Politics Briefing: What the Liberals will do about workplace harassment

Share

Good morning,

Should a boss date – or even be able to date – their employees? If they do, should they have to let anyone else know? And what if that boss is a lawmaker, who has power over the rules by which they are governed?

In the wake of #MeToo and the social movement to bring to light abuses of power, politicians in the United States and Australia have moved to limit or ban sexual relations between bosses and employees.

Not so in Canada – at least not so far.

A Liberal bill to address workplace harassment will not include provisions to ban or even monitor relations between politicians and their staff. What the bill will do is more complicated – The Globe's Laura Stone and Erin Anderssen unravel it in this report.

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.

CANADIAN HEADLINES

Tomorrow's federal budget is expected to provide some limited help to the country's media. A local journalism fund of $10-million a year will help community news organizations and the government will "explore" whether media companies could be given not-for-profit or charitable status. There's not expected to be any other major tax or revenue measures, however. A broadcast lobby group is suggesting provinces could go ahead and make tax changes that would help media companies.

The federal government is being urged to reconsider allowing Anbang to buy one of B.C.'s largest chain of retirement homes, after control of the company was seized by the Chinese government.

And a man convicted of attempted murder, who was invited (then uninvited) to a dinner reception in India with the Prime Minister, insists he and Justin Trudeau are friends. "We know each other,"   Jaspal Atwal told the Canadian Press. "That is not true," the Prime Minister's spokesperson replied.

David Mulroney (The Globe and Mail) on foreign policy: "We need to be smart and hard-nosed when it comes to promoting and defending our own interests. Photo ops and costume changes won't cut it any more."

Konrad Yakabuski (The Globe and Mail) on constitutional talks: "Politicians outside Quebec are petrified that any move to undertake constitutional talks would be overwhelmed by new demands from Quebec and Indigenous peoples. To them, it would be like reliving the nightmares of Meech and Charlottetown and the 1995 Quebec referendum all over again. I doubt it. Most Canadians and Quebeckers have moved on from that drama. And even if some haven't, we can't put off constitutional talks forever."

Nora Loreto (The Globe and Mail) on the NDP: "While Jack Layton brought the NDP closer to federal power than they have ever been, his leadership also professionalized the party and prioritized fundraising and central control over grassroots organizing. With the majority of the caucus elected kind of by accident in Quebec, it obscured the reality that any success that doesn't have an engaged citizenry behind it is a matchstick structure that will collapse at the moment that any pressure is placed on it."

Aimée Craft (The Globe and Mail) on Tina Fontaine: "The truth is that there is no real justice for Indigenous people. The systems that purport to bring justice fail us over and over, time and again. Tina's case is a stark illustration of that terrible reality. While this case will always officially be known as the Crown against Raymond Cormier, it should be remembered in our hearts as the Tina Fontaine case. Why? Because it is a painful example of how systems that are meant to keep us safe, and bring justice in the face of harm, fail us."

Adam Radwanski (The Globe and Mail) on Patrick Brown and party politics: "Parties do not typically have exhaustive formal vetting processes to determine who is allowed to run for their leadership. In theory, the leadership races themselves are supposed to serve as informal vetting, with candidates' liabilities brought into the open as they take aim at each other. In practice, parties often have low enough membership rolls heading into their contests that an available path to victory is the one Mr. Brown followed in 2015: Flood the party with new members, at your disposal if you make the right deals with the right organizers, and don't worry too much about persuading stalwarts looking critically at each candidate before deciding how to mark their ballots."

Tony Fell (The Globe and Mail) on how we still can't get anything big done: "Whatever growth we have is based on credit-driven consumer spending facilitated by ultralow interest rates – not by industrial and infrastructure development. We do reasonably well by Group of Seven standards, but that's not the measure. Why set the bar so low? What is our potential? We seem content with 2-per-cent growth and 6-per-cent unemployment. Our economy can't even perform with an 80-cent dollar. We lack a performance-driven competitive culture and an urgency to accomplish big things."

Steve Saideman (OpenCanada) on defence spending: "It turns out that there is a feature in Canadian defence that is enduring, regardless of the party in power: it is hard to spend large amounts of defence dollars. This seems counter-intuitive, since most defence projects are expensive, and increasingly so, as defence costs inflate faster than most of the economy. Yet it is precisely that the big projects require complex processes to make the decisions, issue the contracts and then build the weapons systems that make it so easy for spending to slip from one year to the next."

