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Presented by Meta Canada: A daily look inside Canadian politics and power. | | | | |  | | By Nick Taylor-Vaisey, Zi-Ann Lum, Maura Forrest and Andy Blatchford | Presented by Meta Canada | WELCOME TO OTTAWA PLAYBOOK. I’m your host, Nick Taylor-Vaisey with Andy Blatchford and Maura Forrest. Today… Ottawa’s A-list comes out to play. Zi-Ann Lum shares a download from Capitol Hill. Plus, should Ottawa do something about gas prices?
|  | Talk of the town | | | 
Joanna Chiu, author of 'China Unbound,' was named winner of the night's crown jewel: The Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for political writing. | Nick Taylor-Vaisey | BALLROOM BLITZ — Who was at last night’s Politics and the Pen gala at the Chȃteau Laurier? Uh, everybody. Lots of tuxedos. Lots of evening gowns. JEAN CHRÉTIEN held court. FRANÇOIS-PHILIPPE CHAMPAGNE yucked it up. PATTY HAJDU was spotted. LISA RAITT mingled. CAROLYN BENNETT was in conversation. There were more Cabmins: MARY NG, MONA FORTIER, AHMED HUSSEN, RANDY BOISSONNAULT, MARCO MENDICINO. Five minutes in, your Playbook host and DAVID MOSCROP were in conversation with CELINA CAESAR-CHAVANNES, who sported a stylish top that made noise about anti-Black racism. — VIP: Joining the gaggle was JOANNA CHIU, whose book 'China Unbound' was later named winner of the night's crown jewel: The Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for political writing. A few minutes later, Playbook was in conversation with New Democrats MATTHEW DUBÉ , ANNE MCGRATH and MEGAN LESLIE. On the way to our table, we bumped into ERIN O’TOOLE policy guru DAN MADER. KEVIN BOSCH stopped by to say hello. There were a lot of corporate honchos. A sampling? Amazon execs BRIAN HUSEMAN and ARROW AUGEROT flew in from Washington. — Our tablemates: Parliamentary librarian HEATHER LANK, former L.A. consul general JAMES VILLENEUVE, Tory MP JOHN WILLIAMSON, Loyalist consultant ALEX SPENCE, Wellington Advocacy consultant HALEY LOVE, author PETER DAUVERGNE. — The opener: House Speaker ANTHONY ROTA broke the ice with a joke at his own expense. Rota is recovering from bypass surgery and has yet to return to the big chair. The gala traditionally starts late — like, way behind schedule. Often, it falls to the Speaker to quiet the perma-minglers. Well, none of the city's top networkers was rusty after two years of virtual galas. The crowd was supposed to be seated for dinner at 7:30. At 8 p.m., Rota roared for order, joking that his doctors ordered him to remain calm — so naturally he ended up at the head of a ballroom full of politicians, lobbyists and journalists determined to relieve years of pent-up glad-handing. — The best jokes: Emcees SEAMUS O'REGAN and MARCI IEN gave it to everybody. The former Canada AM co-hosts joked about reuniting Canada's most beloved show. The speakers blared the Beachcombers them. Next up, the Mr. Dressup theme. Quipped O'Regan: "Justin's not gonna like this one." Ien joked the gathering was THERESA TAM's worst nightmare. O'Regan, bantering about travel being a thing again, looked forward to " SCOTT MCCORD's warm embrace" — a nod to Ottawa's beloved travel agent for the political class. — A parting zinger: Ien celebrated the fact that she's the second Black woman ever to serve in Cabinet, and O'Regan is the second gay man ever appointed. "Sure, the second," he replied to perhaps the loudest applause of the night. Do you enjoy Ottawa Playbook? Maybe you know others who may like it, too. Hit forward. Click here to sign up to this free newsletter.
