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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 Thanks for reading the Ottawa Playbook. I'm your host Nick Taylor-Vaisey, with Maura Forrest and Andy Blatchford. Today, as the world of baseball celebrates the midsummer classic otherwise known as the annual all-star game, we muse about the impact of federal vaccination rules on the fortunes of the Toronto Blue Jays. Plus, what's with all the vagueness in the PM's movements? In Playbookers: A Scarborough-born mover and shaker.
|  | DRIVING THE DAY | | PLAY BALL! — It has to be at least a little bit painful for noted Toronto Blue Jays fan MARCO MENDICINO, who happens to be the federal minister of public safety, to bar unvaccinated professional athletes from cross-border travel. Covid has transformed public health policymakers like Mendicino and Canada's top doctor, THERESA TAM, into accidental major players in the wild world of professional sports, including Major League Baseball. Tonight marks the unofficial halfway point in the Major League Baseball season: The annual all-star game. As the best players in the world mix and mingle, and the Jays enter the second half in a playoff spot, vaccination status is a thing. Mendicino was well aware in November that his vax border policy — no unvaxxed foreign citizens allowed, basically — made life more difficult for Jays president MARK SHAPIRO and general manager ROSS ATKINS, whose potential off-season ambition to build a championship ball club was immediately boxed in. The Jays ended up losing the American League's best pitcher of the year, ROBBIE RAY, to the Seattle Mariners. Even if Ray wanted to return to the team, not getting the shot meant he never had a shot. So off he went to a team south of the border. When the Mariners visited Toronto, Ray couldn't make the trip. He then beat the Jays when they visited Seattle. (And showed some emotion, too.) — The rules: When your typical unvaccinated big leaguer fills out the Canadian federal government's travel wizard, they learn after a few seconds of clicking that they're ineligible to visit Canada. The rules also effectively bar unvaccinated Canadian players, who would have to test repeatedly and quarantine for two weeks before they play at the Rogers Centre. The same rules apply at the other side of the border. Unvaccinated players simply can't go back and forth this season. — The consequences: Every single Blue Jay is vaccinated. But many teams can't claim the same feat. The Kansas City Royals left 10 players at home last week for a weekend series in Toronto. The Jays won three of those four games. Days earlier, the Philadelphia Phillies were short four players for a two-game series. They lost both. Sportsnet's SHI DAVIDI published the full list of 35 players who can't fly north. The New York Yankees are fully vaccinated, and there's a good reason for it (aside from the obvious). They're playing nine games in Toronto. The loss of any star power could prove pivotal in a competitive race for the postseason. — The caveat: Jays loyalists will rightly point out that when the border closed, the Jays were forced to play the 2020 season at their minor-league stadium in Buffalo — and much of the 2021 season in both Buffalo and their spring-training home in Florida. — Locker room talk: The first Tuesday in August marks the league's trade deadline, one of the last opportunities for contenders to shake up their rosters before the homestretch race for the playoffs. Any team that stands a chance of playing a playoff series in Toronto would be gambling big by acquiring an unvaccinated player. ANDREW BENINTENDI , an unvaccinated Royals outfielder who might otherwise land with the powerhouse Yankees, is unlikely to play there, for example. CHRIS ROSE, a longtime broadcaster and co-host of the popular YouTube show MLB Today on the Jomboy network, said recently that uncomfortable conversations about vaccines are now a fact of life in the league. "If you think that this isn't topical or part of the next few weeks heading into the trade deadline, then you've got your head in the sand," he said. That conversation among players: Get the shot and expand your options, or don't. But that decision is on the mind of anyone who wants to be traded to a contender. It could reach a fever pitch. Co-host TREVOR PLOUFFE , a former major leaguer who still knows a lot of major leaguers, teased the future a little more: "Wait until September. Wait until the playoffs." That's when the games matter most. — Rule change: The feds last week announced a return to mandatory random testing for air travelers at points of entry. Anyone who crosses might find themselves reading an email from the Public Health Agency of Canada with instructions on where to get a test. Playbook asked the agency who was paying for the tests. "The Government of Canada provides the tests at no cost to the traveler," came the response. Then came the caveat: "The Government of Canada reserves the right to change this direction at a future time." It was another reminder that Covid rules are always subject to change. The feds have mused about modifying the definition of "fully vaccinated" from two shots to "up to date" — a recognition that vaccine efficacy wanes over time. Mendicino gleefully announced the Jays' ability to return to Toronto last summer under modified entry rules. If the feds were to change the definition of fully vaccinated — not just for players, but for everyone — that would still be a game-changer.
