Good morning,
Should she stay or should she go?
The debate within the Liberal party over whether to expel Jody Wilson-Raybould from caucus is intensifying ahead of a meeting on Wednesday.
For her part, the former attorney-general and justice minister reiterated on Monday that she wants to remain a Liberal.
“I do not believe that I should be removed from caucus for doing my job and doing what I believe is right,” Ms. Wilson-Raybould told reporters on Parliament Hill, according to CTV News.
The chorus of Liberal MPs who disagree with that assessment has been growing since Friday following the revelation of a Dec. 19 phone call with Privy Council Clerk Michael Wernick, which was taped by Ms. Wilson-Raybould.
“When the top lawyer in the country and the Clerk of the Privy Council are having a conversation about something very important, it is totally inappropriate to record without notifying the other person,” Transport Minister Marc Garneau said Monday. “It is not an honourable thing to do.”
Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor agreed.
“We know there are going to be delicate conversations that we are going to have this week,” she said. “I was disappointed by the taping. My humble opinion is if you are going to be taping a conversation with a colleague, advise them that the conversation is being taped.”
Liberal MP Rob Oliphant told reporters he does not “feel safe in caucus” with Ms. Wilson-Raybould there.
“I would want caucus to act,” he said. “I don’t want my conversations recorded and I don’t want to feel that someone doesn’t have confidence in the government."
And Tourism Minister Mélanie Joly suggested that taping Mr. Wernick wasn’t something a team player would do: “She will have to explain why she did that and whether that was ethical.”
Still, some were unsure about whether Ms. Wilson-Raybould should be expelled.
Treasury Board President Joyce Murray said caucus needs to have a “thoughtful conversation” on the matter. “I think that Ms. Wilson-Raybould has explained the context of that … I am optimistic that we will have a positive outcome.”
Fisheries Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said he’s keeping an open mind. “As many members of caucus, I am open to debate and discussion and I am going to listen to what other folks have to say before I form my own, final opinion.”
This is the daily Politics Briefing newsletter, written by Aron Yeomanson. 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.
ALBERTA ELECTION UPDATE
Alberta’s election threatens to deal a severe blow to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s already wounded national plan to fight climate change, writes The Globe’s environment reporter Jeff Lewis. United Conservative Party Leader Jason Kenney detailed for the first time plans to roll back Alberta’s climate regulations as he seeks to boost investment and restore Conservative rule in the oil-rich western province.
Don Braid (Calgary Herald) on Rachel Notley’s focus on Calgary: “Notley hasn’t been speaking directly and emotionally to the deep anger many Calgarians feel. Her habitual tone of steady competence seemed a bit distant. She didn’t appear to be taking Calgary’s troubles personally. That changed Monday when she talked about the city and the Trans Mountain pipeline.”
TODAY’S HEADLINES
The North Caribou Lake First Nation is asking Ottawa for help as a sewage spill threatens its water supply.
Federal scientists and academics are warning that Canada’s climate is warming rapidly and faster than the global average.
Conservatives are waging a campaign attacking the government’s carbon tax, which came into effect in four provinces Monday.
Ottawa plans to fly a team of food inspectors and industry experts to China in a bid to end the ban on canola imports amid simmering political tensions between the two countries.
Justice Minister David Lametti is defending the government’s bill to force Canada’s judges to publicly disclose their detailed expenses, in spite of opposition from judicial leaders who say it could put them in danger.
Elections Canada and the Privacy Commissioner are urging federal parties to adopt much tougher policies for how they will use the vast troves of personal information they will gather this election year.
The courts could still overturn Quebec’s secularism bill even though it includes a provision to invoke the notwithstanding clause to shield it from judicial challenges, legal scholars say.
Customers lined up for blocks as brick-and-mortar cannabis retailers in Ontario opened their doors for the first time.
Russia is abusing the human rights of people living in Crimea and other Kremlin-backed parts of eastern Ukraine by using landmines, border delays and online propaganda to discourage them from voting in the Ukrainian election, the head of Canada’s election monitoring mission says.
As Britain’s Parliament struggles to find a Brexit solution, the chaos surrounding the country’s departure from the European Union has begun to wreak havoc with the economy.
Business leaders are warning that the Trump administration’s threat to tighten the U.S. embargo on Cuba could side-swipe Canadian companies that are doing business on the Caribbean island.
A career official in the White House security office says dozens of people in President Donald Trump’s administration were granted security clearances despite “disqualifying issues” in their backgrounds
And Donald Trump’s alleged misdeeds on and around the golf course are the subject of a new book by former Sports Illustrated columnist Rick Reilly.
John Ibbitson (The Globe and Mail) on legislative delays: “The opposition may vow to use every available means to frustrate the government’s agenda, and the government may threaten to keep the House sitting all summer if need be, but longer days, warmer weather and the tedium of late-night sittings invariably prompt some last-minute compromises that allow Parliament to adjourn.”
The Globe and Mail Editorial Board on the carbon tax: “Conservatives are usually in favour of remembering and honouring history but, on this topic, not so much. What happened to the Ontario PC’s pre-Ford platform? It’s now the Trudeau government platform.”
André Picard (The Globe and Mail) on Ontario’s response to the opioid crisis: “Make no mistake: Shrinking rather than expanding access to supervised consumption sites, as Ontario has chosen to do, will result in more deaths – preventable deaths of young people.”
Robert Calderisi (The Globe and Mail) on Quebec’s religious symbols ban: “The debate can bring out the worst features of our nature: our insularity, pettiness and insecurity. We must aim higher than that, reconnect with our long record of civility, and recognize the nonsense of preventing devout Muslims – and Christians and Sikhs and Jews – from teaching in our schools or becoming a judge.”
Diane Francis (Calgary Herald) on trade relations with China: “It’s time to stop pretending that China is an honourable trading partner. It is a trade bully and Canada should join the Americans in waging a trade war against Beijing following years of abuse.”
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