Hello,
Hugh Segal, a classic example of a Red Tory who contributed to Canadian public life in many ways throughout his career, is being remembered fondly by former Prime Ministers Brian Mulroney and Paul Martin.
Mr. Segal died Aug. 9 at the age of 72.
“We’ve lost someone who represented the glue that keeps us together,” Mr. Mulroney told The Globe and Mail’s John Ibbitson for an obituary published Thursday here.
Mr. Mulroney led a Progressive Conservative federal government from 1984 until 1993 and Mr. Segal was his chief of staff as of 1991.
“I needed someone with a very broad, generous vision of Canada, who could work well with people of various persuasions,” Mr. Mulroney said, “and that’s an ideal calling card for Hugh Segal. He came on and did a fabulous job in extremely trying circumstances.”
Mr. Segal departed in April, 1993, as Mr. Mulroney was stepping down.
As an example of Mr. Segal’s ability to work with politicians across the political aisle, he was appointed to the Senate in 2005 by Liberal Prime Minister Paul Martin, even though Mr. Segal sat as a Conservative.
“I wanted a committed Canadian, someone with a sharp wit and a keen mind, a qualified parliamentarian and an ardent partisan,” Mr. Martin told The Globe and Mail. As well, “I don’t know anyone who didn’t like Hugh Segal. I wouldn’t want to know anyone who didn’t like Hugh Segal.”
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre offered his condolences in an Aug. 10 statement on social media.
“Hugh Segal was a great Canadian. Thoughtful, wise and ever cheerful, he will always be remembered as the happy warrior who dedicated his life to serving Canada. My deepest condolences to his family, friends and all who will miss him.”
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TODAY'S HEADLINES
Yellowknife’s 20,000 residents ordered to evacuate - The Globe and Mail is running a live blog with regular updates on the wildfire on the outskirts of the Northwest Territories capital. Read the latest news here. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is scheduled to convene an urgent meeting with ministers and senior officials Thursday with respect to the fire. Story here.
Another battery plant lands government support - The Quebec and federal governments announced support – primarily in the form of loans – for a $1.2-billion electric vehicle plant that Ford Motor Co and South Korean companies plan to build in Bécancour, Que. Story here.
Gender-based violence an epidemic, Ottawa says - The federal government described gender-based violence as “an epidemic” in its formal response to a coroner’s inquest, months after the Ontario government refused to do so, The Globe and Mail reports here.
Ethics commissioner vacancy now exceeds six months - The federal government has remained without a conflict-of-interest and ethics watchdog for more than six months – a vacancy that the most recent commissioner says is putting investigations on hold and could allow violations to go unnoticed, the Canadian Press reports here.
THIS AND THAT
Summer break – Both the House of Commons and the Senate are on breaks. The House sits again on Sept. 18. The Senate sits again on Sept. 19.
THE DECIBEL
Elective egg freezing is on the rise in Canada. Fertility clinics pitch it as a kind of insurance policy: Put your eggs in the bank now, and you can come back for them later, when you’re ready to have a baby. But the procedure is invasive, expensive and doesn’t guarantee a successful pregnancy later on.
Alison Motluk, freelance journalist and writer of the newsletter Hey Reprotech, is on the show to talk about what’s really involved in egg freezing. Read more about why she’s sounding a note of caution around the procedure here and listen to the podcast here or on your favourite podcast app.
PRIME MINISTER'S DAY
The Prime Minister is on vacation with his family in British Columbia.
LEADERS
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is scheduled to hold a news conference in Toronto, where he will talk about proposals to build more homes for students and to lower the cost of rent.
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet will hold a news conference in Rimouski, Que. He will be expressing concern about planned changes to federal riding boundaries.
Green Party Leader Elizabeth May is in Ottawa this week. In a statement, her office said she has cleared the highest security clearance is examining documents relating to interference in the elections ahead of a planned news conference on Friday.
No schedule was distributed for Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, who has been touring Atlantic Canada this week.
OPINION
Editorial Board (The Globe and Mail) writes that Canada’s costly housing market needs a reality check: “There needs to be a lot more honesty in Canada’s debate around housing. Politicians pretend they can somehow address affordability while also protecting the property values of existing owners. At the same time, the term “affordable housing” has become increasingly elastic, stretched to meaningless. And the falsehood that every middle-class Canadian can have a house and yard persists, a myth that leaders and pundits are quite happy to push.”
Editorial Board (The Winnipeg Free Press) on Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre “courting the fringe” through repeated references to the World Economic Forum: “His allusions to sinister ‘globalist’ actors goes part and parcel with his established support for people who have embraced anti-vaccine rhetoric or indulged other conspiracy theories (he was one of the more prominent Tory supporters of the Ottawa convoy protest). Does Poilievre believe any of it? Hard to say. The fact is, this group of voters – call it the convoy bloc, if you like – holds considerable sway among right-leaning politicians... It may make for straightforward, pragmatic politics to court such voters in the name of winning an election. But Poilievre should consider that the opportunist courting of the fringe is likely to end in reshaping his party, and Canadian politics, for the worse.”
Lawrence Martin (The Globe and Mail) says the growing number of criminal charges is good news for the Democratic Party: “There are still many out there who think, having lost the presidency in 2020, that with these new qualifications Mr. Trump can win back the Oval Office next year. Evidence from recent times does suggest that Americans’ penchant for irrational decision-making need not be underestimated. But electing someone who could well be on his way to jail? No, Americans are not that unhinged.”
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