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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, with Zi-Ann Lum and Maura Forrest. Today, we begin with the story of the decade from our colleagues in Washington. Plus, the politics of a billion-dollar auto announcement. And PMJT is clearly a fan of Grey's Anatomy. Did someone forward Ottawa Playbook to you today? Are you ready to be a forwarder, not a forwardee? Click here to sign up to this free newsletter.
|  | DRIVING THE DAY | | BREAKING FROM D.C. — The Supreme Court has voted to strike down Roe v. Wade, according to an initial draft majority opinion written by Justice SAMUEL ALITO and obtained by POLITICO. “We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled,” Alito writes. Justices can and sometimes do change their votes as draft opinions circulate and major decisions can be subject to multiple drafts and vote-trading, sometimes until just days before a decision is unveiled (expected by late June or early July). The immediate impact of the ruling as drafted in February would end a half-century guarantee of federal constitutional protection of abortion rights and allow each state to decide whether to restrict or ban abortion. This is the first time in modern history that the public has seen a Supreme Court draft decision while a case was still pending. — 10 important passages in the draft opinion — Read JOSH GERSTEIN and ALEX WARD 's full story — The source file: The draft opinion of the most consequential SCOTUS decision in a generation PRE-ELECTION GIFT — Any time a major corporation with a big stake in a company town drops a billion-dollar investment, every politician and union leader who can take a slice of the credit will show up for the announcement. On Monday, the company was Stellantis, a Big Three automaker. The town was Windsor, Ont., an icon of Canada's auto industry. And the investment was C$3.6 billion for assembly plant transformation for the EV era, music to the ears of any government that wants to score points for decarbonizing the world. Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU flew to Windsor to bask in the moment. Innovation Minister FRANÇOIS-PHILIPPE CHAMPAGNE was there, too. The fact that Premier DOUG FORD and his economic development minister, VIC FEDELI, were a day away from the formal launch of the Ontario election campaign was chef's kiss timing. — A brief aside: Monday's stage was in Windsor, but a second Stellantis plant in Brampton, Ont., will share in the fruits of the investment. Many mayors within a commute of both plants were in the room. Brampton mayor PATRICK BROWN, however, wasn't at the love-in. He was "unable to join us today," said Stellantis VP and general counsel LAURIE SHALHOUB off the top. — Another brief aside: Ford was late to the announcement after flying from Pearson airport, where he said he was delayed four hours. He wasn't the only politician stuck inline. NDP MP MATTHEW GREEN was similarly frustrated. (Green tells Playbook he rebooked on a later flight.) — Back to investments: The feds are kicking in up to C$529 million for the retooling. The province is throwing in up to C$513 million. — The politics: Everybody wants to win Windsor, home of the kinds of good manufacturing jobs that helped carve out the city's middle class. Liberals have had their day. Former deputy PM HERB GRAY, an MP for 40 years, took 73 percent of the vote in 1993. During the DALTON MCGUINTY era, the city sent Cabinet titans like DWIGHT DUNCAN and SANDRA PUPATELLO to Queen's Park. New Democrats now hold all three of the region's provincial seats: LISA GRETZKY, PERCY HATFIELD and TARAS NATYSHAK. BRIAN MASSE is the dean of the NDP's federal caucus, having won all eight elections since Gray retired in 2002. Pupatello nearly beat him in 2019, but Masse soundly defeated her in a 2021 rematch. On the other side of town, Liberal IREK KUSMIERCZYK snuck by former NDP MP CHERYL HARDCASTLE twice in a row. — Tory fortunes: The provincial PCs have finished second in the outlying Essex riding four elections in a row, and aren't typically competitive in the region. For Ford, Monday's announcement was about jobs, jobs, jobs. Stellantis COO MARK STEWART lavished praise on the premier, as did the union reps in the house. — The credit, the snub: Champagne singled out Kusmierczyk's contribution to Monday's big news, calling him a "critical part of shaping the future of the industry." As for Masse, a former Chrysler employee who always decries cuts and hopes for more investment? "Nice to see you here today," was all he got from Champagne. Even the three Unifor reps who made speeches, including local union president DAVE CASSIDY, failed to mention Masse's name a single time.
