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A daily look inside Canadian politics and power. | | | | |  | | By Nick Taylor-Vaisey | Send tips | Subscribe here | Follow Politico Canada Welcome to Ottawa Playbook. I'm your host, Nick Taylor-Vaisey. It's Monday, which means another week of non-stop news. Get ready for a new childcare deal, a federal plan to actually reduce emissions, and a trip to the Vatican for Indigenous leaders who are demanding an apology from POPE FRANCIS. Maybe we’ll even get a budget date. Did someone forward Ottawa Playbook to you? Are you ready to be a forwarder, not a forwardee? Click here to sign up to this free newsletter.
|  | DRIVING THE DAY | | NATIONAL CHILDCARE — It's a big day in the PMO. Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU and Ontario Premier DOUG FORD are announcing a federal-provincial childcare deal — the last piece in the pan-Canadian puzzle. TONDA MACCHARLES and ROB BENZIE were first with sources who said today's the day. MacCharles and Benzie also reported Friday that the feds sweetened the deal with millions in infrastructure funding. Deputy PM CHRYSTIA FREELAND will be there, too, as will Families Minister KARINA GOULD and Ontario education minister STEPHEN LECCE. — What Trudeau gets out of this: One of former PM PAUL MARTIN's greatest laments is for the ill-fated national childcare program he signed with every province, but was scrapped when STEPHEN HARPER's new government replaced the program with monthly childcare checks for parents. Five years ago, Globe columnist ADAM RADWANSKI concluded that this Liberal government's prospects for similarly bold childcare added up to a "distant dream" — a fair assessment at the time. But now though. too. Monthly checks for parents? Check. Cheaper daycare spaces everywhere? Check. — What Ford gets out of this: Ontarians go to the polls June 2 at the very latest. The governing PC Party launched a positive ad about dreaming and believing in someone who can make them come true. The tagline: "Get it done." STEVEN DEL LUCA's provincial Liberals and ANDREA HORWATH's NDP can attack Ford for dithering on a childcare deal — seven months after the government signed its first deal with Nova Scotia — or timing it to his re-election bid, but the deal did get done. It'll be a home run with parents who were already paying through the roof for daycare before inflation started to hit their wallets. — What it means for federal Tories: Trudeau's government has inked bespoke childcare deals with every province and territory — including premiers JASON KENNEY, SCOTT MOE, BRIAN PALLISTER and FRANÇOIS LEGAULT . Most of those premiers detest Trudeau's leadership, but their signatures on popular deals neutralize childcare as a wedge issue. Federal Tories will have to offer better solutions without ripping up conservative-approved fed-prov agreements. — What it means for the NDP: Not much in the short term, but a national childcare program that stretches to every corner of Canada removes an arrow from the NDP's quiver. JAGMEET SINGH's party is now a junior partner in a progressive accord, and they'll have to fight for credit every time a social program they've championed comes to life. New Democrats have complained for decades that Liberals aren't serious about childcare. (Many Liberals will counter that the NDP's votes of non-confidence in Martin's government killed the very childcare the New Dems always wanted.) If Liberals move on pharmacare and dental care, they can credibly claim all the credit. Singh has said he's not concerned about that particular outcome. Is his party on the same page? — A view from the Senate: ISG Sen. ROSEMARY MOODIE, a longtime advocate for affordable childcare, sent Playbook her response: "Affordable and accessible childcare is as good as you can get. It helps children live healthier and happier lives and increases women's involvement in the workforce. It has the potential of reducing systemic racism and inequalities while fueling our economy and attracting workers from around the globe."
