Good morning. Parliament returns today after a three-month break. The Liberals' tax reform is sure to be a hot topic of debate – even among some in the Liberal caucus. Bill Curry has more:
Liberal MP Wayne Long isn't backing away from his outspoken criticism of his own government's latest tax plan.
In an open letter to Finance Minister Bill Morneau, the New Brunswick MP challenged the minister to spend more time listening to the concerns being expressed by small business owners.
"Consultation is not about defending — it is about listening. I share the same concerns of my many constituents, that we are moving too fast," he wrote in an open letter released Sunday. The letter builds on comments he made last week to The Globe and Mail in an interview.
Mr. Long spent 15 years as president of Scotia View Seafood, as well as 12 years as president of the Saint John Sea Dogs.
"It is not my intent to be difficult or obstructive, but I feel I must follow both my head and my heart in standing up against these proposals — I am standing up for small businesses in Saint John-Rothesay, and across Canada," he wrote on Sunday. "Let me be clear. I love my government… I just cannot support measures that I feel will have a detrimental effect on small businesses in my riding. I would be failing my constituents."
The tax issue is expected to dominate the fall sitting of Parliament, which begins today.
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CANADIAN HEADLINES
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is meeting with British Prime Minister Theresa May in Ottawa today. A key topic of their talks will be the trade dispute between Boeing and Bombardier. Boeing, which is based in the U.S., says it will spend billions in Canada's aerospace industry if the Canadian government goes forward with a purchase of Super Hornet jets.
The RCMP sidelined hundreds of cases – most in organized crime – when the police force had to pivot resources to counter-terrorism after the Oct., 2014, shootings, documents show.
B.C.'s New Democrats are expected to table long-awaited campaign finance legislation today, as the new government seeks to address the province's reputation as the "wild west" of political donations. The new rules are expected to ban corporate and union donations, set a $1,200 yearly limit for personal donations and prohibit foreign contributions. The legislation will also tighten rules for third-party advertising to ensure it does not become a loophole to get around the law. The New Democrats have been criticized for holding cash-for-access fundraisers in advance of the new rules, charging donors hundreds of dollars for access to Premier John Horgan or cabinet ministers. Attorney-General David Eby says the party is playing by the current rules until it can change them.
B.C.'s NDP government has put several major natural resource and infrastructure projects under review since taking power, most notably the Site C hydroelectric dam. The $8.8-billion project in the province's north was a key priority of the previous BC Liberal government; critics claim it will devastate the surrounding environment while providing power that isn't needed. But the final equation for the New Democrats is complicated, as the government balances those criticisms with mapping out how to power the province while ensuring it keeps off fossil fuels.
Two by-elections have been scheduled for October in ridings vacated by former Harper cabinet ministers Rona Ambrose and Denis Lebel.
And with less than two weeks left for the first round of voting, the candidates for the federal NDP leadership made their final appeal to members this weekend.
Campbell Clark (The Globe and Mail) on the NDP leadership race: "NDP leadership candidate Guy Caron spent last week travelling through Calgary, Edmonton, Regina and Toronto to tell New Democrats that he can win in Quebec. There's not much point taking the message directly to Quebec: There are hardly any NDP members there to hear it."
Richard Shimooka and David McDonough (The Globe and Mail) on the Super Hornets: "The Liberals need to immediately cancel the interim buy and pursue a permanent fighter replacement competition. It's about time they put an end to this farce, sooner rather than later."
Charnel Anderson (CBC) on Senator Lynn Beyak: "Senator Lynn Beyak should really leave the governing of First Nations to First Nations
leaders."
Chantal Hebert (Toronto Star) on tax plans and marijuana plans: "While polls have found a potentially supportive audience for the Liberal tax fairness rationale, Justin Trudeau's contention that he wants to legalize marijuana to keep it out of the hands of minors has mostly been met with incredulity."
INTERNATIONAL HEADLINES
Aid groups along the Bangladesh-Myanmar border are warning that Rohingya refugees could die due to a lack of food, water and shelter. As the situation intensifies, the UN has called it "a textbook example of ethnic cleansing," international awareness and outcry has loudened. Secretary General Antonio Guterres told the BBC that Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi has "a last chance" to halt the army's actions when she addresses her country on Tuesday. It all promises to come to a head this week at the UN General Assembly. Canada says it will speak up for the Rohingya, with Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland saying she has spoken to former secretary-general Kofi Annan and Mr. Trudeau planning to focus on the issue while he's at the assembly.
The U.S. says it will not attempt to renegotiate the historic Paris climate accord, as it faces intense pressure from 34 countries to take action on climate change. The comments came in Montreal on Saturday during a day-long meeting to maintain momentum to implement the Paris accord. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson followed up on Sunday by saying that the U.S. could remain in the agreement under the right conditions.
British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson is facing heat from his cabinet colleagues over what some say is his "backseat driving" on the Brexit file. Ahead of Prime Minister Theresa May's planned speech on the U.K.'s departure Mr. Johnson laid out his lengthy vision for a post-EU Britain, something that went beyond his responsibilities in his role.
And Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is considering a snap election as early as October in order to take advantage of his rising approval ratings and the relative weakness of the main opposition party due.
Derek Burney and Fen Osler Hampson (The Globe and Mail) on Trump's troubles: "Donald Trump is at war with most in the media and now with the congressional leadership of his own party. This certainly keeps him in the headlines, but does little for his agenda. His sudden compromise with the Democrats over aid to Hurricane Harvey victims combined with a short, three-month easing of the debt ceiling ran counter to the recommendations of his Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin, as well as Senate leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan who are having their own problems trying to reconcile deep-seated conflicts within Republican ranks. All this complicates timely action on major legislation like the budget and tax reform."
Maureen Dowd (New York Times) on Blair, Farage and Brexit: "The two men, one working in London and one in Brussels, are not fresh faces in Britain. But they are facing off as nemeses, like Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Moriarty wresting on the edge of a cliff, over where the country will go next."
Elizabeth Rush (Washington Post) on the rising tides: "Warmer seas, combined with higher atmospheric temperatures, feed storms, helping turn average hurricanes into spectacularly destructive events. Add accelerated sea level rise into the mix, and you get large swaths of North American coastline inundated in previously unimaginable amounts of water."
Chris Hannay