| | CONSERVATIVE CORNER | | NINE LIVES — PATRICK BROWN is in … for the race for Brampton mayor. It was the worst-kept secret from the suburban city hall to the patios nearest Parliament Hill. And Brown, the sitting mayor who faces fierce opposition from a majority of his city council colleagues over allegations of contract-related corruption, is the favorite for re-election. His opponents so far for the (other) top job: JERMAINE CHAMBERS, VIDYA SAGAR GAUTAM and CODY VATCHER. ENDORSEMENT WATCH — The Senate's top Tory reversed his neutrality in the party's leadership race, scooped DYLAN ROBERTSON in the Winnipeg Free Press. He's now a member of Team PIERRE POILIEVRE. Interim leader CANDICE BERGEN and her senior caucus team are steering clear of endorsements. That was true of Plett, too, until it wasn't. "As a member of the leadership team, I felt I should stay out of it," Plett, the party's leader in the Red Chamber, told Robertson on Friday. "At the very tail [end] part of this week [I] decided that I would maybe not stay quite as neutral any more." Plett's coming-out party appeared to be a response to Poilievre's detractors. "When people say, ‘well if so-and-so wins, we can’t win an election’ … then I feel that maybe we all have to come out of the closet and declare our stances," he told the paper.
| | For your radar | | PHANTOM ITINERARY — When the JUSTIN TRUDEAU's itinerary hit reporters' inboxes Monday at 10:03 a.m., more than 12 hours later than normal, the prime minister was nearly 40,000 feet above the northern Ontario town of Ignace. His official destination was the deliberately vague "Interior Region" of "British Columbia," a vast area that sprawls a mere 669,648 sq.-km. Trudeau was planning a visit to a children's day camp, a food processing facility and a family farm. Pool reporters tagged along for the ride, but the broader public was in the dark about any of the PM's specific stops. One regional news outlet, Castanet News, characterized Trudeau's swing through the area as "campaign style," following a similar visit by rival Poilievre. — Part of a trend: RadarBox, a popular flight tracking website, followed the PM's flight aboard Canforce One. But the plane's owner — the government — has requested another popular site, FlightAware, block the location of whichever aircraft is ferrying Trudeau. Why all the secrecy? On last year's campaign trail, the PM's handlers deployed deliberate vagueness after rowdy protesters dogged the Liberal leader at various stops along the way. An event in the key suburban battleground of Brampton was canceled amid security concerns. Keep the specific whistle stop from the general public, avoid all that messiness. Last Friday, the PM's itinerary was similarly nonspecific about a handful of stop-ins at various summery locations in the National Capital Region: another day camp, a family's home, and a brewery. Someone must have leaked the name of the purveyor of beer, because protesters assembled outside — and a few truckers rolled by, horns a-blarin'. The event was called off. The official reason: Security concerns. HYDROGEN COCKTAIL — Canada is seeking external know-how to help it pump hydrogen through natural gas lines, a capability Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has suggested is key to boosting Canadian energy supplies to Europe. The Canadian government is on the hunt for experts to determine the “technical feasibility” of blending hydrogen into existing natural gas systems, such as pipelines, according to a new request-for-proposal document posted today. “The focus of the next five years will be on laying the foundation for the hydrogen economy,” reads the government notice, posted on behalf of Natural Resources Canada. — The timing: The study comes with Trudeau under increasing pressure from allies, including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, to find ways to ship energy to Europe to help countries cut their dependence on Russia. Andy Blatchford has the story for Pro s.
