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A daily look inside Canadian politics and power. | | | | |  | | By Nick Taylor-Vaisey | Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Nick | Follow Politico Canada WELCOME TO OTTAWA PLAYBOOK. I'm your host, Nick Taylor-Vaisey. (It's been a while. Anything happen in the past two weeks?) On Monday, the House voted on the government's invocation of the Emergencies Act, a checkpoint-adjacent downtown watering hole reopened its doors and tensions kicked up a notch overseas.
|  | Driving the Day | | ACROSS THE POND — Russian President VLADIMIR PUTIN officially recognized the independence of a pair of breakaway Ukrainian territories on Monday. POLITICO's VICTOR JACK reports: Putin announced his decision at the end of a televised speech to the Russian nation filled with historical grievances and bitter complaints about the Ukrainian government, NATO and Western nations including the United States. Putin did not say whether his decision would trigger military measures, but he declared: “When the level of threat for our country is becoming greater and greater, Russia has every right to take countermeasures to enhance our own security. And that’s how we plan to act.” POLITICO's ALEX WARD reports on an emergency session of the U.N. Security Council.BRYAN BENDER and PAUL McLEARY have news on the latest salvo in the new Cold War. POLITICO's chief Brussels correspondent and Russian-speaker DAVID HERSZENHORN is on the ground in Ukraine and has details of everything that happened overnight. Keep up to the latest on POLITICO's live blog with news from Ukraine, Russia, across Europe and the U.S. Expect that overheated rhetoric — Europe is on the verge of war — to eventually dominate the political conversation in Ottawa. But not yet. Monday was all about a highly anticipated vote.
| | AROUND THE HILL | | BUSINESS AS USUAL — If there's one signal that Hill people's lives are returning to some form of normalcy, it's an open door at the Metropolitain just a few steps away from the Parliament Buildings. The watering hole's buzz was back on Monday evening. LEO HOUSAKOS and DENISE BATTERS huddled in the front window. Rubicon's ANDREW BALFOUR shared a table with Liberal MP ALI EHSASSI. Proof Strategies fixture GREG MACEACHERN sauntered in at 7 o'clock, about an hour before the House of Commons went about a historic vote on the government's invocation of the Emergencies Act. Even if it was a foregone conclusion, and the government's arguments would carry the day, the moment in the House was without precedent (we refuse to use the u-word). Your Playbook host departed the Met for the chamber, passing a police checkpoint between the Chateau Laurier and Senate building, and an informal parking lot for various and sundry police forces. The parliamentary precinct was dead silent, even for a holiday Monday on a cold winter night. A HISTORIC VOTE — At 7:30, Deputy Speaker CHRIS D'ENTREMONT ended debate on the invocation and called the bells for a vote. "We'd like to request a recorded vote," said KEVIN LAMOUREUX. "That was kind," joked Tory DAN ALBAS (everyone knew the score before the games began). Before the vote, ELIZABETH MAY sauntered over to the Tory side. "Are you voting with us?" asked ARNOLD VIERSEN. May's response was inaudible from the Press Gallery above the Commons, though her colleague MIKE MORRICE had earlier declared in a lengthy statement that he'd side with the Tories. GARY ANANDASANGAREE, the parliamentary secretary to Justice Minister DAVID LAMETTI , ventured across the aisle for a chat with Tory MICHAEL CHONG. It was all very collegial. Then the bells stopped chiming and the Tories stopped playing. CONFIDENCE OR NAH? — Tory House leader JOHN BRASSARD demanded the government be clear on the vote about to unfold. If the Liberals lost, would they resign their government? This wasn't out of the blue. Earlier Monday, Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU bobbed and weaved when asked by reporters if he considered the evening vote a matter of confidence. Then, a twist. Liberal MP NATHANIEL ERSKINE-SMITH told the Commons shortly after that he opposed the principle of the invocation, but would side with the government because the vote was a matter of confidence. So there was some confusion to settle. Government House Leader MARK HOLLAND was having none of it. "I appreciate the debate, but it's time to vote." — How it went down: New Democrats sided with the Liberals. So did