Hello,
Normally, hundreds of federal Conservatives would be gathering at a convention venue somewhere for their policy convention beginning today.
But the Party Policy Convention is being held online, with more than 5,500 people registered to log in and attend.
Dr. Leslyn Lewis, who ran for the party leadership and is now the party’s candidate in the Ontario riding of Halimand-Norfolk, is co-hosting the convention with Archy Beaudry, a Quebec radio host.
As Bill Curry and I report here, the convention is a key event for Erin O’Toole, the party leader, given the prospect of an election.
Mr. O’Toole is to deliver a speech on Friday afternoon, and also participate Saturday in a Q&A session.
Columnist’s Comment John Ibbitson: “Conservative policy conventions have often featured drama. In 2005, Stephen Harper got so angry he threw a chair across the room. This year the drama comes in two forms: efforts by social conservatives to dominate elections to the National Council, and efforts by Erin O’Toole, the new leader, to squash growing caucus dissent as he tries to move the party to the left. All in all, it should be fun to watch.
This is the daily Politics Briefing newsletter, written by Ian Bailey. It is available exclusively to our digital subscribers. If you’re reading this on the web, subscribers can sign up for the Politics newsletter and more than 20 others on our newsletter signup page. Have any feedback? Let us know what you think.
TODAY’S HEADLINES
The Conservatives are calling on three senior Liberal staffers to appear as witnesses to explain their interactions with the Kielburger brothers as the next step in reviewing how WE Charity was selected to run a since-abandoned student volunteer program.
Intolerably suffering Canadians who are not near the natural end of their lives now have the right to seek medical assistance in dying after the expansion of Canada’s assisted dying regime went into effect Wednesday night after the Senate accepted a revised version of Bill C-7.
Ottawa’s extension of income support for unemployed workers during the COVID-19 pandemic will tack on more than $5-billion in government spending costs, Parliament’s budget watchdog says in a new report.
New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs says the three Maritime provinces plan to enter into a travel bubble by mid-April, with Newfoundland and Labrador joining later – and hopes barriers to visitors from the rest of Canada could be lifted by early July.
PRIME MINISTER’S DAY
The Prime Minister will speak with the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva.
LEADERS:
Jagmeet Singh speaks virtually to the C.D. Howe Institute about NDP’s plan on small business and the pandemic.
OPINION
John Ibbitson (The Globe and Mail) on the need for Conservatives to put a price on carbon: “But Ken Boessenkool, who was senior policy adviser to former prime minister Stephen Harper and chief of staff to Ms. Clark, warned that without a carbon tax, Conservatives will lose seats, not only in suburban Ontario and B.C., but “in the Western ridings that are on the cusp” – ridings such as Calgary Centre or Edmonton Mill Woods or Regina-Wascana, where the Conservatives are vulnerable to the Liberals or NDP. Those are the kinds of seats that we can keep in our column when we have a really good, credible climate-change policy,” he said.”
Konrad Yakabuski (The Globe and Mail) on why the Kielburger brothers need to grow up: “The Kielburgers did themselves no favours by defying and berating MPs during their Monday testimony. They came off as petulant spoiled children. Accompanied by their lawyer, they objected to MPs questioning them about allegations that WE switched the names on plaques at a school it built in Kenya depending on which donor it was trying to ingratiate itself to at the time. But it was not up to them to decide what MPs get to ask them about. And it is in the public interest that light be shed on the activities of a charity that appears to have misled donors.”
Brandon Trask (The Globe and Mail) on the perils of COVID-19 vaccine passports: “Rather than attempt to impose vaccine requirements on the population – whether overtly or covertly – governments need to focus on developing strong education campaigns so that individuals can make an informed decision to, one hopes, act for the common good.”
Fiona MacDonald and Stephanie Paterson (The Ottawa Citizen) on the challenges of dealing with power structures in the Department of National Defence: “The “add women and stir” approach has dominated Canadian measures for gender equality since the 1980s. It is premised on the idea, reflected in Sajjan’s comments, that numeric representation of underrepresented groups will lead to better outcomes for their members. Such an approach, however, largely leaves power structures and practices intact, the very structures that have contributed to underrepresentation. As feminist scholars and activists have consistently demonstrated, while adding members of underrepresented groups to existing power structures and practices is necessary for inclusion and equity, it is by no means synonymous with change.”
READER’S QUESTIONS
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Ian Bailey