Srosh Hassan delivers a statement during a Daughters of the Vote event, organized by Equal Voice Canada, in the House of Commons, March 8, 2017.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
Good morning and happy Friday,
It's been a long year. Before the Politics Briefing goes on hiatus for the holidays, we thought we'd highlight some of the inspiring stories from 2017 that make us hopeful for the new year.
The most recent federal election saw a record number of female MPs elected. And after a dozen by-elections, the number of women representing Canadians in the House has increased as well. Despite this, women hold just over a quarter of all seats even though they make up half of the population. In 1921, Agnes Macphail became the first woman to hold a seat in the House of Commons. Ninety-six years later, for the first time, women filled every single spot in Canada's legislature. The 338 young women who came from every riding in the country assembled in Ottawa on International Women's Day as part of Daughters of the Vote, an initiative organized by Equal Voice. The delegates, aged 18 to 23, took the seat of their MP and heard from party leaders and Canada's only female prime minister so far, Kim Campbell. Some of the women addressed the House on issues ranging from Indigenous rights to electoral reform and grilled Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as well. One hundred years after Canadian women first began to receive the franchise (universal suffrage did not happen until 1960), the Daughters of the Vote took their place in the House and offered a glimpse at what a more gender-equal future may look like.
This is the last Politics Briefing newsletter of 2017. All three of us (Chris Hannay in Ottawa, Mayaz Alam in Toronto and James Keller in Vancouver) would like to thank you, our readers, for continuing to support us. We've gone through several iterations of the newsletter this year, experimenting with style and format several times, and we added two new regular voices in Mayaz and James in January and April, respectively. As always, we'd love to hear your feedback on what you like, what you don't like and what you think we can work on. We take all of your comments to heart and we hope to keep on producing a daily report that's of value to you. We plan on coming back from our one-week holiday rested, refreshed and eager to tackle the challenges that await the world of politics in 2018. Thank you again for your support and we wish you all a wonderful holiday season and a happy new year.
TODAY'S HEADLINES
A translator who sat in on a meeting between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Ukrainian Prime Minister during a recent visit to Canada has been arrested in Ukraine over accusations he's a Russian spy. Reports in Ukrainian media say Stanislav Yezhov, the translator, was detained Wednesday evening on suspicion of spying for Russia. The same translator has also been present during the Ukrainian Prime Minister's meetings with British Prime Minister Theresa May this past July and then-U.S. Vice President Joe Biden last year.
Canada joined 34 other countries in abstention as the United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly voted to condemn the U.S. decision to unilaterally acknowledge Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Just nine countries voted against the resolution and 128 voted for. Canada was walking a fine line between competing interests and chose abstention after a two-week analysis on how to proceed. "We are disappointed that this resolution is one sided and does not advance prospects for peace to which we aspire, which is why we have abstained on today's vote," is the reasoning that Canada's Ambassador to the UN, Marc-André Blanchard, gave to the General Assembly.
A review of sexual assault cases in New Brunswick, launched in the wake of a Globe and Mail investigation, has revealed hundreds of cases that were misclassified as "unfounded." The review, which looked at handled by New Brunswick police over a five-year period, recommended improvements in police training, investigation oversight and collaboration with sexual-assault advocates and experts. The Globe's Unfounded series revealed that Canadian law enforcement has been dismissing sexual-assault allegations at a rate much higher than for other crimes.
The Kremlin-controlled news channel RT is finding its way into Canadians' homes in part because the network us paying some of this country's largest TV providers. Sources familiar with the agreements told the Globe and Mail the Russian government is so intent on using RT to spread its worldview that it is paying cable and satellite operators — a reversal of the usual arrangement between networks and providers.
The Supreme Court of Canada has upheld a Harper-era law that changed the way hearings for dangerous offenders are conducted. The Conservative government changed the law in 2008, and some judges interpreted the changes to mean they had no discretion at the first phase of the hearing. A B.C. offender challenged the law, but in an 8-1 decision, the high court upheld the law while ruling that judges do in fact have discretion.
Mr. Trudeau is fending off demands by opposition parties to pay back taxpayers for his pricey trip to the Aga Khan's private island. The Ethics Commissioner ruled this week that Mr. Trudeau broke ethics law over two all-expenses-paid family trips to the Bahamas. Conservative ethics critic Peter Kent says Mr. Trudeau should pay some, if not all, of the $215,000 tab for the trip in December of last year.
