Three weeks till the circus is back

From: POLITICO Ottawa Playbook - Monday Jan 10,2022 11:01 am

Jan 10, 2022

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WELCOME TO OTTAWA PLAYBOOK. I'm your host, Nick Taylor-Vaisey. Today is Monday, which means the House returns in precisely three weeks (though we have a sneaking suspicion a couple of Commons committees will meet much sooner).

SAVE THE DATE — Playbook's first virtual trivia night in December hit triple digits in attendance. BROCK STEPHENSON won it all. But every GR firm in town gave him a run for his money. And power players JAMES RAJOTTE, RODGER CUZNER and MEGAN LESLIE — with a big assist from ALAN KAN — made some noise.

And participants need not be connected to a firm of any sort. Our first night featured tables of friends and strangers united in the cause of political nerdery.

We're back for Round 2 on Jan. 27 at 8 Eastern. That means renewing friendly hostilities, mingling at the virtual tables (socializing for the Omicron era) and welcoming new competitors. The latest entrant: JEN HOLLETT's team from The Walrus.

RSVP at ottawaplaybook@politico.com. We'll send you instructions on how to set yourselves up for the night — and, maybe, #cdnpoli trivia supremacy.

DRIVING THE DAY

HURRY UP AND WAIT — Foreign Minister MÉLANIE JOLY promised a new China strategy when she appeared Sunday on Global's West Block. The long-overdue pledge is no surprise. Joly's lengthy mandate letter made no direct mention of China, but includes this priority:

→ "Develop and launch a comprehensive Indo-Pacific strategy to deepen diplomatic, economic and defence partnerships and international assistance in the region"

Joly's eventual policy will, the letter from JUSTIN TRUDEAU says, actually be the job of four ministers to produce. The others are Trade Minister MARY NG, International Development Minister HARJIT SAJJAN and Defense Minister ANITA ANAND.

Job One might be refreshing china.gc.ca, which still lists DOMINIC BARTON as ambassador — and has at the top of a "highlights" selection of news items a Sept. 5 note marking 1,000 days since the Two Michaels were detained. (They were freed about three weeks later, just days after the federal election.)

The foreign minister's timeline for releasing the strategy, "the coming weeks and months," brings to mind countless meetings in 2022 among bureaucrats at Fort Pearson on Sussex Drive in service to one of the more complex global relationships Canada will be navigating for decades to come.

— Rhetoric of patience: "Coming weeks and months" sounds strikingly similar to another Liberal euphemism for feigned urgency.

When the Canadian Press asked Finance Minister CHRYSTIA FREELAND 's office why December's fiscal update didn't follow through on a party pledge to reduce fees paid by merchants when customers pay with their credit cards, the Finance department's response was to commit to changes "in due course."

— Forever priorities: The Liberals campaigned in 2015 on launching an open and transparent process to replace a decades-old fleet of CF-18 fighter jets. "We will not buy the F-35 stealth fighter-bomber," the party proclaimed.

The young Liberal government launched that process in 2016. Five years later, Lockheed Martin's fifth-generation plane is still in the running as one of two finalists announced in December. The other is Saab's Gripen. The plan is to announce a winner in 2022, but the latest project update leaves all kinds of room for flexibility.

"Over the coming weeks," reads the familiar opening line, "Canada will finalize next steps for the process."

— Delay, delay, delay: In the summer of 2019, then-health minister GINETTE PETITPAS TAYLOR proposed regulatory changes to the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board. The rule changes were complex, and pharma companies hated them, but the overall goal was to make drugs cheaper for Canadians.

The regulations were supposed to come into force on Canada Day in 2020. The feds delayed them for six months, then another six months, followed by another six months, and recently another six months.

Health Minister JEAN-YVES DUCLOS explained in a December statement that given more time, his government could "further engage stakeholders on the application of these amendments within the changing pharmaceutical landscape."

