Good morning, I’m Michael Snider, filling in for Chris Hannay this morning
The federal government plans to unveil a new tourism strategy by creating a federal advisory council lead by lead by former New Brunswick premier Frank McKenna to come up with a new national strategy by next spring. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had tapped Tourism Minister Mélanie Joly to develop a plan by 2019 to boost the industry. As Daniel Leblanc in Ottawa reports, Ms. Joly is launching consultations on Monday in Niagara Falls, Ont., as well as announcing the creation of the advisory council, called Jobs and the Visitor Economy.
The reasons for the effort are pretty basic: Canada used to be one of the top 10 destinations in the world for tourists, but in recent years has slipped to 17th. The industry represents about 2 per cent of Canada’s GDP and supports nearly two million Canadians, but it is struggling to keep up with competitors.
One of the areas the advisory panel is already focused on is marketing and promotion through social media. Mr. McKenna said the tourism sector must get better at using social platforms and artificial intelligence technology to attract visitors and the industry needs to better understand what potential clients are looking for when they are contemplating a trip to Canada.
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TODAY’S HEADLINES
And you thought the U.S. midterms were over. On Saturday, Florida began recounting votes for pivotal races for governor and Senate. Much of the drama centred on Broward and Pal Beach counties, home to large concentrations of Democratic voters. In Broward County, the recount was delayed for several hours Sunday morning because of a problem with one of the tabulation machines. The state has set a Thursday deadline to complete the recount.
Also on U.S. politics, David Shribman casts forward to the 2020 presidential campaign and visits the state of Iowa, which 14 months from now will hold the first caucuses of the new White House campaign. Several Democratic candidates will be looking to use the state’s once-obscure caucus procedure as a stepping-stone to the White House. Already, Mr. Shribman reports, likely presidential candidates Senators Cory Booker of New Jersey, Kamala Harris of California and former vice-president Joe Biden have visited Iowa recently. Representative John Delaney of Maryland, the first Democrat to declare his candidacy for the White House in 2020, has been there 18 times.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canadian intelligence officials have listened to a recording of the killing of Saudi journalist and dissident Jamal Khashoggi. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his government handed copies of the recording to the U.S., France, Britain, Germany and Saudi Arabia. Mr. Erdogan said it made the recording available so “there is no need to distort” what happened after the dissident journalist entered the Saudi embassy in Istanbul on Oct. 2. And the Khashoggi case isn’t the first time Saudi officials appeared to consider assassinations across borders. The New York Times reported intelligence officials close to the Crown Prince discussed assassinating enemies in Iran last year.
Mr. Trudeau says politicians working to harness the power of social media to connect with voters need to figure out how to do so positively. He made the comments in Paris this morning, although he didn’t mention anyone’s name in connection with the advice but, ahem, it was pretty obvious he was referring to Donald Trump. As the Canadian Press reports, Mr. Trudeau suggested there are politicians who are trying to use platforms like Twitter to foster polarization and controversy in the electorate. He also told a press freedom event in Paris yesterday attacks on the media are a threat to democracy.
John Carpay of Alberta’s United Conservative Party is trying to explain remarks he made at a conference organized by the conservative news outlet Rebel Media in Calgary on Saturday when he identified the Soviet hammer and sickle, the Nazi swastika and the the rainbow LGBTQ pride flag as symbols of totalitarianism. In a statement Sunday evening, he said he wished to clarify the comment and says he “unintentionally drew a broad comparison” between them.
Campbell Clark (The Globe and Mail) on Trudeau’s free-trade plan with China: “This time last year, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was preparing for a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang where it was expected formal free-trade negotiations would be launched. But that went off the rails when Mr. Trudeau insisted the announcements include nods to his “progressive trade” agenda, such as labour standards, and the Chinese balked. Now, Mr. Trudeau’s government is further away from getting free-trade talks started. There are more complications in the way and conflicting opinions about the next step.”
John Ibbitson (The Globe and Mail) on Remembrance Day: “Freedom is in retreat around the world. It is not in retreat [in Canada]. For that reason, Remembrance Day is not just a day to remember. It is a day to give thanks. Democracy is not preserved through constitutions and laws, but through shared trust. ... This trust is not universal. Indigenous Canadians question why their community accounts for 46 per cent of youths in custody while making up only 8 per cent of the youth population. Many LGBTQ Canadians of colour object to having police march in Pride parades. Sometimes, politicians and public servants abuse the public trust. The media sometimes get things wrong; a few do it deliberately. Everybody speeds, now and then. But enough of us trust enough of the system for the system to work. We take that trust for granted. We shouldn’t.”
Eric Reguly (The Globe and Mail) on Italy’s pitch for stabilizing Libya: “Several efforts by the United Nations (UN) and France to bring lasting peace and unity to Libya have failed. What’s left of the country has coalesced around two large rival factions: The UN-supported Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli in the west, and in the east, the Libyan Armed Forces (also known as the Libyan National Army) led by the self-styled “field marshal” and warlord Khalifa Haftar. Now it’s the turn of Italy, Libya’s old colonial master, to take a crack. A bewildering array of moving geopolitical pieces, both domestic and international – including Russia – might bog down Italy’s strategy. Here is a look at what’s at stake.”
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Will British Columbians ditch first past the post – which is used nearly everywhere in Canada – in favour of proportional representation? The countdown is on, with residents able to mail in their ballots by the Nov. 30 deadline.
The options: The referendum is twofold. First, voters must select Yes or No on whether they want electoral reform. A majority of 50 per cent plus one is needed to change the system. All voters also have the option of ranking one, two or all three systems: Mixed Member Proportional (MMP), Dual-Member Proportional (DMP) and Rural-Urban Proportional (RUP). Go here to read about those options.
Where the parties stand: NDP Premier John Horgan is in favour of electoral reform and has thrown his weight behind MMP, the only option used in other countries, including Germany, New Zealand and Scotland. Provincial Liberal Leader Andrew Wilkinson has voiced concern about a proportional system, saying the referendum process has been rushed with voters unclear about their choices. Green Leader Andrew Weaver supports change; his party pushed for electoral reform after winning just three of the 87 seats in the 2017 election while picking up nearly 17 per cent of the vote.
If the Yes side wins: Results are expected by mid-December, and if residents vote for change, provincial officials will need to get the ball rolling in time for the next election, currently scheduled for October of 2021. But while that seems like a long time, there are many kinks to sort out: the new total number of elected representatives; riding areas redrawn; tabulating technology updated. The province’s chief electoral officer says the timeline is “going to be tight.”
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