NOW WHAT — After days of wondering when Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU was going to show, he surfaced in the House last night to join an emergency debate on the occupation in Ottawa. The PM arrived bearing soundbites, an appearance to sate Liberals, but minus a solution to satisfy Conservatives. — The PM’s speech: “We're all tired of this pandemic. Frustrated. We're worn down. None more worn down than our frontline health workers who've been going flat out for two years,” said Trudeau who has been in self-isolation with Covid. “Families like mine just last week that test positive have to follow public health rules, have to isolate themselves — nobody wants to do that,” he said. “This pandemic has sucked for all Canadians,” the PM added. Emphasis on sucked. The way through this pandemic, he said, is to listen to science — and each other. “This is a time to put national interests ahead of partisan interests,” he said. “This is the time for responsible leadership.” — ISO “responsible leadership.” Conservative interim leader CANDICE BERGEN was up next and set the tone for the hours of debate that followed. “Look at our country,” she said. “I've never seen it as divided as it is now under this prime minister.” Conservatives want Trudeau to walk his talk. They’ve been coaxing him to find common ground with the convoyers squatting in the capital under the watchful eyes of police. The other argument, of course, is that the PM shouldn’t negotiate with organizers whose goals, which NDP Leader JAGMEET SINGH described as “legal gibberish,” include a wish to overthrow the government. MAKE IT STOP: The emergency House debate overlapped with a marathon meeting of Ottawa’s city council. — ANDY BLATCHFORD reports: Mayor JIM WATSON sent letters to Trudeau and Ontario Premier DOUG FORD asking for 1,800 police officers to help “quell the insurrection that the Ottawa Police Service is not able to contain.” “We're going to need a lot more to really get on top of this situation,” embattled police chief PETER SLOLY said. In other news Monday, a judge granted an interim injunction to temporarily quiet the truck horns — some reprieve brought to residents by the effort of a class-action lawsuit filed by Ottawa lawyer PAUL CHAMP on behalf of his client, a 21-year-old public servant named ZEXI LI. — In related reading: MARK CARNEY writes: It’s time to end the sedition in Ottawa by enforcing the law and following the money. LINKED BY VALUES AND ‘SINS’ — Former Republican strategist STEVE SCHMIDT says the occupation is symptomatic of a larger problem. “The autocratic metastasis is spreading and extremists are rising,” the Lincoln Project co-founder tweeted . “People of goodwill and good faith who believe in pluralism and democracy better wake up on both sides of the border.” — More related reading: The CBC reported last night that traffic entering and leaving Canada along the Ambassador Bridge linking Windsor, Ont., to Detroit was being blocked by protesters. And from ALEX McKEEN and GRANT LAFLECHE: How Bitcoin bigwigs’ ‘HonkHonk’ came to fundraise for Canada’s ‘Freedom convoy.’ WORKING ON IT — International Trade Minister MARY NG was at the House Standing Committee on International Trade Monday to address some of the biggest gripes with Canada-U.S. trade relations. MPs grilled the minister on everything from President JOE BIDEN's proposed electric vehicle tax provision to the softwood lumber trade dispute — but Ng stayed vague on where negotiations with the U.S. stand. The highlights via POLITICO’S KELLY HOOPER: On heading off U.S. attacks to Canadian industry: “This is work that we take very seriously and that we continue to work on.” On the EV tax credit provision: “We will continue to do the work to advocate on this issue, and we hope that this will not come to be, and so we’re going to keep working on a solution with the Americans.” On the softwood lumber dispute: “This is an issue that we will continue to work on.” On critical minerals: "We are very much working on a whole of government approach and certainly with partners like the United States." On the dairy dispute: “We are very much working with the industry, as well as with the Americans, to find a way to implement the panel report. So that’s what’s going on right now. The work is underway.” URGENT INVITATION — The status of women committee wants Canadians to contribute to its study of intimate partner and domestic violence. “In the last year alone, over 225,000 women experienced intimate partner violence,” ALIA BUTT, assistant deputy minister in the Department for Women and Gender Equality, said during FEWO’s Friday meeting. “That means that 618 women in Canada every day lived in fear, experiencing violence by a partner.” The committee wants specific recommendations. “Let's not forget that for every woman impacted there is a family — and often children — impacted, too,” Butt told MPs.
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