Good morning,
What will likely be the most important story in Canada’s foreign relations file today will play out in a Vancouver courtroom. Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Chinese telecom giant Huawei, is scheduled to have a bail hearing today.
Canadian authorities arrested Ms. Meng on behalf of the United States on Saturday, the same day as U.S. President Donald Trump was meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Canadian police made the arrest so she could be extradited to the United States, for reasons that are currently covered by a publication ban. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he knew the arrest was coming a few days before it happened, but that he had no further involvement than that.
The arrest has been controversial and China has blasted the move. Some have even likened it to a kidnapping.
This is the daily Politics Briefing newsletter, written by Chris Hannay in Ottawa. It is exclusively available only to our digital subscribers. Have any feedback? Let us know what you think.
TODAY’S HEADLINES
Mr. Trudeau is in Montreal today for a meeting with the country’s premiers. Early in his time in office, the Prime Minister enjoyed a period in which most of the other people at the table with him were fellow Liberals. But now that a string of elections have produced new governments in Ontario, Quebec and B.C. (to name a few), things are a little more tense around the first ministers' table. Most are coming to the meeting with a list of grievances, from Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s complaints about the “job-killing carbon tax” to Alberta Premier Rachel Notley’s proposal that Ottawa should help pick up the tab for rail cars carrying oil.
Also in Ontario, Mr. Ford’s government is defending its decision to fire the CEO of Hydro One earlier this year, despite the fact it seems to have killed a business deal in Washington state and forced the utility to pay a cancellation fee of more than $100-million. Mr. Ford said his government’s focus is on reducing hydro rates. Shares of Hydro One actually rose from the news, with some investors relieved the deal with Avista may not go through.
The drama in the B.C. legislature has taken another bizarre twist, with the Speaker, Darryl Plecas, promising that he and his adviser Alan Mullen will quit if auditors do not uncover problems with the legislature’s financial books. “And if the outcome of those audits did not outrage the public, did not outrage taxpayers, did not make them throw up, I will resign as Speaker, and Mr. Mullen will resign as well," he said.
The federal Liberal government says it will go ahead and sign a non-binding United Nations agreement on migration next week in Morocco over the protests of the Conservative Party.
And a federal agency that gives out money to health researchers is itself racking up some big bills for hospitality and travel, CBC reports.
Campbell Clark (The Globe and Mail) on Justin Trudeau vs. the premiers: “Stephen Harper didn’t hold many first ministers' meetings, and Mr. Trudeau campaigned on making them a regular thing again. Now he has to face a room of premiers who are as much against him as for him, for a variety of reasons.”
John Ibbitson (The Globe and Mail) on Canada-China trade after the Huawei arrest: “Whether we like it or not, Canada is now a key player in a dangerously escalating contest for global dominance between China and the United States. In any such conflict, this country will always stand with its closest ally and trading partner. But we will pay a price.”
Wenran Jiang (The Globe and Mail) on what China could do next: “While Ottawa will continue to argue that it is simply following a legal procedure and defer the case to the justice system, it should not underestimate Beijing’s resolve in protecting Huawei against what is perceived in China as yet another Western strike aimed at one of its leading tech companies.”
Andrew Willis (The Globe and Mail) on the Ontario Premier and Hydro One: “Ontario Premier Doug Ford promised to get rid of the $6-million man running utility Hydro One Ltd. during his successful election campaign last spring. Keeping that promise appears to have cost Hydro One at least $185-million, killed plans to create a market-leading company and sullied the province’s reputation as a place to do business.”
Denise Balkissoon (The Globe and Mail) on expanding the definition of what it means to be ‘pro-life’: “In both Canada and the United States, young people are more likely to believe climate science. Young conservatives might be more skeptical than their liberal counterparts, but they’re less skeptical than their parents and grandparents. And so, as they try to shake their elders out of their fossilized position on fuel, some are invoking the pro-life cause.”
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Chris Hannay