Hello,
Russell Brown has resigned from the Supreme Court of Canada rather than face a public inquiry into allegations he harassed women at an Arizona hotel, the first time a justice on Canada’s highest court has quit amid questions of misconduct.
The 57-year-old’s resignation means the Canadian Judicial Council, a disciplinary body, no longer has jurisdiction over him and cannot rule on the complaint made against him.
On Thursday, moments before the council was to announce it would be holding a public hearing into the allegations, Justice Brown asked for the weekend to consider his options.
Before this situation, no Supreme Court of Canada justice had ever faced a judicial council hearing or been placed on leave while a complaint was investigated.
Justice Writer Sean Fine reports here.
Also, Monday: Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair announced that Canada is now experiencing its worst wildfire season of the 21st century.
At a news conference on Parliament Hill, Mr. Blair said there are currently 431 wildfires burning across Canada, of which 208 are out of control. More than 32,000 people remain evacuated from their homes. And more than 4.7 million hectares of forest have been burned.
“This now qualifies, unfortunately, as Canada’s worst wildfire season of the 21st century,” Mr. Blair said.
He said more than 5,000 firefighting personnel and members of the Canadian Armed Forces are deployed in Alberta, Nova Scotia and Quebec. And, he added, there are 1,098 international firefighters at work in Canada.
Mr. Blair said provinces and territories historically have been responsible for responding to wildfires, with the federal government providing support and assistance when provinces or territories need extra help. “We are always looking for ways, working with the provinces and territories, on how we can better support them in their firefighting efforts.”
The Globe is running updates here on the wildfire situation.
This is the daily Politics Briefing newsletter, written by Ian Bailey. It is available exclusively to our digital subscribers. If you're reading this on the web, subscribers can sign up for the Politics newsletter and more than 20 others on our newsletter signup page. Have any feedback? Let us know what you think.
TODAY'S HEADLINES
OPPOSITION PARTIES READY TO CO-OPERATE ON INQUIRY - The opposition parties say they are ready to co-operate with the Liberal government on naming a judge to head a public inquiry into Beijing’s foreign interference in Canadian democracy, but they want the investigation to be wrapped up before the next election. Story here.
ALBERTA GOVERNMENT TESTING LIMITS OF FREEDOM OF INFORMATION LAW - The Alberta government is testing the limits of its freedom of information law by refusing to respond to nearly two dozen Globe and Mail access requests, a decision that the province’s Information and Privacy Commissioner called “very unfortunate.” Story here.
GLOBE JOURNALISTS HONOURED FOR FOREIGN-INTERFERENCE WORK - Globe and Mail journalists Robert Fife and Steven Chase, who have spent months breaking stories on foreign interference in Canadian politics based on national-security sources and classified documents, have received the Charles Lynch Award for outstanding national-affairs coverage. Story here.
NON-POLITICAL CURRENT AFFAIRS IN OTTAWA - Each spring as the snow melts and the rain falls, the Ottawa River, St. Lawrence River and Saguenay River swell, creating world-class river waves that only last for a few weeks, drawing paddlers and surfers alike to the frigid waters. Story here.
NEXT TORONTO MAYOR FACES FINANCIAL CRUNCH - Toronto’s next mayor will inherit an expected budget shortfall of nearly $50-billion over the next decade – with no clear way to fix it. Story here.
B.C. FAMILY DONATING $20-MILLION FOR SUBSTANCE ABUSE A Vancouver family known for its philanthropy is making a $20-million donation to a British Columbia treatment centre in memory of their adult son and brother who died of an opioid overdose. Story here. (There’s a link to a column by Jill Diamond on her family’s decision in the Opinion section of this newsletter.)
THIS AND THAT
TODAY IN THE COMMONS – Projected Order of Business at the House of Commons, June 12, accessible here.
IN OTTAWA - Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair, Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu, and Defence Minister Anita Anand, at the House of Commons, provided an update on the wildfire situation. Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino was scheduled to testify before the Senate Human Rights committee on Bill C-41, legislation to amend the Criminal Code and to make consequential amendments to other acts. Former federal Conservative leader Erin O’Toole was scheduled to deliver parting remarks in the Commons in light of his exit from federal politics with the end of the current session, scheduled for June. 23.
MINISTERS ON THE ROAD - Families Minister Karina Gould, in Montreal, with the CAP Finance network, celebrates the launch of the Social Finance Fund initiative to advance the growth of the social finance market in Canada. Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne, in Saguenay, Quebec, made an announcement with Quebec Premier François Legault.
CROMBIE PLANNING `SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT’: Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie has scheduled a “special announcement” at 4:30 p.m. ET this Wednesday at which it appears the former Liberal MP will announce her bid to lead the Ontario Liberals. Ms. Crombie said in a statement that the government of Premier Doug Ford has the wrong priorities for the province. Last month, Ms. Crombie said she was setting up an exploratory committee to look into a possible leadership bid.
PBO REPORT ON VOLKSWAGEN SUPPORT - The Parliamentary Budget Officer says that, on Wednesday, his office will be releasing a fiscal analysis of Canada’s support for Volkswagen’s electric-vehicle battery manufacturing plant in southwestern Ontario. Federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre requested the analysis. The federal government has agreed to provide Volkswagen with up to $13-billion in production subsidies for the project. (Story here.)
