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News of the end of Canada’s evacuation flights of Canadian nationals and Afghan refugees from Afghanistan resonated across the campaign trail on Thursday, leaving Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau on the defensive.
Ottawa bureau chief Robert Fife and senior parliamentary reporter Steven Chase report here on today’s developments around the Canadian evacuation. There’s a Globe and Mail explainer here on how we got to this point.
While campaigning in Quebec City, Mr. Trudeau said Canada will remain engaged with Afghanistan, with a commitment to settle 20,000 Afghans in Canada over coming years. He added that Canada would continue to pressure the Taliban to allow Afghans to leave the country.
“This particular moment is done and it’s heartbreaking to see, but there is much more to do and Canada will continue to be there for Afghans and the Afghan people,” he said.
Mr. Trudeau said the speed with which the Taliban took over Kabul “rendered this an extraordinarily difficult situation for our allies, for Canadians and especially for Afghans.”
But other parties were critical, accusing the Trudeau government of failure on the file.
Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole said the Trudeau government failed to act in the short window since the April announcement by U.S. President Joe Biden that American forces would be leaving Afghanistan.
At his daily news conference, Mr. O’Toole said a Conservative government would have gotten people out before the chaos erupted.
Despite repeated questioning from reporters, however, Mr. O’Toole did not provide any specific details about exactly how he would deal with the crisis in Afghanistan if he becomes prime minister beyond declaring, “I will act.”
In remarks in Winnipeg, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said the Canadian evacuation effort was a failure.
“We now see thousands of our allies, people that put their lives at risk to support our troops are now being left behind so yes, it’s sad to say that Canada has failed, and Justin Trudeau knew about this problem and knew about the concerns, and didn’t act in a timely way,“ he said.
“As a result, there’s lots of people now who are going to be pretty desperate and I am not sure what’s going to happen to them.”
TODAY’S HEADLINES
DON’T CAMPAIGN FOR O’TOOLE, FORD TELLS CABINET - Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s office has told his cabinet ministers not to campaign for federal Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole, and to refrain from posting about interactions with federal candidates on social media, The Globe and Mail has learned. Story here.
TRUDEAU DISTANCES GOVERNMENT FROM FERRY CONTRACT - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is distancing the Liberal government from a $100-million contract under which a Chinese state-owned shipyard will build a passenger ferry for a federal Crown corporation, a deal the Conservative Party vows to cancel if elected.
AMBASSADOR OFFERS MENG WANZHOU `DEEP SYMPATHY’ - China’s ambassador to Canada spoke to Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou on Wednesday, as she nears 1,000 days in her fight against being extradited to the United States. Ambassador Cong Peiwu, in a phone conversation with Ms. Meng, who was at her home in Vancouver, “expressed deep sympathy” to Ms. Meng for her “arbitrary detention,” according to a statement from the Chinese embassy in Ottawa. Story here.
DIVERSITY COMMENT PROMPTS APOLOGY FROM NDP INCUMBENT - In Vancouver, an NDP incumbent is apologizing for remarks on candidate diversity. Story here.
DIVERSE CANDIDATES FACE CHALLENGES, INVESTIGATION FINDS - CBC/Radio-Canada takes a deep look into diversity in national politics. Political parties say candidate diversity is high on their agenda this election, but a new CBC/Radio-Canada data analysis finds white men who ran for office federally in 2015 and 2019 received more money from their party and ran in ridings that were easier to win. Story here.
LEADERS
Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-François Blanchet campaigned in Chicoutimi, held a news conference on forest policy with candidates and trade-union representatives and was also scheduled to visit a farm in Canton-Tremblay. He was also going to campaign in Jonquière and Saguenay.
Conservative Party Leader Erin O’Toole made an announcement and held a media availability at his downtown Ottawa studio and was later scheduled to hold a virtual telephone town hall for Nova Scotia.
Campaign Trail Commitment: Mr. O’Toole, in an announcement, touted his party’s promise to protect gig-economy workers by ensuring their access to employment insurance benefits.
Green Party Leader Annamie Paul has cancelled previously scheduled campaign events to hold a news conference on Afghanistan.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, in Winnipeg, made a morning announcement on housing and was scheduled to make a further announcement with Manitoba First Nations leaders before travelling to hold a “meet and greet” in Kenora, Ont., and a media availability.
