The other leadership race

By Maura Forrest

Presented by Uber Canada

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Thanks for reading the Ottawa Playbook. I'm your host Maura Forrest, with Nick Taylor-Vaisey and Zi-Ann Lum. Today, the flag on the Peace Tower of Parliament Hill is flying at half-staff in memory of the victims of Sunday’s attacks in Saskatchewan. The Conservative leadership race enters its final stretch as the Liberal Cabinet gathers in Vancouver. And we take a first look at the campaign to lead the Greens.

SASKATCHEWAN ATTACKS — Flags are flying at half-staff in Ottawa and Saskatchewan today following the horrific stabbings on Sunday in and around the James Smith Cree Nation.

“This kind of violence, or any kind of violence, has no place in our country,” Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU said during a brief statement Monday in Ottawa. “Sadly, over these past years, tragedies like these have become all too commonplace.”

On Monday, RCMP said the body of one of the two suspects , Damien Sanderson, had been discovered on the First Nation. A manhunt continued for his brother, Myles Sanderson.

Ten people died in the attacks on Sunday, and at least 18 were injured.

— The latest: The Globe's JANA G. PRUDEN reports on parole documents that reveal details Myles Sanderson's criminal history.

A FRESH START? — This is the beginning of a new era for the Green Party of Canada. Or at least, that’s what the candidates in the race to be its next leader are saying.

What does that mean, exactly? Playbook recently spoke to several of the six candidates, who spoke a lot about growing the party, giving power to the grassroots, “citizen mobilization,” and winning more seats.

Which is all fine, of course.

But if citizens are best mobilized by new ideas, it’s not yet clear what those are. After a tumultuous and damaging few years for the party, the Green candidates are eager to talk about how their leadership styles will help heal the wounds. They have less to say about what they would do with the party they want to lead.

— Who’s in the running? ELIZABETH MAY has earned most of the headlines so far, thanks to her decision to throw her hat in the ring again despite previously saying she wouldn’t. After spending 13 years as leader from 2006 to 2019, she’s now running for co-leadership with human rights activist JONATHAN PEDNEAULT.

ANNA KEENAN , former president of the P.E.I. Greens, and CHAD WALCOTT, a community activist from Montreal, are also running on a sort of joint ticket. Under their leadership, Keenan told Playbook, the Greens will “be clear that we're part of the progressive modern left.” They want to push hard for proportional representation, and to win 12 seats and earn official party status.

In Ottawa, teacher and former Green Party candidate SARAH GABRIELLE BARON said she wants to decentralize power in the party. “Being focused on a celebrity-style leader is not the Green style of politics,” she told Playbook.

And SIMON GNOCCHINI-MESSIER, who was an NDP member before switching to the Greens last year, believes he can help the party grow in Quebec. “I think we could create a Green wave,” he said. “Quebecers are looking for a party that will respect them.”

— A bone to pick: In a campaign ostensibly about healing, however, some fault lines are emerging. Keenan and Walcott suggested May jumped on the co-leadership bandwagon after they told her their plans back in January. “The timeline seems fairly clear to us,” Keenan said. They were “a little bit in disbelief” when they heard the rumors she was planning to run with Pedneault, Walcott said.

Meanwhile, Baron and Gnocchini-Messier say the joint leadership model runs against the party’s constitution. “If Greens can't follow our own law … they have no business asking Canadians to put their faith in us,” Baron said.

— The upshot: During a Zoom campaign launch on Saturday, only one candidate spent any real time talking about specific environmental promises — reversing the Bay du Nord oil development and banning fracking, for instance. It was Elizabeth May.

— For more: “The big challenge facing the Green Party of 2022 is that its niche is no longer its own,” writes ROBYN URBACK for the Globe and Mail. “Climate change is a significant and growing component of each other major party’s platform already, meaning that the Green Party has to offer something truly unique to draw support away from them.”

— What’s next: The party will have two rounds of voting, with final results announced Nov. 19.

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THE FINAL COUNTDOWN — The Conservative leadership race will (at long last) be over on Saturday, and in the spirit of being fair and/or refusing to accept a foregone conclusion, the Ottawa bureau of the Canadian Press has been rolling out profiles of each of the candidates. Here’s what jumped out at us from each one:

— PIERRE POILIEVRE has always been Pierre Poilievre, according to STEPHANIE TAYLOR. "You have to stand for ideas that excite large numbers of people,” he said during a 2009 speech to young conservatives. “Electricians, mechanics, carpenters, everyday working people that might not be totally fascinated by politics." (To note: Poilievre was the only candidate who didn’t participate in his profile.)

