Growing flowers of cannabis intended for the medical marijuana market are shown at OrganiGram in Moncton, N.B., on April 14, 2016.Ron Ward/The Canadian Press
CANADIAN NEWS YOU SHOULD KNOW
The Liberal government is aiming to introduce legislation to legalize and regulate the sale of marijuana next month, sources say. The Liberals hope to have a bill out before April 20 -- or, as cannabis enthusiasts call it, 4/20.
Canada says it has no intention to pursue closer ties to China without making human rights an important part of engagement. A Globe and Mail investigation on the weekend looked into claims of people who say they were tortured by the Chinese government.
Treasury Board President Scott Brison says reforms to the access-to-information law have stalled due to privacy concerns.
Members of Parliament for opposition parties explain to the Hill Times why they've been fighting the Liberals' proposed parliamentary reforms. "If our rights are lost, it's not just the official opposition or the third party, it's all of us. … We're working very closely," NDP MP David Christopherson said.
Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains continues to be Justin Trudeau's most-lobbied cabinet minister.
The Belgian region of Wallonia is once again threatening to hold up the Canada-EU trade deal from coming into force.
And the principal of McGill University says Andrew Potter was right to step down from an academic job at the school after publishing an article critical of Quebec. "It is not a role to provoke, but to promote good discussion," Suzanne Fortier said.
This is the daily Politics Briefing newsletter. If you're reading this on the web or someone forwarded this email newsletter to you, you can sign up for Politics Briefing and all Globe newsletters here. Let us know what you think.
U.S. NEWS YOU SHOULD KNOW
"We will be able to immediately repeal and replace Obamacare." Less than 100 days into Donald Trump's presidency, Republicans have been dealt a significant blow. Trumpcare (or Ryancare) is dead, for now and the finger-pointing has begun. But the question remains: Who killed it?
The Wall Street Green Summit will play host to Environment Minister Catherine McKenna in New York today, where she will pitch Canada's green energy sector to investors. On Tuesday, Mr. Trump is expected to sign an executive order that will undo former president Barack Obama's Clean Power Plan.
Mr. Trump has been in office for nearly 70 days now. On 21 of those days he has visited one of his own properties, according to a Washington Post analysis.
And lost amid the chaos in Washington on Friday, Democrats introduced the "Making Access Records Available to Lead American Government Openness Act," aka the MAR-A-LAGO Act.
LUNCHTIME LONG READ
President Trump has talked about how much he likes Fox News' coverage -- so the New York Times spent 18 hours straight watching the channel and paying attention to just what they said.
WHAT EVERYONE'S TALKING ABOUT
Campbell Clark (Globe and Mail): "The nitty-gritty details of the workings of Parliament are eye-glazingly dull, so most people quite rightly ignore them most of the time. But this is one occasion when Canadians should keep watch. The Liberal government has signalled they want to change the rules, extensively, quickly, and possibly without the consent of the other political parties in the House of Commons."
Lloyd Axworthy and Allan Rock (Globe and Mail): "As the Government moves to restore voting rights to Canadians living overseas, it should also restore another fundamental birthright by allowing foreign-born descendants of Canadians who were themselves born outside our country to begin life with Canadian citizenship."
Ramesh Thakur and Cesar Jaramillo (Globe and Mail): "Canada's proud record of leadership in nuclear-arms-control initiatives makes its submission to U.S. obstructionism especially egregious."
Harold Pollack (Politico): "Like you, I'm reading all the insider accounts of what went wrong. By their nature, these stories focus on anecdotes about who said what and when. But make no mistake: This was a failure of policy and legislative strategy—things that were supposed to be Ryan's special sauce—not of tactics. Even if President Trump were the master negotiator he claims to be, he probably couldn't have saved it."
Avik Roy (Forbes): "Failing to build consensus. Rushing through consequential policy debates without adequate reflection. Bullying those with legitimate disagreements. Limiting members' ability to offer constructive amendments. And abandoning a core campaign promise after the first sign of real adversity.This is what Paul Ryan calls governing?"
Written by Chris Hannay and Mayaz Alam.