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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, his team and members of the media were awaiting transportation home from India on Monday after technical issues grounded the plane that brought them there for the G20 leaders’ summit.
As of Monday, the Canadian Armed Forces had sent a CC-150 Polaris jet from CFB Trenton, Ont., to pick up Trudeau and others, Jessica Lamirande, a spokesperson for the Department of National Defence, said in a statement.
Lamirande said a different Royal Canadian Air Force CC-150 Polaris that had been supporting the Prime Minister’s participation in the G20 Summit in India suffered a maintenance problem and was not able to transport the group back home.
The problem involves a component that will have to be replaced, Lamirande said.
Meanwhile, Mohammad Hussain, a press secretary for Trudeau, said the latest update from the CAF indicated an earliest possible departure time for the group of Tuesday late afternoon.
Canadian Press reporter Mickey Djuric, who was covering Trudeau’s trip, reported here that a technician is headed to India with the part needed to fix the mechanical issue on the original plane, and that the replacement plane will take the Canadian delegation home if the technician is not able to fix the issue.
Djuric also reported that the PMO has not yet said whether Trudeau will be able to make it to the three-day Liberal caucus retreat scheduled to start Tuesday in London, Ont.
CBC has rounded up past cases of Canadian prime ministers being stranded because of issues with their aircraft.
Meanwhile, federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre took charge of his own flight to make some announcements.
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TODAY'S HEADLINES
Former Conservative MP critical of Poilievre leaving politics - Quebec MP Alain Rayes, who quit the Conservative caucus over concerns about Pierre Poilievre’s leadership, has announced he is leaving federal politics, saying he has been left a “political orphan.” Story here.
Convoy organizers’ lawyers seek to block Ottawa residents from testifying at criminal trial - There is no need to hear from nine witnesses, including owners of local businesses and the lead plaintiff in a proposed class-action lawsuit, an Ottawa defence attorney told a court Monday in the continuing criminal trial of two convoy protest organizers. Story here.
Rogers must give BCE, Telus access to wireless network on Toronto’s subway system by Oct: Champagne - Federal Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne is forcing Rogers Communications Inc. to give BCE Inc. and Telus Corp. access to the Rogers-owned wireless network on Toronto’s subway system by Oct. 3. Story here.
Transgender Conservative candidate says vote against gender-affirming care could cost lives - The first openly transgender person to run for the federal Conservatives warns that a policy adopted by the party over the weekend could harm gender-diverse children if it ever becomes law. Story here. There’s another story here on this and other resolutions passed at the recent Conservative convention. Meanwhile, Pierre Poilievre’s Quebec counterpart says the federal Conservative Leader needs to go beyond policies to establish an emotional connection with Quebeckers if he hopes to make political gains in the province. Story here.
Trial begins of man accused of killing Muslim family in London, Ont. - An Ontario judge has told a jury that the man who drove a pickup truck into members of a Muslim family in 2021, killing four of them, is alleged to have subscribed to white supremacist views. Story here.
B.C. sets up climate emergency task force amid wildfire crisis - British Columbia Premier David Eby says he’s launching an expert task force on wildfires, drought and heat emergencies that have hammered the province. Story here.
Doug Ford’s 2018 mandate letter promised to hold cabinet ministers accountable - Global News has obtained mandate letters for Ontario cabinet ministers, despite Premier Doug Ford fighting all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada to prevent their release. Story here from Global News. CBC reported here that in three years Crown lawyers spent 1,672 hours keeping Doug Ford’s mandate letters secret
Federal government apologizes to Williams Lake First Nation for illegal settlement of its lands - The federal government issued an official apology to the Williams Lake First Nation, located in central British Columbia, a year after a $135-million agreement was reached over illegal settlement of its village lands. Story here from CBC.
Final arguments begin in a lawsuit that could award Ontario Indigenous groups billions - It has the potential to be the biggest litigation award in Canadian history, and it all hinges on a clause scrawled 173 years ago. First Nations located around the resource-rich northern shore of Lake Superior are asking for $126-billion in compensation for the Crown’s failure to pay annuity increases promised in an 1850 treaty. Story here.
Canada’s top soldier calls news of former Canadian fighter pilots teaching in China ‘very disturbing allegations’ - General Wayne Eyre, Chief of the Defence Staff, says reports of three former Canadian fighter pilots training students in China are alarming and serve as a testament to “great power competition” taking place today. Story 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.
Deputy Prime Minister’s Day - Private meetings in Toronto.
Ministers on the Road - Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne, in Toronto with Mayor Olivia Chow, announced new licence conditions to require wireless carriers to provide all passengers on Toronto’s subway system with access to cellular connectivity by October. Tourism Minister Soraya Martinez Ferrada, in Chile, participated in the commemoration of the 50 years since the coup d’état in that country. Rural Development Minister Gudie Hutchings, who is also responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, was in Corner Brook, N.L., with Newfoundland and Labrador Immigration Minister Gerry Byrne, to announce a $1.1-million contribution to Memorial University’s Grenfell Campus. Mental Health and Addictions Minister Ya’ara Saks, in Hamilton, announced funding under the Substance Use and Addictions Program for people living in that city.