— JEAN CHAREST met MARIE-DANIELLE SMITH for an interview at Wilfrid's Restaurant in the Château Laurier, where his press secretary ordered him a C$24 yogurt parfait. Because if you’re gonna be the establishment guy, you might as well lean into it.

— LESLYN LEWIS the PhD student is almost unrecognizable beside Leslyn Lewis the Conservative leadership candidate. Her doctoral thesis was “an ode to the untapped potential of renewable energy in the developing world,” writes LAURA OSMAN.

— SCOTT AITCHISON left home at 15 after rejecting his parents’ Jehovah’s Witness faith. His reconciliation with his father required the kind of mutual respect he wants the various factions of the Conservative Party to achieve, Osman reports.

— ROMAN BABER isn’t afraid to disagree with anyone, including his own supporters, according to Smith. At a recent event in Ottawa, he told one woman with questions about the World Economic Forum that the organization isn’t really an issue — though “left-wing ideology” is.

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QUEBEC ELECTION — Threats of violence toward candidates have become a dominant theme in the early days of Quebec’s provincial election campaign. During a special Radio-Canada broadcast on Sunday evening, the first question posed to the five main party leaders was about the toxic political climate.

“I don’t want the next campaign to be worse than this one,” said GABRIEL NADEAU-DUBOIS, co-spokesperson of the left-leaning Québec Solidaire. “I can’t accept that it continue to degenerate, this climate of violence, and that the next election campaign be even worse. I don’t accept that.”

— The background: Liberal candidate MARWAH RIZQY recently went public about death threats she had received, resulting in one man’s arrest. Rizqy, who is eight months pregnant, said she decided to speak out after seeing Deputy Prime Minister CHRYSTIA FREELAND accosted in Alberta.

Another man was arrested after a campaign poster featuring SYLVAIN LÉVESQUE, a candidate for the governing Coalition Avenir Québec, was photoshopped to look like it was dripping with blood and circulated on social media.

— In response: The provincial police force has created a special emergency number for candidates to use during the campaign.

— Related: “Politicians at every level of government and from all parties report a mood change across the country — violent, aggressive messages and outbursts previously rare have become all too common,” writes the Toronto Star’s ALTHIA RAJ.

— Elsewhere: PHILIPPE J. FOURNIER joined ÉRIC GRENIER on The Writ pod to discuss the opening of the Quebec election campaign. And for the Walrus, LISA FITTERMAN has this profile of Nadeau-Dubois, the would-be opposition leader.

1:30 p.m. (10:30 a.m. PDT) Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU will make a housing announcement in Vancouver and hold a press conference.

8:30 p.m. (5:30 p.m. PDT) The PM will attend the Liberal Cabinet retreat in Vancouver, which will focus in part on inflation and affordability. The retreat runs until Thursday.

FROM THE TENDERS — Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada needs a contractor to administer voluntary rapid Covid tests for asymptomatic employees who are returning to the office. The tender closes Sept. 16

— On a jaunt to southwestern Ontario, Transport Minister OMAR ALGHABRA boasted about a high-frequency rail feasibility study. The vendor: Deloitte. The contract value: C$5.7 million.

— Transport Canada is looking for three “passport type printers” and one “optional passport type printer” by Jan. 6, 2023.

— The Canadian embassy in Athens is looking for a cleaning service capable of “maintaining cleanliness and providing decent working conditions” for staff.

— The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) is looking for a contractor to manually enter data from Covid declaration forms for incoming travelers who haven’t used the ArriveCAN app. The agency says it needs external help as more of Canada’s airports have reopened to international travelers.

PHAC is expecting at least 350 forms per day or about 120,000 in the first year of the contract. The contract will run until July 31, 2024 and could be extended for another two years.

—  In related news: SEAN BOOTS, a Canadian Digital Service analyst who's wrapping up a term as public servant-in-residence at Carleton University, published a searchable database that breaks down contracts by vendor and department.

TELL US WHAT YOU KNOW — What are you hearing that you need Playbook to know? What are you watching this fall? Send details.

A message from Uber Canada:

Uber and UFCW Canada reach historic agreement to benefit drivers and delivery people

The landmark agreement gives 100,000+ workers on the Uber platform access to strong representation. UFCW Canada can provide representation if requested by drivers and delivery people facing account deactivation or other account dispute issues.

As part of the agreement, Uber Canada and UFCW Canada are jointly calling for government reforms that introduce benefits but also protect worker flexibility. Uber Canada and UFCW Canada are jointly advocating for industry-wide legislative standards – like a minimum earnings standard, a benefits fund, and access to workers’ rights – across the country.

This agreement is a result of discussions and listening to drivers and delivery people. 85% of all drivers and delivery people support the Uber-UFCW Canada agreement and 89% want provincial governments to enact the proposed package of reforms.