HALLWAY CONVERSATION

As Ottawa's Liberals huddle in post-holiday planning sessions, Playbook can't stop thinking about all of the most urgent things the government promised to do — but then stopped talking about. We asked a couple of experts to make an assertive case for a pair of putative priorities: a decision on Huawei's participation in building 5G infrastructure and a concrete plan to achieve hoped-for reductions in carbon emissions.

MARGARET McCUAIG-JOHNSTON, senior fellow at the University of Ottawa's Graduate School of Public and International Affairs: Our Five Eyes allies, as well as all Canadians, have been waiting more than three years for our government’s decision as to whether Huawei will be banned from selling equipment for our 5G system.

There are myriad reasons for a ban, including China’s National Intelligence Law that requires Chinese companies to spy for China — and to keep that spying secret. Evidence of Huawei’s spying has been seen in other countries including its monitoring of the phone of the prime minister of the Netherlands, and a software update in Australia was loaded with malicious code.

While we were waiting, Telus was installing Huawei 5G software and hardware, and Huawei’s ALYKHAN VELSHI told Global News the company will continue in the coming years to do software updates to this equipment. No doubt Telus would say they were not told not to use Huawei.

Ministers say national security is the principal criterion in their decision, so we can likely expect a ban. But how many years will carriers be given to replace Huawei equipment?

A one-year period would be appropriate to minimize further risk to our national security, without financial compensation. Carriers installing Huawei equipment despite the clear security threat should have ensured better risk management.

CAROLINE BROUILLETTE, national policy manager at Climate Action Network Canada: By the end of March 2022, the environment and climate change minister has to table Canada’s first ever climate plan under the Net Zero Emissions Accountability Act.

Canada has still not yet bent the curve of its greenhouse gas emissions, and previous climate plans have failed to provide the information required to assess the effectiveness of climate policy commitments, and to explain clearly to the public how the government is supporting a just transition away from a fossil-based economy.

The 2022 plan needs to correct this record by giving Canadians the complete picture of the climate measures in this country which will get us to our fair share of the global effort to limit warming to 1.5 degrees C by 2030, and from there to zero emissions.

The plan should also flesh out the whole-of-government approach outlined in mandate letters, by clearly identifying who is responsible for each measure, on what timeline, with rigorous modeling of the resulting GHG emissions reductions.

This plan will be the first major test for Canada’s new climate accountability framework. Minister STEVEN GUILBEAULT has the opportunity to set a strong precedent for ambitious and rigorous planning and define climate policy for years to come during a crucial decade when extreme weather events are already wreaking havoc across the country. This opportunity should not be missed.

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TODAY'S HIGHLIGHTS

— Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU will host a call with provincial and territorial premiers (time: unknown to us).

— Tory MPs JOHN BRASSARD and PIERRE PAUL-HUS will hold an 11 a.m. presser "on the collection of mobile data by the Public Health Agency of Canada."

AROUND THE HILL

A VERY CANADIAN ANNOUNCEMENT — Agriculture Minister MARIE-CLAUDE BIBEAU announced late Friday afternoon the creation of a federal ministerial coordinating committee on P.E.I. potatoes. GINETTE PETITPAS TAYLOR will chair it, and she'll be joined by DOMINIC LEBLANC, LAWRENCE MACAULAY and MARY NG.

The ad-hoc group will meet this week. Its mission: ease the impact of the government's suspension of seed potato exports, Ottawa's preemptive response to American threats of a ban on cross-border imports after potato wart was discovered at two P.E.I. farms.

— The job: "Enhancing coordination and collaboration across the federal government to respond to concerns and find solutions."

— Semantics: This isn't a Cabinet committee, but a committee of Cabinet ministers. Clear as mud — or seaside red dirt, right?

PAPER TRAIL

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau after a briefing with Dominic Barton

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau after a briefing with then-ambassador Dominic Barton | Photo courtesy of Adam Scotti

MR. BARTON GOES TO WASHINGTON — On March 13, a cloudy Saturday in Hong Kong, DOMINIC BARTON tested negative for Covid at Gleneagles Hospital. The next day he was on a Cathay Pacific flight from Beijing to Toronto, then it was on to Ottawa for a week and the American capital for another three. He wouldn't return to China until the end of April.