Newly appointed diplomat - Carmen Sorger is the new ambassador to Uruguay, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly announced Monday.
How to watch MP Michael Chong’s U.S. testimony - Conservative foreign affairs critic Michael Chong is testifying Tuesday before the U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China. He posted instructions for watching his remarks here. Members of the commission reached out to Chong upon hearing about his family being targeted by Beijing. There’s a story here from CBC.
PRIME MINISTER'S DAY
No schedule released. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been in India seeking a flight home after technical issues grounded the plane he used to attend the G20 leaders’ summit.
LEADERS
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet is on a trip to Barcelona for a conference on political self-determination that includes Catalan independence politicians and representatives from Scotland and Wales, among other areas. The trip ends Monday.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, in Ottawa, met with Dalhousie University students to talk about student housing issues and NDP policies to deal with them.
No schedules released for other party leaders.
THE DECIBEL
Monday’s edition of The Globe and Mail podcast features Globe parliamentary reporter Kristy Kirkup on the first week of the trial of Tamara Lich and Chris Barber, who were at the forefront of the convoy protest that rolled into Ottawa on Jan. 29, 2022. The Decibel is here.
TRIBUTE
Monique Bégin - The former federal Liberal cabinet minister, one of the first three women from Quebec to be elected to the House of Commons, has died. CBC reports here.
Keith Spicer - There’s an obituary here for the the country’s first Commissioner of Official Languages, who also served as chair of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. During his career, he dealt with issues as diverse as Canada’s constitutional anxieties, telephone rates and violence on TV.
PUBLIC OPINION
Data Dive with Nik Nanos: Prepare for a raucous fall political session in Ottawa. It will be a battle of big issues and of large political personalities. The Dive is here.
OPINION
The Globe and Mail Editorial Board on why you can blame Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for housing, sure – but the real fault belongs to your local mayor: “The pain inflicted on many Canadians by the out-of-control housing market has escalated to new levels, as has the desire to pin the blame on someone. At the top of that list, according to a recent Leger poll, is Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. When asked which level of government should be assigned the most blame when it comes to housing, 40 per cent of those surveyed pointed at Ottawa; 32 per cent blamed their provincial leaders; 22 per cent weren’t sure who was at fault; only 6 per cent called out their local city council. Given the depth of the problems, the instinct to look to the top makes emotional sense. But the answers betray an absence of understanding of how housing operates in Canada. The power to decide what is built where rests with mayors and city councillors.”
Kelly Cryderman (The Globe and Mail) on how changes to Calgary zoning rules could be a game-changer: “Calgary has long been known for its embrace of the single-family, home-and-a-yard dream. But Alberta’s largest city is about to become a test case for what happens when an affordable stronghold faces a housing crunch so severe that municipal officials embrace a plan for much greater density. The politically charged issue will come to a head in Calgary this week, with city council split on the question, and even local Conservative MPs disagreeing among themselves.”
Brian Gable (The Globe and Mail) on turning the page to new adventures after 35 years as a Globe editorial cartoonist: “There is no way to predict what each new workday will bring for an editorial cartoonist. On a good day, the cartoonist bounces out of bed filled with inspiration, goes to the studio, draws an insightful image effortlessly and then proudly signs it. Based on my experience, those days happen roughly once a decade. Most days, the headlines are a tangled web of tragedy and chaos, seldom providing an obvious opening for humour.”
David Parkinson (The Globe and Mail) on how even though Tiff Macklem says we aren’t entering a recession, he can’t know that for sure: “In a press conference the day after last week’s Bank of Canada interest rate decision, a reporter asked Tiff Macklem, the head of the central bank, if he agreed with some economists’ view that the country may be slipping into recession. ‘I don’t think we’re in a recession,’ the bank’s Governor said. He pointed to still-historically-low unemployment. He dismissed the contraction in gross domestic product in the second quarter – the statistical event that prompted the question – as only ‘very slightly negative … essentially zero.’ Could the Governor be right? Possibly. Does he know with any certainty? Absolutely not.”
Shannon Proudfoot (The Globe and Mail) on how enough is enough for Pierre Poilievre and Conservatives on the rise: “With all due respect to the ‘Bring it home’ tagline that Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre really, really likes, a more accurate slogan for the policy convention that his party just wrapped up would be, simply, ‘Enough.’ Enough woke-ism, the gathering heard over and over in Quebec City. Enough spending like drunken sailors on shore leave. Enough scolding and preening and apologizing. Enough identity politics. Enough with the broken social contract and the cruel obliviousness they see in the current federal government.”
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