| | | | A message from Meta Canada: Meta, in partnership with Journalists for Human Rights, is honoured to announce the Afghan Journalist-in-Residence Project, a US$1.1 million program that will create 10 one-year placements for Afghan journalists in newsrooms across Canada. Participating newsrooms include The Canadian Press, CTV News, Global News, the Toronto Star and Hamilton Spectator. | | | | | DRIVING THE DAY | | | 
A view of the U.S. Capitol Building from the U.S. Supreme Court. | Paul Morigi/Getty Images for MoveOn | D.C. DOWNLOAD — Tuesday’s U.S. Senate energy and natural resources committee featured a (rare) motley crew of Canadian headliners. A committee invite from chair Sen. JOE MANCHIN brought Alberta Premier JASON KENNEY down to the capital. It snowballed into opps for Quebec Associate Deputy Mines Minister NATHALIE CAMDEN and Electricity Canada President and CEO FRANCIS BRADLEY to dip down to D.C., too. Natural Resources Minister JONATHAN WILKINSON zoomed into the room from Vancouver. — Another bilat for booking agents : Before the camera started rolling, Kenney moved through the room with rounds of hellos. Ranking member Sen. JOHN BARRASSO (R-Wyo.) extended his hand. Kenney, who hosted Manchin in Alberta last month, extended an invite to the Wyoming Republican. We have to get you up to Canada, Kenney said. Barrasso responded enthusiastically, “I’d love to do that.” — D.C. DMs: When the cameras switched on, Barrasso dropped a familiar name for the record. He messaged a certain former PM and wanted people in the room, and those watching, to know. “I texted with former Prime Minister STEPHEN HARPER and he responds back: ‘Kenney’s very strong. He was one of my best ministers.’ ” The audience was friendly. The topics were widespread, skipping from oil and gas to critical minerals to hydrogen to renewables and the challenges of net zero. — Calculus change: Russia’s war in Ukraine has forced both Canada and the U.S. to review energy issues anew through a sharpened national security lens. Policymakers in D.C. are looking north to get what they don’t have and that’s critical minerals. Specifically uranium, nickel and cobalt. But the crux of Kenney’s message didn’t hinge hard on critical minerals, it was focused on oil and gas — and the potential for more export capacity. When Wilkinson mentioned a plan to increase oil and gas exports by up to 300,000 barrels per day by the end of 2022, Kenney jumped in to say he disagreed with Ottawa’s math, saying potential capacity is a lot bigger. That was the snippiest snap. When Sen. CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO (D-Nev.) raised questions about the regulatory regime and environmental assessments of major projects, Kenney bit his tongue despite the province’s recent victory when a federal court declared the Impact Assessment Act unconstitutional. Kenney's return home won't be as friendly. United Conservative Party members will have their say today in a much-anticipated leadership vote to decide Kenney's fate. The Edmonton Journal says to expect results between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. local time. — Meanwhile, in Alberta: The NDP is running TV ads. RACHEL NOTLEY's team is spending some of its considerable war chest. New Democrats are bullish on a September election call, more than eight months before the fixed date next May. Outside the Senate committee room, Kenney repeated his vow to not to call a snap vote. Asked when would be the earliest he'd call an election should he not survive today's leadership test, he said May 2023. Of course, that's a world in which he has the power to make the call.
| | CONSERVATIVE CORNER | | PETERSON MEETS POILIEVRE — JORDAN PETERSON, the YouTube darling of the anti-woke brigade, dropped a podcast ep featuring Poilievre in mostly unedited form. Their conversation stretched nearly 90 minutes — an absolute eternity for a campaigning politician. Poilievre, however, appeared at ease taking questions from the psychologist, who has frequently and enthusiastically offered public words of support for the lawmaker. We have a few choice quotes for you: — Poilievre on Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU: “He’s an egomaniac and I think everything he does comes back to his egomania. Even his political ideology… his expansionistic role of the state. It never comes back to serving an individual objective other than to make him more powerful or his legacy more grand… His ideology is always about creating a pretext in order to justify the state garnering more control over every aspect of your life — how you raise your kids, how your business functions or what you see and say on the internet. He believes the state has to be everywhere, always.” — Poilievre on Guilbeault: “We have a total nut as our environment minister right now, STEVEN GUILBEAULT. He is bonkers.” — Poilievre on Singh: “[NDP Leader JAGMEET SINGH ] lacks a raison d’être, right? Why does he exist? You’ve already got an NDP prime minister, a socialist prime minister, in Justin Trudeau. So, that means the socialist party has to try to figure out what to do with itself … It's going to be very hard for Jagmeet to go to the people and claim that he represents anything other than the Trudeau-pian status quo. And in the next election people will be looking for a drastic departure from Trudeau. So they will be looking for the anti-Trudeau.” Some related reading: — From CTV’s GLEN MCGREGOR: Poilievre personally holds investment in Bitcoin as he promotes crypto to Canadians. — The Star’s STEPHANIE LEVITZ reports: I’d fire Canada’s top health official for her Covid-19 response, ROMAN BABER says.
