The Beaverton's staff handing out print editions in Toronto.
POLITICS BRIEFING
By Chris Hannay (@channay) and Rob Gilroy (@rgilroy)
The Globe Politics is pleased to include a roundup of news and opinion on U.S. politics, through until this year's election in November. As always, let us know what you think of the newsletter. Sign up here to get it by e-mail each morning.
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW IN OTTAWA
> Belgians appear to have come to an agreement on the sticking points of the Canada-EU trade deal. Any changes will have to go to the rest of the European Union before it goes to Canada to sign.
> Finance Minister Bill Morneau will unveil some major infrastructure policy next Tuesday as part of his fall fiscal update.
> Justin Trudeau is set to name nine new senators today, the Canadian Press reports, with 12 more to come soon.
> Financier Bill Browder and his team of investigators have tracked more money that's flowed into Canada from Russian tax fraud. Mr. Browder is asking Canada to introduce legislation to freeze assets of corrupt foreign officials, along the lines of the U.S.'s Magnitsky Act.
> And an indigenous man who suffered abuse at residential schools will have to wait even longer to receive his compensation. Though the government agrees he is eligible to receive the money, they don't like how a Superior Court judge handled the case.
MR. BEAVERTON GOES TO OTTAWA
The House of Commons has a new observer sitting up in the press gallery: the satirical news agency The Beaverton.
The website – which is debuting a show on the Comedy Network this fall – has been granted day passes, which affords Kingston-based comedian Alex Huntley a little more access than the general public, but not as much as a full-time press-gallery journalist.
Mr. Huntley had his first visit on Parliament Hill on Wednesday. He says the guards were extremely helpful in showing him around – the halls of Centre Block can be a little disorienting to newcomers – and he enjoyed when he and other visitors were told by security to "hold themselves to a higher standard" than the barking and yelling Members of Parliament in the House below.
Mr. Huntley says The Beaverton's comedic voice is most like the U.S. site The Onion, being a little more sardonic and dry, perhaps, than 22 Minutes or Rick Mercer. "We know how to throw a punch, when a punch is necessary," he said.
Manon Cornellier, a journalist at Le Devoir and president of the parliamentary press gallery, says day passes are sometimes given to established satirical shows that need to gather footage for their acts. But, she says, "we always advise them that it is under the condition that they don't disrupt or interfere with the work of the press."
U.S. ELECTION 2016
> The third party rises: At Buzzfeed, McKay Coppins writes that Utah conservative Mormon candidate Evan McMullin and his campaign "are attempting something much more audacious than a fluke victory in a single state. While no one was watching, they were building an entirely new political party in the desert – and they don't plan to stop when Trump loses."
> Get ready for gridlock: In The Washington Post, Dave Weigel writes that current House Republicans are already preparing for 'years' of investigations if Hillary Clinton wins the presidency. "If Republicans retain control of the House, something that GOP-friendly maps make possible even in the event of a Trump loss, Clinton will become the first president since George H.W. Bush to immediately face a House Oversight Committee controlled by the opposition party."
> Trump the alien: In The New York Times, Tom Friedman thinks he's come up with a perfect description of Donald Trump. "Donald Trump is a 'legal alien.' That's right, the man who has spent the last year railing against those dastardly 'illegal aliens' supposedly wreaking havoc on our country turns out to be a legal alien – someone born in America but whose values are completely alien to all that has made this country great."
> Why Trumpism is here to stay: Donald Trump has been criticized for his lack of a ground game, but, as this Bloomberg feature points out, Trump has built a small but loyal group of digital campaign activists who have clearly identified his base and have plans to keep that base agitated (Trump TV?) no matter what happens on Nov. 8. "If the election results cause the party to fracture, Trump will be better positioned than the RNC to reach this mass of voters because he'll own the list himself."
> The dark side: The New York Times reports on the flagging exuberance of Trump supporters and their dark fears as the candidate falls behind Hillary Clinton in the polls. Many "offered an apocalyptic vision of what life would be like if she did [win]. … Some worry that they will be forgotten, along with their concerns and frustrations. Others believe the nation may be headed for violent conflict."
WHAT EVERYONE'S TALKING ABOUT
Campbell Clark (Globe and Mail): "In one respect, Mr. Trudeau was ahead of the curve. The 'growth agenda' he was talking about was, in large part, globalization and trade. And just look at the backlash now, from Donald Trump's anti-NAFTA tirades to Brexit to opposition to the Canada-EU trade deal known as CETA. But the CETA sticking points suggest dealing with the rebellion isn't as simple as nudging middle-class incomes. This is about disruption, and desire for control."
Geoff Plant (Globe and Mail): "No doubt, many donate to political parties out of a sense of altruism. They sincerely support a party or candidate, and want to help them succeed. But almost no one donates to a party they do not support. Alignment between the donor and the recipient is the whole point. If the party breaks faith with its donors, the donations will likely stop. In that sense, every political donation – whether it's a dinner ticket, a reply to an e-mail, or a promise made during a phone call solicitation – has an element of 'pay to play.' It is basic to the process."
John Semley (Globe and Mail): "As Canada approaches its sesquicentennial birthday – that's 150 years – in 2017, Canadians may wish to reflect on the realities of our nation. It's a time of pushing past trite notions of Canadiana (beer, snowshoes, Kraft Dinner, etc.) and doing the honest, self-critical work of historical reckoning. It's a time to face the unpleasant reality that maybe instead of dumb, flag-waving, Molson Canadian-guzzling pride, we should in fact feel pangs of humiliation and discomfort. We should feel ashamed."
Kent Roach, Stephen Toope and Carmen Cheung (Globe and Mail): "As we create our own ['countering violent extremism'] strategies, Canadians can learn from the mistakes and successes of others. Local, community-directed programs may be especially appropriate in federations, like Canada. Reflecting our political traditions, North American CVE programs may be particularly attentive to free speech and freedom of assembly. CVE programs must also take seriously fears of bullying in vulnerable populations."
Desmond Cole (Toronto Star): "[Ottawa police chief Charles] Bordeleau's argument – and that of police forces across Canada who engage in racist profiling – is that police should stop drivers, especially racialized drivers, for non-criminal offences because they might uncover crime in the process. This explains why police forces have been so reluctant to abandon carding, the practice of stopping and documenting civilians who are not suspected of a crime. Bordeleau says local residents expect police to pull people over, but stops short of the obvious: white residents expect police to target poor and racialized people, and their chief is listening."
Chris Nelson (Calgary Herald): "Now you would imagine, given the number of politicians who have law degrees tagged onto their mind-numbing resumes, that the justice system would be the last place to get the short shift when it comes to funding. But maybe all those clever lads and lasses who manoeuvred their backsides into a cosy political chair don't have too much sympathy for their one-time potential colleagues who do get their hands dirty by entering an actual bricks and mortar courtroom. Especially ones who have to deal with – oh, yuk, gag me with that silver spoon – criminal cases."