quasi-maverick Quebec MP JÖEL LIGHTBOUND, who publicly rebuked his government's approach to dialogue with its critics. The Bloc Québécois and the Tories were opposed. May, for the record, sided with the government. Morrice scored a standing ovation from the Tories when he confirmed his nay vote. — Final tally: 185-151 — Post-vote antics: Interim leader CANDICE BERGEN tabled a motion to revoke the Emergencies Act. Expect more on that as soon as the House returns in a week. The Tories barked cries of shame at the Liberal side, and much of the party's front bench posed for a pic to mark the moment. D'Entremont photo-bombed them in his Speaker's robes. With that, the room slowly emptied. — What's next: The checkpoints are still standing in downtown Ottawa. The questions on everyone's mind: How long before the cops ratchet things down? How long will the NDP support emergency measures? JAGMEET SINGH told reporters Monday that his party only "reluctantly" supported the government. Might they bend or break by the time Bergen tables her motion for real? A parliamentary committee will also soon take up a review of the invocation of emergency measures. MEANWHILE, AT THE MET — In an extremely this-is-Ottawa moment, the restaurant's patrons applauded the passage of the bill. A few minutes later, triumphant Liberals paraded into the place. MARK HOLLAND was there along with Chief Government Whip STEVEN MACKINNON and a clutch of MPs and staff. (It wasn't all Liberals. The NDP's national director, ANNE MCGRATH, held down a table.)
| | AROUND THE HILL | | R.I.P. FACTS — Everyone always knew Twitter is a hotbed of barely moderated hate and misinformation, but it was verging on unreadable as real-life Ottawa slowly got back to boring. Where do we even start? — What's in a name? It's called the Emergencies Act, not the Emergency Act or Emergency Measures Act or War Measures Act — a tiny detail, so often misstated by columnists and politicians on all sides of the debate. Playbook's plea: Please stop. — The fake list: Former Liberal MP ADAM VAUGHAN circulated a screenshot of a collection of Conservative MPs, claiming they had "financially supported" the trucker protest on the Hill. It actually appears to be a list of MPs who ever said a single compassionate thing about the people who traveled to Ottawa — e.g. MIKE LAKE , who responded: "Continued, persistent escalation of tensions isn’t helpful." — The anecdote: Conservative MP MARK STRAHL tweeted about a single mom in Chilliwack, BRIANE, who claims to have had her bank account frozen because she donated C$50 to the trucker convoy. If this story is true, Strahl's constituent could be caught in the middle of massive government overreach. But oh, the questions: How did her bank get her name? Why did it freeze her account? Strahl claims Briane is who Trudeau is "actually targeting" with emergency measures, but what role did the government actually play? — Freeland's take: "Particularly right now, at a time which is very fraught, it's important for all of us to be very, very careful to get our facts exactly right in each circumstance." For the record, the RCMP claims to have never provided a trucker convoy donor list to banks — and only provided "identities of individuals who were influencers in the illegal protest in Ottawa, and owners and/or drivers of vehicles who did not want to leave the area impacted by the protest." Strahl insists the woman's story is legit, and the U.K.'s Daily Mail ran with it. Wrote JOHN BAIRD: "Unbelievable!" Quipped GREG MACEACHERN: "Yup." Strahl's colleague, MARILYN GLADU, reported a similar fate for a constituent with even fewer details. That one netted more than 1,200 retweets. — The Yankees are coming: A pair of reporters from the New York Times struck a nerve over the weekend when they wrote Saturday that officers were confronting protesters in Ottawa at gunpoint. Many esteemed journalists north of the border flat-out denied that characterization. Canadaland's JESSE BROWN talked to the reporters. POLITICO Canada's ANDY BLATCHFORD was on the scene on Friday when authorities entered a camper on Rideau Street with a weapon clearly visible. A small number of police did brandish weapons in the presence of a small number of protesters who huddled inside vehicles. The first version of the Times story did overstate things. Everything else is semantics. CBC's AARON WHERRY called it the "silliest fight" — a damning conclusion drawn from a man who watches the House of Commons for a living.
