Politics Briefing: Conservatives plan big votes in both chambers

Good morning,

It’s going to be a long day — and night — in Ottawa.

In the House of Commons, the opposition Conservatives are planning to force dozens of votes and potentially keep the chamber open all night, in hopes of forcing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s national security adviser, Daniel Jean, to testify at a parliamentary committee.

Over in the Senate, Conservatives are calling for a vote on the government’s marijuana-legalization bill. The Tories have just 33 of the seats in the chamber, but they hope they can convince enough independents to vote with them – and that, between illnesses and travel, the pro-legalization side will lose enough votes to jeopardize the legislation.

This is the daily Politics Briefing newsletter, written by Chris Hannay in Ottawa, Mayaz Alam in Toronto and James Keller in Vancouver. 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. Have any feedback? Let us know what you think.

CANADIAN HEADLINES

The governing Liberals gave a $100,000 contract to Christopher Wylie in 2016, a man who is now a whistleblower on the misuse of Facebook data for political ends. The contract was one of many interactions Mr. Wylie had with the Liberals in the past decade, though the party says the 2016 contract was a one-off and there are no allegations that Mr. Wylie was involved in anything unethical while he worked for Canadian organizations.

Alberta Premier Rachel Notley says a pending Federal Court of Appeal decision on Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline expansion should be the end of the debate, with her government preparing to declare victory if the court rules in its favour. Conversely, she says a court ruling killing the project would be a monumental setback to the national climate plan and further delay her province’s plan to return to balanced budgets.

For now, Alberta is tabling a provincial budget today that will assume the Trans Mountain project, and another Enbridge pipeline into Wisconsin, will be built. The budget is expected to include revenue forecasts that will only come to pass with both pipelines in place.

All non-government board members at Manitoba Hydro have resigned as the province’s Progressive Conservative government attempts to assert more control of the publicly owned electricity provider. Nine board members said they resigned after coming to “an impasse” with the government.

B.C.’s premier is admitting that a proposed housing tax aimed at out-of-province investors could have “unintended consequences” and he says his finance minister is looking to fix them. But Premier John Horgan is also downplaying mounting opposition from cities that depend on vacation home owners like Kelowna, insisting that his government has been getting accolades for its recent housing measures.

Vancouver will elect a new mayor to replace Gregor Robertson this fall, and a few likely candidates are emerging.

And Calgary is forming a bid corporation to oversee the city’s pitch for the 2026 Winter Olympics — a pivotal step but one that still hinges on support from the Alberta government and Ottawa. City councillors narrowly voted this week to keep the bid alive, but things will only proceed if the other two levels of government agree to fund the $30-million bid process, which they have yet to commit to.

Campbell Clark (The Globe and Mail) on NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh: “The lack of clarity now fuels the notion that he’s reluctant to draw a clear line through Sikh diaspora politics, even when that’s what his job in federal politics requires.”

Adam Froman (The Globe and Mail) on the brain drain: “Universities need to step up and deal with a major problem: brain drain. They need to join the voices advocating for a national talent-retention strategy. Without such a strategy, an increasing number of students graduating from publicly funded science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) programs will continue to leave Canada each year to accept positions south of the border. This continued technology brain drain has negative effects on both our technology sector and on our national economy.”

Lorna Dueck (The Globe and Mail) on faith and summer jobs: “Smart, ambitious, innovative …. and religious young Canadians just got kicked to the curb by the Liberal government. Faith-based youth have had their prospects for summer jobs dimmed and their convictions marginalized as all but one Liberal member of Parliament voted Monday night to limit access for summer job grants to those who believe in a pro-choice ethic. Something simple and open such as the funding for summer jobs has become a public relations nightmare for a government that champions inclusion and diversity.”

Chantal Hébert (Toronto Star) on a new culture war: “Many of the voters who supported the Liberals in the last election did so in the belief that they were getting rid of a Conservative government that let its ideological compass dictate its every move. Almost three years into the Trudeau mandate, more than a few of them are starting to wonder whether they have actually traded up to an even more ideologically driven government.”

Susan Delacourt (iPolitics) on Team Trudeau on Facebook: “Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals may have dodged a bullet when the party opted to not work with Chris Wylie, the digital whiz at the centre of the exploding controversy over Facebook and Cambridge Analytica. But that doesn’t mean the governing party will remain untouched by the growing questions surrounding campaigns and Big Data. It probably already means that the 2019 campaign is going to be a lot different than the 2015 campaign.”

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INTERNATIONAL HEADLINES

“The U.S. had a proposal, Canada had a proposal, and Mexico has been engaged on the issue. And I think we’re in a position where we’re finally starting to converge,” U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer told lawmakers in an update on NAFTA talks. “I think we’re in a pretty good place.” Mr. Lighthizer, the White House’s point man on trade, struck an optimistic tone but there are several tough U.S. demands still on the table. As part of the negotiations, the U.S. is looking to limit food label warnings. Health Canada has been working on overhauling the food labelling system to curb consumption of unhealthy foods by identifying which foods are high in sugar, sodium or saturated foot.

U.S. President Donald Trump will hit China with steep tariffs and restrictions on certain types of Chinese investments in the United States. The New York Times reports that the announcement today will include at least US$50-billion worth of duties and other penalties.

Russia and Britain are trading accusations over the poisoning of ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. The United Kingdom and its allies have accused the Kremlin of using a nerve agent to attack the pair, while Russia has come out and alleged that Britain may itself have orchestrated the poisoning. Both countries have expelled diplomats over the affair, which has plunged relations to the worst they’ve been since the Cold War.

Peru’s President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski has offered his resignation, ahead of an impeachment vote. If Peru’s congress accepts the resignation it would transfer power to First Vice-President Martin Vizcarra, who is serving as ambassador to Canada.

Republicans and Democrats in Congress have unveiled a US$1.3-trillion spending bill, ahead of a looming government shutdown. Although the GOP holds control over both houses of Congress and the executive branch, it will need Democratic votes to pass the bill and avert a third government shutdown this year.

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has been charged for allegedly accepting millions of euros in illegal campaign donations from late Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

Boko Haram has returned most of the Nigerian schoolgirls that they kidnapped from a boarding school last month but warned to never “put your daughters in school again.” The Nigerian government says it did not pay a ransom fee or engage in a prisoner swap to secure the freedom of the girls.

And Reuters photographs appear to show voters casting multiple ballots in the Russian election.

Mark Kingwell (The Globe and Mail) on democratic institutions: “The promise of democracy is that the people shall rule. Not the executive, not the legislature, not the judiciary. Simple. But democracy is an ideal, not a practical reality, and it depends on institutions to make it function. When those institutions are compromised or nullified, the democratic promise is at risk of being broken. Are we witnessing such a moment now?”

David Parkinson (The Globe and Mail) on the Fed’s rate hikes: “The new-look U.S. Federal Reserve, which had its coming-out party Wednesday, has brought with it increased prospects for more aggressive interest-rate increases over the next year. That only strengthens the case for the Bank of Canada’s caution on its own rate hikes.” (for subscribers)

Konrad Yakabuski (The Globe and Mail) on social media and politics: ”If what whistleblower Christopher Wylie suggests is true, Cambridge clearly took social media tactics to another level altogether. But campaigns of all stripes have been data mining social media sites with or without the knowledge or permission of their users to target individual voters.” (for subscribers)

Stephanie MacLellan (Macleans) on our privacy: “The Cambridge Analytica scandal confronts us with the fact that privacy measures aren’t just a matter of individual choice—they have consequences for all members of society, even those who don’t use social media. It’s long past time to introduce real protections to keep the personal information we entrust to social platforms from being exploited.”

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