Politics Briefing: Brown to find out if he gets second chance

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Will Patrick Brown be allowed to succeed himself as leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservatives? He may find out today.

Mr. Brown, 39, resigned last month after CTV reported allegations of inappropriate conduct with two women who were much younger than him, including one who worked for him. He denies any impropriety. (Mr. Brown's 23-year-old girlfriend, who used to be his intern, says he is a "decent and caring" guy.)

Since then, others in the party have raised concerns with his short tenure as leader – including questions about travel, payments he received and thousands of suspicious memberships for the PC party.

Still, Mr. Brown wants his old job back. Last night, Mr. Brown met with officials from the PC party to discuss a second run for leader. The party's nominating committee is set to get back to him today about whether or not he can run again. If they reject him, he may be able to appeal to the party's leadership. That avenue has never been tried – but it wouldn't be the first thing that had happened to the party this year that was unprecedented.

This is the daily Politics Briefing newsletter, written by Chris Hannay in Ottawa, Mayaz Alam in Toronto 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

More than a year after British Columbia introduced Canada's first tax on foreign real estate buyers, the province is expanding its fight against skyrocketing housing costs by targeting homeowners who have no financial connection to the province. The NDP government tabled a budget yesterday that included a series of housing policies, notably a new property tax aimed at owners who don't pay taxes in B.C. and leave their homes empty. The province says the yearly tax will apply to both foreign owners, as well as Canadians who don't live in B.C.  The goal is twofold: cool the market while also raising money to build affordable housing.

The budget also starts putting together what the NDP government describes as "universal" daycare, beginning with subsidies aimed at people earning less than $45,000 a year. However, the plan is a shift from the party's election promise of $10 a day daycare, which the government now says was simply a "slogan."

For more on B.C.'s budget, read our explainer.

An independent investigator has "partially substantiated" the sexual-harassment allegations against Alberta MP Darshan Kang, who left the Liberal caucus last summer when the allegations came to light, the Hill Times reports.

Liberal MP Salma Zahid, from an eastern Toronto riding, says she's taking a leave from Parliament to be treated for cancer.

And the Commonwealth meeting in London in April – possibly the last to feature the Queen, who is 91 – is expected to duck the issue of LGBTQ rights. Same-sex acts are still against the law in 36 of the 53 Commonwealth countries.

Gary Mason (The Globe and Mail) on B.C.'s budget: "So it took some political courage for the NDP to take on the housing file in a serious way. It took some courage for Ms. James to say, as she did, that she hoped the plan helped drive down housing prices – which will erode some of the equity gains people have seen over the past few years. But I doubt we will see any dramatic changes."

John Higginbotham (The Globe and Mail) on B.C.'s pipeline fight: "As B.C.'s walls go up and gateways close, new private foreign resource investment will focus increasingly on Alaska, where U.S. President Donald Trump is reversing his predecessor's tax, climate change and oil and gas restrictions, including offshore drilling."

Margaret Wente (The Globe and Mail) on pipelines: "The Prime Minister's fundamental mistake was thinking that he could get to yes through logic, consensus-building, and grand bargains that would secure broad public approval, what he calls a 'social licence.' Maybe that would have been possible five years ago. It's not possible today. Too much of the opposition to pipelines is religious and existential."

Shivam Vij (Washington Post) on Trudeau's trip to India: "Trudeau has to choose between not reigniting Sikh separatism in India and keeping some of his voters happy. He can't have both. If India was to start supporting Quebec separatists, it can't imagine that Canada would have good relations with India. It works both ways."

Paul Wells (Maclean's) on the Ontario Progressive Conservatives: "Just about anybody else would have done the math quickly and decided that turning the PC leadership race into a personal redemption tour would help neither [Patrick] Brown nor his party. But Brown isn't anybody else. He's a misfit whose only shot at greatness shattered last month. And he's the kind of misfit who's built not to stop. This ugly business will get uglier."

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