| | CONSERVATIVE CORNER | | AND THEN THERE WERE SIX — The final roster of verified Tory leadership candidates includes SCOTT AITCHISON, ROMAN BABER, PATRICK BROWN , JEAN CHAREST, LESLYN LEWIS and PIERRE POILIEVRE. — Outside, looking in: A Saskatchewan businessman, JOSEPH BOURGAULT , proudly claimed to have raised all the money and submitted all the signatures he needed to qualify for the ballot. No dice, it seems. — Disqualified: The party released a statement explaining the absence of Bourgault and fellow approved candidates JOEL ETIENNE and GRANT ABRAHAM, all of whom claimed they should be verified: "Any prospective candidate who did not meet the requirements was informed of this fact and the reason or reasons why they did not meet the requirements set out under the rules. Final verification was based on the requirements set out under the rules, not any prospective candidate’s political beliefs.” — The first debate: Bourgault had been temporarily added as a participant in the first unofficial leadership debate, hosted by the Canada Strong and Free Network on Thursday in Ottawa. Alas, the list has now been reduced to six. — Speaking of debates: The Conservative party announced Monday evening that veteran journalist TOM CLARK will moderate the first official debate, to be held in Edmonton May 11. FAMILY BENEFITS — Lewis posted a pair of platform planks on Monday. She promised to roll out child benefit payments at 12 weeks of pregnancy. The current rules allow benefits to flow as early as 12 weeks before a due date or birthdate. Lewis also proposed an extension of parental leave benefits to two years. Parents can currently stretch benefits to 18 months, a policy championed by both Trudeau's Liberals and STEPHEN HARPER's Conservatives on the 2015 campaign trail. (Liberals were first to it.) FLIGHT PS752 — Poilievre pledged an eight-point plan to stand up for the families of those who died when their Ukrainian International Airlines flight was shot down by Iranian forces. His inspiration for the promises was a report from the families — and a response to perceived federal inaction on the file, despite an exhaustive report from then-special advisor RALPH GOODALE. Poilievre would follow the families' advice on pursuing the case at the International Criminal Court, imposing Magnitsky sanctions on all regime agents "responsible for rocketing PS752 out of the sky," and tabling legislation that would force sanctions against countries that use defenseless civilians as human shields. Poilievre would also pass a law to seize Iranian assets to compensate victims, and designate the Iran Revolutionary Guards Corps as a terrorist organization.
| | HALLWAY CONVERSATION | | | 
Courtesy of Fatima Syed | WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY — World Press Freedom Canada (WPFC) hosts its annual gala today at the National Arts Centre, where a pair of journalists will be named co-winners of the 2022 Press Freedom Award: FATIMA SYED, a freelancer who now works at the Narwhal, and TAI HUYNH , editor-in-chief and publisher of The Local. At the height of the pandemic, Syed reported groundbreaking stories on the plight of immigrant and front-line workers who endured staggering case rates and misery because they simply never stopped working. She wrote on the injustices for Ottawa Playbook in May 2021. Hunyh secured funding for the reporting from the Vohra-Miller Foundation. Playbook got on the horn with Syed to talk about her award-winning work and the people behind the headlines. Why did you decide to tell those stories? The Ontario government was talking about hotspot designations, really looking at the pockets that were hurting the most and figuring out how to allocate the first batch of vaccines to them, how to allocate more testing infrastructure to them, and so forth. I was hearing all of that, and I was also watching the case numbers. Peel Region was on the top of the charts, not in a good way, for weeks. The Ontario government's policies were being directed to pockets in Toronto, and other southern Ontario cities that