| | For your radar | | PAIN AT THE PUMP — Does Ottawa need to do something about record-high gas prices? The average price at the pump has topped C$2 per liter, and there’s no sign of relief anytime soon. — On one hand: The NDP wants the government to double the GST credit and increase the Canada Child Benefit by C$500, which it says would get more money into the pockets of at least 40 percent of Canadians to help with the higher cost of living. Leader JAGMEET SINGH tied this specifically to the price of gas on Tuesday, saying the high cost is “hurting families” and forcing people to cancel trips. An NDP opposition motion, to be voted on this afternoon, suggests footing that bill by ending fossil-fuel subsidies — a long-standing NDP policy — and excluding oil and gas companies from the government’s new, C$2.6-billion carbon capture tax credit. — On the other hand: The NDP worrying aloud about gas prices presents an opportunity the Conservatives are only too happy to seize. “[The Liberals] brought in a carbon tax with the stated purpose to raise gas taxes at the pump. That is what happened. Now they’re running for cover, blaming it on Russia,” Conservative MP John Williamson said in the House of Commons Tuesday. “They’re driving up the price of energy in this country. Why won’t the Liberals claim credit on this, and say, ‘Mission accomplished’?” The Conservatives are keen to blame high gas prices on the Liberal carbon tax, though the tax accounts for about 11 cents on the liter, and most of that gets rebated to households. But it does make the issue tricky for the Liberals to talk about, given that making fuel more expensive is, well, a central plank of their climate policy. They just weren’t planning for fuel to get quite so pricey quite so fast. — Facing questions Tuesday: Innovation Minister FRANÇOIS-PHILIPPE CHAMPAGNE repeated that gas prices are a global issue over which Canada has little control. He said the Liberals are working to make life more affordable by tackling housing prices and bringing down the cost of child care. — Elsewhere: Some provinces have made moves to address the cost of fuel. The B.C. government announced a C$110 rebate to drivers in March. Alberta Premier JASON KENNEY temporarily eliminated that province’s gas tax in April, and DOUG FORD is promising to temporarily reduce Ontario’s gas tax if he’s re-elected. DAN WOYNILLOWICZ , principal at Polaris Strategy, tells Playbook those measures aren’t the best way to address higher costs, since they only affect drivers and any benefit could “quickly evaporate” if gas prices continue to rise. He said increasing the GST credit would be a better way to go, since it targets low-income people who are hurting most. — On the Hill: A spokesperson for Finance Minister CHRYSTIA FREELAND told Playbook “affordability was at the heart of the budget released last month,” and noted the GST credit and the Canada Child Benefit are indexed to inflation.
| | | | A message from Meta Canada:   | | | | | PAPER TRAIL | | 1 800 O-CANADA — The feds are looking for a company to support the government's one-stop toll-free line. They've invited IBM Canada, Rogers Communications and Intermedia.net to bid for the contract. — Call volume: The tender docs peg the typical annual volume of calls at 2 million. — An army of agents: The winning vendor will make a system work for 1,000 call center agents — with an option for up to 5,000. — The term: The winner gets a guaranteed five-year contract, with up to five more years. — A warning: Employment and Social Development Canada says customized phone lines for specific programs and services might need to be stood up stat: "New projects can launch with little to no notice — and may be required to be set up in less than 24 hours — these occur throughout the year and often occur concurrently." FROM THE TENDERS — The Prairies Economic Development Agency is "evaluating" the program that helped relaunch rail service to the northern port of Churchill, Manitoba. … The Public Health Agency is beefing up its auditing ranks with a hired gun from Samson & Associates at a cost of more than C$100,000 … The feds are looking for consultants who can take on mine remediation projects near Great Bear Lake … They're also on the hunt for — cue the Canadian stereotype — electric snowmobiles … The Canadian Space Agency wants to help kids explore the moon (via simulator).
| | TODAY'S HIGHLIGHTS | | — Day Two of the royal tour of PRINCE CHARLES and CAMILLA, the Duchess of Cornwall, takes place in Ottawa. Prince Charles will be invested as an extraordinary commander of the Order of Military Merit by Governor General MARY SIMON . The Governor General and the royals will attend a ceremony at the National War Memorial, and Simon and Prince Charles will have an official meeting. Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU will speak with Finnish Prime Minister SANNA MARIN. Foreign Minister MÉLANIE JOLY is at the U.N. for two days of meetings on the food security crisis. 8:30 a.m. Statistics Canada will release its consumer price index for April. 9 a.m. (CEST) International Development Minister HARJIT SAJJAN will attend the G-7 development ministers meeting in Berlin. 9 a.m. Canadian government officials will appear before the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child. 9:30 a.m. NDP Leader JAGMEET SINGH will attend his party’s national caucus meeting. 10 a.m. Trudeau will attend his party’s national caucus meeting. 12:30 p.m. Singh will hold a press conference on the NDP’s plan to help Canadians with the cost of living. 2 p.m. The prime minister will attend Question Period. 3:50 p.m. Trudeau and Prince Charles will have a private meeting and will then participate in a discussion on sustainable finance. 7 p.m. The PM and SOPHIE GRÉGOIRE TRUDEAU will attend a reception for QUEEN ELIZABETH II’s Platinum Jubilee, hosted by the Governor General, alongside Prince Charles and Camilla. 7 p.m. Deputy Prime Minister CHRYSTIA FREELAND will attend a working dinner of the G-7 finance ministers and central bank governors.
