Premier Kathleen Wynne, right, is seen with Health Minister Deb Matthews, left, during a swearing in ceremony at Queen's Park in Toronto, Ont.. Monday, February 11, 2013.Kevin Van Paassen/The Globe and Mail
Politics Today is your daily guide to some of the stories we're watching in Ottawa and across Canada, by The Globe and Mail's team of political reporters.
Can Wynne's government survive?
Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne is holding a jobs roundtable this morning with newly minted Finance Minister Charles Sousa and Economic Development Minister Eric Hoskins. Ms. Wynne says she'll incorporate opposition ideas into the Throne Speech next week and the budget that follows. She'll have to – those two events are the opposition's first time to bring down the Liberal minority government since Dalton McGuinty prorogued the legislature in the fall.
Meanwhile, in British Columbia...
Are the wheels coming off for the B.C. Liberals? The party won a 13-seat majority in 2009, before the unpopular HST forced Gordon Campbell to quit and be replaced with Christy Clark. The government chose not to recall the legislature after the summer break – only sitting for 47 days last year – and now that they're back, after infighting and resignations, the party has a five-seat majority. Two of those MLAs will be away next week, Justine Hunter reports. That raises the very real possibility the B.C. Liberals could lose a budget vote even before the election scheduled for the spring.
Good environmental news
The Harper government, always keen to announce good environmental news when it can, will be happy with an Environment Canada report today that shows a dramatic decline in pollutants like heavy metals and sulphur. The report does not cover greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide. Yesterday, Environment Minister Peter Kent said Ottawa is also close to announcing its draft regulations on the oil sands.
And good news for human-rights advocates
The Conservatives have agreed to support a Liberal motion to create a special committee to study the issue of murdered and missing aboriginal women, particularly in British Columbia. It's not quite the national inquiry some called for, but a day after a scathing report from Human Rights Watch, it's a big shift for the government.
Japan takes focus of G20
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is in Moscow for a G20 meeting today. Japan's monetary policies are the big issue today, with other governments critical of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's policies to fight deflation.
Chris Hannay