Bob Rae, a former interim leader of the federal Liberals and Canada's special envoy to Myanmar says that the accounts of violence against Rohingya Muslims must be documented so that the perpetrators can be held accountable. In an interim report on the Rohingya crisis, Mr. Rae urged Canada to continue with its support for NGOs. More than 655,000 refugees have been displaced from Myanmar in what the United Nations has called a textbook case of ethnic cleansing. "In addition to accounts of shooting and military violence, I also heard directly from women of sexual violence and abuse at the hands of the Myanmar military, and the death of children and the elderly on the way to the camps," the report read.
Nearly 10,000 mourners including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attended the funeral for Barry Sherman, the billionaire founder of generic drug giant Apotex Inc., and his wife, Honey. The couple were found dead in their north Toronto home late last week under suspicious circumstances, though police have not declared the case a homicide. The Shermans were prominent philanthropists and political donors.
Pro-independence parties in Catalonia regained a slim majority in the regional parliament. Although Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy wasn't on the ballot, his bid to keep Spain together suffered a heavy defeat. Mr. Rajoy fired the Catalan cabinet after an independence referendum that was deemed illegal saw overwhelming support for secession. Mr. Rajoy also called the election with the hopes of diminishing the independence movement's power.
CN Rail, one of Canada's two major railways, is moving forward with a plan to solidify bitumen into soap-bar-shaped-chunks and ship the product to overseas markets. The pellets are designed for oil patch producers and exporters that don't have access to pipelines.
Canada is reassessing its role in Iraq after the war-ravaged country declared victory over the Islamic State, according to Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan. He said that victory came quicker than what Canada and its allies expected. The Armed Forces will present the federal government with options on how to move forward in the new year.
Inflation was at 2.1 per cent in November, up from 1.4 per cent in October, in a sign that the effects of monetary stimulus on Canada's economy are pushing prices upwards.
Facebook is changing how it identifies fake news articles on newsfeeds. Instead of putting "disputed" labels on stories that were found to be false, the social media giant will bring up related articles next to the fake news that provide context from fact checkers on why the stories are of poor quality.
And the U.S. government won't shut down, as the Republican-controlled congress narrowly passed a temporary spending bill.
Penny Collenette (The Globe and Mail) on governing as a Trudeau: "The report is not politically fatal, but it dramatically highlights a self-inflicted integrity wound that must personally sting the Prime Minister. It is also a lesson for any future prime minister. Like it or not, governing is often a lonely occupation. It's definitely not a game of friends."
Andrew Cohen (The Globe and Mail) on the Ethics Commissioner's ruling: "Fundamentally, the commissioner has misread human nature. There was a serious ethical lapse here only if you believe that all politicians are crooks and spiritual leaders are frauds. And that our political climate is so toxic and devoid of substance that we can spend a year discussing official behaviour more cavalier than sinister."
Daniel Beer (The Globe and Mail) on prisons in Russia: "The Kremlin's persecution of its political opponents might have proved an effective strategy for quashing dissent in the short term. But over time it has eroded the authority of the government and created martyrs who inspire increasing numbers of supporters. Mr. Navalny's stints in jail have only bolstered his credentials as a fearless opposition leader. Having undergone something of a moral transformation from oligarch to philanthropist in Siberia, Mr. Khodorkovsky now lives in Europe and heads a foundation dedicated to promoting civil society and reform in Russia. Pussy Riot, meanwhile, emerged from prison as an already global phenomenon whose criticisms of corruption and oppression in Russia have since gone viral."
Roland Elliott Brown (The Globe and Mail) on free speech in Russia: "The main issue in today's Russia, Leonid says, is really whether a particular instance of expression causes someone with power to respond. And in this regard, it's not much easier for a Russian to reconcile the perils and freedoms of Mr. Putin's Russia than it is for a foreigner."
William A. Macdonald (The Globe and Mail) on the rule of law: "If we wonder why we need to pay attention to how well our criminal justice system is working, take a look at Turkey; what is happening to the Pakistani bar; the disappearances in China; the President of the United States undermining its justice system by attacking an American judge of Latin American origin by referring to him as a "so-called" judge. All this undermines the rule of law. In a political world where facts seem to matter less, a world of fake news and demonstrably outrageous lies, Canadians must become more alert to the foundations and importance of their criminal justice system."
Jordan Westfall (The Globe and Mail) on the opioid crisis: "I'm fortunate enough to still be here, and let me tell you – I'm not recovering from drug addiction, I'm recovering from bad drug policy. Restricting access to prescription opioids has only increased overdose deaths."