His mission: Secure the release of the Two Michaels.

Playbook obtained documents via an access-to-information request that retrace Barton's steps as he first plotted strategy with federal officials and then, as has been reported elsewhere, lobbied Washington with ambassador KIRSTEN HILLMAN.

The docs give a sense of the drudgery involved in Barton's pandemic travel, reveal his unexpected whereabouts on pivotal days for the men he was trying to save, and chronicle repeated extensions of the ambassador's stay in Washington.

— The boring first leg: Same as everyone else, Barton quarantined on arrival in Toronto for three nights at the airport Sheraton, followed by another 11-night stay at an Airbnb in town. He was cooped up in Canada while both MICHAEL KOVRIG and MICHAEL SPAVOR were put on trial, which explains his absence outside the Dandong and Beijing courtrooms where a phalanx of diplomats showed solidarity with the Canadian prisoners — for Spavor on March 19, and Kovrig three days later.

— Visit to capital #1: The ambassador stayed 11 nights in Room 1201 of the Westin Hotel on Colonel By Drive, a hotel with a view of the Hill. Taxi receipts show a man on the move, darting between his temporary digs and Fort Pearson — the nickname for Global Affairs HQ — on Sussex Drive.

He also visited National Defense, as well as Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship offices. He stopped in at 59 Sparks St., a former postal service building next door to the PMO, for a briefing with PM Trudeau. (Some of the hand-written notes on the receipts were redacted, obscuring certain destinations.)

On April 5, Barton stopped in at a clinic on Riverside Drive for a Covid test. Three days later, he was in a limo to the airport — but not for a flight out of Ottawa. He headed to the border town of Ogdensburg, N.Y., for a United Airlines flight to Washington. (He had previously been booked on a trip with two stopovers.)

— Visit to capital #2: Few hints about Barton's meetings in Washington are revealed in his various receipts and expense claims, and Global Affairs was mum with Playbook. We know from Toronto Star reporting that Barton and Hillman took meetings at the State and Justice departments.

He spent his first six nights at the JW Marriott Hotel — Room 1033 — a couple blocks from President JOE BIDEN 's digs at the White House, and tacked on another two for good measure. He kept on extending the trip, which an initial itinerary capped at April 14. His next room was three blocks from the Marriott at the Bluebird Suites, where he was booked in for 12 nights. He soon added another five.

Before flying back to China, Barton took a taxi to Falls Church, Virginia for a Covid test April 26 (cost: US$598, paid by the embassy).

On April 28, he was on a plane to Newark, the first leg of a long journey back to Beijing. Five months later, almost to the day, Barton was once again on his way back to Canada on a flight with MICHAEL KOVRIG and MICHAEL SPAVOR.

MEDIA ROOM

— “We need to do more and we need to do it faster, clearly,” Environment Minister STEVEN GUILBEAULT tells CAITLIN STALL-PAQUET in this Narwhal Q&A.

— On the West of Centre pod, JIM BROWN leads a conversation on energy diversification in Alberta.

— APTN has a feature-length interview with Governor General MARY SIMON. “People want to see reconciliation happening,” she tells BRETT FORESTER, “and reconciliation will happen in many different ways.”

— In the Literary Review, warhorse JEFF SIMPSON writes duel reviews of JODY WILSON-RAYBOULD's memoir and MICHAEL WERNICK's handbook to governing.

— The CBC’s AARON WHERRY says an unofficial debate about health care in Canada is taking shape — between demands for more public funding on one side and calls for a "greater role for private health care delivery" on the other.

— Meanwhile, writes The Atlantic’s KATHERINE J. WU: America’s Covid rules are a dumpster fire.

