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Presented by General Atomics Aeronautical : A daily look inside Canadian politics and power. | | | | |  | | By Maura Forrest | | | Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Maura | Follow Politico Canada WELCOME TO OTTAWA PLAYBOOK. I'm your host, Maura Forrest, with Nick Taylor-Vaisey and Zi-Ann Lum. Today, we bring you up to speed on last night's Quebec election debate. A Liberal backbencher goes to Washington. And we take a look at the new House of Commons seating plan. Did someone forward Ottawa Playbook your way? Click here to sign up for your own edition. It’s free! |  | DRIVING THE DAY | | | 
Coalition Avenir Québec Leader François Legault. | Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press | NOT AGAIN — Raise your hand if you guessed the first leaders’ debate of the Quebec provincial election would feature one white man daring another white man to say the N-word. No one? Yeah, us neither. — What is this about, you ask? There’s ongoing debate in Quebec about academic freedom, which often boils down to whether or not it’s OK to use the N-word if you’re not using it as a slur. The example that gets raised, over and over, is a famous Quebec book from the 1960s called N----- blancs d’Amérique. During a segment of last night’s TVA debate, sovereigntist Parti Québécois Leader PAUL ST-PIERRE PLAMONDON dared left-wing Québec Solidaire spokesperson GABRIEL NADEAU-DUBOIS to say the title of the book out loud. Because academic freedom, you see. And Nadeau-Dubois did. Because you can’t chicken out on a dare. Suffice it to say it was not the most instructive moment of the debate. But it was certainly the most memorable. Here are three other things that stood out. — No one is ignoring the Conservatives. Former radio shock-jock ÉRIC DUHAIME has taken the Quebec Conservative Party from obscurity to poll numbers that rival the Liberals and the Parti Québécois (PQ), the two parties — one federalist, the other sovereigntist — that dominated Quebec politics for decades. On Thursday, the other leaders took plenty of shots at Duhaime. FRANÇOIS LEGAULT , leader of the governing Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ), called him “irresponsible” for opposing pandemic public-health measures. — The end of the Liberal-PQ era? The CAQ, which does not support a referendum on sovereignty, has been polling leagues above the other parties — around 38 percent, in one recent survey — with the Liberals struggling to break 20 percent and the PQ barely at 10 percent. “For 50 years there was a debate between two parties, the Liberal Party and the Parti Québécois,” Legault said. “The Liberal Party has lost the monopoly of being against the sovereignty of Quebec and … is now looking for a purpose.” “We’re entering into a new paradigm,” said Duhaime. “It is possible that an old cleavage will disappear and a new cleavage will appear.” — Debate over the French language got heated. Legault’s government recently passed the controversial Bill 96 to strengthen the province’s language laws. Liberal Leader DOMINIQUE ANGLADE said the bill is divisive, while Duhaime, who is making a bid for anglophone voters, said English speakers see it as an “attack on their fundamental rights” that should be scrapped. Meanwhile, Legault said Anglade “abandoned the French language” by voting against the bill. — Related: The shine is wearing off the CAQ in this campaign, PHILIPPE J. FOURNIER writes for L’actualité. But Legault is still comfortably headed toward another majority government. — Also: The ghost of former Quebec premier RENÉ LÉVESQUE is haunting this year’s provincial election, ERIC ANDREW-GEE writes for the Globe and Mail. | | | | A message from Team SkyGuardian Canada: Leveraging the well-proven MQ-9 platform that has supported Five Eyes and NATO missions for more than a decade, Team SkyGuardian brings together the best in business and technology to serve Canada, the Canadian Armed Forces, and the many industries that support them. Our government and industry team will help ensure Canada’s safety and security for the long term. | | |
FIGHTING HATE — Liberal MP ANTHONY HOUSEFATHER is in Washington, D.C. today, part of a push for governments to start regulating online hate.
Today will mark the first in-person hearings of the Inter-Parliamentary Task Force to Combat Online Antisemitism, which Housefather co-chairs with Democratic Rep. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. The task force is a cross-party group of lawmakers from Canada, the United States, Israel, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. In an interview, Housefather said it was launched in 2020 in response to rising antisemitism online during the early months of the pandemic. — What’s the goal? The group is hoping to encourage governments to do more to regulate online hate, “in a way that is consistent across boundaries,” Housefather said. The Montreal MP said he plans to present the task force’s recommendations to the folks in Ottawa drafting the Liberals’ long-delayed online harms legislation. He wouldn’t say exactly what he wants to see in the bill, but said there needs to be more transparency around algorithms. — The details: Today, the task force will hear from special envoys on antisemitism, including Canada’s IRWIN COTLER, and from officials with Meta, Twitter, YouTube and TikTok. “The goal here is developing a relationship where we can work together,” Housefather said. | | TODAY'S HIGHLIGHTS | |
Deputy Prime Minister CHRYSTIA FREELAND is in private meetings.
