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A daily look inside Canadian politics and power. | | | | | |  | | By Zi-Ann Lum | Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Zi-Ann l Follow Politico Canada WELCOME TO OTTAWA PLAYBOOK. I’m your host, ZI-ANN LUM. Indoor dining is verboten again in Ontario. TV cameras will be on the PM and federal ministers today as businesses begin a 21-day staredown of new-again Covid-19 restrictions in a province where hospitalizations, and ICU admissions, continue to climb. Ottawa just announced the largest settlement in Canadian history. Now, a leading advocate is pushing the public to keep on government to ensure promised reforms to Canada’s discriminatory Indigenous child welfare system are delivered. |  | DRIVING THE DAY | | BACK ON — Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU is on deck for the first federal Covid-19 update of the new year. Expect comments from Deputy Prime Minister CHRYSTIA FREELAND, Health Minister JEAN-YVES DUCLOS, Chief Public Health Officer THERESA TAM and her deputy HOWARD NJOO, who are all scheduled to join the PM at 11:30 a.m. EST. — Safe bets: Discussion of rapid tests for provinces and reminders that Ottawa has temporarily expanded federal lockdown program benefits for employers and workers. — Meanwhile, a headline from Washington: White House embraces a manage-not-contain Omicron game plan. “Health officials inside and outside the administration privately acknowledge that there’s little new left for the federal government to do but hold on and hope the worst is over soon,” write POLITICO’s ADAM CANCRYN and CHRISTOPHER CADELAGO. | 
NDP MP Laurel Collins, with daughter Alora in the House of Commons, argues for hybrid sittings | Photo courtesy the Parliament of Canada | OMICRON AND KEEPING ON — While the latest variant continues to fatigue the Covid fatigued, Playbook asked some parents in the House of Commons how they're processing Month 22 of the pandemic. Public Safety Minister MARCO MENDICINO, a self-described “relentless optimist,” likened the pandemic to a marathon and says he thinks we’re in the last-mile stretch. The Toronto father of two school-aged children tells Playbook there are “three essential ingredients to survival.” — No. 1, he said, is a “very careful partitioning” of the family home. “The kids will share the dining-room table for classroom space. My wife will use our master bedroom for her workspace, and then I use the basement office to do my work,” Mendicino said. Worlds will collide. Interruptions will happen. “We all have to kind of just relate and be a little bit more forgiving of ourselves,” he said. While participating in a virtual citizenship ceremony in his previous capacity as immigration minister, Mendicino said his younger daughter dashed into his basement office “for the very urgent matter of getting additional paper from the printer.” — No. 2 is fresh air. The goal is to get the kids out for a 45-minute walk, at least, every day, he said. — No. 3 is dancing. For the extremely indoors days, Mendocino said the family turns to a video game, Just Dance, to shoo away cabin fever. The top song of the past year for them has been “Levitating” by DUA LIPA. “For the record, I get smoked by both of my daughters every single time,” he said. “Notwithstanding my steadily improving skills.” Over on the west coast, International Development Minister HARJIT SAJJAN (who gets his booster shot today) credits his wife, Dr. KULJIT KAUR SAJJAN, with establishing “very good systems” in the house they share with school-aged kids and aging parents. — Going out without the kids: “We try, every two weeks or so, to go out for a coffee or do something just together for ourselves,” Sajjan told Playbook. His duties as defense minister mostly kept him in Ottawa during the first year of the pandemic, but he said he’s been able to spend more time in Vancouver since March 2021. Sajjan said in B.C., it's fortunate his kids’ schools haven’t closed after the first lockdown. The Sajjans have a “good routine” that includes a system for sharing the family’s single car. He picks it up from his wife’s workplace — “so I can take the kids to track practise or something else,” then his wife jogs home. “I’d go to do my riding work afterwards,” he tells Playbook. — When naptime and House work collide: On the phone with Playbook, NDP MP LAUREL COLLINS warns that her 8-month daughter ALORA may make some noise in the background. A morning of Zoom meetings and important phone calls upturned the Victoria MP’s plan to use her lunch break to put the baby down for a nap. “Her dad is now bouncing her around in the background as I try to kind of seclude myself in the front room.” Collins, who carried Alora during a House debate while arguing about the benefits of hybrid Parliament, said she’s lucky to have telework as an option — and a partner on parental leave. Living in a fourplex, being “steps away from my mom” is another boon, said the former city councillor. “I think the lesson is that people need structural supports,” Collins said. “So many people don't have family or partners to rely on in this way… That goes beyond just ensuring that we have affordable, accessible childcare.” Affordable food, housing and medicine are other factors that impact mental health and a person’s ability and capacity to juggle everything, she said. — In other parenting news: We’re still waiting on NDP JAGMEET SINGH’s parenting news to be Instagram official. As of mid-day Tuesday, the party said the federal leader’s firstborn with wife GURKIRAN KAUR SIDHU, due at the end of December, has yet to arrive. | 
