Hello,
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland will present the next federal budget on April. 7.
Ms. Freeland, also the Deputy Prime Minister, announced the date on Tuesday afternoon during Question Period in the House of Commons.
“Our government was re-elected on a commitment to grow our economy, make life more affordable and to continue building a Canada where nobody gets left behind,” said Ms. Freeland. “That is exactly what we are doing, and that is what we are going to continue to do in the budget I will present to this House on April. 7. 2022 at 4 p.m.”
Deputy Ottawa Bureau Chief Bill Curry reports here.
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TODAY'S HEADLINES
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT RELEASES EMISSIONS-REDUCTION PLAN - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told the Canadian oil industry Tuesday that it should use the massive bump in profits from the current surge in prices to fund a transition to cut their emissions. His comments came as Ottawa unveiled its emissions-reduction plan to reach its new greenhouse-gas targets by 2030. Story here.
CANADA DEPLOYS MOUNTIES ON WAR-CRIMES PROBE - The federal government is sending a specialized team of RCMP investigators to the International Criminal Court in The Hague to gather evidence of potential Russian war crimes in Ukraine. Story here.
ONTARIO AND OTTAWA AGREE ON CHILD CARE - Ontario Premier Doug Ford says it was worth the wait to be the last province to sign on to the federal government’s $10-a-day child-care plan – but critics say there are few differences between the deal announced on Monday and those Ottawa made with all other provinces last year. Story here.
MÉTIS AND INUIT DELEGATIONS MEET WITH POPE ON RESIDENTIAL SCHOOLS - Leaders of Métis and Inuit delegations called on Pope Francis, during and after private meetings with him this week, to bring perpetrators of abuse at Canada’s residential schools to justice, saying the Catholic Church must stop shielding those who committed crimes and actively assist in holding them to account. Story here.
FEDS LOOKING AT F-35 JET FOR CANADA - The federal government has narrowed its search for a new warplane to the very aircraft the Liberals once swore they would never pick: Lockheed Martin Corp.’s F-35 fighter jet. Story here.
HILLIER OUT ON BAIL AFTER OTTAWA DEMONSTRATION CHARGES - Ontario MPP Randy Hillier was released on bail this week after he was charged for his involvement in demonstrations that brought downtown Ottawa to a standstill. Story here.
KENNEY INTERVIEWED BY RCMP - Alberta Premier Jason Kenney says he has been interviewed by RCMP as part of an investigation into potential criminal identity fraud in the 2017 United Conservative Party leadership contest. Story here,
‘WE’LL ALL GET COVID’: HIGGS - New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs is under fire for suggesting that it’s inevitable that “at the end of the day, we’ll all get COVID in some way or another.” Story here from CBC.
CONSERVATIVE LEADERSHIP RACE
POILIEVRE PROMISES ACTION ON CRYPTOCURRENCIES - Conservative leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre said Monday that a government led by him would do more to normalize cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and ethereum in Canada to “decentralize” the economy and reduce the influence of central bankers. Story here from CBC.
MARTEL BACKS CHAREST - Former Quebec premier Jean Charest has picked up an endorsement from another Conservative caucus member. Richard Martel, the MP for Chicoutimi-Le Fjord and a former Quebec lieutenant for the Conservatives, announced in a Facebook posting that he will support Mr. Charest’s leadership bid. “Canada, Quebec and Chicoutimi-Le Fjord need a government led by M. Charest to counter liberal incompetence and to take power at the next election,” wrote Mr. Martel, who was first elected in 2018, and has been the critic for sport, the economic development agency of Canada and for the regions of Quebec.
THIS AND THAT
TODAY IN THE COMMONS – Projected Order of Business at the House of Commons, March 29, accessible here.
O’TOOLE REVIVES PODCAST - Erin O’Toole says he has more time on his hands than when he was leader of the official opposition so he is resuming work on his podcast, Blue Skies. Since early March, the former leader of the federal Conservative Party has been back at work on the podcast he launched in 2016, but suspended while leading the party. “You may notice we haven’t had a new episode in a couple of years,” Mr. O’Toole said in a posting earlier this month. “Pick your excuse for why there has been such a delay.” Since then, Mr. O’Toole has had a pair of episodes, the most recent featuring former vice-chief of the Defence Staff, Vice-Admiral Mark Norman - part of his story is told here - talking about the Canadian Armed Forces. Mr. O’Toole plans to release episodes about every two weeks. Coming episodes include a conversation with Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith - who has his own podcast called Uncommons - on the Liberal-NDP deal and social media. The podcast is here.
NEW AMBASSADOR TO VIETNAM - Canada has a new ambassador to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly announced Tuesday that Shawn Steil, who has been ambassador to Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan, will replace Deborah Paul.
