Politics Briefing: Just days left in Ontario election

Good morning,

It’s the final week of the Ontario election campaign, and voters head to the polls on Thursday. Kathleen Wynne admitted over the weekend that her Liberals were unlikely to win again after 15 years in power, which leaves the answer to the question of who will be Ontario next premier down to two: NDP Leader Andrea Horwath or Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford. We did a deep dive on the costliest promises of the NDP and PCs here.

This is the daily Politics Briefing newsletter, written by Chris Hannay Ottawa 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.

TODAY’S HEADLINES

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was on NBC News yesterday and told the U.S. audience that Donald Trump’s demand for a five-year sunset clause in the North American free-trade agreement was totally unreasonable. “What company is going to want to invest in Canada if five years later there might not be a trade deal with the United States?” Mr. Trudeau said.

The steel and aluminum tariffs that Mr. Trump imposed on Canada, Mexico and the European Union were condemned at a gathering of G7 financial leaders over the weekend. Finance ministers from each of the nations met in advance of the countries’ leaders meeting in Quebec later this week.

Even with all the trade file business, Mr. Trudeau is hoping to keep climate change on the G7 agenda this week.

And Bloc Quebecois Leader Martine Ouellet lost the support of her caucus, and now she’s lost the support of her party. Ms. Ouellet lost a confidence vote on the weekend, with only one third of members backing her. She hasn’t resigned her leadership yet but is expected to make an announcement in Montreal this morning.

John Ibbitson (The Globe and Mail) on the Ontario election: “The political centre is collapsing in Ontario, polarizing between social democrats and populist conservatives. We thought it couldn’t happen here. It’s happening here. And it poses a grave threat to the Liberal Party, both provincially and federally.”

Andrei Sulzenko (The Globe and Mail) on autos and trade: “So, the auto inquiry, like the previous steel and aluminum case, is really all about cheap bullying tactics. There is no underlying strategy other than playing to the electoral base, which will wise up to the fact these actions are against its own economic self-interest once retaliation kicks in.”

Meredith Lilly (CBC) on the Trump tariffs: “ We must remember that Canada’s greatest leverage with the Americans has always been Americans themselves. Donald Trump may have started this, but no matter what action Canada takes, Justin Trudeau won’t finish it. Americans will, one way or another.”

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