FRONT-ROW SEAT (SORT OF) — When Playbook first met MIKE MORRICE, he was knocking doors as the Green candidate in Kitchener Centre. He won, and Playbook caught up with him over lunch in the middle of his first orientation sessions. Now, Morrice is part of Canada's delegation at COP26. We connected via WhatsApp at the end of a long day. — Long commute, long lines: Morrice is staying at an Airbnb in a Glasgow suburb. He's an hour away from the summit by public transit. (That's nothing, he says, compared to some delegates who couldn't find a room in town and are even farther away in Edinburgh.) Security checks at the entrance to the summit produce bottlenecks. Morrice's strategy: Arrive early. That means leaving his rented flat at 6:30 a.m. for an 8 o'clock briefing with officials. "I'm relieved I got in at all," he says. "Accessibility has been a big concern for a lot of folks in the global south who aren't even represented at all, and a lot of groups are concerned with who isn't here." (Covid restrictions limit room capacity, and countries with small delegations don't have the people power to attend simultaneous sessions.) — The room where it all happens: Every member country is allowed a single observer at a time in a second row of seats behind the negotiators. Morrice nabbed a 45-minute window during negotiations on Article 6.8 of the Paris Agreement, the section on "non-market approaches" to emissions reductions. "I see it as kind of an onion. The core layer is the negotiation that leads towards the text. As you go outside to outer layers, things like the protests on Friday and Saturday are a huge source of hope and inspiration for me," he says. "I want to observe and participate in each of those layers, so that I can better share my understanding back home." Morrice scored some face time with Canadian negotiator STEVEN KUHN . "I had a chance to chat afterwards to understand what's going on behind the scenes, and some of the negotiating tactics of different parties in the room. And even kind of watching the body language." — A small-world moment: While he was talking to Kuhn, a delegate from the United States walked over for an informal bilateral chat. Morrice introduced himself. "It ended up that a close friend of theirs actually knocked on doors with me in Kitchener," he says. "We ended up taking a selfie." — Meeting the PM: Morrice describes his first conversation with JUSTIN TRUDEAU as "brief, and a little bit serendipitous." He was hoping to connect with the Canadian delegation, and knocked on the door of its nondescript office in one of the summit's pavilions. He explained to an unimpressed security guard that he was an MP. Before long, a protocol officer swung by to offer a quizzical assurance. "He'll be right over." Who was he? Turns out he was Trudeau. "I think the Prime Minister was on a washroom break in between meetings," says Morrice. "He congratulated me. He shared [the government's] interest in increasing their climate ambition. And I had a chance to share that I'll be respectfully encouraging our government to get closer to the science." — Disappointment: Morrice acknowledged that Canada has taken "constructive steps," including pushing for an end to international fossil fuel subsidies — but the Liberals don't talk much about billions in domestic subsidies still on the books. "It's very far from what scientists and Indigenous leaders and young people are calling out for. And that's really why I'm concerned. I think COP is an important event. But we have to recognize that in terms of mitigating, adapting, paying for losses and damages related to climate, it's not achieving its goal." — At COP26 today: The Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance, spearheaded by Costa Rica and Denmark, will officially launch at 12:45 p.m. Glasgow time. Via our colleagues in Glasgow, read about their efforts here. REMEMBRANCE DAY — Thousands of people gather at the National War Memorial every November 11. That's just how it goes. Last year's Covid-dampened event was a disturbing aberration in the capital. But the crowd-control barricades are back this year. The children's choir will sing for everyone. And veterans will march. Governor General MARY MAY SIMON and Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU headline the attendees. Defense Minister ANITA ANAND and Veterans Affairs Minister LAWRENCE MACAULAY will join them. Their arrival is precisely timed. The PM pulls up at 10:45. The GG follows at 10:50. At 10:57, the choir sings “O Canada.” At exactly 10:58:20, the bugler plays the Last Post. When the Peace Tower strikes 11, the 30th Field Regiment — which dates back to 1855 — fires its gun. Like clockwork (literally). At 11:05:05, as many as three CF-18 fighter jets — depending on various factors — are scheduled to fly past the War Memorial. Playbook spoke to Col. NORMAN GAGNÉ, the commander of 3 Wing Bagotville, about the somber flyover. — How to time the flight: The military assigns either a pilot or a joint tactical air controller — "In combat, they're the one that tells you where to drop the bomb" — to position themselves near the ceremony. They radio the pilots directly while they're enroute from their base about 200 km north of Quebec City. That person is sometimes a joint tactical air controller. "In combat, they're the one that tells you where to drop the bomb," says Gagné. If the ceremony is for any reason delayed, the pilots can hold with 360-degree loops (duration: 2 minutes) or by executing "S-turns." "We do this for a living," says Gagné. "There's no reason why we shouldn't be within five seconds of our timing." COALITION MADNESS — Tories are doubling — tripling? — down on their insistence that Liberals and New Democrats are scheming to form a confidence-proof parliamentary coalition. Nobody has denied the parties have been talking, but JAGMEET SINGH has flatly denied a coalition is in the offing. Working together on shared priorities? Sure. An ironclad agreement? No way. Still, a Tory missive circulated to reporters Wednesday kept stoking the embers of conspiracy dream alive — and finished with a puzzling paragraph: "Despite claims these talks are ‘informal’ it is clear both parties have engaged in conversations with one another on a plan to keep the Liberal government in power and circumvent the opposition leading up to the House sitting on November 22nd." — Bulls--t meter: It's hard to know where to begin. Playbook previously explained why this round of coalition fear-mongering is a farcical line of attack. But the new statement raises more questions: Should no opposition parties ever support government legislation? Is any informal agreement on confidence an attempt to "circumvent the opposition"? Sounds like something G.O.B. would say. FAIR-WEATHER AMIGOS — International Trade Minister MARY NG told POLITICO work remains “ongoing” in the pursuit of getting the Biden administration to drop its proposed electric vehicle tax credit that risks sidelining Canada’s autos sector. — Tax credit on the Three Amigos agenda : “The prime minister is attending the North American Leaders Summit next week — we're going to continue to work on this,” she said. Ng declined to provide examples when asked if the government is considering retaliatory tariffs. “It probably is not the most helpful thing to be negotiating in public,” she said. — Multi multilateral meetings : Ng is in Geneva today for Day 2 of bilat chats with World Trade Organization member countries ahead of the 12th Ministerial Conference scheduled at the end of the month. Ng met with WTO Director-General NGOZI OKONJO-IWEALA Tuesday. — Updated China policy: TBA: When POLITICO asked Ng in August for a status update on trade negotiations with China, she said the priority was to secure the release of the two Michaels. Asked again, now that the men have returned home, Ng said the government is “reflecting” on its policy. “We're going to continue to have an eyes wide open approach to China.” As we’ve previously reported, Canada’s dilly-dallying is on the radar of new U.S. Ambassador to Canada DAVID COHEN, who told a Senate committee in September that if he’s confirmed as ambassador, he will “make sure that Canada's policies reflect its words in terms of the treatment of China.” | 