did not have as many cases, or as much population, as Peel Region. So it was really in a moment of anger as a journalist, and as a resident, saying 'This doesn't make sense,' that I started working on this story. How quickly did the reporting come together? I think it took us a week and a half. It was Ramadan. I was fasting, and I was writing the story at like 2 a.m., which is the only time when my brain worked. And I remember telling my editor, NICK HUNE-BROWN, to ignore the timestamps in the Google Doc. It came together really, really quickly because we wanted to help steer the conversation about hotspots. And question the government's approach in terms of how they were designating a hotspot — and why you had a region just 20 minutes outside of Toronto, which had the highest caseloads in the country at the time and was not getting any attention from Queen's Park. Were you surprised by the lack of coverage before you published your reporting? I was really shocked, and honestly horrified, that it had escaped notice until our story. It's sort of like an illustration of the problem. So often, as media institutions, we go where government and public authorities and institutions tell us to go. Because of a myriad of things, strapped resources and limited reporters on staff. We sometimes miss that the biggest story is actually not where the spotlight is, but is something else we've been missing completely. Do you think Canadians and Ontarians and people elsewhere in the Greater Toronto Area think differently about workers in Peel Region? I was talking to a worker just last week, checking in with them. He's one of the anonymous sources in my story, because they're still afraid to talk publicly. And he was telling me, everything's fine. Covid is under control, work is still going, everything's back to normal. People have forgotten about us again. The fact he felt that way made me think that there's still a lot of work to be done to not just put the spotlight on these communities when they're hurting, but to keep the spotlight on them, so that we can build, as cheesy as it sounds, a stronger society that appreciates, respects and supports the members of the community that have our backs unconditionally, and often at great expense to their own health. — Powerful cartoons: WPFC also honored the best of the best in editorial cartooning. Here are three of the prize-winning works:
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Patrick LaMontagne is a full-time cartoonist, illustrator and digital painter who lives in Canmore, Alberta. | Patrick LaMontagne | | 
Marilena Nardi is a professor of illustration at the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice. | Marilena Nardi | | 
Cartoonist and illustrator Tošo Borković lives in Belgrade. | Tošo Borković | | | For your radar | | Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU showed up in cabmin MARY NG’s 25-minute Instagram Live chat Monday with Canadian actor SIMU LIU to talk about Asian Heritage Month. The chat wasn’t on the PM’s public itinerary for the day. After a plug to the budget’s anti-racism strategy funding promise, the convo moved to representation on screens and around the cabinet table. Ng asked Liu, Marvel’s first Asian superhero, which Asian Canadians have inspired him. SANDRA OH, Liu said. Her name immediately jolted Trudeau to share a White House anecdote revealing himself, again , to be a Grey’s Anatomy fan. He said the star-struck moment happened when former president BARACK OBAMA invited him and his family to a 2016 state dinner. “Sandra was there and I just froze. Oh my god, it’s CRISTINA YANG,” Trudeau said. “That was one of my few total fan-girl moments in my life.”
| | TODAY'S HIGHLIGHTS | | — Heritage Minister PABLO RODRIGUEZ will host the National Culture Summit at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. 10 a.m. Deputy PM CHRYSTIA FREELAND will speak to Bill C-19 in the House. 11 a.m. Trudeau and SOPHIE GRÉGOIRE TRUDEAU will attend the national funeral of Guy Lafleur and deliver a brief statement prior to the service.
