDP leadership race is expected to stir things up for the leading four candidates. He "might force some of the other candidates to take a clearer stand on some of the issues," said former party national director Karl Belanger.
And Private Thomas Welch died by suicide at 22, just months after returning from the Afghanistan war. More than a decade later, his family is still tormented by unanswered questions. His story reveals gaps in the Canadian Forces' inquiry system. Today, military ombudsman Gary Walbourne will release the results of a review into how the Forces deals with families of fallen soldiers.
Campbell Clark (The Globe and Mail) on Canada's economic high-wire act: "Canada can talk to both the United States and China at the same time, of course. But when it comes to closing a deal, the United States must come first. So the trick in juggling the world's two biggest economies is keeping the focus on the United States without dropping China. If it wasn't for Mr. Trump, Mr. Trudeau's government might be strategizing right now about selling a coming trade deal with China to the ambivalent Canadian electorate." (for subscribers)
Bessma Momani and Jillian Stirk (The Globe and Mail) on the business of populism: "Canadians have a choice about what kind of society they want. While on the surface things may look good compared to Trump's America – or Europe on the brink of a populist crisis – there is no cause for complacency. Canadians need to tackle discrimination head-on and seize the opportunity to use diversity to drive the economy and link to the world. And when the demagogues fail to deliver, as they surely will, the time will be ripe for Canada to show how diversity is an opportunity that can benefit everyone."
Sylvain Charlebois (The Globe and Mail) on supply management: "Dairy farmers are not to blame – they were just protecting assets and defending the next generation. Who wouldn't? But the leadership should have come from Ottawa. Several federal governments have consistently shown weak leadership on this file. Little strategic attention was given to our supply management regime. Shame on them."
B.C. ELECTION
BC Green Party Leader Andrew Weaver will be in The Globe and Mail's Vancouver office today for a roundtable interview about his party and its platform. The Greens are hoping to make a breakthrough by adding to their lone seat in the legislature – Mr. Weaver's – though some pundits have suggested they could also end up being a spoiler for the NDP. The interview will be streamed live on the Globe BC Facebook page starting at about 12 p.m. PT.
The BC Liberals have launched a fresh attack on the New Democrats' platform, with a five-page document prepared by two former federal Finance Department bureaucrats that says paying for the all of the NDP's promises without significantly raising taxes would be "virtually impossible." But the New Democrats say the assessment is based on "fabrications" that don't exist in the party's platform, such as a four-year freeze on BC Hydro rates and a one-year freeze on ICBC rates.
Among the BC Liberals' failed promises from the 2013 campaign was a plan to connect every British Columbian who wanted one with a family doctor. The GP for Me program was supposed to happen by 2015, but instead that was the year the Liberal government acknowledged it wouldn't meet that goal. The number of people in the province unable to find a regular doctor is estimated at about 200,000, though half a million aren't even looking. The Liberals and the NDP are making promises to address the problem — though more modest than the Liberals' GP for Me promise from four years ago.
Werner Antweiler (The Globe and Mail) on bridge tolls: "Unfortunately, even though the Liberals and NDP have a valid point, they fail to see the bigger picture. When used wisely, bridge and road tolls can be a useful instrument to fine-tune traffic flow, relieve congestion, and optimize transportation choices on a city-wide scale."
Mike Smyth (The Province) on the NDP leader John Horgan: "Clark is particularly adept at getting under his skin. One of the reasons she (falsely) accused the NDP of hacking the Liberal party website recently was to bait and bother Horgan."
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INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
Centrist Emmanuel Macron and far-right Marine Le Pen will face off against each other in the runoff of the French Presidential Election. It marks the first time in modern French history that no major party candidate will be in the final round of voting — French Socialist Party candidate Benoit Hamon finished in fifth place while the leader of the centre-right, François Fillion, ended in third place after a campaign dogged by personal scandal. Mr. Hamon ("There is a distinction between a political adversary and the enemy of the Republic") and Mr. Fillon ("No other option but to vote against the far right") urged their supporters to vote for Mr. Macron but Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the far-left candidate who finished in fourth, refused to do the same.
Republicans hold the House of Representatives, the Senate, and the White House. Despite this, the federal government may be headed towards a shutdown. At the crux of the battle between legislators on Capitol Hill and the Trump administration is funding for the wall on the U.S.-Mexican border. It is unclear why the U.S. would need to set aside funding for the wall because Mr. Trump reiterated countless times during the campaign to roaring support that Mexico would pay for the wall. If negotiations fail, the government would shut down on Saturday, Mr. Trump's 100th day in office.
The Associated Press had a lengthy sit-down interview with Mr. Trump in the Oval Office that offered an illuminating look at the U.S. President. One excerpt:
TRUMP: OK. The one thing I've learned to do that I never thought I had the ability to do. I don't watch CNN anymore.
AP: You just said you did.
TRUMP: No. No, I, if I'm passing it, what did I just say (inaudible)?
AP: You just said —
TRUMP: Where? Where?
AP: Two minutes ago.
TRUMP: No, they treat me so badly. No, I just said that. No, I, what'd I say, I stopped watching them. But I don't watch CNN anymore. I don't watch MSNBC. I don't watch it. Now I heard yesterday that MSNBC, you know, they tell me what's going on.
Rebecca Traister (New York Magazine) on women and the future of the Democratic Party: "In the midst of one of the most activated, energized, ground-up movements in modern Democratic political history — where the energy is coming from women who remain underrepresented in state and federal legislatures — the Unity Tour, with its two men making pronouncements about what the party should do next, felt exceedingly out of touch. And the dynamic — the women doing the labor of organizing and protesting and campaigning, knocking on doors and making calls and sending postcards, while guys speak from the microphones about the need to compromise on their rights — is depressingly retro."
SECUREDROP
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PLAYOFF SPORTS
And then there were two. The Ottawa Senators became the second Canadian team to make it through to the second round of the playoffs after defeating the Boston Bruins in overtime. In Toronto, the upstart Maple Leafs were bounced out of the playoffs after losing to the Washington Capitals in overtime of Game 6. And on the hardwood the Toronto Raptors head into a pivotal Game 5 at home tonight against the Milwaukee Bucks tied 2-2.
Written by Mayaz Alam in Toronto, Chris Hannay in Ottawa and James Keller in Vancouver.
Chris Hannay