FREELAND AT FINA — Anyone who has watched PIERRE POILIEVRE in action knows he’s been counting the days until his first extended showdown with the finance minister since the election. Poilievre has sparred with her in QP, but Freeland is set for a two-hour visit to the House finance committee in Room 035-B of West Block. Set an alarm for 11 a.m. This isn't the first Freeland vs. Poilievre bout. The pair dueled over Bank of Canada independence at the same committee last year. Expect that to come up today, by the way, as the relentless Tory throws everything at the wall: out-of-control inflation, an aloof TIFF MACKLEM , money printing, runaway debt, a skyrocketing housing market and — in his preferred economic parlance — too many dollars chasing too few goods. The actual topic of conversation is Bill C-2, the legislation that would spend C$7 billion on Covid aid for those hardest-hit by the pandemic. The ask is a fraction of the original CERB and wage subsidy, but the price tag on the table once marked a hefty sum in the Before Times. — The prelude: Poilievre has been building to this moment. On Tuesday, he badgered a phalanx of public servants for an answer to a simple question: Where are they finding seven billion bucks? The MP for Carleton was once a Cabinet minister: he knows how funding approvals work. He also knows the bureaucrats on the call — all 10 of them — were tasked with answering specific technical details about the government's proposed programs. But his basic question is valid. Liberal MP JULIE DZEROWICZ admitted as much when she suggested Poilievre ask the same thing of Freeland when she testifies this morning. — His real motivation: Poilievre is the face of the Tory front bench's attacks on the Trudeau government's economic record. During the summer campaign, he put out an ad — on actual television, not just social media — that came with a catchy catchphrase of his own: "Paycheques, not debt. Make more, cost less." Those words didn't appear in ERIN O'TOOLE's ads. And Poilievre is still using the same rhetoric in the Commons. When his opening barrage of committee questions targeted the public servants on the call, it was clear that he sought confusion and obfuscation — anything but a clear answer. He wanted a delicious clip for his followers. When his questions produced dead air, he got the clip (complete with Jeopardy! theme music). A lot of Liberals and plenty of economists will scoff, but Poilievre's 127,000 s are watching — more than 30,000 views in am afternoon and evening — and this was a stuffy committee meeting. — More fireworks: Poilievre will ask the same basic question to Freeland. If she has a clear answer about the Rube Goldberg Machine that produces program funding estimates, Poilievre may not get his clip. But Playbook predicts he'll find a way. If your name is CHRYSTIA FREELAND and you're reading this newsletter, feel free to drop us a copy of your speaking notes this morning. We'll keep them to ourselves! DAYS WITH NO DOCS: 44 — More than a month has passed since Cabinet was sworn in, and still the Prime Minister's Office has made no mention of new mandate letters for ministers. Playbook is counting. Treasury Board President MONA FORTIER told a Senate committee that she expects her mandate letter "very soon." Playbook heard a rumor they'd be published this week. Count us skeptical. Keep an eye out next week. TOLD YA SO — That might be ERIN O'TOOLE's framing of the Liberal government's decision to join the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand in refusing to send a political delegation to the Beijing games in February. O'Toole has been calling for a diplomatic boycott for several days. As he left his national caucus meeting Wednesday shortly before Trudeau's comments, the Tory leader re-upped his call. "At this stage a year ago we called for democratic countries to work at relocating the Games, moving them and even maybe offering Canada to be part of that," he said. "There was no traction with Mr. Trudeau, so I hope today he takes the lead of the Conservative opposition and some of our allies calling for a diplomatic boycott." — Building the coalition: Foreign Minister MÉLANIE JOLY told reporters that Canada would lobby other countries to take similar action — the language of multilateralism now second nature to the Trudeau government. The boycotters are so far Anglo-majority nations. Joly's challenge will be swaying the rest of Canada's allies. To that point: Joly said she'd raise the boycott at the G-7 foreign ministers' meetings this weekend in the U.K. My colleague ANDY BLATCHFORD has more reporting on the boycott. INFIGHTING ON THE LEFT — The NDP's star candidate in B.C., AVI LEWIS, finished third in West Vancouver–Sunshine Coast–Sea to Sky Country. But he's not going quietly into the night. Lewis is actively promoting a movement among grassroots New Dems to call on the B.C. NDP government to remove the RCMP from the land of the Wet'suwet'en people. — Hill support: At least three NDP MPs have signed on: LEAH GAZAN, LORI IDLOUT and MATTHEW GREEN. Former MP ROMEO SAGANASH is also onboard, along with recent candidates ANGELLA MACEWEN and PAUL TAYLOR. The party's leader, JAGMEET SINGH, has long steered clear of openly opposing B.C. Premier JOHN HORGAN 's government. But 12 percent of his own modest-sized caucus now wants more. | 