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai smiles at a roundtable discussion in Flint, Mich., on June 21, 2021. | (The Flint Journal via AP/Jake May) | THE ONE WHERE EVERYONE DECLARED VICTORY — Both the U.S. and Canada declared themselves victors after yesterday’s ruling from the first USMCA dispute-settlement panel. As POLITICO Pro’s STEVEN OVERLY and DOUG PALMER report, U.S. officials insisted the panel was a clear-cut victory for the United States. The ruling found Canada’s adoption of tariff rate quotas for 14 categories of dairy products including milk, condensed milk and ice cream, to be in violation of the USMCA. — How the U.S. sees it: USTR KATHERINE TAI called it a historic win. — How Canada sees it: In the eyes of International Trade Minister MARY NG’s office, Canada comes out on top as a champion for the domestic dairy industry. The panel “ruled overwhelmingly in favour of Canada and our dairy industry,” Ng said. But the legitimacy of Canada’s supply management system wasn’t the main issue that was being disputed. — What’s next: Canada has until Feb. 3 to comply with the decision or face U.S. retaliation. Senior USTR officials told reporters that retaliatory duties are “certainly not our focus right now” and they hope to reach an agreement with Canada to avoid that action. Ng’s office told Playbook that Canada plans to comply with its findings. | | AROUND THE HILL | | REDRESS AND REFORM: Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister MARC MILLER said Tuesday that the C$40-billion settlement reached to compensate First Nations children harmed by a discriminatory Indigenous child welfare system is the largest in Canadian history. Half of the money has been earmarked for compensation, while the other has been allotted to fund child welfare system reforms. CINDY BLACKSTOCK, executive director of the First Nations Child & Family Caring Society of Canada, who has been on the frontlines of the legal fight since filing a human rights complaint in 2007, told reporters the case shows public pressure works. — From Blackstock: “C$40 billion is a lot of money and I would say that it was necessary, first of all, for us to litigate to change Canada’s pattern of giving First Nations children less. And second of all, we needed the Canadian public to awaken to the injustices,” she said after the government announcement. Indigenous Services Minister PATTY HAJDU said the government will use a tribunal ruling that ordered Ottawa to pay C$40,000 to every First Nations child, and their primary guardian(s), impacted since 2006 by the on-reserve child welfare system. Final settlement agreements still need to be worked out. There’s a March 31 deadline for the government to dispose final documents. — Long-term view from Blackstock: “This case shows you that public pressure can work, but these agreements-in-principle are non-binding and nothing changes in the lives of children today. We need to commit ourselves to keeping watch on the Government of Canada and holding it accountable until it lands on some of these things.” BLACKBERRY DIARIES — “Many people may have forgotten how life-changing the BlackBerry was, especially for those of us who were early adopters back at the beginning of this 21st century,” The Star’s SUSAN DELACOURT wrote Tuesday in an ode inspired by news that BlackBerry has ended functioning services for its classic cellphones. “The idea of staying in email contact while on the move — far more discreet and less disruptive than mobile phones — was revolutionary, especially for the political class on Parliament Hill,” she writes under the headline Goodbye, BlackBerry. You were the coolest toy on Parliament Hill. The story was shared widely by those who remember the way it changed the way we work: — “Ah, yes, the BlackBerry,” tweeted the NDP’s JENNIFER HOWARD. “I remember getting my first one as a sign that I had arrived as a political staffer.” — Sen. PETER BOEHM: “I had the black, the blue, the bold.” — DEREK ANTOINE now of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation: “I also remember it as a status device on the Hill among staffers. At the time, each office got 2 so those needing to be most reachable by their bosses had one. And when new versions came out, the jealousy lol,” he tweeted. — DENNIS MATTHEWS, then an advertising adviser to Prime Minister Stephen Harper: “I was never cooler than the moment I had a ‘blueberry’ 7210 in PMO days.” — Sen. DENISE BATTERS: “RIP #Blackberry!” | | EVENT HORIZON | | SAVE THE DATE: Don't make plans for Jan. 27 at 8 p.m. ET. Playbook is whipping up our second virtual trivia night with Outside The Box Trivia — a chance for you to show off just how much you know about #cdnpoli. The trivia platform enables you to gather teammates from all over. You can play and collaborate with up to six team members at the same virtual table, as long as you all have access to WiFi. By the way, our December competition was won by a one-man team. RSVP with your team details to Ottawa Playbook. Registration is free. | | PERSPECTIVES | | | 
Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole takes questions from 12-year-old Wyatt Sharpe on Friday evening. | Wyatt Sharpe, Twitter | WHAT TO WATCH IN 2022 — Playbook has invited some of your favorite political podcasters to share their thoughts on the year ahead. You might know WYATT SHARPE from his YouTube channel , where the earnestly earnest 12-year-old has interviewed federal party leaders, cabinet ministers and even a premier. You might also have heard him calling into press conferences to question ministers alongside the pros — a feat that puzzles some of said pros as they patiently wait in line. We asked Sharpe for three #cdnpoli issues he's watching this year: Many issues that were pressing last year will also be important this year, he tells NICK TAYLOR-VAISEY: — On Sept. 25, the Two Michaels returned to Canada. Despite this, our relationship with China still remains very much unknown. — This year, there are two provincial elections that will take place in Quebec and Ontario, which will be interesting especially given that both Quebec and Ontario have just introduced new Covid restrictions. — The biggest topic will probably still be Covid, especially with the new Omicron variant. As booster shots are being rolled out, this will be critical. | | ASK US ANYTHING | | What are you hearing that you need Playbook to know? Any questions about the next session of Parliament? Send it all our way. | | | CANADA’S ‘LOW-INNOVATION’ GALAXY — The Public Policy Forum formally releases a report today that warns Canada isn’t maximizing opportunities to become a world leader in breakthrough inventions. Authored by the Business Council of Canada’s ROBERT ASSELIN and the PPF’s SEAN SPEER , the report blames bureaucracy and a “culture of incrementalism” in Canadian business, universities and governments for stifling innovation. — From the report: “As a nation suffused with ambition to matter in the world and run with the best, we need to do better on breakthrough ideas and technologies — more instances like insulin and fewer scrambling for vaccines developed and produced elsewhere. Increasingly the laggards on breakthrough ideas and technologies will be left with the breadcrumbs in an economy fueled by invention, innovation and intangibles.” The report also devotes significant space to analyzing the Liberals’ campaign pitch to establish a Canada Advanced Research Projects Agency, and to endow it with an initial C$2 billion, modeled after the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects. Read more from Asselin and Speer’s report, identifying the energy and clean technology and agriculture and agri-food as sectors where Canada has a comparative advantage over other markets. | | MEDIA ROOM | | — More than 150 people have pleaded guilty for crimes committed on Jan. 6, 2021. POLITICO is analyzing and tracking every sentence. — “While we are fighting the coronavirus, we are also fighting an American virus — misinformation — which is mostly spread through American social media platforms that have dissolved the old bureaucratic borders against the dark side of American political culture,” STEPHEN MAHER writes in Maclean’s. “It’s a virus as dangerous as the one that causes Covid-19.” — The people in Ottawa to watch list created by The Logic’s DAVID REEVELY and MURAD HEMMADI includes TO BE NAMED — the yet-to-be-revealed Privacy Commissioner of Canada. — IRWIN COTLER, special envoy on combating antisemitism called Quebec’s Bill 21 “discriminatory” in this interview with The Canadian Press. — Of the 135 people recently inducted into the Order of Canada, 55 are women, 17 are visible minority and 11 are Indigenous, RICHARD RAYCRAFT reports for the CBC: “Last year, most of the inductees were white men.” — CityNews reporter and cancer patient CYNTHIA MULLIGAN shared observations from the bloodwork lineup at an Ontario hospital on Tuesday during her regular checkup. — The CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW shared a thread of its Top 5 downloaded articles in 2021. In top spot: Historical Research at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. | | PROZONE | | If you’re a Pro , don’t miss our PM Pro Canada memo: U.S. notches USMCA dispute-settlement win. And from NICK TAYLOR-VAISEY: As Covid policies divide America, Ontario doubles down (again). In other headlines for Pros:
— U.S. claims victory over Canada in closely watched dairy trade dispute.
