Hello,
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he doesn’t want a fight with Alberta over its sovereignty act – but he isn’t ruling out options for dealing with it.
Mr. Trudeau responded Wednesday to the introduction of the proposed legislation, which would, among other measures, give the Alberta cabinet the ability to rewrite laws and order government agencies, police, cities and universities to disregard federal legislation the provincial government deems unconstitutional or harmful to the province.
The bill, introduced Tuesday, fulfills a pledge Premier Danielle Smith made during her bid to lead the United Conservative Party, when she campaigned on a platform to defend Alberta’s interests against interventions by Ottawa.
“We know that the exceptional powers that the Premier is choosing to give the Alberta government and bypassing the Alberta legislature is causing a lot of eyebrows to raise in Alberta, and we’re going to see how this plays out,” Mr. Trudeau told journalists as he arrived for the weekly cabinet meeting.
“I’m not going to take anything off the table but I am also not looking for a fight.”
Full story here. Also, Calgary Reporters Carrie Tait and Alanna Smith report here on the introduction of the legislation.
Meanwhile, former Alberta premier Jason Kenney has resigned as a member of the legislative assembly, an announcement he made while his successor tabled the sovereignty act he opposed. Story here. The Calgary Chamber of Commerce is also pushing back at the legislation, saying it threatens to scare off investors and talent and derail the province’s plans for economic growth. Story here.
This is the daily Politics Briefing newsletter, written by Ian Bailey. It is available exclusively to our digital subscribers. If you're reading this on the web, subscribers can sign up for the Politics newsletter and more than 20 others on our newsletter signup page. Have any feedback? Let us know what you think.
TODAY'S HEADLINES
FORD GOVERNMENT IGNORED TRANSPORTATION MINISTRY ADVICE – The Ontario government of Premier Doug Ford ignored the recommendations of its own Ministry of Transportation experts and pushed lower-priority road projects ahead, including the Toronto-area Highway 413 and Bradford Bypass that it made centrepieces of its spring re-election campaign. Story here.
HAWKS AND FALCONS RECRUITED – Federal departments and the Canadian military are turning to the ancient craft of falconry to scare off troublesome birds and protect valuable infrastructure across the country. Story here.
IMMIGRATION BACKLOGS PROMPT LEGAL CASES – The federal government is facing a barrage of legal cases related to its backlog of immigration applications, which has led to slower processing times and plenty of frustration for those waiting years on a decision. Story here.
PM DODGES QUESTIONS ON BEIJING POLITICAL INTERFERENCE – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he’s never received any intelligence that China clandestinely funded federal candidates in the 2019 and 2021 elections but he dodged repeated questions about whether he was informed of efforts by Beijing to interfere in Canadian elections or domestic politics. Story here. Also, Mr. Trudeau is among several Canadian leaders to criticize the University of Ottawa for banning cameras at an event with the Chinese ambassador to Canada at one of its lecture halls. Story here from CBC.
`EGREGIOUS’ ERRORS CITED IN OTTAWA LRT DEVELOPMENT – Both city officials and the companies that built Ottawa’s troubled Confederation Line made “egregious” errors during the construction and testing of the $2.1-billion light-rail transit line – errors that raise questions about whether the city is fit to oversee such massive infrastructure projects, according to the final report from the Ottawa Light Rail Transit Public Inquiry. Story here from CBC.
CSIS THREAT DEFINITION IRRELEVANT: FORMER DIRECTOR – The Canadian Security Intelligence Service’s interpretation of what constitutes a national security threat is not relevant when it comes to a government’s decision to invoke the Emergencies Act, two of the spy agency’s former directors testified at a national inquiry Wednesday. Story here.
FIREARM GROUP CRITICIZES GOVERNMENT GUN POLICY – A firearm advocacy group says the Liberal government’s effort to ban a wide variety of rifles is being driven by ideology, not public safety. Story here from CTV.
ONE IN FIVE NATIVE SPECIES THREATENED: REPORT – One in five assessed native species in Canada face some degree of threat to their continued viability, a multijurisdictional report has revealed. Story here.
CONTINUED QUEBEC LEGISLATURE DISPUTE OVER OATH - The three Parti Quebecois members who have steadfastly refused to swear the oath of office to King Charles III found themselves on the outside looking in Tuesday as Quebec’s legislature reopened without them. Story here.
MP CALLS FOR NATIONAL GALLERY TRANSPARENCY – A parliamentary committee member is calling for transparency from Canada’s premier art institution after recent and very public staff turmoil – and he’s imploring Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez to step in. Story here from CBC.
