Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, Hunter Tootoo, announces the federal government's commitment to reopening the Kitsilano Coast Guard facility, in Vancouver, B.C., on Wednesday December 16, 2015.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
This is The Globe's daily politics newsletter. Sign up to get it by e-mail each morning.
POLITICS BRIEFING
By Chris Hannay (@channay)
Nunavut MP Hunter Tootoo has resigned from Justin Trudeau's cabinet and left the Liberal caucus to seek treatment for addiction. The Prime Minister's Office released a perfunctory statement and little has been said on the record so far about what led to the sudden resignation. A source told The Globe and Mail that Mr. Tootoo had been struggling with alcohol abuse. Sources told CTV News that there was an incident at the Liberal convention in Winnipeg this past weekend.
When Newfoundland MP Seamus O'Regan sought treatment for a drinking problem earlier this year, he remained in the Liberal caucus.
House Leader Dominic LeBlanc is taking on Mr. Tootoo's portfolio as fisheries minister in the meantime.
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW IN OTTAWA
> The Liberals' assisted-dying legislation is now in the Senate, after MPs supported the bill 186-137 at third reading. The bill 'can't' get through the Red Chamber before the Supreme Court's June 6 deadline, Senate Liberal leader James Cowan says, and it is likely to face many amendments.
> China's foreign minister is in Ottawa today to meet with Mr. Trudeau and lay the groundwork for the Prime Minister's visit to the country in the fall.
> A coalition of business groups is urging the Liberals to target Canada Pension Plan reform at middle-income earners. The groups say that Canadians who earn less than $27,500 a year would be better helped through Old Age Security and the Guaranteed Income Supplement.
> Ottawa is increasing the amount it pays to severely disabled veterans, but those at higher ranks will get much higher bumps than those at low ranks.
> More than 130 Canadian ambassadors will descend on Ottawa for a high-level meeting next week, the first such mass gathering of diplomats in years (or possibly ever).
> And "elbowgate" is officially over: the procedure and House affairs committee has dropped the matter and cleared the Prime Minister.
REGIONAL ROUNDUP
> Newfoundland and Labrador: Only six months into office, Premier Dwight Ball is preparing to shake up his staffing.
> New Brunswick: Premier Brian Gallant is travelling to an energy conference in Toronto in support of the Energy East pipeline.
> Alberta: MLA Derek Fildebrant is back in the Wildrose caucus after a brief suspension due to what the politician says was an accidental endorsement of a homophobic Facebook comment.
WHAT EVERYONE'S TALKING ABOUT
Campbell Clark (Globe and Mail): "Outside the United States, people just don't like Donald Trump. But Canadians like him a little more than most. Yes, it's true that Canadians prefer Hillary Clinton, and that polls suggest Mr. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for U.S. president, would take a drubbing if he ran for office here. But there are Trump fans in Canada. In fact, there seem to be more in Canada than in other countries, according to a recent six-nation poll." (for subscribers)
Cindy Forbes (Globe and Mail): "It has been suggested that there are no negative consequences to not passing Bill C-14. But if Parliament does not act by June 6, there would be a legislative vacuum in the criminal law on these and other key issues. Without federal legislation, confusion would remain about the fact that one doctor's involvement would be enough, even though there is widespread agreement that at least one other medical practitioner must agree that all of the eligibility criteria have been met. Further, no written request would be required, nor would a period of reflection or 'cooling off' be required, even though these have been identified as key issues."
Bruce Anderson (Globe and Mail): "Prime Minister Justin Trudeau included a commitment to electoral reform in his platform last fall. In general, leaders should not walk away from commitments because they become controversial. Leadership is doing what you believe is right, and accepting that you might lose some political support to get important things done. But last October's election was about many other things, not just electoral reform. Based on our Abacus polling, it's impossible to arrive at the conclusion that citizens absorbed and green-lit the idea that our system had to change before the next election."
Tim Powers (Hill Times): "Frankly, it might not be a bad thing for [Democratic Institutions Minister Maryam] Monsef to wave a white flag of surrender sooner rather than later if her government is not fully committed to doing the ugly, messy work required to ditch the first-past-the-post model. These initiatives can drive governments to distraction and contribute to their undoing."
Tom Clark (Global News): "Chances are good that this whole ["elbowgate"] affair has qualified for the top 10 list of political embarrassments for everyone, from the prime minister to the opposition, and right on down to the committee that was going to set things right in the world again. You're darn right none of them want to revisit it."
Welcome to the Globe Politics newsletter! Let us know what you think.
Chris Hannay