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A daily look inside Canadian politics and power. | | | | |  | | By Zi-Ann Lum, Maura Forrest and Nick Taylor-Vaisey | Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Maura | Follow Politico Canada Welcome to Ottawa Playbook. The prime minister’s top aide will testify today at a House committee studying foreign interference in Canadian elections. Hold your expectations. Also today, we catch up to John McKay in Taiwan. And the PBO makes his case (again). |  | DRIVING THE DAY | | |
ELECTION MEDDLING — All eyes will be on a meeting room in West Block today, where KATIE TELFORD will testify before a parliamentary committee looking into Chinese foreign interference in Canadian elections.
The PM’s chief of staff will no doubt be looking to make as little news as possible, something she achieved, more or less, the last two times she appeared before House of Commons committees investigating Liberal controversies. This time around, the opposition parties want to know when Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU was briefed on allegations of foreign meddling in the 2019 and 2021 elections. But anyone hoping for troves of new information to come to light is likely to be disappointed. A senior government source warned Playbook that Telford will be limited in what she can say because of constraints around discussing intelligence matters. “If you're asked, ‘When did PMO get briefed? What did you know, and what did you do about it?’ and you can't say anything, then what's the point of going?” the source said. — Quick recall: Telford agreed to testify after a weeks-long Liberal filibuster at the procedure and House affairs committee that sought to prevent her from having to appear. It was only after the Conservatives forced the issue in the House of Commons that the Liberals backed down. The senior official told Playbook Telford agreed to appear so that Parliament could keep functioning, and to ensure she’s the “one and only” political staffer to be hauled before the committee. The preparation for such an appearance isn’t easy, the source said. “You don't want to inadvertently say something or step on a third rail that exposes an operation or puts somebody into danger.” — What to expect? “I think that what she can do is talk about procedures and about how things happen,” the official said. Sounds thrilling, we know.
|  The iconic Taipei 101 skyscraper, off in the distance. | Chiang Ying-ying/AP Photo | GREETINGS FROM TAIPEI — Taiwanese President TSAI ING-WEN did not directly ask a visiting Canadian delegation for military assistance, says Liberal MP JOHN MCKAY. But she did express business interest in military research, says the Toronto MP, noting that Canada’s defense industry has “some pretty high-end capability.” McKay, who is leading an all-party delegation of MPs to the island nation, called Playbook at 4:35 a.m. local time to share some of his notes. “There’s Eastern Standard Time, there’s Pacific time. And then there’s John McKay time,” he explained. — Timing is everything: The MPs arrived as the Chinese government was launching military exercises. “Nothing like a threat to focus the mind,” McKay said of the “welcome wagon.” — Conversation starters: Tsai’s public comments focused on economics — the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, for example. But it was a private crash course on cyberthreats that seized the attention of the 10 MPs. Taiwan’s digital minister, AUDREY TANG, described how government infrastructure is under constant attack from Beijing. — Patchwork problems: Taiwan rolled digital defense into a single new ministry last year. It’s different from Canada’s “alphabet soup of silos” in which multiple departments and agencies are responsible for cyber security, McKay said. “It's not clear, to me at least, that the silos always communicate,” he said. “That leaves cracks in our defense system.” Did someone forward Ottawa Playbook your way? Click here to sign up for your own edition. It’s free! | | TODAY'S HIGHLIGHTS | |
— Deputy Prime Minister CHRYSTIA FREELAND is in Washington, D.C. for IMF and World Bank spring meetings. She has a 2 p.m. media availability in her schedule.