THE DECIBEL
On Tuesday’s edition of The Globe and Mail podcast, Yemen-born Kamal Al-Solaylee talks about Yemen’s now seven-year-long war, between the Iran-backed Houthi rebels and a Saudi-led coalition, that has killed almost 400,000 people, mostly children younger than five years old. Mr. Al-Solaylee is a journalist, author, professor and director of the School of Journalism, Writing, and Media at the University of British Columbia. He explains that the war is deliberately forgotten by the world, why that is, and why he thinks Canada’s millions in aid to Yemen doesn’t tell the full story of our role in the conflict. The Decibel is here.
PRIME MINISTER'S DAY
In Metro Vancouver, the Prime Minister holds private meetings, then delivers a keynote address at the GLOBE Forum 2022. He then holds a media availability with Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson. He is scheduled to meet with B.C. Premier John Horgan, and then hold a discussion on climate action with local students. In the evening, the Prime Minister is scheduled to attend a pair of Liberal Party of Canada fundraising events.
LEADERS
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is to attend Question Period and then, in the evening, participate in a virtual townhall meeting with Deputy NDP Leader, Alexandre Boulerice, the member for the Montreal-area riding of Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie.
No schedule released for other party leaders.
TRIBUTE
Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk has died at the age of 62. The Senators made the announcement Monday night, but did not release a cause of death. Story here.
OPINION
John Ibbitson (The Globe and Mail) on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s intrusion into provincial affairs reaching a new level: “Not only does the latest expansion of the social safety net by the Liberal government, as part of its accord with the NDP, intrude into areas of provincial jurisdiction, it flouts the wisdom of Lester B. Pearson. During the comprehensive expansion of health care, welfare and pensions in the 1960s, the federal Liberals deferred to provincial needs and interests by making Ottawa smaller and the provinces more self-sufficient. Justin Trudeau prefers to strong-arm. The country will pay a price.”
André Picard (The Globe and Mail) on whether a Liberal-NDP ‘supply-and-confidence’ deal the best way to reform medicare?: “Under a new Liberal-NDP pact, Canadians will be getting more publicly funded prescription drugs and dental care. That’s good news, at least on paper. The bad news is that these things have been promised time and time again, and millions of Canadians still have grossly inadequate coverage. Will there be a different outcome this time?”
John Boyko (Contributed to The Globe and Mail) on recapturing the flag: Canada is still recovering from a moment of darkness in Ottawa: “Last weekend, I drove four hours to Ottawa and passed several farms with large Canadian flags at the ends of their long driveways. With each flag, I cringed. The Maple Leaf used to afford me a sense of communal pride – there, I used to think, was someone who, like me, is proud to live in one of the world’s most peaceful, democratic, egalitarian countries. But instead, over and over, I felt repulsion. Each time I passed a red-and-white flag, blowing in the wind, I wondered if the owner believed in a free and democratic Canada, or in the vitriolic vision of our country on display at the trucker convoy last month. I am saddened by this newfound uncertainty, and frustrated that our Maple Leaf flag has been captured, in a sense, by the small minority who support the convoy and its negative anti-government, anti-science, anti-democracy and anti-God-knows-what-else messages that few among them seem able to clearly articulate. But this isn’t the first time that a symbol has been stolen for nefarious purposes.”
Stephanie Carvin (Contributed to The Globe and Mail) on why Russia’s propaganda machine has failed to control the Ukraine narrative: “And yet, despite the devastating destruction of its invasion in Ukraine, there appears to be a genuine consensus that Russia’s much vaunted information-operations capability has greatly underperformed. Why is this the case? In war, much can change quickly. But already there are some possible explanations to be considered. The most straightforward explanation is that Russia didn’t use its own playbook, and hasn’t even tried to use extensive information operations in its invasion. As author Emerson T. Brooking has argued, the sheer scale of the operations, and the months-long buildup of forces on the Ukrainian border, made it impossible to engage in “psychological dislocation, mass disinformation campaigns and repeated denials.”
Adam Fiser, Twiladawn Stonefish and Qauyisaq Etitiq (Policy Options) on Inuit conservation transforming life and work in the Arctic: “COVID-19 continues to disrupt employment in remote northern communities. For the Inuit of Nunavut, unemployment has worsened: between August and October 2021, almost a quarter of them were looking for work. At 22.3 per cent, unemployment was slightly more than two percentage points higher for unemployment over the previous year. Amidst the disruptions, Inuit are turning to land-based skills to sustain their communities. Skills like hunting and harvesting contribute to community resilience and economic recovery. With the right support, these skills could play a larger role in northern economies.”
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Ian Bailey