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A daily look inside Canadian politics and power. | | | | |  | | By Zi-Ann Lum and Andy Blatchford | Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Zi-Ann l Email Andy Welcome to the Ottawa Playbook. I'm your host, Zi-Ann Lum in Ottawa with Andy Blatchford in Laval, Quebec. Conservative leadership contenders throw down en français. The U.S. shares its China strategy. Our colleagues in Davos debate: Is globalization over? Plus, national defense wants to hire a company of professional actors. Did someone forward Ottawa Playbook your way? Click here to sign up your own edition. It’s free!
|  | DRIVING THE DAY | | | 
Debate night in Laval. | Andy Blatchford | THE FRENCH DISPATCH — The sad trombone didn’t sound off in Laval last night. But Conservative leadership hopefuls did in a French-language debate, with varying results. JEAN CHAREST and PIERRE POILIEVRE flexed their bilingualism and exchanged the night’s snappiest zingers. PATRICK BROWN’s French was choppier but markedly stronger than SCOTT AITCHISON, ROMAN BABER and LESLYN LEWIS. — Spotted in Laval: Senators JEAN-GUY DAGENAIS and LEO HOUSAKOS, MPs PIERRE PAUL-HUS and ALAIN RAYES, and ANDREW SCHEER’s former chief of staff, MARC-ANDRÉ LECLERC. — Cheers and jeers: While there were no headline-bait policy pledges to match that vow from last debate to fire a certain central bank governor, one thing was clear — the crowd jammed into the suburban reception hall was fired up. POILIEVRE and CHAREST each brought a cheering section. The faithful didn’t hold back, rooting for their candidate and, at times, jeering the other guy just as enthusiastically. CHAREST, a former Quebec premier on his former home turf, was even kind enough to share his backers with BROWN. (More on that below.) — Zingers and thinkers: During a round on how the candidates would make gains in Quebec, Charest boasted that he represented the “retirement plan” for the Bloc Québécois’ 32 MPs. Poilievre seized the moment, referring to the Parti Québécois’ defeat of Charest’s Quebec Liberal Party in 2012. “My Charest, you say that you will force the separatists into retirement — Mr. Charest it was the separatists who forced you to take your retirement. You even lost your own seat.” BROWN: “[ POILIEVRE]’s taking positions that he believes are popular in some corners of the country — obviously searching for support from the PAT KINGs of the country. I don’t think that the positions that he takes are electable. I think if Pierre Poilievre wins this leadership, we’ve already lost the next election.” CHAREST repeated his forewarning about the temptation of embracing “American-style” politics. “Will the Conservative Party of Canada really go down the road taken by American parties, a divisive approach, an approach based on slogans where all our answers are non-answers?” Moderator MARC-OLIVIER FORTIN: “Our party has never managed to win more than 12 seats in Quebec.”
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Campaign teams have until June 3 to sign up as many new party members as they can. | Andy Blatchford | Here three things we know out of the Rumble in Laval: → CHAREST and BROWN are in cahoots: Not formally or informally, they’ll both say. But it seemed pretty clear something’s up as they each lobbed barbs at POILIEVRE and not each other. Both accused POILIEVRE of being a flip-flopper who is “slippery” with his words. During a couple of instances when POILIEVRE went after BROWN, CHAREST could be seen at the other end of the stage, shaking his head. “We are friends, we've known each other for years,” CHAREST told reporters following the debate. “He came into politics with me when he was 15 years old.” Charest denied there’s a formal agreement between their camps to be nice to each other during the course of the leadership race. He’s campaigning “very vigorously,” CHAREST said of Brown. “I do not underestimate Patrick Brown.” BROWN denied any “gentleman’s agreement” when asked why he hasn’t criticized CHAREST — and like he did on stage, attacked POILIEVRE. “I was a volunteer for Jean Charest in the 1995 referendum and I think it’s worth noting that when Pierre says, ‘Jean Charest is not a Conservative,’ or ‘Ed Fast is not a Conservative,’ I think he doesn’t really appreciate the history they have in the party,” he said. “Jean Charest, the work he did as Conservative leader during the 1995 referendum campaign, frankly — Canadians owe him a debt of gratitude.” POILIEVRE exercised his freedom (again) to skip the post-debate press scrum. AITCHISON, BABER and LEWIS also bailed. → Trois vs. three: Bilingualism required. The ability to speak in French — and be nimble enough to debate in French — is a critical job qualification for anyone looking to become prime minister. C'est non négociable. We learned Wednesday night that three Conservative candidates — AITCHISON, LEWIS and BABER — fall short on the French-skills front. They each read from pre-prepared scripts for much of the event and rarely interjected in the melees. BROWN struggled at times to make sharp arguments in French, but he showed enough agility to take shots (at POILIEVRE — see above) and to defend himself (at one point, he accused POILIEVRE of lying several times). Frontrunners POILIEVRE and CHAREST are both fully bilingual and it showed as they commanded much of the debate floor. → It will soon be time to GOTV: Campaign teams have until June 3 to sign up as many new party members as they can. Only individuals who sign up before that date will be eligible to vote for a new CPC leader. The Star’s STEPHANIE LEVITZ reported this week that membership sales are headed toward 400,000. Those sales, if achieved, would smash the party’s previous record of 269,469 in the 2020 leadership race. Unlike the pandemic circumstances of the last leadership race, Covid-19 restrictions are easing, which will shift how camps translate membership sign-ups into cast ballots. That means we’re still likely to be ogling crowd sizes in the months to come as campaigns pivot to throwing mass voting rallies to shore support. Talk in the ballroom last night revealed a few of the next steps. Look for the teams to pour a lot of energy into ensuring members properly fill out their ballots, which some campaigns say can be a tricky process. The party will unveil the results of its leadership race at Ottawa’s Shaw Centre on September 10. Have you seen a Tory leadership candidate out in the wild? What was the vibe? Were you swayed? Tell us everything at ottawaplaybook@politico.com.