| | TODAY'S HIGHLIGHTS | | 5:30 a.m. (11:30 am in the U.K.) Innovation Minister FRANÇOIS-PHILIPPE CHAMPAGNE's itinerary flags an announcement from aerospace giant CAE at the 2022 Farnborough International Airshow. 7 a.m. (8:30 in Newfoundland) Rural Economic Development Minister GUDIE HUTCHINGS meets with the Gander and Area Chamber of Commerce. 9:30 a.m. FedNor Minister PATTY HAJDU will announce funding for "medical technology and innovation in the Thunder Bay region." 9:30 a.m. Liberal MP SONIA SIDHU announces funding for a new youth center in Brampton. Also in attendance: Brampton mayor PATRICK BROWN. 10 a.m. (11 a.m Atlantic) ACOA Minister GINETTE PETITPAS TAYLOR is in Truro, Nova Scotia, to announce support for projects in Colchester County. 11 a.m. (12 p.m. Atlantic) Immigration Minister SEAN FRASER will announce infrastructure funding in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. 11:30 a.m. Hutchings tours Superior Glove Works Ltd., a PPE manufacturer. 1 p.m. Hutchings meets with the Botwood Mural Arts Society. 1 p.m. (10 a.m. PT) The Williams Lake First Nation and Union of BC Indian Chiefs are calling for a public inquiry into the RCMP’s response to a distress call from a local family. They'll also highlight "the need for national reform to the RCMP’s discriminatory practices toward Indigenous peoples." 3:30 p.m. (1:30 p.m. MT) NDP leader JAGMEET SINGH meets with Tłı̨chǫ Region Chiefs. 5 p.m. (2 p.m. PT) Pacific Economic Development Minister HARJIT SAJJAN will announce funding for community infrastructure projects on Vancouver Island. 7:15 p.m. Singh visits the Yellowknife Farmers Market. 8:15 p.m. Singh holds a meet and greet in Yellowknife.
| | ASK US ANYTHING | | TELL US WHAT YOU KNOW — What are you hearing that you need Playbook to know? Send it all our way.
| | SUMMERTIME READS | | Your Playbook host picked up and flipped through a copy of "The Politics of Survival," historian J.L. GRANATSTEIN's chronicling of the Conservative Party's struggle for relevance during the Second World War. — The kicker: Here's Granatstein's final flourish on the state of the party. Sound familiar? "The history of the Conservative party during the Second World War is one of almost unrelieved failure. Desperately weak in leadership, torn between adherence to principle and expediency, and wracked by internal conflicts, the party came perilously close to extinction. Ironically, Conservatism survived as a viable force only because of the C.C.F., not through any inherent strength of its own. Whatever the reason, Conservatism had played the politics of party survival and won." Here’s our summer 2022 reading list so far. Send us your suggestions — your brain food and your guilty pleasure! We'll share them in the Playbook newsletter.
| | PAPER TRAIL | | PLASTIC TASTES — On the eve of Canada’s ban on certain single-use plastics, Statistics Canada is offering up new data about how we use plastic bags, straws and water bottles. Here are a few figures that stood out from the 2021 Households and the Environment Survey: — 97 percent: The percentage of Canadian households that reported using their own bags some of the time when grocery shopping. — The details: Lots of us are using reusable bags, but some of us are using them more than others. More than 80 percent of households in Newfoundland, P.E.I. and Nova Scotia reported using their own bags all the time, compared to less than 50 percent in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and B.C. — Lethbridge, Alta.: The census metropolitan area that relied most on reusable water bottles. — The details: Didn’t see that one coming? Neither did we. The runners-up are Kingston, Greater Sudbury, Thunder Bay, St. Catharines–Niagara and Peterborough. — Quebec: The province in which people are most likely to use their own cup or mug for hot drinks. — The details: It’s also the province in which people are least likely to consume hot drinks outside the home. Who knew? — Also worth noting: Despite the survey’s focus on plastic water bottles and coffee cups, neither of those single-use items are on the chopping block. The Liberals are banning the manufacture of six plastic items by the end of this year: bags, straws, cutlery, stir sticks, ring carriers and takeout containers.
| | MEDIA ROOM | | — In the Globe and Mail, CHRISTIAN LEUPRECHT and SHUVALOY MAJUMDAR urge the Liberal government to find ways to build more pipelines and export more natural gas to a European continent that needs it. — "Yet again, here is another example of productivity policy that Finance Canada could have independently driven as early as 2015. Maybe this time, Canada’s Industry department will cross it over the finish line, by leaning into the benefits actual corporations can gain." Guess which former senior Liberal adviser penned this analysis of a long-awaited beneficial ownership registry that could help the feds track down foregone income tax? — What the Business Council of Canada is probably reading this morning: "Clean electricity is a must-have for business — and for Canada’s economic prosperity," by BCC policy VP MICHAEL GULLO and Canadian Climate Institute executive VP DALE BEUGIN. — At The Hub, BEN WOODFINDEN writes that Pierre Poilievre's anti-gatekeeper message could form the basis for a governing agenda.