| | HALLWAY CONVERSATION | | A CALL FOR EMPATHY — Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU, who notably referred to the trucker convoy as a "small fringe minority" with "unacceptable views" as it barreled towards Ottawa, appealed to Canada's better angels at the tail end of prepared remarks on Monday. Here's part of what he had to say: "If you spend a lot of time online, try looking outside your social media bubble every now and then. If you have a cousin who you haven't seen in a while because they're unvaccinated or because they're vaccinated, give them a call. If a political conversation got heated during a recent gathering and a friend or relative left early, pick up the phone. Not to try to convince them, not to argue, but simply to ask how they're doing." "Look, in the heat of the moment, we can all get carried away trying to win an argument. But not every single conversation has to be about winning an argument. Sometimes, it's more important to just be there for one another. As a country, let's aim for more decency in our public discourse, not less. Let's cherish the democracy that we have and let's commit ourselves every day to working together to make it even better." — Meanwhile in the House, a pair of Tories delivered standout speeches that pleaded for sanity in the chamber. Here are excerpts of their statements, which earned plaudits from across the political spectrum: ERIC MELILLO: "I am shocked that I have to say this in the House. We have a prime minister who was democratically elected three times, who commands the confidence of this chamber, yet there are many people across the country who are not seeing it as legitimate and that is a very big problem in our democracy. I disagree with the use of the Emergencies Act. I believe it is far-reaching, but it does not make the prime minister a dictator. He is within his right to invoke it." "My plea to all of my colleagues is to think about the words we use in this place. We cannot throw around words like 'dictator' and 'racist' flippantly. These words matter. They carry weight and when we use these words so casually, we de-legitimize the true evils that have been experienced by many people and continue to be experienced by many people in the world." SCOTT AITCHISON: "We were elected to represent our communities, tell the hard truths and work hard on behalf of our people. We were not sent here to listen to what the focus groups say or what the polls might say. We were not sent here to represent only those people who put up lawn signs. We were not sent here to appeal to the lowest common denominator; we were sent here to raise it. Canadians do not think of their communities as target seats. It is their hometown where everyone is a neighbor, where everyone deserves strong representation in this House." "There are lots of folks in downtown Toronto and Montreal who want lower taxes, and there are a lot of people in rural Alberta who are proud of and really want a strong publicly funded health care system. There are a lot of people in Vancouver who are fed up with vaccine mandates and a lot of people in Regina who are eager to welcome another new Canadian to their community. There are plenty of Quebeckers who want to use Canadian energy and there are thousands of folks in Manitoba who are proud of their union membership."
| | HOUSE BUSINESS | | MARCO MENDICINO will be guest of honor at the House Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security at 11 a.m. Topic of study: “Occupation of Ottawa and the Federal Government’s Response to Convoy Blockades.” RCMP Commissioner BRENDA LUCKI, Canadian Border Services Agency President JOHN OSSOWSKI and other senior officials are also scheduled to appear. The House finance committee will meet at 2:30 p.m. with officials from finance, justice and the Canada Revenue Agency on deck to discuss the Emergencies Act.
| | TODAY'S HIGHLIGHTS | | The Senate begins debate on the Emergencies Act at 7 a.m. “Expect it to be long — and, with luck, both thoughtful and thorough,” Sen. PAULA SIMONS said Monday night.
| | ASK US ANYTHING | | TELL US WHAT YOU KNOW — What are you hearing that you need Playbook to know? Send it all our way.
| | PAPER TRAIL | | EV'er SAID THAN DONE — Federal polling on zero-emission vehicles reveals just how far Canadians have to go if the government hopes to phase out the sale of new fossil fuel-powered cars by 2035. A report from the pollster, Ekos, was recently published online. — First, the obvious: Ekos found that 34 percent of respondents plan to buy or lease a small SUV or crossover — the most of any size or type of vehicle. (D'uh. Look at a road near you.) — It ain't easy buying green: Only 5 percent of respondents told the pollster they already own a zero-emissions vehicle. One in seven had shopped for one. Two-thirds had never ridden in one. Slightly less than half of potential ZEV owners knew much about how to charge the vehicles, how much they cost, and how far they can travel on a single charge. — A trend in the making? One in four respondents said they were "very interested" in leaving gasoline behind and purchasing a ZEV. About half said they'd already considered moving to an electric-powered car. — The cost of going electric: 63 percent of Canadians told Ekos that ZEVs are too rich for their blood (then again, 45 percent didn't know how much they cost). — Free money: 69 percent said they supported incentives that encourage Canadians to buy ZEVs. (In fact, the Liberals launched such a program in 2019 . The latest federal data says the government has C$87,891,350 available to consumers who need a push to go electric.