— Still on Covid, an OTTAWA PUBLIC HEALTH Twitter thread rarely disappoints: WHY 2022 IS NOT 2020 TOO: OMICRON IS A BRAND-NEW CHAPTER

PLAYBOOKERS

Birthdays: Former NDP MP NELSON RIIS celebrates a milestone today (80)! And HBD to Sen. LEO HOUSAKOS. Belated greetings to SHUVALOY MAJUMDAR, who celebrated Sunday.

Arrivals: GRAHAM MILNER, formerly director of parliamentary affairs to MONA FORTIER, announced his departure from the Hill — and joined his wife, Compass Rose public affairs counselor KATHLEEN WALSH, in welcoming a new daughter: ISLA ANNE BETH.

Birthdays or other social notices for the Playbook community? Send them our way.

Spotted: Sen. PAULA SIMONS, weighing in as CBC reporter JUSTIN McELROY organized a bracket for best B.C. song. Her nomination: “The best dang Trooper song.”

Pollster DAVID COLETTO, baking from scratch.

Summa Strategies chairperson TIM POWERS, training for the Boston Marathon and raising money for IMPACT Melanoma. … NDP MP LINDSAY MATHYSSEN, isolating on Friday after testing positive for Covid. “I’m double vaccinated which will protect me from serious illness & encourage everyone to get vaccinated & the booster ASAP,” she shared. … Sen. STAN KUTCHER making the best of a power outage.

Elections Canada deregistered the Bloc Québécois riding association in Terrebonne, a district won by Bloc MP NATHALIE SINCLAIR-DESGAGNÉ in September.

Movers and shakers: Ambassador DAVID COHEN's latest guides to Canada-U.S. relations: ex-deputy central banker and current Princeton senior research scholar CAROLYN WILKINS, Biz Council boss GOLDY HYDER and Deloitte's TREVIN STRATTON.

FRANCIS CARMINE CHECHILE takes on a new role as comms assistant to Health Minister JEAN-YVES DUCLOS. … JULIE VAUX, former press secretary to PM STEPHEN HARPER shifts to Microsoft, where she's director of corporate affairs.

Former Tory staffer MATT TRIEMSTRA, a federal candidate last year who most recently was a VP/GM at Ensight Canada, shifts to Navigator where he's now associate principal. STEFAN BARANSKI, a one-time d-comm to Alberta Premier ALISON REDFORD, is now a principal in the same firm's Toronto office.

Policy wonk SUNIL JOHAL joins the product certification standards developers at CSA Group, where he's the new VP public policy. … TED FRASER is a junior analyst in the Greater China division at Global Affairs Canada. … MYRLE BALLARD is the first director of Indigenous science at Environment and Climate Change Canada.

Media mentions: REBECCA TUCKER joins The Globe and Mail this week. … KATHERINE DUNN is leaving Fortune for the Reuters Institute where she will work for the Climate Reporting Network.

PROZONE

For s, here’s the latest edition of the Pro Canada PM by ZI-ANN LUM: RATs race: Your guide to the week ahead.

— Supreme Court weighs Joe Biden’s vaccine mandates as Omicron spreads.
— Democrats go all-out to sway West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin.
— State legislators in New York eye an extension of remote government.

TRIVIA

Friday's answer: On Jan. 7, 2000, BEVERLEY McLACHLIN was appointed Chief Justice of Canada — the first woman in Canada to hold the position.

Props to STACEY NORONHA, WILLIAM PRISTANSKI, LAURA JARVIS, SHEILA GERVAIS, LEIGH LAMPERT, BOB GORDON, JOHN ECKER, GEORGE YOUNG, ALAN KAN, ROBERT McDOUGALL, NICK MASCIANTONIO, STEPHEN HAAS and BRAM ABRAMSON.

Today’s question: How many countries were represented at the first session of the United Nations General Assembly, which opened on this date in 1946? Did Canada attend?

Send your answers to ottawaplaybook@politico.com

Playbook wouldn’t happen without Luiza Ch. Savage, editor Sue Allan, Zi-Ann Lum and Andy Blatchford.

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