| | PAPER TRAIL | | THE POWER IN PURCHASING POWER — Written answers recently submitted to the House government operations and estimates committee show just how few federal contracts are awarded to Black-owned businesses. The answers give an update on Ottawa’s Black business procurement pilot program launched in January 2021. Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) reported that under the program, “6 contracts have been awarded to black businesses for a total of $526,598” to date. PSPC’s answers were submitted to supplement department officials’ responses on the topic at a March 4 committee meeting. — To put that spending into perspective: PSPC is the central purchasing agent for the federal government. The department manages a roughly C$15-billion budget of the government’s approximate C$22 billion in purchasing power for the procurement of goods and services. Public Services and Procurement Canada’s latest departmental plan put the development of “a program focused on procuring from Black-owned or -led businesses to increase the participation of Black entrepreneurs in federal supply chains” on its 2022-23 to-do list. — More buying power stats: Ottawa is keen on diversifying its suppliers. Pilot programs such as the Temporary Help Services (THS) supply arrangement have allowed some prospective bidders to self-identify themselves as a diverse supplier. For the first three quarters of 2021-22, PSPC reported that of the 885 contracts awarded under the THS arrangement, “370 contracts (42 percent) were awarded to Diverse suppliers, and 66 contracts (7 percent) were awarded to Indigenous suppliers.” Diverse, according to PSPC, is loosely defined as Indigenous or “owned or led by women, persons with disabilities or visible minorities ” — and it’s subject to change. PSPC said consultations in spring 2022 are being held to find the “best approach” on definitions and certifications.
| | ASK US ANYTHING | | TELL US WHAT YOU KNOW — What are you hearing that you need Playbook to know? Send it all our way.
| | MEDIA ROOM | | — The Curse of Politics Pod has gone daily for the Ontario election campaign. DAVID HERLE, SCOTT REID and Poilievre whisperer JENNI BYRNE are co-hosting. Queen's Park Today honcho ALLISON SMITH brings her journalism to the table. Listen. — On FATIMA SYED's The Backbench pod: EMILIE NICOLAS, STUART THOMSON and PAUL WELLS on how the Emergencies Act could change politics for a long time. They also dig into the stunning report on racism in the military recently delivered to ANITA ANAND. Listen. — ICYMI, POLITICO's MYAH WARD rounded up TREVOR NOAH's best jokes from the White House Correspondents Dinner. In the crowd: Canadian ambassador KIRSTEN HILLMAN and her date, PMO deputy chief of staff BRIAN CLOW. — Ever heard of Vancouver's "Bling King"? The Tyee has the lowdown on PASQUALE CUSANO's latest legal battle with the feds.
| | PLAYBOOKERS | | Birthdays: Economist PETER NICHOLSON celebrates a milestone today: 80! … HBD to Conservative MP ARNOLD VIERSEN and former NDP MP MATTHEW DUBÉ , who's now plying his trade at Proof Strategies. Movers and shakers: Pratt & Whitney Canada has four new lobbyists from StrategyCorp: GARRY KELLER, FRÉDÉRIK LAROUCHE, ALLYSON GRANT and ANDREW STEELE . The airplane engine manufacturer hopes for conversations with federal officials about "the impact of Canada’s international relations" on its work. Speaking of StrategyCorp, AIDAN GROVE-WHITE was just promoted to VP. ERICA JOHNSON is Hill-bound. She'll spend the summer interning in the office of Health Minister JEAN-YVES DUCLOS … At the same time, CAROLYN SVONKIN will serve a stint in Defense Minister ANITA ANAND's office. DAN LOVELL, most recently managing director of Liberal MP VANCE BADAWEY's office, left the Hill on Friday. Up next: "A new adventure." Playbook hears it's in the GR space. SIRI AGRELL, a former Globe journalist who later worked for Toronto Mayor JOHN TORY, is running for city council in the west end. Journalist SHAWN MICALEFFtweeted some of Agrell's record as a Tory staffer. Agrell tweeted back. STEPHANIE CADIEUX marked her first day as Canada’s first chief accessibility officer on Monday. Spotted:LAURA DAWSON, the former director of the Wilson Center's Canada Institute who's now at the Amazon Web Services Institute, offering lessons learned for anyone who catches Covid during international travel. At a World Press Freedom Canada reception hosted at the residence of Norwegian ambassador JON ELVEDAL FREDRIKSEN and his wife, MARIANNE: WPFC board members HEATHER BAKKEN, SHAWN MCCARTHY, FRANCINE COMPTON, GUY BADEAUX and KATHRYN MAY. Afghan journalist FARIDA NEKZAD, Carleton’s ALLAN THOMPSON, The Logic’s MURAD HEMMADI, CP’s JOANNA SMITH, Earnscliffe’s BUD LOCKLEAR and YAROSLAV BARAN were also in the crowd.