Finding common ground, we can create a better future for app-based workers.

Liz Truss. | Getty Images

— Top of POLITICO this morning: GOP still has inside track to House majority despite Dem gains.

— From our colleagues in London: How Liz Truss did it. The inside story of a brutal Tory leadership campaign.

— The Star’s front page featured GRANT LAFLECHE’s report: Inside the increasingly personal attacks targeting Canadian female journalists. 

— MITCH HEIMPEL used his summer vacation to write this piece on The Line: Our politics have become a live wire for a reason.

— From McMillan Vantage’s ASHLEY CSANADY in an iPolitics op-ed: “Our daughters can’t afford for us to be worn down.”

— Canada’s ambassador in D.C. KIRSTEN HILLMAN writes in Policy on Trump, Russia and dealing with Biden administration protectionism: “I expect more tumultuous times ahead.”

— In Alberta Views, political science prof JARED WESLEY writes on the legacy of JASON KENNEY. 

In news for POLITICO Pro s: 

— Congress returns as Washington faces a full energy agenda.
— Top official who led global drive to tax big tech leaves OECD.
— Biden's new climate adviser brings 'gravitas,' supporters say.
— G-7 announces price cap deal on Russian oil in win for Yellen.
— What’s on tap for Ursula von der Leyen’s visit to Canada.
— Canada’s canola fight against China cools at WTO.
— POLITICO Pro Q&A: IMF chief economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas.

Birthdays: HBD to International Development Minister HARJIT SAJJAN and Liberal MP MICHAEL MCLEOD. Also celebrating today: Former GG MICHAËLLE JEAN and former MP DICK HARRIS. Magna International founder FRANK STRONACH is 90.

Belated HBD to MICHAEL WERNICK, 65 on Sept. 3.

Movers and shakers: Canada’s Ambassador to the World Trade Organization, NADIA THEODORE, presented her credentials to WTO General Director NGOZI OKONJO-IWEALA. 

A trio of new Canadian consuls general are U.S.-bound: COLIN BIRD in Detroit, SYLVIA CESARATTO in Miami and SUSAN HARPER in Dallas.

Other diplo moves: LORRAINE ANDERSON is the new high commissioner in Cameroon, ISABELLE MARTIN is Canada’s new ambassador to Qatar, the new Canadian high commissioner in Tanzania is KYLE NUNAS and RADHA KRISHNA PANDAY has been named ambassador to the United Arab Emirates.

DANI KEENAN shifts from BILL BLAIR's d-comm to a new gig at the Liberal Research Bureau. MEGHAN O'BRIEN is now a senior communications adviser with the foreign affairs team at Global Affairs Canada.

ELEANOR FAST has announced plans to step down as executive director of Equal Voice. … PAUL SAMSON is the new president of the Centre for International Governance … NEIL BOUWER is joining the Max Bell School of Public Policy at McGill University.

Justice MICHAEL MOLDAVER has retired from the Supreme Court of Canada, and has been replaced by Justice MICHELLE O’BONSAWIN. “His wisdom and collegiality have brightened the Court for almost eleven years,” Justice Minister DAVID LAMETTI said in a statement.

IAN SCOTT will remain chairman of the CRTC for another four months as the government continues its search for his replacement ( h/t ANJA KARADEGLIJA for the National Post ).

Media moves: The Globe has staffed up with heavy hitters SHANNON PROUDFOOT and MARIE WOOLF.

Spotted: CATHERINE STEWART, Canada’s new ambassador for climate change, with IEA Executive Director FATIH BIROL … Employment Minister CARLA QUALTROUGH in Berlin for the G-7 inclusion summit … Transport Minister OMAR ALGHABRA marking ARUN THANGARAJ’s last day as transport ADM with a pic.

Liberal MP MARC GARNEAU flexing that his son made gulab jamun … Bloc MP MARIE-HÉLÈNE GAUDREAU with a throwback pic of her as a student in Hawaii … Conservative MP TIM UPPAL in Jerusalem at the Western Wall … Dominion Carillonneur ANDREA MCCRADY playing an interpretation of “Watsiew Wenota.”

Conservative MP TODD DOHERTY, moved to tears in a Canadian Tire parking lot, over news the CRTC will move ahead on 9-8-8, Canada’s new suicide and crisis hotline.

Friday, Aug. 26’s answer: STEPHEN HARPER is the former PM who was said to have more than 30 kinds of hot sauces at home. Spicy.

Props to DOUG RICE, ROBERT MCDOUGALL and GANGA WIGNARAJAH.

Tuesday’s question: Who painted the portrait of JOE CLARK that is featured in the Prime Ministers' Portrait Gallery? 

Send your answers to ottawaplaybook@politico.com.

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