| | HALLWAY CONVERSATION | | MEANWHILE, IN ALBERTA: Leaked polls. Secret recordings. A disgruntled caucus. An unpopular premier . The Liberals and NDP might've signed a game-changing accord in Ottawa, but most of Canada's political drama is in Alberta. JASON KENNEY is fighting for his political life ahead of a leadership vote that could boot him from the premier's office. Playbook asked LISA YOUNG, a political science prof at the University of Calgary, to explain what the heck is happening in Wild Rose country. Why is Jason Kenney facing a leadership review? The ironically named United Conservative Party of Alberta (UCP) was a merger of the Progressive Conservative and the Wild Rose parties in 2017. Kenney beat BRIAN JEAN for the leadership in a contentious campaign that included allegations of voter fraud and a Kenney-sponsored “kamikaze” leadership campaign. There have been divisions within the party from the outset. The Kenney government was elected in 2019 on a platform of “jobs, economy and pipelines,” and struggled to deliver on any of those promises in its first year. Things got worse when the pandemic hit. Several UCP caucus members have been outspoken critics of public health and vaccine mandates. A caucus revolt in September 2021 was quashed when Kenney agreed to a spring 2022 leadership review. Backbench MLAs have also complained about a lack of consultation and arrogance. Kenney has been Canada’s least popular premier through most of the pandemic. You recently tweeted a flow chart with a lot of potential outcomes to this thing. Why is it so unpredictable? The leadership review was set for April 9. Voting was to be allowed only in-person at one location: a conference center in Red Deer. Registration was set at $99. The party expected only 2,000–3,000 participants. But when the deadline arrived on March 19, close to 20,000 people had signed up. The logistics were impossible. Last week, the UCP executive decided to switch from an in-person vote to a mail-in ballot. Anti-Kenney organizers were livid that the rules had been changed after the cut-off for selling memberships. The rebels’ next move(s) are uncertain: legal challenge? (Likely, but probably unsuccessful) Caucus revolt? (Maybe, but probably unsuccessful) Leaving to form their own party? (Possible, but likely the last resort) Who signed up more members? The Kenney camp or the rebels? (Probably Kenney, but it’s not certain) And how far can the Jean-led rebel MLAs push before they are thrown out of caucus? What will you be watching most closely in the weeks and months ahead? It’s fascinating watching Kenney reposition himself. For the past several weeks, he has been pandering to the right wing of the party, criticizing his own government’s Covid restrictions. But now he’s claiming the center, calling the right wing of the party “ extremists” and “lunatics trying to run the asylum.” This is a reminder that Kenney faces opposition from two directions. There is overt opposition from Jean and other rebels. But there’s also quiet opposition from more centrist party members concerned that Kenney’s unpopularity will result in an NDP win in the 2023 election. It is this group the Kenney camp is hoping to win over with talk of "lunatics" and leaked polls showing the UCP’s electoral fortunes improving. Even if Kenney survives the leadership review, his path to re-election is rocky. His personal unpopularity remains a drag on the UCP’s fortunes. The coming month filled with internal party strife and allegations of dirty tricks isn’t likely to change that.
| | PERSPECTIVES | | REALITY CHECK — MATTHEW GREEN reminded the House of Commons on Friday of Indigenous leaders' historic trip to Rome this week. The NDP MP spoke about the legacy of death and intergenerational trauma left behind at residential schools, which leaders will raise directly with POPE FRANCIS at the Vatican. "Madam Speaker, 10,028 children were all casualties of a brutal and protracted war, a genocide waged over generations against the first nations of these lands. These kidnapped children, laid to rest in unmarked graves uncovered at just the first 11 out of 128 institutions, were only just recently repatriated to their families and first nations after decades of pain and generations of trauma. "May these children and their families and communities finally find peace in their final return home and may those still searching find their own peace in the same. May the survivors, their families and communities find justice, as First Nations’ leaders prepare to meet with Pope Francis next week seeking a formal apology for the Catholic Church's role in residential schools and immediate actions including returning land properties back to the first nations and investments in healing initiatives to ensure support for survivors and their descendants. "Finally, may we, in the House, take our own responsibilities, given the legacies of these atrocities, and finally fully consider the same."
| | CONSERVATIVE CORNER | | — The Globe’s ROBYN URBACK: There’s a stinking albatross around PATRICK BROWN’s neck. Why is MICHELLE REMPEL GARNER standing so close? — The Star's STEPHANIE LEVITZ charts the biggest challenge for the PIERRE POILIEVRE campaign: craft a message that wins both the party and the country. — LESLYN LEWIS picked up her first MP endorsement: Saskatchewan's JEREMY PATZER, who reps the rural Cypress Hills–Grasslands riding where Lewis won 54.4 percent of first ballot support in the 2020 leadership race — and two-thirds of second round votes. — JEAN CHAREST launches a "Coffee with Jean" series from the candidate's very own kitchen. First up: Why are you running?
| | ALSO FOR YOUR RADAR | | YOU ARE INVITED — On Wednesday at 12 p.m. ET, POLITICO Canada will host a Twitter Space with some smart people who know what it takes to build a budget: — SAHIR KHAN, executive vice-president at the Institute of Fiscal Studies and Democracy and a former PCO economic and financial adviser — ROBERT ASSELIN, the senior vice-president of policy at the Business Council of Canada and former adviser to BILL MORNEAU — REBEKAH YOUNG, the director of fiscal and provincial economics at Scotiabank and a former senior official at the Department of Finance — JENNIFER ROBSON, a Carleton prof who helped design and implement public programs inside and outside of government A REAL-LIFE EVENT — We'll be hosting a real-life mixer in downtown Ottawa March 30 at 4:30 p.m. It's a chance to connect with plugged-in political junkies who know a thing or two about building budgets. RSVP here. EXPERT LEVEL PASSIVE AGGRESSION — Elections Canada sounded unimpressed by the Liberal-NDP pledge to expand federal voting to a three-day period. CP asked the agency for comment , and it was hard not to read side-eye into spokesman MATTHEW MCKENNA's statement. — The response: "For any future changes to the (Elections) Act, it will be important to take time to properly consider their potential implications for the administration of future elections," he told CP, adding chief electoral officer STÉPHANE PERRAULT would "look forward to discussing those possible changes with parliamentarians, and sharing his expertise about the administration of federal elections."