Campaign Trail Commitment: Mr. Singh, in Winnipeg, detailed a plan to help first-time homebuyers by doubling the first-time homeowner’s credit and transforming it into a rebate so that they get the money when they move in.
Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau made an announcement on seniors policy in Quebec City and held a media availability, then was to later make a campaign stop in Trois-Rivières, Que.
Campaign Trail Commitment: In Quebec City, Mr. Trudeau promised more support for seniors, including permanently increasing the Guaranteed Income Supplement by $500 annually for single seniors and $750 for senior couples, starting at the age of 65.
ELECTION SPOTLIGHT - NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR
Alex Marland, professor, Political Science, Memorial University - “With the notable exception of MP Scott Simms (Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame), who at times has been offside with the Trudeau Liberals, the six Liberal MPs in Newfoundland and Labrador have acted as party loyalists since the 2019 campaign, in some cases longer. [Editors Note: There are seven seats in Newfoundland and Labrador] Several of them are low-profile backbenchers who are rarely part of the public consciousness. Nevertheless, it would be a surprise if all six Liberal incumbents weren’t re-elected.
“The Trudeau government’s announcement in late July that billions of federal dollars will go toward addressing the financial problems associated with the Muskrat Falls megaproject responded to a key political demand, and there is still a lingering foul taste toward the Conservative Party since Premier Danny Williams waged his “Anything But Conservative” (ABC) campaign against Stephen Harper in 2008. The only intrigue about the federal election in the province is who will prevail in St. John’s East. The seat has flipped between the NDP and Liberals, and popular NDP MP Jack Harris isn’t running again.”
PUBLIC OPINION:
Together with CTV and Nanos Research, The Globe and Mail is doing daily surveys to track which party and leader Canadians prefer. Check here for the latest results.
OPINION
The Globe and Mail Editorial Board on Ottawa bungling the Afghan rescue operation, and how Afghans relying on Canada will die because of it: “Time was always short, yet Canada’s plan for getting marked men and women through a fast-closing door was designed as if there was all the time in the world. Much of the holdup at the airport appears to have come from saddling the evacuation with too much immigration-process bureaucracy, and too few bureaucrats to do the processing. And beneath it all, there’s the basic dearth of flights. How much of a difference could Canada have made had it sent more planes? The world is awash in idle airliners to charter. Instead of offering just one flight a day, what if Canada had sent two, or four, or six?”
John Ibbitson (The Globe and Mail) on how the catastrophe unfolding in Afghanistan poses an electoral risk for Liberals: “Would the rescue mission be proceeding any differently, were Mr. Trudeau and his ministers at their desks focused relentlessly on the airport in Kabul rather than campaigning? Who knows? But Liberals now face a trifecta of accusations: that they called an unnecessary election, that they called it even as a fourth wave of COVID-19 infections gathers momentum, and that they called it while a humanitarian crisis worsens in Afghanistan.”
Lori Fox (contributor to The Globe and Mail) , a former restaurant service worker, on why service workers left the restaurant industry during the pandemic: “Let me shed some light on the “mystery” of this labour shortage: With an abysmally low rate of pay, bad (often erratic) hours, no sick days and near-constant sexual harassment, racism, sexism and queerphobia, working in service sucks. And yet that hasn’t stopped pundits, and even some restaurateurs, from decrying our lack of good ol’ fashioned work ethic and blaming the government dole for keeping us from returning to our rightful place: tableside, making them money and waiting on our betters. What has been said about us – that CERB has kept us from re-entering the work force, that we are lazy and unambitious, that we simply don’t want to work – is ridiculous.”
Ken Boessenkool (CBC Opinion) on Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, federal Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole and the battle for Alberta conservatism: “For the first two weeks of the federal campaign, Kenney went into hiding... I mean, on holidays. And for good reason. Federal polling numbers prior to the campaign suggested that Erin O’Toole was suffering in Alberta from a problem not of his own making, and that will make it difficult for him to repeat past sweeps of our province. But the much more interesting question is how these problems — from a conservative perspective — will play out on the provincial side. For while the federal campaign is on, there is a much more interesting battle going on provincially.”
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