| | MEDIA ROOM | | — GLENN GREENWALD has entered the chat. The journalist who rose to prominence in the days of EDWARD SNOWDEN's mega-disclosures penned a Substack essay on Western governments' apparent crackdowns on dissenting voices . Greenwald laments what he phrases as "stunning multi-pronged attacks on Canadian truckers." — Freelancer JUSTIN LING, a longtime observer of cops responding to or creating tense situations, gave the multi-city forces in Ottawa over the weekend a passing grade : "It was far from perfect, but this is an operation that could be studied as the benchmark of how crowd control situations don't need to be as violent and confrontational as they often are." — POLITICO's chief technology correspondent, MARK SCOTT, dissected the lightning speed at which a video promoting an apparent "Canada-wide walkout" spread across social media. There was no walkout, but the hundreds of thousands of views demonstrated how effectively the message got to its intended audiences. — LA PRESSE reports that JEAN CHAREST is being asked to run for the leadership of the Conservative Party. — “There will never be another PAUL FARMER,” BILL GATES writes of the physician and humanitarian who died Monday. — DAVID HERLE's Curse of Politics pod crew welcomes a certain former west-coast premier on the show today.
| | PLAYBOOKERS | | Birthdays: HBD to JOHN TURMEL, a man who's lost more elections, by far, than anyone else in Canada. It's not even close. Spotted: Downtown Ottawa resto NORTH & NAVY, reopening Wednesday and offering free meals to prominent locals who went viral for anti-protest tirades. P.E.I. Premier DENNIS KING, wishing his people a happy Islander Day . … AUSMA MALIK, entering a race for city council in Toronto. Movers and shakers: Former Liberal Hill staffer GURJIVEN SANDHU is back in the game, this time in Vancouver. Sandhu now works as HARJIT SAJJAN's director of policy at Pacific Economic Development Canada. From the tenders: Coming soon to Canada's visually uninspiring embassy in Buenos Aires: bollards. The Global Affairs office in the Palestinian Territories, just a few minutes' walk from the lively al-Manara Square, is on tap for seismic and security upgrades. Farewells: Your Playbook host's mother, Anne Taylor-Vaisey, died Feb. 8. She was endlessly supportive of her youngest son's interest in politics. One of his earliest memories was when she let him stay up late on the night of the 1995 Quebec referendum. Her obituary ran in her beloved Globe and Mail last Saturday.
| | PROZONE | | In news for POLITICO Pro s: — U.S. sanctions Russia for declaring independence of eastern Ukraine territories.
— The global climate attention crisis.
— The group that brought down Keystone XL faces agonies of its own.
— Standoff in Ottawa: 'How did we get here?'
— Biden officials ask Congress for $5B in global Covid funds.
| | TRIVIA | | Monday's answer: HAYLEY WICKENHEISER was named MVP of the tournament when the Canadian women’s hockey team won gold at the 2002 Olympics on Feb. 21. Props to ELIZABETH BURN, LOANNE MYRAH, JOANNA PLATER, TRACY SALMON, ALAN KAN, GARY COLLINS, JOHN ECKER, PATRICK DION, JOHN GUOBA, MICHAEL MACDONALD, JANE DOULL, ROBERT MCDOUGALL, MICHAEL SUNG, SAM MACPHAIL, HARRY MCKONE and CHRIS MCCLUSKEY. Tuesday’s question: In "Being Prime Minister," historian J.D.M. STEWART writes about the first flight ever taken by a sitting PM. Name the man who was first in the air. Bonus marks if you include the type of airplane. Send your answers to ottawaplaybook@politico.com
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