THIS AND THAT
TODAY IN THE COMMONS – Projected Order of Business at the House of Commons, Nov. 30, accessible here.
DAYS SINCE CONSERVATIVE LEADER PIERRE POILIEVRE TOOK MEDIA QUESTIONS IN OTTAWA: 78
MINISTERS ON THE ROAD – Tourism Minister Randy Boissonnault is in Halifax as part of a tour of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, meeting counterparts, business leaders and stakeholders. Northern Affairs Minister Dan Vandal, in Winnipeg Beach, Man., announced a $224,011 investment in five communities to strengthen data-driven decision-making about key infrastructure and ensure long-term infrastructure performance.
GOVERNOR-GENERAL AT EXHIBITION OPENING – Governor-General Mary Simon is scheduled to deliver brief remarks at the official opening of the Our Land, Our Art exhibition at the Canadian Museum of Nature, which provides a glimpse of life in Nunavik from the people who live and work there.
PRIME MINISTER'S DAY
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in Ottawa, held private meetings, participated in a live virtual interview at the Reuters NEXT conference, attended the national Liberal caucus meeting, and was scheduled to attend Question Period.
LEADERS
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet is to hold a media scrum on Parliament Hill, accompanied by the caucus democratic institutions critic and the ethics critic. He is also participating in Question Period.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, in Ottawa, attends the NDP caucus meeting, speaks with the media before Question Period, and attends Question Period.
No schedules provided by other party leaders.
THE DECIBEL
On Wednesday’s edition of The Globe and Mail podcast, the Globe’s Asia Correspondent, James Griffiths, author of The Great Firewall of China, talks about protests in China over zero-COVID policies some are blaming for the deaths of 10 people in an apartment building in the city of Urumqi. Demonstrations erupted in dozens of cities around the country, including in Shanghai and the capital Beijing. The Decibel is here.
OPINION
The Globe and Mail Editorial Board on how Alberta Premier Danielle Smith believes Alberta should ignore federal laws it doesn’t like: “What this looks like in reality is guesswork. Further, not much might actually occur between the initial volleys under the new act, which will surely be challenged in court, and the spring election. In some ways, it sounds like promotional bluster. The fourth point of rationale the province presented Tuesday was to “create opportunities for building national awareness of federal intrusion.” It is an amped-up song sheet of grievance that Mr. Kenney followed in his 3½ years as premier, always fighting and often losing. Alberta is enjoying a windfall of many billions in cash from fossil fuels, but the province isn’t necessarily in a better place after all the scrapping. Yet Ms. Smith chooses to escalate. This is not leadership.”
Kelly Cryderman (The Globe and Mail) on how Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s sovereignty act has become bigger and more undemocratic than advertised: “Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s long-awaited sovereignty act hasn’t been softened. There’s no pivot. If anything, it’s bigger than advertised, taking an unexpectedly undemocratic approach to its goal of bolstering the province’s defences against federal intrusion.”
Gary Mason (The Globe and Mail) on how ‘Defund the police’ may have had its day, but it’s over now: “So much for defunding the police. It wasn’t that long ago that police forces across North America faced protests in the wake of the 2020 murder of George Floyd during a routine arrest in Minneapolis. It gave new life to the Black Lives Matter movement, and incited calls to cut police funding across the United States. Those calls migrated to Canada. Activists here cited racist elements inside police forces. There were calls to slash police budgets and to make courses on racial sensitivity mandatory for officers. But while police budgets may have stabilized in the immediate aftermath of Mr. Floyd’s death, they are on the march again. Politicians have read the room.”
Vincent Rigby and Jennifer Welsh (Contributed to The Globe and Mail) on the hard work beginning as Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy is finally out: “After some false starts, Canada thankfully has a strategy for the Indo-Pacific. But in many respects, that was the easy part. Now comes implementation, and as is so often the case, the devil will be in the details. Moreover, though we now have a strategic framework for one global region, the same cannot be said for other parts of the world. How will the Indo-Pacific strategy be balanced against foreign policy priorities in Europe, Africa and Latin America? We still lack a comprehensive foreign-policy statement, a notable shortcoming for a G7 country facing a challenging world.”
Samir Sinha (Contributed to The Globe and Mail) on how Canada’s health care systems must do more to protect at-risk people from the flu: “If Australia’s experience this year is any indication, their record number of flu cases suggests we are only at the beginning of one of our worst influenza seasons. Together with the continuing number of COVID-19 infections and an unprecedented surge in respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a bad flu season risks further overwhelming our already strained health care systems. So why aren’t we taking the flu more seriously?”
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.
Ian Bailey