| | TODAY'S HIGHLIGHTS | | 12 p.m. Nish Synergies Advisory Group founder ALICIA DUBOIS in conversation with Labor Minister SEAMUS O’REGAN and LYLE DANIELS , community and Indigenous director for the Building Trades of Alberta. 6 p.m. PT PM Trudeau will be in the Metro Vancouver area for a local celebration of Nowruz, the Persian new year.
| | On the Hill | | — MPs will debate Finance Minister Freeland's Bill C-8, which implements pieces of December's economic update, including a tax on vacant foreign-owned property, a business tax credit for ventilation expenses, and a tax credit for farmers facing fuel charges. The bill would unlock federal funding to improve ventilation in schools and for Covid tests (as well as proof-of-vaccination programs, though many provinces have already dropped those requirements). — Tory MP KELLY BLOCK's private member's bill, C-230 , will also see an hour of debate. She's hoping to pass a law that criminalizes the act of forcing a healthcare professional to participate "directly or indirectly" in medical assistance in dying.
| | MEDIA ROOM | | — What the PMO wants you to read: "Scale of impact of Windsor battery plant hard to fathom," in which Innovation Minister FRANÇOIS-PHILIPPE CHAMPAGNE talks and talks and talks about the future of Canada's electric battery industry. — The Star’s SUSAN DELACOURT expands the details on how the Singh-Trudeau deal got done. … a story ZI-ANN LUM shared last week. … Here’s the CBC’s version. — “While Canada continues to contend with the fallout, it’s clear that the country is not ready to face the white supremacist and seditious elements within,” ERICA IFILL writes of the convoys at Refinery29 . “The extremist elements that have been emboldened by Donald Trump’s presidency around the world are here to stay in Canada. And that’s the fear: that it will happen again.” — Why global supply chains may never be the same: A WSJ documentary: “ The pandemic exposed breaking points in the system that would fundamentally alter consumer expectations of getting anything we want whenever we want it.” —“How my great-uncle swindled Hitler out of precious Canadian nickel before WWII,” by WALTER SHAPIRO in The New Republic: “The Russian invasion of Ukraine has created a global nickel shortage. Here’s what happened when the Führer tried to buy extra nickel right before the last time a major war broke out in Europe.” (h/t DANIEL LIPPMAN)
| | ASK US ANYTHING | | TELL US EVERYTHING — What are you hearing that you need Playbook to know? Send it all our way.
| | Playbookers | | Birthdays: HBD to Ontario MPP GOLDIE GHAMARI, former Quebec MNA SÉBASTIEN PROUX, ex-MP RODNEY WESTON, former president of the National Assembly of Quebec MICHEL BISSONNET and Saskatchewan’s DON CODY. HBD+1 to the Toronto Star's MARYAM SHAH. Spotted: On a date night with the Flames: MP STEPHANIE KUSIE. … Celebrating: Liberal MP KIRSTY DUNCAN. … Isolating:MP ROB OLIPHANT. Running: TIM POWERS, around the Bay. The SENATE: Easing certain COVID-19 measures. BETH LEVY, a former Toronto city council candidate and constituency staffer to MARCO MENDICINO, dismayed by the lack of masks at STEVEN DEL DUCA's big in-person rally. Ontario’s SUNSHINE LIST is here. Former NDP hill staffer KEVIN DORSE says it's way past time to rethink that particular annual exercise. Here’s DAVID MOSCROP’s take. Newfoundland and Labrador Sen. MOHAMED-IQBAL RAVALIA, mourning the loss of TAYLOR HAWKINS. Movers and shakers: NDP caucus press secretary CHARLOTTE MACLEOD left the job on Friday: "I’ve learnt so much and will miss all my lovely colleagues. Glad I got to witness Canadian history this week." The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association held a reception in Ottawa last week where it celebrated retiring president BOB LOWE. Sen. ROB BLACK, Cabinet Minister LAWRENCE MACAULAY and journalist ALEX BINKLEY were among those in attendance. JEAN GATTUSO and LOUISE YAKO have agreed to co-chair the National Supply Chain Task Force. Farewells: Former MP CLAUDETTE BRADSHAW died Saturday. The CBC’s obituary is here . “The loss of Claudette Bradshaw former MP for Moncton-Riverview-Dieppe & federal Minister of Labour will be deeply felt by everyone in our community,” Official Languages Minister GINETTE PETITPAS TAYLOR tweeted Sunday. “Thank you Claudette for blazing a path — from social work to politics — for all women to follow.” BOB RUPERT , a journalist, union leader and educator, died March 21. “He was a professor at the Carleton University School of Journalism for 25 years where he helped launch the careers of hundreds of students,” his family wrote in the Ottawa Citizen.Here is Carleton’s obit.
| | PROZONE | | For Pro s, here’s our PM Canada memo: The week ahead: Curveballs and Budget 2022. In other headlines for Pros: — How the West can defeat Putin in cyberspace and beyond.
