Good morning,
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is set to shuffle his cabinet today, as the federal Liberals prepare for next year's election with a focus on interprovincial disputes and international trade.
The shuffle is expected to increase the size of cabinet, which currently sits at 30 seats, though core ministers such as Finance Minister Bill Morneau and Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland aren't expected to move anywhere. Rather, a senior Liberal source says the shuffle will include a plan to expand export markets beyond the United States, which is currently fighting protectionist trade wars. As well, the Liberals are reorienting themselves to deal with Doug Ford's new Progressive Conservative government in Ontario and potential election victories for Alberta’s United Conservative Party and the nationalist Coalition Avenir Quebec.
The anticipated changes include:
— Fisheries Minister Dominic LeBlanc is expected become intergovernmental affairs minister, with B.C. MP Jonathan Wilkinson taking over the fisheries portfolio.
— Science Minister Kirsty Duncan is expected to receive a promotion.
— Ontario MP Mary Ng is likely to become small business and internal trade minister. She previously worked in the Prime Minister’s office under Mr. Trudeau.
— A new seniors' ministry.
— A cabinet post to handle the legalization of cannabis, which could be handed to former Toronto police chief Bill Blair. He was responsible for the file as the landmark bill navigated its way through Parliament.
— Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly could be moved out of the cultural portfolio and into tourism, official languages and La Francophonie.
This is the daily Politics Briefing newsletter, written by Mayaz Alam 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.
Editor’s note: The July 12 edition of this newsletter incorrectly stated that Jean-Nicolas Beuze wrote an op-ed on Canada’s visa system. In fact, it was Alex Neve.
TODAY’S HEADLINES
U.S. President Donald Trump attempted to walk back comments in which he refused to take U.S. intelligence agencies’ word over Russian President Vladimir Putin’s on election meddling. On Monday in Helsinki, Mr. Trump said “I don’t see any reason why it would be” Russia that meddled in the U.S. election. On Tuesday, he said he intended to say “wouldn’t” and not “would.” He also added that he accepts “our intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election took place. Could be other people, also. There’s a lot of people out there.”
Russia’s military says it is set to begin “practical implementation of the agreements in the sphere of international security reached by Russian and U.S. Presidents.” It is unclear what was said or agreed on because they met alone for more than two hours with only their translators present.
In Canada, Mr. Trudeau slammed Mr. Putin for the way Russia engages in international affairs but steered clear of criticizing Mr. Trump. The Prime Minister cited Russia’s support of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad in the bloody civil war, its annexation of Crimea and the alleged nerve agent attack against a former Russian spy and his daughter in Britain.
Doug Ford has brought in a former B.C. premier to examine the province's finances, as the Progressive Conservative leader seeks to fulfill an election promise to trim billions of dollars — without cutting services. Former B.C. premier Gordon Campbell will lead an independent commission and report back in just six weeks.
Mr. Ford sought to clarify his government’s position on sex-ed, a day after Education Minister Lisa Thompson sent mixed signals on the PCs’ plan to scrap the three-year-old curriculum. Mr. Ford said when students in Ontario return to school later this year they will revert to the old curriculum, implemented in 1998, while the province consults parents on developing a new program.
There are growing calls for the decriminalization of all hard drugs, as health officials across the country continue to struggle with an opioid crisis that has killed thousands of Canadians. The Toronto Board of Health, the BC Nurses’ Union and the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction are the latest groups to advocate for treating addiction as a health issue rather than a criminal one.
The Prime Minister says he's asked his Transport Minister to find solutions to Greyhound Canada’s decision to cancel service in almost all of Western Canada and northern Ontario, which leaders in remote communities say will cut them off. Mr. Trudeau says the news of Greyhound's withdrawal was "difficult" to hear, and he wants the federal government to work with provinces and communities to find a way forward.
The Conservative Party has decided to pull an attack ad on Twitter that showed a black man walking over a tweet from the Prime Minister. A spokesman for the Tories said the ad was nixed because the issue of asylum seekers is not about any single group of people. The man was shown carrying a suitcase alone, walking towards a broken fence.
The federal government won’t pursue the deportation of Abdoul Abdi, a former child refugee from Somalia. Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale made the announcement just days after a Federal Court judge sent the case back for “redetermination.” Mr. Abdi grew up in foster care, moving between 31 homes during his childhood, but was never granted Canadian citizenship.
Elsewhere on the transportation front, Mr. Trudeau announced $90-million in funding to twin a deadly stretch of highway in Nova Scotia.
A B.C. government plan to require workers on public infrastructure projects to be unionized is fuelling a debate about whether such a policy – which was used by the previous NDP government in the 1990s – will drive up costs.
Vancouver's police chief continues to defend his force's use of street checks as he promises the department will release a detailed report on the practice in September. But two advocacy groups that filed a formal complaint alleging street checks disproportionately target Indigenous or black people say the department should not be investigating itself.
Dougald Lamont, leader of the Manitoba Liberal Party, has won a by-election in the riding of St. Boniface. The constituency, located in Winnipeg, has been held by the NDP for nearly 20 years. With the victory, the Manitoba Liberals have reached the four seats necessary for official status.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller is seeking immunity for five potential witnesses in the case against Paul Manafort, Mr. Trump’s former campaign chair
A U.S. grand jury indicted a woman on charges of being a Russian agent. Maria Butina has been accused of acting at the direction of a senior official at Russia’s Central Bank.
And former U.S. president Barack Obama returned to the global stage, warning against the era of “strongman politics” at a speech in Johannesburg. Mr. Obama had been invited to pay tribute to Nelson Mandela on the 100th anniversary of his birth.
The Globe and Mail Editorial Board on drug decriminalization: "Public-health officials have long recognized a reality that elected politicians are only belatedly appreciating: Drug use and dependency are best addressed with the tools of health policy, not those of criminal justice."
Linda Hasenfratz (The Globe and Mail) on Trump’s tariffs: “We must stop playing these destructive games of protectionist trade policies and get back to building things collaboratively and innovatively together to boost all of our economies and keep our people employed.”
Lawrence Martin (The Globe and Mail) on if Trump is compromised: “The possibility is no longer far-fetched. What else could explain the President’s never-ending pattern of ingratiating behaviour, culminating in the fanboy flourish in Finland.
Mark Kingwell (The Globe and Mail) on impeachment: “If indeed Congress lacks the moral fortitude to pursue impeachment, they deserve to be judged as harshly as he. And if the country as a whole cannot weather the fallout from some disgruntled Trump hardliners, it scarcely merits status as a liberal democracy. Robust nations are not held hostage by their own extremists.”
Amrit Dhillon (The Globe and Mail) on homosexuality in India: “Barring any major upset, India is set for a historic Supreme Court ruling that will overturn the law that criminalizes gay sex. The British Raj ended in 1947, but India has ironically kept this policy, a relic of the rigid Victorian morality imposed on a country that had, at some points in its history, a more tolerant view of homosexuality.”
David Newhouse (The Globe and Mail) on Ford and Indigenous issues: “Across Canada, governments and Indigenous peoples are working together and making significant efforts to overcome the legacy of the past. However, the Progressive Conservative election platform was silent on Indigenous issues. The new Premier has not uttered the word ‘Indigenous’ since his election.”
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