| | HOUSE BUSINESS | | 9 a.m. Fisheries Minister JOYCE MURRAY and senior officials will testify before the Senate fisheries and oceans committee on the management of Canada’s fisheries and oceans. 9:30 a.m.The Senate national finance committee will hear from senior officials VIA Rail Canada, Natural Resources Canada and Veterans Affairs Canada on the main estimates for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2023. 11 a.m. Environment Minister STEVEN GUILBEAULT and government officials will appear before the House environment committee to discuss votes in the main estimates, including those related to the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada and Parks Canada Agency. 11 a.m. Auditor General KAREN HOGAN, MICHAEL SABIA, deputy minister of finance, and ROCH HUPPÉ, comptroller general of Canada, will testify before the House public accounts committee on the Public Accounts of Canada 2021. 11 a.m. The House finance committee will hear from senior Finance and Canada Revenue Agency officials on Bill C-19, which is the act to implement certain provisions of last month’s federal budget. 11 a.m. The House national security committee will hear from experts as it continues its assessment of Canada’s security posture when it comes to Russia. 11 a.m. The House fisheries committee is in camera to discuss a report on traceability of fish and seafood products. 11 a.m. Three department officials will be at the House citizenship and immigration committee to discuss differential outcomes in IRCC decisions. 12:45 p.m. CAROLYN ROGERS, senior deputy governor of the Bank of Canada, will speak before Women in Capital Markets. Topic: The Bank of Canada: A matter of trust. Rogers will also participate in an audience Q&A period. 3:30 p.m. The House industry committee will study the status of small and medium-sized enterprises. 3:30 p.m. Nunavut Health Minister JOHN MAIN, NWT Health Minister JULIE GREEN and Yukon Health Minister TRACY-ANNE MCPHEE will be up in the first hour of this meeting of the House committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs as it studies the Non-Insured Health Benefits (NIHB) Program. 3:30 p.m. The House committee on the status of women will continue its study of “Resource Development and Violence Against Indigenous Women and Girls.” ELLEN GABRIEL will be the first witness to appear. 3:30 p.m. The House government operations and estimates committee will spend its first hour talking about Canada’s national shipbuilding strategy. 6:30 p.m. The House Subcommittee on International Human Rights of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development will hear from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and others on human rights in Ukraine and Russia. 6:30 p.m. The Special Joint Committee on the Declaration of Emergency will hear from senior finance officials and the deputy directors of the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada.
| | PROZONE | | For Pro s, here’s our PM Canada memo from ANDY BLATCHFORD and ZI-ANN LUM:No. 2 steps up for the Bank of Canada In news for POLITICO Pro s: — What the Kremlin’s rubles-for-gas threat is about.
— The UFO briefings on Capitol Hill have begun. Lawmakers aren’t impressed.
— Biden to spend $3 billion to foster advanced battery processing and recycling.
— Google fights ‘quasi-criminal’ EU antitrust ad fine.
— How U.S. tech is using a data center pact to lobby Brussels.
| | TRIVIA | | Monday's answer: PAUL MARTIN writes in Hell or High Water: My Life In and Out of Politics: “There are wonderful rewards in public life: accomplishments unattainable anywhere else. But after a while, you wonder about seeing life at thirty thousand feet. It’s sort of nice to see it from the ground.” Props to BEN ROTH and ROBERT MCDOUGALL. Tuesday’s question: The late DOUG HENNING, born on this day in 1947, once ran for the Natural Law Party of Canada in a Toronto riding. What future Cabinet minister won that contest? 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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