| | | | DON'T MISS THE 2022 GREAT LAKES ECONOMIC FORUM: POLITICO is excited to be the exclusive media partner again at the Council of the Great Lakes Region's bi-national Great Lakes Economic Forum with co-hosts Gov. JB Pritzker and Mayor Lori Lightfoot. This premier, intimate networking event, taking place June 26-28 in Chicago, brings together international, national and regional leaders from business, government, academia and the nonprofit sector each year. "Powering Forward" is this year's theme, setting the stage to connect key decision-makers with thought leaders and agents of change to identify and advance solutions that will strengthen the region's competitiveness and sustainability in today's competitive climate of trade, innovation, investment, labor mobility and environmental performance. Register today. | | | | | | | AROUND THE WORLD | | RIP DAVOS MAN — Globalization isn’t over, it’s just outgrowing the World Economic Forum, POLITICO’s RYAN HEATH writes from the mountains. “Today political risk is multiplying and power is decentralizing, changing globalization with it.” — Tensions on display: “The town’s promenade was dominated by crypto businesses with little interest in the official conference program. Ukraine-themed spaces dotted the town, where a beamed-in President Volodomyr Zelenskyy was a bigger draw than any of the political minnows on WEF’s main stage. Governments may be struggling to pay down pandemic debt and buttress inflation pain, but good luck finding a WEF panel about equitable taxation policy, despite cries from NGOs.” — What it means: Here’s Heath on a complicated, more regional economic system reshaping the global order. — Related listening: POLITICO’s Davos Confidential podcast features SARAH WHEATON, JAMIL ANDERLINI, HEATH and SUZANNE LYNCH debating the issue: Is globalization dead? — Related reading: China’s fragility feeds the doom mongers in Davos.
| | For your radar | | BAD NEWS STORY — Journalism’s “suck-it-up culture” has got to go, according a report released Wednesday on the mental health and well-being of Canadian media workers. The Canadian Journalism Forum on Violence and Trauma conducted a survey late last year, pulling together anonymous responses from 1,251 journalists to get a pandemic-era snapshot of how journalists are faring inside and outside of newsrooms. It’s not good. “We found that media workers are repeatedly exposed to a steady diet of potentially dramatic stories involving, for example, sexual assault, murder, life-threatening injury and racist attacks,” said CBC News’ DAVE SEGLINS, who co-led the research with Carleton University’s MATTHEW PEARSON. “Our exposure rates are so far above average that 42 percent of media workers have covered most, if not all … events that are included on a list that involve trauma, on something called the life events checklist. “This is used by professional healthcare workers to screen people for PTSD,” Seglins said. Reporting on events of the last four years has resulted in 80 percent of media workers experiencing burnout related to trauma coverage, 69 percent reporting anxiety, 46 percent experiencing depression, 35 percent have experienced in-field harassment — and 85 percent “have never received training on mental health and trauma at work.” The Logic’s DAVID REEVELY stitched thoughts together on how the pandemic has made a culture of overwork worse. “Nothing is Foreign” podcast host TAMARA KHANDAKER responded to the survey: “No one I know in journalism is doing well.” The survey also presents a case for the profession to “rethink its relationship” with alcohol — and puts the onus on newsrooms to provide more coverage for mental health counseling for all employees, full-time, part-time, casual and freelance. Forty-six percent of media workers score as high-risk drinkers, Segins said, which is “almost double the Canadian average.”