1 p.m. (4 p.m. PDT) NDP Leader JAGMEET SINGH has Vaisakhi celebrations in the Lower Mainland on his itinerary.
| | For your radar | | | | 
Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux has a proposal. | Courtesy of the Parliamentary Budget Office | A FIXED DATE — Parliamentary Budget Officer YVES GIROUX has reupped an ill-fated recommendation that successive governments have rejected decisively. Giroux pitched fixed budget dates as a means to address an annual exercise in fiscal frustration. The government must publish annual spending estimates by March 1. These "main estimates" hoover up countless bureaucrat hours, and offer a detailed look at where federal money-spenders want to dish out taxpayer dough. Those estimates aren't useless. But every single year they're reliably outdated by the government's blockbuster fiscal plan — aka the budget, which is regularly tabled in March. The budget announces new spending that the hapless estimates never saw coming and couldn't plan for. There's a certain logic to a fixed budget date that falls before the tabling of the estimates, which could more accurately forecast where all our money is going. An earlier budget would also allow governments to pass budget implementation bills earlier in the year — and speed up initiatives that can take nearly a year to get moving. — This is not a new idea: In 2012, the House government operations committee asked the Conservative government to consider tabling budgets no later than Feb. 1. That was a no-go. The Treasury Board president of the era, TONY CLEMENT, argued it "would restrict the government’s flexibility in responding to global and domestic imperatives." In 2019, Tory MPs on the same committee pushed the Liberal government to adopt a Feb. 1 deadline, with allowances for extenuating circumstances. "It is simply unrealistic to expect the average Canadian to be able to understand these documents the way they are currently released, and as was noted during the study, parliamentarians often don’t know how to read the documents either," they wrote in a dissenting report. Needless to say, the Liberals didn't take them up on it. Like clockwork, the debate resurfaces. The Globe's PATRICK BRETHOUR wrote about fixed dates in 2022. Here's the Hill Times in 2020. The CBC's JANYCE MCGREGOR flicked at the concept in 2017. — Anything is possible: There's always hope for the fiscal sticklers. British Columbia's finance minister always tables the budget on the third Tuesday in February. Alberta passed a law in 2019 that forces the government to find a day in February to table the budget. SIDEBAR IN SAPPORO — Natural Resources Minister JONATHAN WILKINSON is in Japan G-7 ministerial meetings where the Japanese government is expected to spend the weekend pushing members to support new natural gas production. Wilkinson’s spokesperson KEEAN NEMBHARD tells Playbook that Canada will continue to support the clean energy transition of allies and their desires to cut their reliance on Russian energy. “If Canadian industry believes it can help displace heavier hydrocarbon fuels around the world, the federal government is open to having this discussion,” Nembhard said. “It is ultimately up to individual companies to demonstrate the economic viability of their proposed projects.” Environmental groups and the International Energy Agency are urging leaders to think twice about supporting new LNG infrastructure. Wilkinson is traveling with Environment Minister STEVEN GUILBEAULT for climate, energy and environment meetings with G-7 counterparts. — Away from the G-7 bullpen: Wilkinson and U.S. Energy Secretary JENNIFER GRANHOLM are expected to trade notes on the nebulous energy transformation task force announced during the POTUS visit. — High on the agenda: POLITICO Pro reported this week the focus will be on clean hydrogen and making headway on the U.S. energy department’s “earthshots” program by cutting the cost of energy storage systems. — Tick tock: Wilkinson and Granholm will bring their notes to CHRYSTIA FREELAND and AMOS HOCHSTEIN, co-leads of the one-year task force. Three weeks down, 49 to go. | | WHO'S UP, WHO'S DOWN | | What’s up: The deputy prime minister’s international profile after she delivered a new “Freeland Doctrine” speech in D.C. this week. What’s down: THE TRUDEAU FOUNDATION, which is minus a board.
| | Talk of the town | |
TRUE COLORS — British Columbia's Liberals are no more. The province's coalition of center-right free enterprisers now goes by the soccer-sounding “B.C. United.”
