Politics Briefing newsletter: MPs head back to Ottawa for final pre-summer sprint

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Good morning,

Members of Parliament are flocking back to Ottawa today for their last legislative sprint before the months-long summer break. MPs will sit for a few more weeks -- on some days, until midnight -- and there is a lot of work to be done, as we detail here. The big question will be whether anything actually gets through the Senate and becomes law before parliamentarians rise in mid-June. Since the Senate has become more independent, it has taken a more leisurely pace to studying legislation, and the chamber's members may feel no rush to get bills passed as quickly as the Liberal government would like.

This is the daily Politics Briefing newsletter, written by Chris Hannay in Ottawa and Mayaz Alam in Toronto. 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.

CANADIAN HEADLINES

Justin Trudeau is at the Vatican today to meet with Pope Francis. The prime minister is expected to urge the leader of the Catholic church to issue a formal apology to Indigenous survivors of sexual and physical abuse at Catholic-run residential schools in Canada.

Andrew Scheer is the new leader of the Conservative Party. He was elected over the weekend and today will be his first day in Parliament as Official Opposition Leader. The Globe sat down with him yesterday (read here) to get to know a man who may still be unknown to many Canadians. Mr. Scheer narrowly beat out Quebec MP Maxime Bernier for the job. Mr. Bernier had been the frontrunner heading into the convention, but his campaign team admits some of his controversial positions, including on agriculture policy, tipped the scales enough for him to lose. "The farmers made the difference," his top policy adviser told The Globe.

Also on the weekend, the NDP held their first leadership debate with two new attention-grabbing contenders: former veterans ombudsman Pat Stogran and Ontario MPP Jagmeet Singh.

The Senate, which has a 22-person communications team, is spending $108,000 for an outside media consultant to help the committee that manages the chamber's administration.

A former government executive who butted heads with Jean Chretien over the "Shawinigate" affair says he's worried the Canada Infrastructure Bank is too open to political interference.

And Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi has made waves both across Canada and abroad and was re-elected in 2013 with 74 per cent of the vote. So why is he worried about seeking a third straight term in office? The Globe's Kelly Cryderman explores Mr. Nenshi's prospects.

John Ibbitson (The Globe and Mail) on social conservatives: "Mr. Scheer will neither want to, nor need to, abandon his own moderately 'so-con' aspect. Go into any riding in the huge suburbs outside Toronto and talk at length to immigrant voters from countries who dominate many of those ridings – immigrants from places such as India or the Philippines or the Middle East. You often hear this: Gay marriage offends our values; sex education belongs in the home, not the classroom; everyone seems to have rights, but no one has responsibilities. The affable MP from Regina may well appeal to these voters, especially if he can convincingly convey the message that only Conservatives will keep their taxes low and the economy sound."

Tom Flanagan (The Globe and Mail) on sunny ways, Scheer-style: "By the next election, there may be enough alienated Liberal supporters, on both left and right, to cut into the Liberal majority. For disappointed voters, Mr. Scheer will make a non-threatening, indeed cheerful alternative to Justin Trudeau."

Adam Radwanski (The Globe and Mail) on Bernier's loss: "Whereas leadership races typically encourage any serious contender to run primarily on platitudes for fear of scaring off would-be supporters, Mr. Bernier passionately put forward a bold libertarian agenda consistent with his own beliefs. Beyond just being upfront about his priorities, though, Mr. Bernier seemed unusually hell-bent on making them everyone else's."

Belinda Stronach (The Globe and Mail) on the Indigenous digital divide: "The mission to preserve and strengthen Indigenous languages requires urgent attention. When we lose an Indigenous language speaker, we lose an important part of Canadian history and society.

Greg Lyle (The Globe and Mail) on negotiations for B.C.'s minority government: "Any agreement that delivers stability to the government trades away the Greens' future relevance. If the Greens adopt some sort of pact that exchanges specific policy changes for a commitment of support for a determined period of time, they stop being newsworthy."