| | ASK US ANYTHING | | WHAT ARE YOU HEARING that Playbook needs to know? Drop us a line: ottawaplaybook@politico.com
| | | | STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president’s ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today. | | | | | | | AROUND THE HILL | | EYES ON WASHINGTON — Multiple sources confirmed to POLITICO that U.S. Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN will unveil the Biden administration’s China policy today. The timing comes days after JOE BIDEN, on his first trip to Asia as president, turned heads in Tokyo this week after he confirmed the U.S. military will defend Taiwan if the island were to be invaded by China. PHELIM KINE, NAHAL TOOSI and GAVIN BADE report that Blinken’s speech today will have a high-level focus, and will “give an overview of the strategy rather than details on its mechanics, which along with the complete text of the document won’t be made public.” — For your radar: Last week, Foreign Minister MÉLANIE JOLY told POLITICO she will release the Trudeau government’s long-awaited Indo-Pacific strategy in the “coming weeks.”
| | PAPER TRAIL | | — From the tenders: NAVAIR, a branch of the U.S. Navy, has been awarded a $6.6-million contract to repair a Canadian military aircraft. — National defense is looking to hire a company of professional actors for in-person pre-deployment exercises. The casting call is classically vague. They want actors for “very specific roles in English, French and other languages, within public and military training environments in Ontario and Quebec.” — Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada is in the market for geese management help to protect crops growing at its 300-hectare Ottawa Central Experimental Farm site. — Vancouver-based Granicus Canada Holdings ULC has been awarded a C$152 870.76 contract to deliver “next gen” ATIP software to make “significant gains in efficiency and administrative cost savings” for requests filed to 265 federal government institutions.
| | TODAY'S HIGHLIGHTS | | Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU has “private meetings” and a trio of photo-ops on his itinerary. At 3:45 p.m., he’s dropping by a community center in the National Capital Region to meet with families impacted by Saturday’s storm then will head to a Quebec grocery store for 5 p.m. to do the same thing. At 6 p.m., he’ll cast his ballot to vote in advance for the Ontario election. Deputy Prime Minister CHRYSTIA FREELAND hasn’t posted a public itinerary since Monday. Natural Resources Minister JONATHAN WILKINSON is in Berlin for the G-7 climate energy and environment ministers meeting. 8:30 a.m. Statistics Canada will release retail trade figures for March. 9 a.m. The Parliamentary Budget Office will release its latest legislative costing note, “Luxury goods sales tax (update).” 10:30 a.m. The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions is slated to release a draft version of Guideline B-15: Climate Risk Management. 11 a.m. Governor General MARY SIMON is hosting a ceremony at Rideau Hall to honor 21 individuals for their “extraordinary contributions to the nation.” 4 p.m. ISED is expected to release details “regarding a new telecommunications policy.”
| | MEDIA ROOM | | — Ça va trop loin, or not far enough? POLITICO’s JOSEPH GEDEON has a rundown of what’s in Bill 96 and why critics are concerned. Find it here. — The Globe’s TEMUR DURRANI and CAROLINE ALPHONSO investigate the potential infringement of children’s rights by looking at how online learning platforms, including CBC Kids and Mathies, use and share personal information. — From ASHLEY OKWUOSA at TVO: What women and racialized candidates face on the campaign trail. — NDP MP GORD JOHNS’s private members’ bill is the topic of Liberal MP NATE ERSKINE-SMITH’s latest Uncommons podcast . Bill C-216 proposes to treat the opioid crisis as a public health issue and decriminalize possession for personal use, among other measures. The goal is to reduce stigma around illicit drug use in order to improve access to treatment. They’re joined by TANYA NAYLER, a former City of Ottawa employee who quit her higher-paying job to join John’s office to help get the bill passed after her brother died of an overdose a week before his 35th birthday. A second reading vote will decide if the bill is sent to committee next week. “Yet as it stands … the government seems content to vote against it,” Erskine-Smith told listeners. “It is maddening and disappointing.” — The latest episode in Globe's City Space podcast with host ADRIAN LEE takes on a timely query: How can cities better prepare for the climate crisis?
| | PROZONE | | For s, here’s our Pro Canada PM memo by MAURA FORREST, ZI-ANN LUM and ANDY BLATCHFORD: USTR to pursue ‘all options’ in dairy dispute. In other headlines for Pro readers:
— Yellen, Biden's not-so-secret weapon, sees clout diminished.
— 338Canada: Doug Ford and Ontario’s race for second.
— U.S.-China trade rivalry intensifies after Biden launches Asian economic pact.