— A new year’s gift for NASA?
— Germany’s green-on-green wind power battle.
— Biden blasts meat conglomerates amid rising prices. | | PLAYBOOKERS | | Spotted: Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU: boosted. Edson Mayor KEVIN ZAHARA: boosted … Conservative MP MARTY MORANTZ: boosted with a bonus flu shot. Conservative Leader ERIN O’TOOLE wants to talk with ex-CBCer TARA HENLEY about ways to “fix the CBC.” Movers and shakers: LISA HOLMES will be chief of staff to Edmonton Mayor AMARJEET SOHI. She starts Jan. 5. Coming in May from former MP PEGGY NASH: Women Winning Office: An Activist’s Guide to Getting Elected. h/t MEGAN LESLIE CRESTVIEW STRATEGIES is on the hunt for a strategic communications intern. Birthdays: HBD to former deputy prime minister JOHN MANLEY. You can hear him in conversation with PETER MACKAY and COLIN ROBERTSON on the Global Exchange podcast — a recent episode featuring heaps of advice for Foreign Affairs Minister MELANIE JOLY. Media mentions: The INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM FOUNDATION just launched to “expand the breadth, depth and long-term financial sustainability of investigative journalism in Canada.” The team behind it, as listed on the site: ZANE SCHWARTZ, KARYN PUGLIESE and JOHN RUFFOLO. ERICA ALINI will join The Globe as a personal finance reporter later this month. Today is Day 2 for RACHEL GIESE as the Globe’s deputy national editor: health, education and families. “Same office, new gig,” she tweeted of her WFH setup. Farewells: Master carver and hereditary chief DELGAMUUKW (EARL MULDON) has died. “[His] name is synonymous with Indigenous rights in Canada,” JEFF BLAGDEN writes for the CFNR Network. You probably know it from the Delgamuukw decision. “My heart is with the Gitxsan today,” tweeted TAYLOR BACHRACH, MP for Skeena-Bulkley Valley. “‘If you take a bucket of water out of the Skeena River, the Skeena keeps on flowing. Our rights still flow and they will flow forever.’ So too will his legacy.” | | TRIVIA | | Tuesday’s answer: NATO temporarily suspended a Canadian-led training mission in Iraq on Jan. 4, 2020 after a U.S. airstrike killed Gen. Qassem Soleimani. Props to SHERRY WASILOW, LEIGH LAMPERT, ROBERT MCDOUGALL, GEORGE YOUNG, BOB GORDON and CULLY ROBINSON. Wednesday’s question: What is Alberta’s official bird? For bonus marks, tell us something about it. Send your answers to ottawaplaybook@politico.com Have a petition you want signed? A cause you’re promoting? Seeking to increase brand awareness amongst this key audience? Share your message with our influential readers to foster engagement and drive action. Contact Alejandra Waase to find out how: awaase@politico.com. Playbook wouldn’t happen without Luiza Ch. Savage and editor Sue Allan.
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