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It’s cabinet speculation season in Ottawa as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his senior advisers meet behind closed doors to decide who will be in the new cabinet that debuts Nov. 20. Sources tell The Globe that the new cabinet will try to send a message that Mr. Trudeau is emphasizing climate change and a transition to a more green economy, which also comes at a time of heightened Western grievance with the federal government.

Meanwhile, Ontario Premier Doug Ford says he’d be happy to host a meeting of premiers who are concerned about national unity.

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

Steve Verheul, one of Canada’s top trade officials who led the NAFTA renegotiations, is in Shanghai this week. He is attending a meeting today on efforts to reform the World Trade Organization, but the rest of his schedule is a mystery. China suspended imports of Canadian meat, canola and soybeans earlier this year, which has caused pain to Canadian farmers.

The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is making a big bet on wind power.

Canadians say they are still happy with the level of immigration in the country, according to a new Environics poll.

The federal government is continuing to fight court orders that it turn over details of a wiretap investigation conducted at the Chinese embassy in 2013. The case involves a defence contractor named Qing Quentin Huang who, police allege, called the embassy and offered to turn over Canada naval secrets.

A U.S. appeals court has ruled that Donald Trump’s accounting firm must hand over eight years of tax returns to investigators in New York, and the President’s lawyer says he will appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court.

And, despite the diplomatic tiff between Canada and Saudi Arabia, the Royal Bank of Canada has been given a piece of the action in what could be the world’s biggest initial public offering: selling shares in Saudi Aramco, the state oil company.

Amira Elghawaby (The Globe and Mail) on another challenge to newcomers in Quebec: “Quebec’s ‘values test’ on new immigrants, which begins Jan. 1, may seem harmless, but many racialized, immigrant community members don’t live happily ever after in Quebec – not when xenophobia and Islamophobia permeate people’s lives, often to devastating impact. These types of policies, and the accompanying rhetoric, create an unwelcome atmosphere that has already led some people to leave.”

André Picard (The Globe and Mail) on the Alberta government’s moves to cut doctors’ pay: “While most physicians are, technically, independent contractors, almost all of their income comes from government. That means that, like it or not, where they practise can be restricted. But if you want doctors in rural and remote areas, carrots work a lot better than sticks. Some provinces pay bonuses to those who practise outside big cities, but money is not the sole solution.”

John Ibbitson (The Globe and Mail) on Canada-China relations: “The regime in Beijing is more thuggish than any since former leader Mao Zedong was alive. More than a million people have been sent to camps for “re-education” because of their race and religion. Protestors in Hong Kong fight to secure their democratic freedoms. The arbitrary detention of Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor by Chinese authorities is cruel and unjust. And yet China remains the world’s second-largest economy, and a lynchpin of any future world order. Without China’s co-operation, there can be no hope of combatting global warming, or eradicating extreme poverty, or preserving a rules-based trading system.”

Aaron Wherry (CBC) on Elizabeth May’s legacy: “By any measure, she’s the most successful leader in her party’s history. But that success was limited. And it’s fair to ask whether she and her party should have accomplished much more, particularly in the recent general election.”

Anne Kingston (Maclean’s) on sexism in politics: “We’ve heard the same theories floated for years of why unequal representation persists: Women are socialized not to see themselves as eligible candidates as readily as men; they have to balance career and family (in a way men don’t); they don’t have access to the same funding; they’re not positioned by parties in winnable ridings. There’s truth there. But the biases can be more subtle than that, as seen in the imagery and messaging of the 2019 federal election. Traditional “masculine” motifs—sports, warriors, shows of strength—prevailed. Obviously women excel at sports, but framing on the campaign trail tends to be as a testosterone-soaked masculinity contest.”

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