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politics briefing

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrives to a press conference in Tokyo, Japan on Tuesday, May 24, 2016.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press

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POLITICS BRIEFING

By Chris Hannay (@channay)

> Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is in Japan, where he met with the Emperor and Empress and urged automakers to invest more in Canada. He and Sophie Grégoire Trudeau are taking tomorrow off to celebrate their 11th wedding anniversary, before attending the Group of Seven summit later this week.

> Last week's incident on the floor of the House of Commons probably didn't much affect Canadians' opinions of their prime minister, according to a new Abacus Data survey. (John Oliver didn't think much of it: after showing a video of the incident on Last Week Tonight, he says: "I guess that's a brawl by Canadian standards. To be honest, in New York, we just call that shopping at Trader Joe's.")

> Foreign Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion, meanwhile, is in Saudi Arabia, where he is being pressed to secure the release of political prisoners. And a former U.S. ambassador to Russia is saying Canada is showing "weakness" in not adopting a law to punish Russian human-rights violators.

> Parliament may have to be recalled in July to finish passing the assisted-dying legislation, if parliamentarians don't wrap it up in June, CTV News is reporting.

> A law passed by the previous Conservative government to boost hiring of veterans in the public service does not appear to be working. The Public Service Commission reports that just 146 of the nearly 20,000 people hired by the federal government were veterans who made use of the law.

> The senior ranks of the public service are going through major changes as deputy ministers retire in greater numbers and Mr. Trudeau puts his stamp on the executive level. (for subscribers)

> And Jane Taber takes a look at the difficult issue of honouring past Canadian political leaders, given their often poor treatment of First Nations.

WHAT EVERYONE'S TALKING ABOUT

Campbell Clark (Globe and Mail): "Prime Minister Justin Trudeau plays host to U.S. President Barack Obama and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto at the North American Leaders' Summit on June 29 and [Donald] Trump's campaign is anathema to all of them, separately and as the Three Amigos. In particular, it's Mr. Trump's broad assault on a North American trading bloc that clashes." (for subscribers)

Lawrence Martin (Globe and Mail): "[Bill] Graham served [as foreign affairs minister] when Ottawa said yes to war in Afghanistan, no to Iraq. How much did George W. Bush want Canada to take part in the latter mission? So badly that 'at one point,' Mr. Graham writes, the President 'offered to come personally to Ottawa to brief the prime minister on secret evidence about the existence of the [weapons of mass destruction].'"

Natalie Riediger (Globe and Mail): "Like the tobacco tax, the ultimate goal of a pop tax would be to improve health outcomes. Already we know that the burden of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease are greater among populations of low socioeconomic status. In other words, a sugar-sweetened-beverage tax alone would likely do very little to improve population health outcomes if it fails to change behaviour among low socioeconomic populations. Unfortunately, there is currently no research that indicates otherwise and, unless there is, we should refrain from implementing the tax."

Kate Heartfield (Ottawa Citizen): "We need several distinct political options in this country, for democracy to work well. We don't need any of those options to be pro-harassment. This is not a wedge issue, people. It serves no one if a bigoted, sexist rump is given a free hand to define and control the political right in this country."

Robyn Urback (National Post): "Before the federal election last fall, the Liberals vowed that – should they get the opportunity – they would do things differently [on government advertising]. On this file at least, they seem to have kept their promise. "

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