| | MEDIA ROOM | | — Top of POLITICO this morning: 'Beware what you wish for': 5 takeaways from a key primary night. — The Narwhal hosts a three-party convo on climate at 6 p.m. ET after only a small portion of the Ontario leaders' debate zeroed in on the issue. Environment Minister DAVID PICCINI said no thanks, but you'll hear from the NDP's SANDY SHAW, Liberal LUCILLE COLLARD and Green DIANNE SAXE. — From Bloomberg's BRIAN PLATT today: Trudeau is shedding support among 'dislocated' younger voters. — Report on Business reporter and columnist TIM KILADZE tells The Decibel pod that a recession is likely on the horizon. “If you held me to it, I would say we’re going to have a tough market crash,” Kiladze said. “I don’t know if it will be a long-lived crash, but I do think this is going to be our dot-com crash.” — At the Conversation, environmental and urban change prof MARK WINFIELD prognosticates four themes that would guide a reelected DOUG FORD's agenda. (Don't miss No. 3: Friends with benefits.) — POLITICO’s JAMIE DETTMER considers Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee next month: “Despite the Queen’s personal popularity and steadfast service, public faith in the institution has eroded, in part because of changing times and an altered culture.” — In his latest dispatch, PAUL WELLS takes on the Ontario election debate — headline: "bland works overtime" — and informs readers that his Substack has passed 5,000 subs.
| | PROZONE | | If you’re a POLITICO Pro , don’t miss our latest policy newsletter: Kenney shares Alberta's beefs with U.S. lawmakers. And ZI-ANN LUM reports from Washington: Alberta still waiting on Biden's call, Kenney tells U.S. lawmakers. In other headlines for Pros:
— New York made 11M bottles of hand sanitizer. Now it has 700,000 gallons it can't get rid of.
— Ditching gas to save the planet risks mass starvation, top U.N. economist says.
— Cindy McCain on her new U.N. ambassador role and diplomatic 'baptism by fire.’
— Brussels’ next lobbying dogfight: Big Tech vs. Big Telecoms.
— Pentagon vows 'rigorous scientific analysis' of UFOs.
| | | | A message from Meta Canada: Together, Journalists for Human Rights and the Meta Journalism Project will help to open up new career opportunities for these veteran journalists and contribute towards their resettlement in Canada. Journalists for Human Rights and the participating newsrooms will review applications and select the 10 placements later this year. We hope these new positions will enrich our newsrooms and communities, further enhancing Canada’s diverse and vibrant news ecosystem. For more details on the program, please see our blog post. | | | | | PLAYBOOKERS | | Birthdays: HBD to NIGEL WRIGHT, former defense minister GORDON O’CONNOR and former MPs BOB DECHERT and DENNIS GRUENDING. HBD + 1 to Conservative campaign strategist MICHAEL DIAMOND. Send birthdays to ottawaplaybook@politico.com. Spotted: THE SUPREME COURT, giving it a go on Instagram … Dominion Carillonneur ANDREA MCCRADY, presenting a recording of the Dutch birthday song to PRINCESS MARGRIET. Montreal Mayor VALÉRIE PLANTE, in the Big Apple. The Village of Queen Charlotte, waiting for sign off from B.C. on its new/old name — DAAJING GIIDS. Media mentions: ELAMIN ABDELMAHMOUD’s memoir, Son of Elsewhere, has been seen in the wild (including your host's mailbox). Read an excerpt here. Movers and shakers: Public Safety Minister MARCO MENDICINO has a new policy and legal affairs director: REEM ZAIA, whose lawyerly work at Gowlings included advising clients "on privacy and government relations files." She also maintained "an active academic and advisory practice in national security law." An apt resumé for the Emergencies Act era. OMER AZIZ , a former policy adviser to then-foreign minister CHRYSTIA FREELAND, is off to Harvard for a Radcliffe Fellowship. Subject matter: "the rise of fascism in our own time." HENRY BOYD, a former special adviser to then-minister JOHN MANLEY who now plies his trade at Stosic & Associates, is lobbying for EV Nickel. The company plans to produce "zero-carbon nickel" from northern Ontario for EV batteries, and wants a say in the federal critical minerals strategy. — Justice is blinds: Former Hill staffer ERIC LAMOUREUX is on the Hill for the big box Blinds to Go chain, talking about window coverings regulations. This month, Health Canada "intends to increase its compliance monitoring activities and the taking of enforcement action, where necessary, to address identified instances of non-compliance." Former PCO clerk MICHAEL WERNICK is the University of Ottawa's new Jarislowsky Chair in Public Sector Management. His work will be very Wernick: "research and the development and implementation of best practices in public sector management." Send Playbookers tips to ottawaplaybook@politico.com.
