Hello,
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is denouncing a video in which two men joke about sexually assaulting his wife, calling the pair “dirtbags” and indicating that his office has referred the matter to the RCMP.
Mr. Poilievre was responding to comments made in a livestream that appeared on social media on the weekend. In it, Jeremy Mackenzie, founder of Diagolon, says he wants to sexually assault Anaida Poilievre; Morgan May laughs in response. Diagolon has been designated as a violent extremist group by the Integrated Terrorism Assessment Centre, a federal organization that assesses terrorism threats to Canada and Canadian interests globally. The threat against Ms. Poilievre was the latest in a string of incidents that have raised questions about the security of high-profile figures, including Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh.
“This weekend, I became aware of disgusting comments made by Jeremy McKenzie and another man, where they discuss sexually assaulting my wife. These men are dirtbags,” Mr. Poilievre wrote in a tweet.
“Frankly, like most Canadians, until about a month ago, I had never heard of Diagolon & these losers. They are all odious.”
The full story is here.
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TODAY'S HEADLINES
HURRICANE FIONA - Atlantic Canadians emerged from their battered homes Sunday to take stock of the destruction left behind by Fiona, one of the most devastating post-tropical storms ever to hit the region. Story here. Science reporter Ivan Semeniuk reports here on how Hurricane Fiona turned the barely imaginable into the all-too possible – and what it means for future storms.
COVID-19 BORDER RESTRICTIONS LIFTED - The federal government is lifting all border restrictions related to COVID-19 as of Oct. 1, including masks on planes and trains and health checks as the COVID-19 pandemic recedes. Story here.
CANADA IMPOSES SANCTIONS IN LIGHT OF DEATH OF KURDISH WOMAN - Canada will impose sanctions on those responsible for the death of 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini, including Iran’s so-called morality police and its leadership, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Monday. Story here.
JOLY SPEAKS TO UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY ‐ Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly urged countries to uphold women’s rights and abortion access while rooting out sexual violence in a Monday speech to the United Nations General Assembly as the global gathering draws to a close. Story here.
QUEBEC ELECTION - With glasses of wine before them, the five main leaders in the Quebec election appeared on the venerable Radio-Canada TV show Tout le monde en parle before a prime-time TV audience. It was their last appearance together before the Oct. 3 vote. Story here from The Montreal Gazette. Meanwhile, reporter Eric Andrew-Gee explores here how Quebec Conservative Leader Éric Duhaime has emerged as a breakout political star.
CHAMPAGNE TO JAPAN FOR ABE FUNERAL - Federal Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne will represent Canada at former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe’s state funeral this week. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau cancelled plans to attend the Tuesday event so he could oversee recovery efforts after post-tropical storm Fiona ravaged much of eastern Canada and parts of Quebec. Story here.
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT FOCUSED ON FUTURE OF ELECTRICITY GRID - The future of Canada’s electricity grid is suddenly rising to the top of the federal government’s agenda for meeting climate targets and competing economically during a global energy transition. Story here.
THIS AND THAT
TODAY IN THE COMMONS – Projected Order of Business at the House of Commons, Sept. 26, accessible here.
PBO AT SENATE COMMITTEE - The Senate Committee on Banking, Commerce and the Economy to hear Thursday evening from the Parliamentary Budget Officer, Yves Giroux, on the state of the Canadian economy and inflation at 7 p.m. ET. You can watch the hearing here.
THE DECIBEL
On Monday’s edition of The Globe and Mail podcast, freelance journalist Lindsay Jones talks about the mystery of how, in 1969, two baby girls were born in a tiny hospital in rural Newfoundland, a few hours apart. A simple accident led to both of their lives being changed forever. Ms. Jones’ story is here. The Decibel is here.
PRIME MINISTER'S DAY
In Ottawa, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau held private meetings, met with local hydro workers departing for Atlantic Canada to support Hurricane Fiona recovery efforts, and took media questions on the hurricane. Mr. Trudeau also attended Question Period.
LEADERS
No schedules released for party leaders.
TRIBUTE
Manitoba politician Bill Blaikie, who spent nearly 30 years as a member of Parliament with the federal New Democrats, died over the weekend. His son, NDP finance critic Daniel Blaikie, announced his father’s passing in a statement on social media. “Street-side pipers, food, flowers and especially stories of how Bill inspired and entertained people over the years were a comfort to him and us in his final days,” said the statement. Story here.
OPINION
John Ibbitson (The Globe and Mail) on where Pierre Poilievre’s climate-change policies are: “The media, despite all our flaws, remain vital in preserving a healthy democracy. Mr. Poilievre should make himself available to the press, as opposition leaders have been doing for generations. That he won’t lessens his credibility as a leader and heightens suspicions that he is afraid to take tough questions, including on his nonexistent climate plan. The Conservative leader may be hoping that, come election time, voters will be more concerned about rising prices and rising taxes than they will be about rising temperatures – and that avoiding the media and demonizing journalists will lower their reputation rather than his. But it would only take one major weather event before or during an election campaign to focus attention on Mr. Poilievre’s refusal to take climate change seriously. And people might also start to ask themselves whether they should trust a politician who appears to be terrified of the press.”
Charles Burton (Contributed to The Globe and Mail) on why Chinese police are operating in Canada, while our own government and security services apparently look the other way: “In China, the high-profile TV drama In The Name Of The People has become a smash hit. In that show, Chinese agents enter the U.S. posing as businessmen so they can repatriate a factory manager who had fled abroad with huge ill-gotten wealth. But a new study by the European non-governmental agency Safeguard Defenders suggests that there might be some truth to the fiction. According to the NGO, the Fuzhou Public Security Bureau has established more than 50 “overseas police service centres” in cities around the world – including three publicly documented ones in Toronto, home to Canada’s largest Chinese diaspora. This is an outrage.”
Ava Homa (Contributed to The Globe and Mail) on how, by burning their head scarves, Iranian women are restoring their voices: “What seems different about these protests, other than their size and duration, is their feminist nature and the widespread support from men. That support of broader Iranian society for women and their right to choose is crucial. Previously, when women have risen up against the law, such as at a massive rally in Tehran on International Women’s Day in 1979 shortly after the Iranian Revolution, their protests were easily quashed, with Islamic groups dismissing any demand for freedom from the hijab as an anti-Islam sentiment, the left claiming the hijab was a symbol of cultural independence and a rejection of corrupt royalists, while many others stayed silent. No one, it seems, cared to ask women what they wanted.”
Glen McGillvray (Contributed to The Globe and Mail) on the important lessons we must learn from post-tropical storm Fiona: “One of the first actions we need to take is stop creating new risk by designing and constructing critical infrastructure with climate change and future weather in mind. It doesn’t make any sense to build these assets for the weather we used to get – not when we expect these assets to still be in service many decades from now. To start, governments (including public infrastructure banks), private banks, venture capital providers and other funders of infrastructure must hinge financing on the mandatory completion of recognized climate vulnerability assessments for all newly planned infrastructure and for major refurbishments of existing infrastructure. What’s more, the findings of these assessments must be acted on – just completing an assessment to tick off a box shouldn’t be enough.”
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Ian Bailey