9 a.m. Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU departs for London. 9 a.m. The first in-person hearing of the Inter-Parliamentary Task Force to Combat Online Antisemitism begins in Washington, D.C. 10 a.m. The House of Commons special sitting resumes as MPs pay tribute to QUEEN ELIZABETH II. 3:30 p.m. (8:30 p.m. BST) Trudeau arrives in London. | | For your radar | |
TRIBUTES, OF A SORT — The House of Commons will sit again today as MPs continue to pay tribute to QUEEN ELIZABETH II. On Thursday, party leaders offered their thoughts on the late queen’s 70-year reign.
Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU spoke of his personal relationship with the queen, having met her first when he was just five years old. “Her conversations with me were always candid. We talked about anything and everything,” he said. “She was always curious, engaged and thoughtful.” PIERRE POILIEVRE, speaking for the first time in the Commons as Conservative leader, gave a brief history lecture in which he managed to reference EDMUND BURKE, WILFRID LAURIER, JOHN DIEFENBAKER and the Magna Carta. “Parties and politicians come and go, the Crown endures,” he said. — And then for something completely different: Bloc Québécois Leader YVES-FRANÇOIS BLANCHET gave a rather brief speech, in which he offered his condolences “for anyone who is grieving the death of Queen Elizabeth II.” He said the relationship between the Crown and Quebec has featured “dramatic, sometimes cruel moments,” and then announced his caucus wouldn’t be sticking around for the rest of the day. For a moment after he finished his speech, no one clapped. Then Trudeau did, and others followed suit. — The middle ground: NDP Leader JAGMEET SINGH , no great fan of the monarchy, commended the queen as “a figure of stability” all while exhorting her heir, KING CHARLES III, to “right the wrongs” of a colonial past, including “loss of language and culture, violence and war.” The House then unanimously passed a motion declaring “loyalty and devotion” to the new king. But Blanchet and most of his caucus had left by then. FUNERAL PLANS — Trudeau on Thursday announced the members of the Canadian delegation to the Queen’s funeral in London on Monday. The prime minister will attend with his wife, SOPHIE GRÉGOIRE TRUDEAU, Governor General MARY SIMON and her husband, WHIT FRASER, former governors general MICHAËLLE JEAN and DAVID JOHNSTON , former prime ministers KIM CAMPBELL, JEAN CHRÉTIEN, PAUL MARTIN and STEPHEN HARPER, Assembly of First Nations National Chief ROSEANNE ARCHIBALD, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami President NATAN OBED, Métis National Council President CASSIDY CARON, Privy Council Clerk JANICE CHARETTE and RALPH GOODALE, Canada’s high commissioner to the U.K. The Canadian delegation will also include Order of Canada members MARK TEWKSBURY, GREGORY CHARLES and SANDRA OH, as well as Cross of Valour recipient LESLIE ARTHUR PALMER. Members of the RCMP and the Canadian Armed Forces will join “uniformed personnel from other Commonwealth countries” for the service, according to a news release. — Meanwhile, in Canada: A national commemorative ceremony will be held Monday at Christ Church Cathedral in Ottawa at 1 p.m., following a memorial parade and a 96-gun salute. Former governor general ADRIENNE CLARKSON and former prime minister BRIAN MULRONEY will deliver addresses, and Algonquin spiritual adviser ALBERT DUMONT will pay tribute to the queen. Former prime minister JOE CLARK will also attend, and all members of Parliament are invited. | | | | A message from Team SkyGuardian Canada:   | | |
KNOW THY AUDIENCE — Take a seat-a. The government is going to be laying its CETA sales pitch on thick for the deal’s anniversary next week.
After leaving the G-7 trade ministers meeting in Neuhardenberg, Germany, Playbook followed International Trade Minister MARY NG to the Canadian embassy in Berlin Thursday for a panel and mixer promoting the almost five-year-old Canada-EU trade deal. — Spotted: Ng’s deputy chief of staff ALEX CORBEIL, Canada’s chargée d'affaires to Germany ISABELLE POUPART, ex-German state secretary MARTIN BIESEL, Atlantik-Brücke CEO JULIA FRIEDLANDER, Brunswick group director ARNE LIETZ, and European Commission head rep to Germany JÖRG WOJAHN. But before the canapés and drinks came out, Ng dished her fave pieces of CETA’s text. One of its most interesting parts is its environmental rules, she said, in that CETA “has essentially eliminated tariffs on clean technology products and services, and they are now duty-free.” — A deal within a deal: The point made to parlay anxieties about uncertain times into full ratification across all of the EU’s 27 member states. — Nord Stream hangover: “In Germany, five years ago, many people were asleep,” Wojahn, also a panelist, told the embassy audience about the country’s apathy over energy diversification. “They didn't see all this … Feb. 24 has been a wake up call for many.” Away from the embassy, Russia’s gas cuts have made energy rationing and thick sweaters common topics of conversation in these final days of summer. | | MEDIA ROOM | |
— From the Globe's NANCY MACDONALD and JANA G. PRUDEN: How four days of horror unfolded on James Smith Cree Nation, where everyone lost someone.
