Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks in Toronto, on April 24, 2017.Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press
CANADIAN POLITICS
The RCMP investigation into the leaking of cabinet documents that led to the suspension of Vice-Admiral Mark Norman was personally ordered by Justin Trudeau, The Globe's Robert Fife and Steven Chase report. Information often leaks in Ottawa, and it is unusual for a prime minister to ask the RCMP to get involved.
Mr. Trudeau admitted yesterday that his father Pierre used his connections to help younger brother Michel avoid a criminal record for marijuana possession.
The Ontario government has chosen Hamilton, Thunder Bay and Lindsay as test cases in its pilot project to examine how a universal basic income affects social outcomes. About 4,000 residents were chosen at random from the three regions. Those included will be people who are under or unemployed, living in poverty or working minimum-wage jobs. Similar experiments are underway in Kenya, Finland, the Netherlands and Oakland, California.
Heritage Minister Melanie Joly rejected funding for a Canada 150 show on CBC, but bureaucrats pushed back and got her to change her mind, documents show. The public broadcaster has many shows that were made possible by the government's fund for celebrating the 150th anniversary of Confederation, in addition to the billion dollars in direct funding the CBC receives every year.
Manitoba Justice Vic Toews, a cabinet minister in Stephen Harper's Conservative government, will face the Canadian Judicial Council over a recent ruling from the federal conflict-of-interest commissioner that raised concerns with Justice Toews' actions between his time in politics and his time on the bench.
And Kevin Vickers, the former-Sergeant-at-arms-turned-ambassador-to-Ireland, expressed worries that he would lose his job after he tackled a protester last year. "I would not be surprised if my great gig is up. And if so, it has been a hell of a ride and nothing like going out with a bang," Mr. Vickers wrote in an email obtained through access-to-information.
Andrew Leach (The Globe and Mail) on Justin Trudeau's climate change policies: "Canada should be proud of the actions that it is taking. In most countries in the world, if a leader were to announce an aggressive carbon price of $50 a tonne by 2022, the phase out of coal-fired power by 2030, mandatory climate-change risk disclosure of publicly traded companies and investments in clean technology, the McKibbens and Suzukis of the world would applaud. This doesn't happen in Canada (or at least not for long) because the environmental celebrities are distracted by the oil sands and the potential that they could grow in the near future. In short, they fail to see the forest for the trees."
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B.C. ELECTION
B.C. Liberal Leader Christy Clark's leader's tour has been put on hold today as the premier musters a response to the United States' decision to impose a 20 per cent tariff on Canadian softwood lumber, her party says. Five Canadian exporters each face countervailing duty rates ranging from 3.02 per cent to 24.12 per cent as the Americans retaliate for what they describe as softwood subsidies in Canada. Ms. Clark describes the American concerns as "unfounded" and she's vowing to fight the tariffs. She previously appointed former federal cabinet minister David Emerson to be the province's envoy in Washington during softwood lumber negotiations.
B.C. Green Party Leader Andrew Weaver says he believes voters will be receptive to his "principled" platform — even if it means they may pay more in carbon taxes, bridge tolls and road pricing. Mr. Weaver, in a roundtable interview with The Globe and Mail, said he expects the party will have a breakthrough in the May 9 election, building on his lone seat. And his sights are high — Mr. Weaver said he won't stay on for more than another term if he's the only Green MLA in the legislature, and even boosting the party's standing to four seats would be a disappointment. There are no polls that suggest the Greens could come close to forming government, though there is some indication support is growing, particularly on Vancouver Island.
The New Democrats are defending an arrangement in which the United Steelworkers union hired and is paying the salaries of more than a dozen staff on the campaign, including senior officials. The Liberals say it's evidence the party is in the pocket of the union, but the New Democrats say they're only following the rules Ms. Clark's government have allowed to remain in place. One of the union staffers, Glen Sanford, insists that while he works for the union, he doesn't take orders from them.
David Suzuki and Faisal Moola (The Province) on the grizzly bear hunt: "The fate of B.C.'s grizzlies is too important to be a partisan issue. All politicians should support protection. Rough-and-tumble politics this election season might finally end B.C.'s cruel and unsustainable grizzly bear trophy hunt. It's time to stop this grisly business."
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INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
Brace yourselves. The softwood lumber wars are back. The U.S. has decided to impose a 20 per cent tariff on Canadian exports. The long-running dispute between the two countries enters its fifth round of negotiations since 1982.
The White House is pushing a 15 per cent corporate tax rate as part of its tax reform plans. Mr. Trump is said to want this, even if such a policy will blow a hole in the deficit and cripple any chance of tabling a balanced budget. Almost a tenth of all revenue expected to be collected by the federal government in 2018 will come in the form of corporate taxes.
Politicians around the European Union were quick to congratulate Emmanuel Macron following his first-place finish in the first round of France's presidential election. Many are hoping that his ascension will mean that the populist wave has crested and will continue to subside. Mr. Macron, the only major anti-Putin candidate in the first round, has been targeted by hackers with ties to Russia, which has been engaging in disinformation campaigns in elections across the world.
And today is the 85th anniversary of the Korean People's Army, commonly known as the North Korean Military. The country has often commemorated the anniversary with a show of force and South Korea is preparing for either a missile test or what would be the North's sixth test of a nuclear weapon. It was also reported yesterday that top Trump officials have asked the entire U.S. Senate to come to the White House for a briefing on the situation in the Korean Peninsula. That briefing will happen on Wednesday.
Margaret Wente (The Globe and Mail) on the French election: "Don't relax just yet. The real news is that the French political establishment has been decisively repudiated. For the first time in history, neither of the two finalists for president is from a major party. François Hollande, perhaps the most loathed man in France, is slinking out of office with a popularity rating that's been as low as 4 per cent. The first-round winner, Emmanuel Macron, heads a brand-new party that has no seats in the National Assembly. Anti-European populists got more than 40 per cent of the vote. This news is as seismic as Brexit and Donald Trump."
Chantal Hébert (Toronto Star) on Trudeau, Trump and the next French president: "It is a sign of the times that a Canadian prime minister and an American president are cheering for different candidates in the upcoming second round of France's presidential election — and that their contrary preferences are so transparent."
Matthew Yglesias (Vox) on respecting Trump voters: "If you really respect people and really want to help them, you need to level with them at some point. Struggling communities can and should be made more prosperous. They can and should receive more help from the federal government. But they can't be put back together exactly the way they were in the past. Things are going to keep changing, it's only a question of whether they change for the better or for the worse."
Written by Chris Hannay in Ottawa, Mayaz Alam in Toronto and James Keller in Vancouver.
Chris Hannay