Chantal Hebert (Toronto Star) on the Conservatives' tent: "The influence of the religious right within the Conservative family is not matched by an equivalent impact in the ballot box. Over the years, flirting with restrictions on abortion and the party's resistance to same-sex marriage have cost the party more votes than they have attracted. As for the dairy farmers who mobilized against Bernier, they are at best fair weather friends who cannot be counted on to automatically sign up for the larger 2019 Conservative battle against supply-management friendly parties like the Bloc, the NDP and the Liberals."

Susan Delacourt (iPolitics) on keeping a united caucus: "Harper kept this awkward assembly together for a decade through iron-fisted discipline — which is much easier to pull off when one has the perks and punishments of power at one's disposal. Can Scheer hammer those pieces together after this weekend — with only the perks of Official Opposition to hand out, along with the promise of cabinet spots in the distant future?"

Robyn Urback (CBC) on Kellie Leitch: "It's tough to see how she comes back from this."

GLOBE TALKS

Are you a Globe reader in Toronto? On June 7, we are hosting a live panel discussion called "Globe Talks: NAFTA in Play," on the future of trade with our biggest partner. It features Globe journalists Barrie McKenna and Joanna Slater with experts Dan Ciuriak, Laura Dawson and Michael Kergin. Click here for details and tickets.

INTERNATIONAL HEADLINES

This weekend, The Globe launched its coverage of sustained, in-depth analysis into what U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to renegotiate NAFTA means. While NAFTA has had an overall moderately positive impact on North American economies, the impact on each separate country, and regions within each of those countries, has been varied.

Joanna Slater travelled to Tennessee county where NAFTA is a dirty word and found that many residents are deeply resentful of the deal and deeply doubtful over whether things will go back to normal. Clay County gave Mr. Trump his strongest result in the Republican primaries and residents are eagerly waiting to see if Mr. Trump can walk the walk after talking the talk.

In Mexico, Stephanie Nolen reports that the country faces a pivotal moment now that the trade agreement that turned it into an export powerhouse is in the crosshairs. Although Mexico has increased its exports to the U.S. from $54-billion in 1993 to $400-billion in 2016, widespread prosperity has yet to be achieved — real wages have stagnated and the poverty rate remains high since the trade deal was enacted.

And Barrie McKenna explores what NAFTA has meant for Canada and what it means going forward. The trade deal was initially about maintaining access to our largest trading partner as the U.S. looked to liberalize trade with Mexico and has helped drive GDP growth while massive manufacturing supply chains that criss-crossed North America emerged. But NAFTA has had comparatively little impact on innovation or competitiveness and Canada has lagged in high-tech compared to the U.S.

"We have to know that we must fight for our future on our own, for our destiny as Europeans," German Chancellor Angela Merkel said yesterday after a series of tense NATO and G7 meetings. The transatlantic alliance has underpinned the global order since 1945 but Ms. Merkel hinted that after U.S. President Donald Trump rebuked key NATO allies, retreated from the Paris climate accords and takes a protectionist stance those days may be over.

And it's time to forget about The Art Of The Deal and time to read up on the art, and science, behind Mr. Trump's fascination with domineering handshakes. One interesting footnote behind the handshakes seen around the world is that Mr. Trump, rumoured to be a germaphobe, has called shaking hands "barbaric" and "one of the curses of American society."

Stephanie Carvin (The Globe and Mail) on counterterrorism: "Behind the sad headlines, it is important to remember there has been progress. And while there will certainly be more tragedies, our ability to adapt to and prevent violent extremism has improved. There is good reason to have confidence that new challenges can be confronted and managed."

Barrie McKenna (The Globe and Mail) on global trade : "It's one thing for the United States to cajole China and others into opening their markets. But bullying China or other countries under the threat of tariffs is more likely to lead to more protectionism, not less, if countries retaliate. Even more dangerous is the message it sends to everyone when the world's No. 1 economy is no longer playing by the established rules of the road." (for subscribers)