— A question from the National Observer's KAREN PUGLIESE: "Who the hell calls a press conference, then tells reporters they can’t ask questions?" — The CBC's LIZ THOMPSON and CHRISTIAN PAAS-LANG report: Convoy donors gave more than $460K to CPC leadership race — and many were first-time federal donors. — Top of POLITICO this morning: Judge appoints special master, rejects DOJ bid to delay Mar-a-Lago ruling. — In the Globe and Mail, PATRICIA TREBLE takes a look at what we know, and don’t, about the political role of QUEEN ELIZABETH II. — For the Line, MATT GURNEY wonders whether we’re in decline , and if so, whether that’s something our politicians should discuss. — ALAIN RAYES did the honorable thing, ATHIA RAJ writes. — Black conservative BYRON DONALDS is a long shot to become the GOP’s No. 3 — but he’s still taking on ELISE STEFANIK. And they're both talking to Trump. POLITICO’s OLIVIA BEAVERS has the story.
| | PROZONE | |
For POLITICO Pro s, catch up to our latest policy newsletter: Mendicino updates Mayorkas on NEXUS delays.
In other news for s:
— FERC's murky leadership future could derail climate goals.
— Newsom signs bill to make tech companies protect kids online.
— Biden fine tunes criteria for inbound investment screening.
— EU pitches cyber law to fix patchy Internet of Things.
— House Democrats: Big Oil failing to take climate pledges 'seriously.’
— Biden administration wades into deep waters with floating offshore wind push. | | | | A message from Team SkyGuardian Canada: Learn about the remotely piloted multi-mission aircraft building Canadian industrial partnerships that deliver sovereignty and security for Canada. | | | | | PLAYBOOKERS | |
Spotted: A new House of Commons seating plan.
Notable moves in and around the CPC benches: PIERRE POILIEVRE, now surrounded by his new leadership team … JEAN CHAREST endorser ED FAST and ex-PATRICK BROWN campaign co-chair MICHELLE REMPEL GARNER, both banished from front row to fourth … Regina MP WARREN STEINLEY, neutral in the leadership race, is demoted from third row to fifth … Leadership contender LESLYN LEWIS, also on the back row … Last-place candidate SCOTT AITCHISON, up a row from fifth to fourth … Former interim leader CANDICE BERGEN, next door to Bloc MP GABRIEL STE-MARIE … Former Tory MP ALAIN RAYES, tucked behind the Green caucus beside fellow indy MP KEVIN VUONG … ERIN O'TOOLE, still minding his own business in the front corner nearest the Speaker. BOB RAE, taking in the view of the East River from the United Nations headquarters in New York. The Edmonton Federal Building, on the cusp of being renamed the Queen Elizabeth II Building. Movers and shakers: DANIEL LAUZON, whose last Hill job was chief of staff to then-foreign minister MARC GARNEAU, started a new role as CAE's director of public affairs and policy in Canada. Media mentions: BRUCE DEACHMAN is the Ottawa Citizen’s new city columnist. Birthdays: Happy Birthday to JENNIFER HOLLETT, executive director of The Walrus. Also celebrating today: Alberta MLA TODD LOEWEN, former Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan LYNDA HAVERSTOCK, former AG SHEILA FRASER and economist TOM COURCHENE. Celebrating Saturday: Former MP MONTE SOLBERG and retired photog ROD MACIVOR. On Sunday: Former mayor GREGOR ROBERTSON and journalist JONATHAN KAY. Send birthdays to ottawaplaybook@politico.com. In memoriam: Conservative MP LAILA GOODRIDGE bid farewell to her father, GORDON CLIFFORD JOHN GOODRIDGE, who died Wednesday: “I wasn’t ready to say goodbye.”
| | TRIVIA | |
Thursday’s answer: In May and June of 1939, MACKENZIE KING accompanied KING GEORGE VI and his wife QUEEN ELIZABETH on a royal tour of Canada.
Props to MP MICHAEL COTEAU, JOHN DILLON, WAYNE FLEMING, MARY JANE ALLAN, GUY SKIPWORTH, LUCAS BORCHENKO, ANNE-MARIE STACEY, AMY BOUGHNER, GORDON RANDALL and LAURA JARVIS. Friday’s question: ROBERT MCDOUGALL sent Playbook a couple of Stornoway puzzlers. Concerning the official residence of the Leader of the Opposition: Who was the first leader to reside there? For bonus marks: Why was it vacant from 1993 through 1997? Send your answers to ottawaplaybook@politico.com Correction: Thursday’s Playbook misstated the number of public servants hired to work in passport offices. The government claims to have hired more than 1,200 employees since July. Playbook wouldn’t happen without Luiza Ch. Savage and editor Sue Allan.
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