— USTR raises 'serious concerns' with Mexico's energy sector.
— What you need to know about Joe Biden's science agenda.
— For first private space station crew, it's all about the research.
— White House careful not to target food companies as it pressures Putin.
| | HOUSE BUSINESS | | 11 a.m. The House finance committee will hear from the Canadian Real Estate Association as its study of inflation continues. 11 a.m. The House transportation committee meets in camera to discuss its report on the Canada Infrastructure Bank. 11 a.m. Also behind closed doors, the House ethics committee will discuss the government’s use of mobility data. 11 a.m. The House agriculture committee is looking at agriculture’s effects on the environment. Witnesses will include Agriculture Carbon Alliance, Canadian Federation of Agriculture, Union des producteurs agricoles, CropLife Canada, Fertilizer Canada and Logiag Inc. 11 a.m. At the House foreign affairs committee: “Briefing on the Current Situation in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.” 11 a.m. The House human resources committee has Statistics Canada on the roster, plus the Canadian Medical Association and other organizations that can weigh in on labor shortages and working conditions in the care economy. 11 a.m. The Senate’s rules and procedures committee meets to discuss its agenda. 2 p.m. The Senate’s Aboriginal Peoples committee meets to examine the constitutional, treaty, political and legal responsibilities to First Nations, Inuit and Metis peoples. Former senator LILLIAN EVA DYCK is scheduled to appear. Academic and podcaster PAM PALMATER is also in the lineup. 2 p.m. The Senate continues its study of security in the Arctic. Seven experts are due to speak to the national security and defense committee. 3:30 p.m. The House international trade committee has three witnesses scheduled: Canadian Home Builders' Association, Meadow Lake Tribal Council Industrial Investments and Resolute Forest Products. 3:30 p.m. Immigration Minister SEAN FRASER will appear at the House committee on official languages to discuss Francophone immigration to Canada and Quebec. 3:30 p.m. The House health committee is studying Canada’s health workers and will hear from nurses, occupational therapists and other experts. 3:30 p.m. The House heritage committee is behind closed doors to discuss a draft report on Covid-19. 3:30 p.m. The House natural resources committee will hear from the Clean Fuel Standard Advocates Coalition, the National Coalition of Chiefs, West Coast Environmental Law Association and Prof. LAURIE ADKIN. 3:30 p.m. The House national defense committee is studying the operational readiness of Canada’s Forces. Speaking to that will be the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, the Communications Security Establishment and other experts. 5 p.m. The Senate human rights committee continues its study of Bill S-211, An Act to enact the Fighting Against Forced Labour and Child Labour in Supply Chains Act. 5 p.m. The Senate official languages committee will hear from Statistics Canada and other experts as it examines Francophone immigration and minority communities. 6:30 p.m. The House Special Committee on Afghanistan will hear from journalist SALLY ARMSTRONG, Human Rights Watch, Afghan Community Vancouver, lawyer DJAWIDTAHERI, producer ALISON MACLEAN and SIMA SAMAR, former chairperson of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission.
| | TRIVIA | | Friday's answer: ETHEL BLONDIN-ANDREW was Canada’s first Indigenous woman member of Parliament and the first to be a Canadian Cabinet minister. “The way you treat people is the way that you will be remembered,” she told JOHN GEDDES in 2018 when she received Maclean's Lifetime Achievement Award. Props to SHEILA GERVAIS, TIM MCCALLUM, KEVIN COLBOURNE, SEAN WEBSTER, ANNE-MARIE STACEY, STEPHEN HARRIS, MICHAEL SUNG, JANE DOULL, HEATHER CHIASSON, ANDREW HOLLAND, JOANNA PLATER, AMY BOUGHNER, ALAN KAN, ROBERT MCDOUGALL, MICHAEL SUNG, JOHN GUOBA, PATRICK DION, MP GREG FERGUS, who writes: “She was a smart and caring MP. I loved working with her back in my Young Liberal days.” Today’s question: On this date in history in London, Prime Minister ROBERT BORDEN was presented with a new mace. What happened to the original? 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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