Hello,
The reassignment of a Quebec elementary school teacher under the province’s law forbidding public-sector workers from wearing religious symbols has caused a stir in the House of Commons.
By wearing a hijab, the teacher contravened Bill 21. See here for details on the story.
Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller, also a Montreal-area MP, sharply denounced the treatment of the educator in remarks to journalists before Question Period on Thursday.
“Look, I think it’s cowardly,” he said. “I think we’ve been quite clear that this type of discrimination isn’t reflective of the Quebec society I want to live in.”
Asked if the federal government should take a stronger stand against Bill 21 in Quebec, Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu said, “What I think is that women should have the right to wear whatever they want to wear.”
Earlier Thursday, Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole said that while he personally opposes the secular aspects of Bill 21 and the measures in it, he noted it’s up to the province to manage the issue.
“This is an issue that is best left for Quebecers to decide,” Mr. O’Toole told a news conference on Parliament Hill.
Asked about his message to the woman affected by the bill in this instance, Mr. O’Toole said, “This will be an important debate Quebecers will take themselves.”
Watch The Globe and Mail for more on this story.
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TODAY’S HEADLINES
FREELAND SEEKS SUPPORT FOR PANDEMIC AID - Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland says the need for MPs to approve a new round of pandemic aid has become more pressing amid fears related to the Omicron variant of COVID-19. Story here.
FEDS FAILED MIGRANT WORKERS: AUDITOR-GENERAL - The federal government failed to protect essential migrant workers from the spread of COVID-19, despite repeated warnings that its oversight of working conditions was insufficient, a report from the Auditor-General says. Story here.
SUPPLY-CHAIN DISRUPTIONS CLOUD INFLATION FORECASTS: BoC - The Bank of Canada is warning that global supply-chain disruptions could persist for longer than expected, creating significant uncertainty about the path of inflation. Story here.
RECORD OVERDOSE DEATHS IN B.C. - More than 200 people died in a single month from illicit-drug toxicity in British Columbia, a bleak milestone in the province’s runaway overdose crisis. Story here.
P.E.I POTATO FARMERS FACE CHALLENGE - Halifax reporter Greg Mercer looks here at the struggles of Prince Edward Island potato farmers as exports to the United States remain banned. P.E.I. Premier Dennis King was in Ottawa this week seeking a resolution to the situation.
TORIES REJECT LAB DOCUMENTS PROPOSAL - The Conservative Party has rejected a Liberal proposal to resolve a standoff over secret documents the government is refusing to disclose about the firing of two scientists from Canada’s top-security virus laboratory. Story here.
TWO MICHAELS DOING WELL: JOLY - Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly says Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, detained in China for nearly three years before being released in September, are doing well. “You and I and people watching us don’t necessarily truly understand what they’ve gone through,” she told CTV’s Power Play.
HIGHEST FOOD PRICE INCREASES IN DECADE - Food prices will rise as much as 7 per cent over the next year – the highest increase in more than a decade, according to a new report. As a result, the average family of four will pay $966 more for food in 2022 – after a 4-per-cent hike this year and amid record-high general inflation. Story here.
TORIES SEEK EXPERT ADVICE ON BORDER RESTRICTIONS - The Conservative Party is calling for the federal government’s expert advisory panel to give updated advice on Canada’s border restrictions and for clear assurances that basic necessities, like diapers, will be provided to quarantined travellers.
NDP MPs CRITICIZE B.C. NDP GOVERNMENT - Three federal New Democrat MPs have signed a petition denouncing British Columbia’s NDP government for its handling of an Indigenous protest at a pipeline work site and expressing dismay at the federal NDP’s response. Story here.
`ALBERTA IS BACK’: KENNEY - Speaking to the Calgary Chamber of Commerce this week for the first time since before the COVID-19 pandemic, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney aimed to strike an optimistic tone on the province’s economic recovery moving into 2022. “Alberta is back,” he told the chamber. Story here from The Calgary Herald.
SPECIAL COMMITTEE TO REVIEW AFGHAN EVACUATION - Members of Parliament agreed Wednesday to create a special committee to review the Liberal government’s efforts to evacuate Canadian citizens and Afghans after Kabul fell to the Taliban in August.
B.C. MINISTER ASSAULTED - B.C.’s Minister of Forests was the victim of an assault while walking home from the legislature. In a statement, Victoria Police said, “Between 8 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, December 7th, [Katrine Conroy] was walking in the area of the BC Legislature when she was knocked to the ground by an unknown person. The Minister suffered non-life-threatening injuries and later attended hospital for medical treatment.” In a tweet, Premier John Horgan said he was “upset” by the incident, and urged witnesses to contact police.
THIS AND THAT
TODAY IN THE COMMONS - Projected Order of Business at the House of Commons, Dec. 9, accessible here.
JOLY & SAJJAN AT G7 MEETING - Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly and International Development Minister Harjit Sajjan will be in Liverpool, U.K., on Friday through Sunday for the G7 Foreign and Development Ministers Meeting. It will be the second such meeting in 2021, and the first for Ms. Joly and Mr. Sajjan in their current ministerial roles.
THE DECIBEL - Amid concerns about a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine, senior international correspondent Mark MacKinnon recently travelled to Kyiv to talk to Ukraine’s defence minister and get a sense of how concerned people in the country are about the possibility of Russian aggression.
He talks about the situation in Thursday’s edition of The Globe’s daily podcast, The Decibel.
Here’s an excerpt as Mr. MacKinnon responds to a question from host Menaka Raman-Wilms on the possible impact of a virtual summit between U.S. President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin on the situation:
“You get the sense that Russia is escalating and will continue to escalate until it gets what it wants. Is is possible for the West to give Russia what it wants in this situation? That’s the real problem here – Mr. Putin, having done this twice, risks looking quite weak if he backs down without securing something that he has come after; and I don’t think there’s any appetite in the West for giving him what he wants, especially to reward this behaviour. So I hate to predict anything, but it does feel like a very dangerous moment, and I don’t think that yesterday’s phone call resolved any of that.”