— Abbott, FDA offer conflicting timelines for reopening shuttered infant formula plant.
— USTR requests new talks with Canada in dairy dispute.
— France eyes minimum tax deal in June.
| | Talk of the town | | Mark your calendars for in-person trivia. We're hosting our first night at the Metropolitain on June 9. We have a few tables left. RSVP here.
| | PLAYBOOKERS | | Birthdays: BF to Quebec Premier FRANÇOIS LEGAULT. HBD to JOHN BAIRD, PATRICK BROWN, JASON NIXON, PAUL OKALIK, PAT CARNEY, DENIS LEBEL, CLAIRE TREVENA, ROBERT AUBIN, PHIL EDMONSTON, ALAINA LOCKHART, CLAUDE DROUIN and MONIQUE GAGNON-TREMBLAY. Movers and shakers: Governor General MARY SIMON will honor bravery, volunteer work and exceptional service today at Rideau Hall. Justice MURRAY SINCLAIR, Chief WILTON LITTLECHILD and MARIE WILSON have been recognized with the Meritorious Service Cross: “[They] shouldered the responsibility for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada with fortitude, compassion and perseverance. Over six years, they led the examination of the Indian Residential School system, combing through myriad documents and witnessing the courage of survivors who shared their stories.” The roster of today’s award recipients is here. DAVID MCLAUGHLIN has been named president and CEO of the Institute on Governance. U.S. President JOE BIDEN has named University of Guelph graduate ANDREW J. READ as his nominee for Commissioner of the U.S. Marine Mammal Commission. … BETTY CREMMINS is now director for sustainable supply chains in the Office of the Federal Chief Sustainability Officer at the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Spotted: Ontario Liberal candidate KATIE GIBBS sharing the No. 1 question she gets at the doors. … RICHARD FLORIZONE, president and CEO of the International Institute for Sustainable Development, with AL GORE at the World Economic Forum … JOHN IVISON and RYAN TUMILTY, sitting down with U.S. Ambassador DAVID COHEN … MARISA COULTON in conversation with Trade Minister MARY NG. DENNIS MATTHEWS, CRAIG RUTTAN, MICHELLE EATON, MICHAEL FORIAN and many more out to catch The Curse of Politics gang at the Arcadian Loft, a live taping organized by the Toronto Region Board of Trade. Media mentions: LAUREN PELLEY is now a senior health & medical reporter for CBC News. … CBC’s Power & Politics is looking for a producer. … The Canadian Press is on the hunt for a sports reporter. Farewells: The PMO has announced the retirement of IAN SHUGART from his role as clerk of the privy council and secretary to the Cabinet. Shugart had been on medical leave since February 2021. JANICE CHARETTE will take on a permanent role as the country’s top public servant. She had been serving as clerk of the privy council in an interim capacity.
| | On the Hill | | Keep up to House committee schedules here. Find Senate meeting schedules here. 9 a.m. The Parliamentary Budget Officer will post a PBO legislative costing note: “Luxury goods sales tax (update).” 9 a.m. South of the border, the United States Energy Association kicks off its day-long annual membership meeting and public policy forum. Alberta Energy Minister SONYA SAVAGE is a speaker. 9:15 a.m. (Atlantic) Public Safety Minister MARCO MENDICINO is in Saint John, New Brunswick to make a funding announcement related to the Crime Prevention Action Fund. Liberal MP WAYNE LONG and the city’s deputy mayor JOHN MACKENZIE will join Mendicino for a media availability. 10 a.m. The House finance committee meets for three hours on Bill C-19. Parliamentary Budget Officer YVES GIROUX will be in front of FINA over the noon hour. 11 a.m. During its first hour, the House human resources committee will hear from LEAH NORD of the Chamber of Commerce and Luc Beauregard, Centrale des syndicats du Québec, on Bill C-19. 2 p.m. The Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying hears from experts during a four-hour televised session. It is scheduled to go in camera for its final hour starting at 6.
| | TRIVIA | | Wednesday’s answer: MICHELLE REMPEL GARNER joked about a “historic first dog moment” when her Shih Tzu made a cameo during a hybrid meeting. Props to NANCI WAUGH, DOUG RICE, BRAM ABRAMSON, SEAN MURPHY, JOHN ECKER and ROBERT MCDOUGALL. Thursday’s question: Name the wonk rock star who said the following: “The way to test the quality and strength of a relationship is not whether you have disagreements, because you will have disagreements. But it’s how you handle them.” Send your answers to ottawaplaybook@politico.com Playbook wouldn’t happen without Luiza Ch. Savage and editor Sue Allan. | | | | 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 | | | | |  |
