Good morning,
Today, the Irish are at the polls for a landmark referendum on abortion. Citizens in Ireland will vote on whether to repeal their constitution’s eighth amendment, which bans abortion. If the “yes” side prevails the government says it would introduce legislation permitting abortions within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. Ireland, a country that has traditionally been Catholic, has seen attitudes on social issues change in recent years. In 2015, it voted in favour of legalizing same-sex marriage.
This is the daily Politics Briefing newsletter, written by Chris Hannay in Ottawa, Mayaz Alam i n 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
Canada’s auto industry was blindsided by the United States’ latest tariff threat. The U.S. is launching an investigation into whether imported vehicles, including vehicles from Canada, represent a national security threat to the U.S. A similar investigation was used to target steel and aluminum tariffs. Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland responded by saying “it’s absurd to think that Canada in any way could pose a national security threat to the United States.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says his cabinet blocked the takeover of construction giant Aecon by a Chinese state-owned firm because of worries that the government of Canada would lose some of its sovereignty. “ We take seriously the work that our intelligence and security agencies do … and they made a very clear recommendation that proceeding with this transaction was not in the national-security interests of Canada,” he said.
Mr. Trudeau was honoured last night by Egale Canada for his LGBTQ advocacy.
Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen is mum on whether Canada will seek changes to the Safe Third Country Agreement, though he will say his officials will try to stop pamphlets being distributed in New York state that explain how to cross the border illegally.
Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project cleared a major legal hurdle as B.C.’s Supreme Court dismissed challenges that tried to overturn the project’s provincial environmental certificate, which was granted by the previous Liberal government. The lawsuits were brought forth by both the Squamish Nation and the City of Vancouver.
Indigenous leaders in Saskatchewan are recommending a community-based multipronged approach to help address the high suicide rates for young First Nations women, who are almost 30 times more likely to die by suicide than non-First Nations women within the same age range.
Senators say they are concerned that new roadside testing rules could disproportionately affect members of racial minorities.
B.C. Premier John Horgan is calling on the federal government to join an investigation into the high gasoline prices in his province. Mr. Horgan said that Ottawa should help protect British Columbians from the continent’s highest gas prices. Gas was $1.61 a litre yesterday in the Metro Vancouver area.
Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford is being accused of signing up bogus members of his party to help a candidate in a nomination race. A new Forum Research poll has the Ontario NDP leap-frogging the PCs in support for the first time.
And police are looking for two men who set off an “improvised explosive device” at a Mississauga, Ont., restaurant last night. Fifteen people were injured.
Campbell Clark (The Globe and Mail) on Aecon: “What he hasn’t told us is how far that threat goes. Is it just Chinese state control of infrastructure that must be averted? Or resources, or sensitive technology? Or does Chinese state ownership of any significant economic interest in Canada constitute a threat? That’s the national-security question Canada, and its Prime Minister, must answer.”
Wesley Wark (The Globe and Mail) on Aecon: “The boldness of the decision is rooted in the important signal it sends that the government is serious about protecting significant critical infrastructure in Canada, including cross-border infrastructure, from potentially harmful foreign investment. Boldness may come at a cost, in terms of the future of Canada-China economic relations, but on that front we shall have to wait. ”
Jeffrey Jones (The Globe and Mail) on what Canada wants from China: “ Now, the deal’s history and for Canada, it’s back to figuring out what it actually wants from China amid frets about intellectual property theft and spying – plus general trade angst as it relates to the Communist country, where human rights abuses still get swept under the rug. ” (for subscribers)
Lindsay Rodman (The Globe and Mail) on a proposed victims’ bill of rights for the military: “[Bill] C-77 is a good first step, but merely putting military victims on par with civilians may not be a strong enough signal to them that they will be protected and heard if they come forward. A bolder effort may be required if the CAF intends to truly take this problem head-on. ”
Adam Radwanski (The Globe and Mail) on Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford: “For any Ontarians who hoped the Tories would seize the opportunity of Mr. Brown’s ignominious exit to find a solution to what ails them culturally, and what many Canadian parties put up with to varying degrees, it’s time to be disappointed. It increasingly appears that given an opportunity to find a solution, the PCs instead turned to someone who is part of the problem.”