You can hear the rest of Thursday’s episode of The Decibel here.
PRIME MINISTER’S DAY
Private meetings. The Prime Minister virtually attended the opening remarks of the Summit for Democracy, delivered by U.S. President Joe Biden. The Prime Minister then delivered remarks at a summit plenary session. The Prime Minister later virtually delivered remarks during the Special Chiefs Assembly of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN), then participated in a question-and-answer session with AFN chiefs. In the evening, the Prime Minister was scheduled to attend a Liberal fundraising event in Toronto.
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER
The Deputy Prime Minister appeared before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance to discuss Bill C-2, an Act to provide further support in response to COVID-19.
LEADERS
Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole held a media availability on Parliament Hill.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh met with the Métis National Council, the Ontario Medical Association and reacted to the Parliamentary Budget Officer’s report. The NDP leader was also scheduled to attend Question Period.
OPINION - U.S. DEMOCRACY SUMMIT
Andrew Coyne (The Globe and Mail) on how Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shouldn’t lecture attendees at the Summit for Democracy, but rather take notes: “The Prime Minister of Canada will be among the more than 100 world leaders in virtual attendance at U.S. President Joe Biden’s Summit for Democracy this week. It is reported he will treat the other leaders to a recitation of his government’s contributions to democracy, freedom and the rule of law in Canada: everything from “an enhanced emphasis on democracy in the digital space” to “reconciliation and anti-racism policies.” The presumption is not only that Canada is a kind of democratic model for the world, but that the Prime Minister and the government he leads have been a force for its advancement. This requires, let us say, a certain degree of credulity.”
Lawrence Martin (The Globe and Mail) on U.S. President Joe Biden’s democracy summit as a chance for Canada to show off: “A global summit on democracy led by a country where democracy is under siege begins Thursday. It’s no surprise China is mocking Joe Biden’s hosting of 100-plus countries as some kind of “joke.” Meanwhile China is claiming – a much bigger joke – that it is a democracy. The American run-up to the summit – the ransacking of the Capitol, states restricting voting rights, the denial of legitimate voting counts – gives ample fodder to the detractors. The United States posing as the world’s moral arbiter is a bit much. Of course, the gross derelictions are Republicans’ doing, not Mr. Biden’s. Given the distemper of our times, given the rising authoritarian tides, his bid to rally democratic forces is a commendable idea. But by slotting countries into non-democratic and democratic camps, the summit will intensify divisions. From the Canadian perspective, the virtual international gathering is advantageous.”
Charles Burton (Contributed to The Globe and Mail) on China, ahead of a U.S. democracy summit, trying to move the goalposts on the meaning of ‘democracy’: “When more than 100 world leaders meet this week in U.S. President Joe Biden’s virtual Summit for Democracy, which is aimed at stopping the spread of autocracy, they will focus on three themes: defending against authoritarianism, fighting corruption and promoting respect for human rights. However, the real catalyst behind the two-day conference is protecting liberal democratic freedoms against Chinese President Xi Jinping’s stated plan of taking “centre-stage in the world” and establishing “pioneering global influence” by 2050. That effort is already under way, amid Beijing’s massive Belt and Road initiative to influence and subvert weak democracies around the world.”
OPINION
The Globe and Mail Editorial Board on how, if Prime Minister Justin Trudeau believes in Parliament, he has a funny way of showing it: “Back at the start of the pandemic, in March, 2020, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau found himself having to reassure Canadians that he was actually quite a fan of the country’s parliamentary democracy. “I want to make it very clear: I believe in our democratic institutions,” he said at one of his early COVID-19 briefings. It was an odd thing for a duly elected Prime Minister to feel compelled to say, but Mr. Trudeau was on the defensive for good reason.”
John Ibbitson (The Globe and Mail) on the threats of China, Russia and Donald Trump looming against Canada: “The Liberal government’s decision Wednesday to join the U.S.-led diplomatic boycott of the Olympics in Beijing came as no surprise; most democracies are expected to be part of the protest against China’s human-rights abuses in the Xinjiang region and in Hong Kong. Ottawa is also likely to announce formally what has already occurred in reality: The Chinese telecom Huawei will not be part of the rollout of Canada’s 5G network. The diplomatic boycott and other Western actions will further anger the Communist regime, which will almost certainly respond by ratcheting up pressure on Taiwan. A miscalculation on either side could turn the emerging cold war between China and the West into something hot in 2022.”
Robyn Urback (The Globe and Mail) on how the anti-vaccine rants from Doug Ford’s daughter are now a matter of public interest: “Aside from a couple of online blogs, no media organization had devoted any space to the Premier’s daughter’s rants. The reason was that Ms. Haynes was not exploiting her connection to Queen’s Park in any way; she was just a regular citizen spouting misinformation and conspiracy on her private Instagram account, as thousands of people in the province do every day. That in and of itself is not newsworthy, even if it was remarkable that “people behind all of this,” in Ms. Haynes’ polemic, was principally her father. That changed Monday night, when she appeared at The Christian Fight for Freedom alongside her husband. The $5-a-head event, which included several participants who spoke out against vaccine and mask mandates, advertised special guests “Dave and Krista Haynes, family of the Premier Doug Ford,” as well as former Ford ally Charles McVety, who joked onstage about Ms. Haynes running for premier. The draw for the event was not a special appearance by a random Instagrammer, but by someone with a literal seat at Mr. Ford’s dinner table. That rendered Ms. Haynes’ anti-vaccine advocacy a matter of public interest.”
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