Vicky Mochama (Metro) on the budget: "From pay equity to funding for entrepreneurs to immigration services, there are tons of areas where the government can provide long-needed support and relief. On the Liberals' third budget, it's time for women and girls to get the money they're owed."

Got a news tip that you'd like us to look into? E-mail us at tips@globeandmail.com.  Need to share documents securely? Reach out via SecureDrop

INTERNATIONAL HEADLINES

U.S. President Donald Trump's insistence that Mexico pay for a border wall may make NAFTA talks even more complicated.

North Korea has condemned new sanctions levelled by the U.S., but it has also indicated that it is open to talks with the Americans, as the 2018 Winter Olympics came to a close over the weekend.

China's Communist Party is proposing to remove presidential term limits, clearing the way for President Xi Jinping to extend his rule beyond his two terms in power. At the Communist Party congress last year his political theory and legacy were added to the party constitution, effectively putting him in the same echelon as Mao Zedong.

The UN Security Council has approved a 30-day ceasefire in Ghouta, the region in eastern Syria where warplanes have dropped bombs on residents for over a week. After the vote, the air assault continued.

And in the aftermath of the shooting in Parkland, Fla., it's been the teenagers who have taken a leading role in shaping the gun debate in the United States.

Steven Pinker (The Globe and Mail) on doomsday: "The world has dealt with global challenges in the past, including atmospheric nuclear testing and the ozone hole. It has survived half-mad despots with nuclear weapons, namely Stalin and Mao, and episodes of dangerous brinkmanship during the Cold War. It has reduced nuclear arsenals by 85 per cent, and the amount of CO2 emitted per dollar of GDP by 44 per cent. Implementing the measures that will drive these numbers all the way down to zero will require enormous amounts of persuasion, pressure, and will. But we know that there is one measure that will not make the world safer: moaning that we're doomed."

Elizabeth Renzetti (The Globe and Mail) on arming teachers: "Around the world, other jurisdictions have reacted to school shootings by trying to put out the fire at its source, rather than pouring gasoline on it. In the wake of the 1996 massacre in Dunblane, Scotland, that killed 16 children and one teacher, the British government brought in a series of laws banning private ownership of handguns. Germany, in reaction to school shootings, increased its mental-health resources in schools, as the Washington Post recently pointed out, including funding for in-school psychologists and training for teachers to act as 'trusted personnel' for kids experiencing difficulties." (for subscribers)

Anne-Marie Slaughter (The Globe and Mail) on webcraft, not statecraft: "As statecraft proves less and less able to solve or even tackle global problems, it is time to turn to webcraft. Statecraft is the traditional world of diplomacy, treaties and international institutions, with decisions traditionally made by statesmen (they were mostly men) in embassies and elegantly panelled foreign offices around the world. Webcraft is the foreign policy of the 21st century, a sprawling complex of networks, coalitions, partnerships and initiatives undertaken by business, NGOs, churches, universities, foundations, cities, provinces and very determined individuals, all working with, alongside or sometimes against their national governments."

Mona Charen (New York Times) on the Conservative Political Action Conference: "On Saturday, after speaking to this year's gathering, I had to be escorted from the premises by several guards who seemed genuinely concerned for my safety. What happened to me at CPAC is the perfect illustration of the collective experience of a whole swath of conservatives since Donald Trump became the Republican nominee. We built and organized this party — but now we're made to feel like interlopers. I was surprised that I was even asked to speak at CPAC. My views on Trump, Roy Moore and Steve Bannon are no secret. I knew the crowd would be hostile, and so I was tempted to pass. But too many of us have given up the fight. We've let disgust and dismay lead us to withdraw while bad actors take control of the direction of our movement."

Sunny Hundal (The Independent) on Indian foreign policy: "What really worries the Indian government is the prospect of Sikhs in Britain, Canada and the US getting into positions of power and challenging the abuse of Sikh civil rights in India. The Indian government mentions the revival of Sikh militancy in India too, but it is highly exaggerated. Among Indian elites there is palpable concern that Western foreign policy towards India will increasingly be shaped by Sikhs willing to challenge its interests. Hence the alarmist talk about Sikh separatism."

We also have a new weekly newsletter called Amplify that will inspire and challenge our readers while highlighting the voices, opinions and insights of women at The Globe and Mail. Amplify will have a different guest editor each week - a woman who works at The Globe - highlighting a topic of the author's choice. Sign up today.