| | HOUSE BUSINESS | | Keep up to House committee schedules here. Find Senate meeting schedules here. 8:30 a.m. Statistics Canada to release its consumer price index for April. 10 a.m. Politico holds its 2022 sustainability summit focusing on "the transition to a sustainable future." U.S. Energy Secretary JENNIFER GRANHOLM delivers opening keynote. 11:45 a.m. Canadian Club talk with AL MONACO, the president of CEO of Enbridge Inc., and BRIAN TOBIN, the vice-president of BMO Financial Group. 12 p.m. The Senate’s legal and constitutional affairs committee will hear from Canadian Constitution Foundation, Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, Canadian Anti-Hate Network, Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, B'nai Brith Canada and Canadian Civil Liberties Association in its study of Bill C-19, Budget Implementation Act. 3:30 p.m. The House committee on natural resources will hear from Natural Resources Minister JONATHAN WILKINSON and departmental officials on the main estimates. 3:30 p.m. IAN SCOTT and other senior officials from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission will be at the House heritage committee on main estimates. 3:30 p.m. The House committee on international trade is behind closed doors to consider a draft report on the Canada-U.S. relationship and its impacts on the electric vehicle, softwood lumber and other sectors. MPs will also consider a draft report on Canada's exports of environmental and cleantech goods and services. 3:30 p.m. The House committee on official languages is in camera to discuss a report. 3:30 p.m. The House health committee will continue its study titled, “Emergency Situation Facing Canadians in Light of the COVID-19 Pandemic.” MPs will hear from experts, including Dr. NONI MACDONALD, Dalhousie University professor of pediatrics, and WAI HAUNG YU from the University of Toronto’s department of pharmacology and toxicology. 3:30 p.m. The House national defense committee will pursue its study titled, “Rising Domestic Operational Deployments and Challenges for the Canadian Armed Forces.” Witnesses include officials from Emergency Management NGO Consortium of Canada, the Canadian Red Cross and the Yukon government. 4 p.m. The Senate’s social affairs, science and tech committee is in camera. On the agenda: Consideration of a draft report. “The subject matter of those elements contained in Part 8 of Bill S-6, An Act respecting regulatory modernization.” 4:15 p.m. The Senate’s legal and constitutional affairs committee will consult Justice Canada officials on Bill S-4, An Act to amend the Criminal Code and the Identification of Criminals Act and to make related amendments to other Acts (COVID-19 response and other measures). 6:30 p.m. The University of Ottawa’s MICHAEL GEIST will appear at the top of the Senate’s banking, trade and commerce committee as it studies Bill C-19. 6:30 p.m. The Senate transport and communications committee is partially in camera. Before that though, representatives of Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway appear will appear as the senators study the impacts of climate change on critical infrastructure.
| | ALSO FOR YOUR RADAR | | YOU ARE INVITED — There is still some room at our LIVE Trivia event June 9 at the METROPOLITAIN in Ottawa. Gather a team of friends and co-workers, then send us an RSVP to reserve. — The competition so far: THE BLUESKY BRAINY BUNCH, H+ KILLERS, TEAM EARNSCLIFFE, RIDDELL, TEAM LPC OF THE 80s, AMY BOUGHNER and her pals … and many more.
| | TRIVIA | | Tuesday’s answer: “The time she spent in Parliament did not go unnoticed,” JEAN CHRÉTIEN said after the untimely death of MP SHAUGHNESSY COHEN. Read the rest of the tributes from Dec. 10, 1998 here. Props to NANCI WAUGH, BILL DAY, DOUG RICE, ROBERT MCDOUGALL, MICHAEL SUNG, GREG MACEACHERN, KRISTIN BALDWIN, BEN ROTH and TED FRASER. Wednesday’s question: Where did the National Gallery of Canada hold its very first exhibition? Send your answers to ottawaplaybook@politico.com Playbook wouldn’t happen without Luiza Ch. Savage and editor Sue Allan. Special thanks: Turns out Ottawa has almost no last-minute option for the emergency monkey suit crowd. A Playbook shoutout to Morris Formalwear on Wellington West, where clutch same-day service rescued your host from sartorial humiliation. | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Ottawa Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our political and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |  |
