Good morning,
As if NAFTA talks couldn’t get more complicated, U.S. President Donald Trump has slapped tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Canada, Mexico and the European Union. Canadian officials tell The Globe that Ottawa has prepared a detailed plan to retaliate. The stakes are high: Canada ships close to $20-billion worth of the two metals to the U.S. every year.
The Trump administration could also blow up the planned agenda for next week’s meeting of G7 leaders in Quebec, though the Liberal government is trying to play down concerns. Finance ministers from the G7 are meeting in Whistler, B.C., ahead of the leaders’ summit.
This is the daily Politics Briefing newsletter, written by Chris Hannay in Ottawa, Mayaz Alam in Toronto 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.
CANADIAN HEADLINES
Finance Minister Bill Morneau says the federal government’s motivation for buying the Trans Mountain pipeline is to ensure the expansion gets built – not to make a profit. Mr. Morneau says the government is focused on finding a buyer for the pipeline rather than looking toward turning a profit.
As B.C. actively fights the Trans Mountain expansion, the NDP government says it nevertheless expects to benefit from a revenue-sharing agreement if the project goes ahead. The previous BC Liberal government signed the agreement with Kinder Morgan in exchange for its support.
A bill to expunge the criminal records of people convicted of crimes simply for being gay has cleared both the House and Senate. The bill and an apology by the Prime Minister started with a Globe investigation into the historically unjust practices.
Canada’s spy agency is being warned by intelligence experts that New Zealand has fallen under the sway of Chinese government influence. “The People’s Republic of China’s political influence activities in New Zealand have now reached a critical level,” the expert report warns. New Zealand is part of the Five Eyes security alliance with Canada.
A newly disclosed government report indicates just what bad shape 24 Sussex is in.
The Alberta government has passed legislation that establishes no-protest zones around abortion clinics.
Former B.C. premier Christy Clark has landed a job consulting for a prominent Vancouver law firm.
When British Columbians vote later this year on whether to switch to proportional representation, they’ll be presented with three different options to reform the electoral system. The ballot will have two questions, beginning with whether voters want to stick with the current first-past-the-post system or change to a proportional system. Then, they’ll be asked to pick between mixed-member proportional representation, which is used in a handful of countries, or two other systems that were designed in Canada and not yet put into practice anywhere.
And The Globe and Mail has dropped a major investigation into the under-the-radar influence one man has had at Toronto city hall, Queen’s Park, a hospital and other public institutions, and the benefits that his associates have gained. The perfect read for your lunch-time break.
John Ibbitson (The Globe and Mail) on all or nothing: “One of the boldest and riskiest qualities of the Trudeau government is its resolve, on certain key priorities, to decide first and worry about ‘how’ later. So marijuana use will become legal. Canada will have a carbon tax. The Trans Mountain pipeline will be built. If this approach works, at the end of their first term the Liberals will have earned a well-deserved reputation for decisiveness. If it doesn’t, they will be condemned for their recklessness. Events this week and next will foreshadow that verdict.”
Alan Broadbent (The Globe and Mail) on choosing none of the above in Ontario: “Governments aren’t perfect, party leaders aren’t perfect and elected officials aren’t perfect. In that, they’re just like us. They’re our peers. We ought to get over ourselves and cast our vote. Declining or spoiling a ballot is a cop-out.”
Andrew Willis (The Globe and Mail) on the pipeline we own: “No private company will be willing to go near Trans Mountain when the fate of the project remains in doubt. As long as environmentalists and other opponents believe they can stop the pipeline, its owner will be a political target. No chief executive wants to associate the corporate brand with scenes of pipeline protesters being led away in handcuffs, or deal with endless court challenges from B.C.’s NDP government.” (for subscibers)
Chantal Hébert (Toronto Star) on the pipeline and the carbon tax: “Since Trudeau came to power, the emphasis has been the part of the equation that involves putting a price on carbon pollution as a necessary step to earn a social license for a pipeline projects such as Trans Mountain. But the Liberal government believes the flipside of the equation — that a social license for a carbon tax cannot be sustained if it is earned on the back of Alberta’s energy industry — to be just as essential.”
David Parkinson (The Globe and Mail) on the Bank of Canada: “But unless there is some sort of negative NAFTA shock between now and the July rate decision – on the scale of a collapse of talks and/or imminent death of the deal – the Bank of Canada looks headed full-speed for another increase.” (for subscribers)
Brian Lee Crowley (The Globe and Mail) on Aecon and China: “If the government is serious now about protecting the security of Canadians in the face of explicit Chinese plans to use their country’s companies to advance Beijing’s interests, they need to make clear, explicit and consistent this change of heart.”
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INTERNATIONAL HEADLINES
Prime Minister-designate of Italy, Carlo Cottarelli, says that a workable political solution whereby the the far-right League and the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement form government is still on the table. Both parties are euroskeptic and had their choice for economy minister vetoed, sending financial markets into chaos.
An official from Global Affairs Canada says that Canada “does not censor” what it posts on Chinese social media platforms, in response to a report that examined what speech by embassies in Beijing is restricted or deleted by authorities.
More Venezuelans are now the target of sanctions by Canada because they are responsible for the undermining of democracy under President Nicolas Maduro.
The long-running political vacuum in Catalonia is set to resolve itself, with a new cabinet of members who aren’t under investigation in a judicial probe over last year’s independence referendum expected to take office.
Brazilian oil workers are striking for three days, halting work on refineries and rigs. The action is the latest tussle with labour for President Michel Temer, who earlier had to respond to a protest by truckers, which slowed down Latin America’s largest economy for over a week.
Violence on the border between Israel and Gaza has fallen quiet after Egypt brokered a ceasefire to end the most intense hostilities between militants in Palestine and Israel’s military since a 2014 war.
And a Russian journalist who was pronounced dead on Tuesday appeared at a Wednesday news conference very much alive, much to the shock and relief of his family and colleagues. Arkady Babchenko worked with Ukrainian authorities to fake his own death in order to foil an assassination attempt on his life. Mr. Babchenko was one of Russia’s best-known war reporters but fled the country last year after his life was threatened. The suspect of the alleged plot to kill Mr. Babchenko was flushed out and arrested by police. Authorities believe that a Russian security service was behind the plot.
Konrad Yakabuski (The Globe and Mail) on the Spiderman of the 18th arrondisement: “For every Mamoudou Gassama, there are thousands more migrants who will never be deemed as worthy in the eyes of the French state. That is why his story is at once uplifting and heartbreaking. ‘We can’t give [papers] to all those who come from Mali or Burkina [Faso],’ Mr. Macron told Mr. Gassama. ‘When they are in danger, we grant asylum. But not for economic reasons. But as far as you’re concerned, you did something exceptional.’ Really though, what migrant hasn’t?”
Denise Balkissoon (The Globe and Mail) on separating children from their parents: “Even from arm’s length, witnessing what’s happening in the U.S. right now fills me with panic and grief. That feeling becomes overwhelming when I consider that thousands of other children and parents are currently being forced apart by the Canadian government. Just because we can’t see them doesn’t mean they aren’t here.”
John Kirton and Brittaney Warren (The Globe and Mail) on what to watch for at the G7: “The international gaze will focus, in particular, on U.S. President Donald Trump, whose unilateral policies on trade, climate change and migration make him the odd man out. British Prime Minister Theresa May will also be closely watched as she searches for new trade deals with G7 countries as her Brexit deadline approaches. French President Emmanuel Macron, meanwhile, will likely use his good personal relationship with President Trump to seek solutions all other G7 partners want.”
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