Elizabeth Renzetti (The Globe and Mail) on PC leadership runner-up Christine Elliott: “Would Ms. Elliott have waged a better campaign than Mr. Ford, whom she defeated in total votes and number of ridings in the leadership contest, yet lost to anyway thanks to the PC’s convoluted point-distribution system? Let’s put it this way: She could hardly be worse. The chances are that her campaign would have been quietly competent, its platform well-planned, its minor fires doused immediately.” (for subscribers)
Jason Markusoff (Maclean’s) on Alberta’s United Conservative Leader Jason Kenney: “ While Kenney characterizes the NDP as a group that lucked into government and didn’t have public backing to tax carbon and hike the minimum wage, he should be mindful of exactly why he’s dominant in the polls. It’s because Albertans dislike the NDP moreso than because they love his brand of fiscal hawkishness.”
Don Martin (CTV) on Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer: “To even contemplate a Conservative comeback over the global rapture-receiving Trudeau a year ago was the Scheer audacity of hope over the reality of nope.”
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INTERNATIONAL HEADLINES
The proposed June 12 summit between North Korea and the U.S. has been called off, with U.S. President Donald Trump citing the North’s“open hostility.” Mr. Trump warned that the U.S. military is prepared to act, in case North Korea behaves recklessly. Mr. Trump was scheduled to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore next month. The positive strides toward lasting peace began unravelling after North Korea responded to a joint U.S.-South Korean air combat drill with aggressive rhetoric. Mr. Trump sent Mr. Kim a letter to officially announce his withdrawal. You can read it here.
When it comes to the moon, what’s old is new again. During the Cold War the space race was another avenue through which the global powers exerted their influence. Earlier this week a Chinese satellite left Earth on a mission to the dark side of the moon. China is particularly interested in the polar peaks of eternal light in hopes of harnessing a valuable source of solar energy. Because of the relatively small size of these spots there are concerns that one country can assume sole occupancy of the area without contravening international law.
Saad Hariri, the caretaker premier of Lebanon who was prime minister before the country’s election earlier this month, has been asked to form a new cabinet. The vast majority of legislators in the Middle Eastern country have named him as their choice for prime minister. The election saw the militant group Hezbollah and its allies increase their presence in the legislature.
Dutch prosecutors say the “Buk” anti-aircraft missile that shot down Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 came from the 53rd brigade of the Russian army. The plane was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur and was hit by the weapon over eastern Ukraine. All 296 people on board died.
Russian President Vladimir Putin says he is welcoming efforts by other European countries to salvage the Iran nuclear deal even though the United States withdrew from the agreement. He warned of “lamentable consequences” if the deal is not preserved. Iran is an ally of Russia and the two countries have supported Syria’s government in the country’s bloody civil war.
China expressed its regret and scolded the United States after it withdrew China’s invite to an important naval drill hosted by the U.S.
And if you’ve gotten an e-mail in recent weeks about updates to a privacy policy it’s likely because of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation, which goes into effect today. We’ve broken down what the new data-privacy rules, which mark a watershed moment in the regulation of the digital economy, could mean.
James Trottier (The Globe and Mail) on the summit that wasn’t: “The cancellation was precipitated by North Korea’s verbal assaults against key figures in the Trump administration and a belated recognition by the White House that North Korea was not prepared to agree to unilateral denuclearization. This pierced the bubble of illusion surrounding the White House. No credible expert on North Korea believes that it is prepared to unilaterally denuclearize, but the White House had been putting this forward as the only acceptable outcome of the summit and building up expectations that Mr. Trump would achieve this, setting up the U.S. President for an epic failure or, at best, a major disappointment.”
Janice Gross Stein (The Globe and Mail) on why we’re better off without the Korea summit: “If there is a strong probability that a high-stakes summit will fail – and there are no higher stakes than nuclear weapons – far better not to have the meeting at all. Far better to let experienced officials try to manage the risk. Far better to pull in the most experienced people left in the State Department, let them do their work and only proceed to a summit if there is a reasonable chance of a good outcome. Cancelling the summit meeting is the first good decision that Mr. Trump has made in a very long while.”
Aisha Ahmad (Open Canada) on why jihadist insurgencies persist: “The answer to this puzzle has remarkably little to do with jihadist ideology or identity politics. Rather, there is a clear economic logic behind these patterns of jihadist resurgence. Following the money at ground level reveals that the jihadists are not actually winning the ideological battle; they are simply capitalizing on the fact that the local allies we partner with are often losers.”
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