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Ontario Premier Doug Ford will be meeting with his counterparts from across the country for the first time this week at the annual premiers meeting – and he’ll be looking for allies in his fight against the federal government’s climate-change plan.
Mr. Ford has previously said he plans to join Saskatchewan's legal challenge of Ottawa's threat to impose carbon pricing on provinces that don't adopt their own system. One of his first moves as premier was to cancel the province's cap-and-trade system, brought in by the previous Liberal government. He plans to use a gathering of premiers this week in New Brunswick to find other premiers willing to join his cause.
New Brunswick Premier Brian Gallant has raised doubts about adopting the federal plan, telling Brunswick News that “maybe the dynamics around the table on how we collectively fight climate change has changed."
British Columbia, Alberta and Quebec have adopted a carbon price and support the national plan, though approaching elections in Alberta and Quebec could see a new government shift course. While Manitoba’s fiscally conservative Premier, Brian Pallister, has been skeptical of the federal plan, he says he will not join Ontario and Saskatchewan's legal challenge.
Aside from the climate-change plan, the meetings this week in St. Andrews, N.B., will also focus on pipelines, federal equalization payments, a national pharma-care plan, cannabis legalization, immigration and reducing internal trade barriers.
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TODAY’S HEADLINES
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has expanded his cabinet, adding or reorganizing several portfolios and added five new faces: Mary Ng, Pablo Rodriguez, John Wilkinson, Filomena Tassi and Bill Blair. The cabinet shuffle is designed to tackle trade diversification, the flow of asylum seekers and an increasingly difficult relationship with provincial premiers.
The cabinet changes included Dominic LeBlanc’s move to intergovernmental affairs. He will find himself facing down Ontario Premier Doug Ford and potentially Jason Kenney’s United Conservative Party in Alberta following next year’s election. Jim Carr leaves Natural Resources and will expand his control of the trade file as the newly named portfolio of Minister of International Trade Diversification. Ms. Ng, former director of appointments in the PMO, was promoted into cabinet and becomes Minister of Small Business and Export Promotion. Mr. Rodriguez received a promotion from whip to Heritage Minister. Mr. Wilkinson, a B.C. MP, is the new Fisheries Minister and Ms. Tassi, a Hamilton-area MP, will helm the new post of Seniors Minister. And Mr. Blair takes on the newly created position of Minister of Border Security and Organized Crime Reduction
Ontario Community Safety Minister Michael Tibollo is facing criticism for wearing a bulletproof vest while visiting the Jane-Finch neighbourhood in Toronto. “Personally, I went out to Jane and Finch, put on a bulletproof vest and spent 7 o’clock to 1 o’clock in the morning visiting sites that had previously had bullet-ridden people killed in the middle of the night,” he said, adding later that he wanted to “actually see what it’s like.” NDP Leader Andrea Horwath tweeted that his comment was“inexcusably racist.” Mr. Tibollo is also responsible for overseeing Ontario’s anti-racism directorate.
The Alberta government is facing a revolt by roadbuilders after half a billion dollars in road maintenance contracts were awarded to a firm from B.C. The Alberta Roadbuilders and Heavy Construction Association is objecting to a deal that would see B.C.-based Emcon Services take over maintenance of nearly half of Alberta’s roads.
The City of Burnaby has issued eviction notices for anti-Trans Mountain protesters who’ve set up a growing camp outside one of Kinder Morgan’s terminals near Vancouver. The site, dubbed Camp Cloud, has grown to include a two-level wood structure, additional tents and even shower facilities.
Kennedy Stewart, NDP MP for the riding of Burnaby South, has won the support of labour unions in his quest to become the next mayor of Vancouver. He plans on resigning from his current role in Ottawa ahead of the mayoral campaign and is running as an independent.
Drug addiction experts in B.C. are calling for expanded access to recovery services, ensuring that the focus on harm-reduction is combined with long-term recovery.
Nova Scotia unveiled Canada’s first retail store that combines liquor and cannabis. The province will co-locate the two products once cannabis officially becomes legal on Oct. 17.
The U.S. is set to investigate Canadian uranium imports, citing national-security concerns and opening the door to tariffs on producers from Canada. The decision mirrors a U.S. investigation of steel and aluminum imports, which ultimately resulted on tariffs being implemented.
The businesses and ports that make up the shipping industry along the Great Lakes and on the St. Lawrence Seaway are calling on NAFTA negotiators to reach some sort of détente on the burgeoning trade war between Canada and the U.S.
The White House may have a new strategy on the NAFTA front: cutting a deal with Mexico first, in hopes that it would lead to an agreement with Canada, Axios reports.
The European Union is preparing a new list of U.S. imports to slap with retaliatory actions if the U.S. decides to impose tariffs on EU cars. Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker are headed to Washington next week to ease the brewing transatlantic trade dispute.
British officials have identified several Russian nationals who they believe are responsible for the nerve agent attack on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. Britain has accused Russia of carrying out the poisoning, which happened in the British city of Salisbury.
And in Siberia, a new burger place named after Mr. Trump is trying to cash in on the cozy relationship between the U.S. president and Russia.
Konrad Yakabuski (The Globe and Mail) on the cabinet shuffle: "By drawing attention to the diversity of his cabinet in 2015, he automatically forces us to take note when he deviates from his own script." (for subscribers)
John Ibbitson (The Globe and Mail) on the new cabinet: “This Liberal government is confident it has largely done what it set out to do. Mr. Trudeau and his cabinet will stay the course.”
The Globe and Mail Editorial Board on the new Minister of Border Security: “The asylum-claim backlog in Canada is not about crime or even about ‘border security,’ properly speaking. Rather, it is about how to quickly and fairly process thousands of applicants for refugee status once they have entered the country through the United States, which they inevitably find a way to do.”
Kate Taylor (The Globe and Mail) on the Ministry of Canadian Heritage: “Mr. Trudeau has only learned what many a Canadian political leader at both federal and provincial levels has before him: The small-budget culture portfolio may look like a pleasant backwater, but there are alligators lurking just beneath the surface.”
Gary Mason (The Globe and Mail) on Alberta politics: “Rachel Notley’s popularity exceeds her party’s. She is the NDP brand. She’s also a formidable campaigner. Mr. Kenney knows this, too. He may relish the battle, but he’s in no way naïve about the challenge ahead of him. And if bashing the media helps him make political inroads with a broad swath of the public, he’s setting up that campaign discussion point already.”
David Parkinson (The Globe and Mail) on Ford’s fiscal crackdown: “It’s ironic that a premier elected on a pledge of leaner, more cost-effective government would kick off that quest with such a glaring waste of time and money.” (for subscribers)
Al Power (The Globe and Mail) on aerospace over autos: “With the threat of tariffs on the auto industry being very real, and automotive manufacturing in Ontario having been in a state of decline for some time, it’s time for Ontario to shift resources and focus toward aerospace manufacturing.”
Clifford Orwin (The Globe and Mail) on Trump and impeachment: “Don’t these remarks amount to high crimes and misdemeanours, the prescribed grounds for impeachment? Hardly. Stupid, shocking and disgraceful are of a lower order altogether. There’s nothing clearly criminal about his words.”
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