JUXTAPOSITION — It's a truism that Canadian prime ministers will take an audience with American presidents at basically a moment's notice. A high-profile trip to Washington was long overdue. As ever, there were irritants to push back on (nobody ever heard "EV" more in their life than in these past two days). Of course, the show was always going to go on. But it was impossible not to think about British Columbians as JUSTIN TRUDEAU was darting around D.C., pressing flesh with congressional leaders and, of course, his fellow amigos. He dropped in at a fancy-schmancy gala on Wednesday night, snapping photos with every table at the Canadian American Business Council event on the top floor of the Hay-Adams. Again, where else would a PM go when he's in Washington? At his closing presser Thursday night, Playbook asked Trudeau if he planned to visit the province he often refers to as home before the return of Parliament next week. He was noncommittal, certainly in no rush. "I will visit British Columbia when the time is right," he said. "I've had multiple conversations with my ministers, with the premier, with indeed a number of mayors affected in the region. We will continue to stay on top of it, and every step of the way do everything necessary to help the people in B.C. who are going through an extremely difficult time right now." — Situational awareness: Emergency Preparedness Minister BILL BLAIR offered an update Thursday during a briefing on the devastation. “Just a few days ago, one month's worth of rainfall hit B.C. in less than 24 hours. This, in and of itself, is significant and without recent precedent.” He reported “significant” damage to the province’s highways and rail lines. “How we move forward in terms of response will not only guide our emergency response efforts locally, but can cascade nationally.” Conservative MP DAN ALBAS tells Playbook some residents in his B.C. interior riding, many of them seniors and people with disabilities, had less than 10 minutes to evacuate their homes during historic rainfall, flash flooding and mudslides. “There was no early warning detection system,” he said. — The aftermath : “It's difficult to keep track of everyone because many people have been displaced, or they're having issues with cell phones,” Albas said. The Similkameen and Nicola valleys in his riding were hard hit, as were First Nations communities. Albas said areas such as Princeton are struggling to restart their water service. “They're trying to get natural gas, FortisBC has been working very hard on restoring that service, but it's very cold this time of year.” B.C. MPs have been in contact with Minister Blair. “He’s doing all he can,” Albas said. — On the ground: The extreme weather in B.C. marks the 12th time the Canadian Armed Forces have responded to natural disasters since the start of the pandemic, according to Defense Minister ANITA ANAND. Albas and his colleague BRAD VIS highlight the plight of farmers and ranchers. “People have seen the pictures,” Albas said. Farmers have had to euthanize animals. For the animals that have survived the devastation, closed highways and rail lines complicate access to feed. — This is it: “We’ve heard for many years that we’re gonna have a big earthquake one day and the Lower Mainland could be cut off from the rest of the province. Well, that just happened,” Vis said on his way into the Conservatives’ caucus meeting earlier this week: Vis unloaded on reporters whose questions were, he pointed out, calibrated more for the Hill bubble than a province facing unthinkable devastation. “The immediate priority is ensuring the safety of residents and, in many cases, livestock,” Vis tells Playbook. — How people can help: Prospective volunteers should consult B.C.’s Emergency Support Services, which is the province’s lead disaster response organization. Albas said the Red Cross assured him every dollar will go to flood-affected areas to support people in the short- and long-term “because there are going to be people [who] maybe don't have insurance.” Vis said the Salvation Army BC is organizing donations to evacuees across Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Hope and the Fraser Canyon. Donation inquiries can be directed to langleydrc@tstores.ca or (604) 513-8828 ext.112. BILAT, BILAT, BILAT, TRILAT — Trudeau's packed agenda included one-on-ones with Mexican President ANDRÉS MANUEL LÓPEZ OBRADOR and U.S. President JOE BIDEN, during which a brief back-and-forth with reporters in the Oval Office revealed very little of substance. Trudeau then met with Veep KAMALA HARRIS — here's the scenic view of that tete-a-tete — before he joined López Obrador and Biden for the headliner of the week. POLITICO REPORTS — ANDY BLATCHFORD, SABRINA RODRIGUEZ and GAVIN BADE describe the tensions that overshadowed the trilateral: Trudeau came to Washington fuming about Biden’s proposed tax incentive to encourage U.S. consumers to buy American-made electric vehicles. Canada and Mexico strongly oppose the electric-vehicle tax credit, which the countries warn would damage their auto sectors and undermine the new United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement. For Trudeau, warning U.S. officials about the fallout of Biden’s electric vehicle proposal was a top objective of his two-day visit. “We underlined to what point this would be a big problem for auto production in Canada,” Trudeau said late Thursday. “We very clearly underlined our position.” Trudeau’s end-of-day press conference (start time: 9:32 p.m.) was held in a room in the embassy that, with respect to the otherwise impressive building, resembled a middle-school gymnasium. The White House it was not. — The snub: Our friends at the West Wing Playbook noticed the lack of a joint press conference to cap the Three Amigos . "The decision not to take questions didn’t just mark a break with tradition — it was also something of a snub of the foreign governments," they wrote. "For other country’s leaders, one of the perks of coming to the White House is the benefits that the setting can provide back home: standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the most powerful man in the world, parrying questions from both press corps about their nations’ relationship, with the famous building as the backdrop." Biden gave BORIS JOHNSON the same treatment at their last confab. White House Press Secretary JEN PSAKI dismissed the lack of a united front as not "scandalous." Says the spox who goes to work every day in the most famous house on the planet. — Mini-bilats: The busiest border Congressman in Washington was at it again. Earlier this week, BRIAN HIGGINS invited Public Safety Minister MARCO MENDICINO to his office in the Rayburn Building to talk up cross-border passenger rail. The pair met for about 30 minutes Thursday, and Higgins snuck in another round of lobbying Canada to kibosh remaining Covid testing requirements at the border for visiting Americans. With the circus in town, Higgins didn't waste a minute. Trudeau's team fanned out. Foreign Minister MÉLANIE JOLY met separately with New Hampshire Sen. JEANNE SHAHEEN. They spoke about areas of cooperation — peace, security and troubling events in Afghanistan, Belarus and Ukraine. But they also got to the irritants: "We also spoke about Canadian priorities, including electric vehicles, softwood lumber and reciprocal trade," Joly tweeted. The push is on. | 