| | PLAYBOOKERS | | Birthdays: HBD to retired senator GRANT MITCHELL and former Ontario premier DALTON MCGUINTY. Journalist SRIVINDHYA KOLLURU also celebrates today. From the ethics files: Tory MP RAQUEL DANCHO and PMO policy adviser HARRY ORBACH-MILLER disclosed trips to Israel paid for by the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs … BLAKE OLIVER, a brand-new CHRYSTIA FREELAND senior policy adviser, promised to recuse herself from any discussion involving Crestview Strategy — where her partner ASHTON ARSENAULT is a VP … Public Safety Minister MARCO MENDICINO recused himself from a June 14 discussion about the appointment of his friend, MOHAMMED M. RAHMAN, as a Superior Court judge in Ontario. Movers and shakers: Infrastructure Canada's ANNE-MARIE ROZON, the principal analyst on the Waterfront Toronto file, shifts to Natural Resources Canada. Rozon is a senior policy adviser for regulatory coordination on the department's new Nòkwewashk (pronounced No-kway-washk) team, which she says supports "meaningful Indigenous participation in natural resources projects and the net-zero transition." DIANA MENDES has left the Hill. The longtime Liberal Hill staffer toiled in FRANCIS SCARPALEGGIA and KIRSTY DUNCAN's offices when the Liberals were the third party in the House, and later served senior roles for three ministers. Her next stop: Public Affairs at Sustainable Development Technology Canada. "The kid of immigrant parents from #ScarbTO, I never thought I'd be a part of changing the law, attend a ball, state dinner or routinely be in the same room as the Prime Minister of Canada, but just goes to show what can happen in Canada," tweeted Mendes. Former Ontario Tory MPP CHRISTINA MITAS, who received a medical exemption from the Covid vaccine, is a new vice-president at Upstream Group. ERIK NIELSEN , the former director of policy and advocacy at Plan International Canada, is the inaugural director of environmental policy at Export Development Canada's ESG group. Blackbird Strategies consultant NATASHA KORNAK, who once questioned Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU 's commitment to punishing sexual misconduct, is lobbying for the Native Women's Association of Canada. Top priority: Funding for resiliency lodges "that will benefit Indigenous women." HEATHER BARMORE is now deputy assistant USTR for digital. Spotted: PIERRE POILIEVRE, showing off his childhood home (and the tree he planted there). Media mentions: KAT ESCHNER joins TVO's roster of reporters. She'll focus on the affordability beat.
| | PROZONE | | If you’re a POLITICO Pro , don’t miss our latest policy newsletter: Parsing Joe Manchin. In more news for POLITICO Pro s: — Canada exploring possibility of moving hydrogen through natural gas pipelines.
— Gazprom declares force majeure on gas supplies to Germany’s Uniper.
— German gas squeeze will last two winters, regulator says.
— IEA chief: Non-Russian gas ‘not enough’ to ensure EU winter supply.
— ITC turns down duties on UAN fertilizer from Russia, Trinidad & Tobago.
| | TRIVIA | | Monday’s answer: At the Montreal Olympics, NADIA COMANECI became the first gymnast in Olympic history to score 10.0. Hear her talk about it here. Props to ANNE-MARIE STACEY, ALYSON FAIR, BRAM ABRAMSON, JOHN ECKER, NANCI WAUGH, TRACY SALMON, JACQUES STURGEON, DOUG RICE, ROBERT MCDOUGALL, GUY SKIPWORTH, BRIGID HAYES, RODDY MCFALL, RON CREARY, CULLY ROBINSON, SHELLEY GERVAIS and CHRIS MCCLUSKEY. Tuesday’s question: Which all-star member of this year's Toronto Blue Jays squad ended their first game back in Toronto in 2021 — a 6-4 win over the Kansas City Royals — with an over-the-shoulder, bare-handed catch? 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. | | | | 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 | | | | |  |