WHEN NOT WORKING AS PREMIER - Alberta Premier Danielle Smith here notes that she has other professional commitments outside politics.
PRIME MINISTER’S DAY
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in Ottawa, held private meetings and, in the late afternoon, delivered remarks at a Filipino Heritage Month reception. Mr. Trudeau was also scheduled to join supporters for a summer reception and garden party of the Liberal Party of Canada’s Laurier Club.
LEADERS
Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre attended Question Period.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, in Ottawa, took media questions before attending Question Period.
No schedules provided for other leaders.
THE DECIBEL
On Monday’s edition of The Globe and Mail podcast, Steven Chase – The Globe’s Senior Parliamentary Reporter who has been leading the foreign-interference reporting with colleague Robert Fife – talks about where the investigation into China’s efforts to meddle in Canadian politics goes from here after David Johnston resigned as the special rapporteur on Friday. The Decibel is here.
PUBLIC OPINION
TOUGH RIDING FIGHTS FOR LIBERALS - If a federal election were held now, Nanos Research’s latest seat projections show Liberals would be in tough fights in ridings they won in 2021 – including those in metropolitan areas in B.C. and Ontario. Story here from CTV.
OPINION - DAVID JOHNSTON
Campbell Clark (The Globe and Mail) on how the Liberals managed a crisis into a fiasco: “The old saw about crisis management is that the goal is to figure out where the crisis ends and get there as quickly as possible. But when Liberal cabinet minister Dominic LeBlanc met reporters on the Saturday morning after the resignation of David Johnston to talk about next steps, he was back where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was three months ago, on March 6. That was the day when Mr. Trudeau, facing mounting controversy over reports of foreign interference in elections and opposition calls for a public inquiry, had hastily convened a press conference and instead promised to name a then-unspecified ‘eminent Canadian’ to look into the whole business.”
Andrew Coyne (The Globe and Mail) on how the David Johnston mess is Justin Trudeau’s responsibility: “It was the right decision for David Johnston to resign from whatever his job was, whoever’s decision it was. Still, amongst the things for which there will have to be a reckoning when this is all over is why he was appointed in the first place. Mr. Johnston himself never seemed to understand what he had walked into or why he should not have walked into it – to the last, in his letter of resignation, he put the opposition down to the “highly partisan atmosphere” – but the Prime Minister and his people did. They appointed him not in spite of his unsuitability, but because of it.”
John Ibbitson (The Globe and Mail) on how the Liberal government’s handling of foreign interference will go down as one of its most discreditable legacies: “This Liberal government has botched the issue of Chinese interference in Canadian elections so badly that it’s hard to imagine how things could be any worse. Beset on all sides by critics, David Johnston has resigned from his position as special rapporteur. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has scored a political victory by discrediting Mr. Johnston’s efforts, confirming that he is the fiercest pit bull in public life, and confirming as well that he is willing to distort the truth and smear the reputation of an honourable man for political gain.”
Shachi Kurl (The Ottawa Citizen) on how, with David Johnston out, our leaders must get serious about tackling election interference: “Whoever replaces Johnston, they must do the job thoroughly, painstakingly and completely. Do it right. Talk to everyone. No arbitrary timelines. Don’t allow politically driven deadlines to be imposed. Politicians must reset too. Instead of behaving like petty, juvenile reptiles, they must choose to work together to protect, maintain and preserve our elections, the most basic form of Canadian democracy. No one – not the public, nor those caught up in unproven allegations, nor the politicians seeking answers, nor Johnston himself – has been well served in this mess. After the rain, there is a clearing of the air. It is up to our leaders now to sincerely respond to a saga that has made this country a laughingstock to those bad actors who are or who would wish to undermine our nation.”
OPINION
The Globe and Mail Editorial Board on the new reality of a country on fire: “There are lots of ways to clinically state the magnitude of wildfires: Fire season starts earlier, lasts longer and the infernos are bigger; or that this isn’t an anomaly – the large, widespread wildfires this spring will happen more and more often; or that by the 2050s the amount of forests burned each year is predicted to double; or that ever-escalating climate heating is the propellent of all of this. Or one can turn to three words from a veteran firefighter. Jamie Coutts is the retired fire chief in Slave Lake. His Northern Alberta community thought it was well prepared, but in 2011 Slave Lake was overrun by flames. Wildfires have morphed into a different sort of menace – burning, in Mr. Coutts’s words, “hotter, faster, crazier.”
Jill Diamond (Contributed to The Globe and Mail) on the death of her brother due to an opioid overdose and how our approach to addiction is beyond broken: “After years of struggle, Steven was finally placed on a three-month wait-list to see a B.C. addiction psychiatrist. He was killed by fentanyl less than one week before his appointment. My beloved brother was just 53. What does Steven’s life and tragedy tell us? After all, he had tools most people don’t: education and expertise in the field of addictions, along with family means to pay for treatment. If someone like him couldn’t get well within our health care system, despite his entire life’s effort, we must confront an awful truth: Our system isn’t simply broken. The system we need doesn’t even exist.”
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Ian Bailey