The party unveiled new branding this week, anchored by lively shades of teal and pink. Election visualizers woke up to a quandary. Which hue would adorn riding maps alongside New Democrat orange and Green green? POLITICO contributor PHILIPPE J. FOURNIER put it to a Twitter vote. — Wiki war: Over on Wikipedia, a Vancouver-based editor named LEE YUET-MAN — Yue for short — quietly changed the revamped party's coloring just after midnight on Thursday. Yue picked teal: #12C0D3, to be specific. He tweaked the shade to #19BFD2. EARL WASHBURN, an Ottawa-based Wiki moderator who works at Ekos Research by day, nixed the change the next morning. "No consensus for teal. Pink is preferred so far," he summarized in an edit that installed #DB1C63 as the prevailing hue. Let the debate begin. A user named Kawnhr preferred pink, "as it will better contrast with the BC Conservative Party, which has had increased relevance in recent months." Others disagreed about which was the dominant color, and which was the accent. — Democracy rules: The Fournier vote was decisive. Teal held a commanding lead after hundreds of voters weighed in. Wiki remains pink. Unity, this is not. | | MEDIA ROOM | |
— Union members will not be able to conduct their job action on Zoom or Microsoft Teams, ANDREW DUFFY writes in the Ottawa Citizen. “There will be no virtual picket lines,” says PSAC President Chris Aylward.
— CP's STEPHANIE TAYLOR plays out the ramifications of PIERRE POILIEVRE's promise to defund CBC while maintaining French-language programming. — Poilievre has the National Post's COLBY COSH onside. ICYMI: BRUCE ARTHUR, not so much. — AMANDA LANG and SEAN SPEER discuss inflation, the interest rate announcement and Bill C-11 in the first episode in a new series over on The Hub. — “Dear immigrants: Coming to Canada? Here’s what you’re really in for,” SHREE PARADKAR writes for the Star. | | PROZONE | |
For POLITICO Pro s, here’s our latest policy newsletter from NICK TAYLOR-VAISEY and ZI-ANN LUM.
In other news for Pro s: — Chinese trade with the West dips, customs data show.
— Five things you need to know about EU bank bailout reforms.
— U.K. treasury chief urges U.S.-Europe unity after France calls for break.
— Biden wants to coax Americans into electric cars. These 3 groups have other ideas.
— Progressive Democrats press Biden to suspend Willow oil project permits. | | PLAYBOOKERS | |
Birthdays: HBD to Senators MARGARET DAWN ANDERSON and PERCY MOCKLER; Bloc Leader YVES-FRANÇOIS BLANCHET and former MP TRACEY RAMSEY.
Celebrating Saturday: Former Senator SANDRA M. LOVELACE NICHOLAS and PHAEDRA DE SAINT-ROME of the Max Bell School of Public Policy. Sunday birthdays: Senator FRANCES LANKIN, MPs PETER JULIAN and JULIE DABRUSIN. Send birthdays to ottawaplaybook@politico.com. Spotted: The attendance list for Brampton mayor PATRICK BROWN's fundraising dinner to help pay off campaign debts from his ill-fated bid to lead the federal Conservatives. The post-event report submitted to Elections Canada lists 117 donors, who forked over between C$500 and C$1,700. The dinner was organized by ASHLYN GLADMAN and campaign manager JOHN MYKYTYSHYN. German Ambassador SABINE SPARWASSER presenting Sen. PETER BOEHM with the Knight Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit of Germany. Eurasia Group president/GZERO chief correspondent IAN BREMMER interviewing National Defense Minister ANITA ANAND. Movers and shakers: The Canadian Home Builders' Association tapped three Earnscliffe consultants on the Hill. Among the CHBA's priorities: "Ensure that regulations and guidelines relating to the Interest Act and mortgage financing do not create market distortions that undermine housing affordability and choice." Media mentions: La Fédération professionnelle des journalistes du Québec calling PIERRE POILIEVRE’s stunt taunting a Canadian Press reporter an act that “does not serve democracy.” | | | On the Hill | | |
→ Find upcoming House committees here
→ Keep track of Senate committees here 10:30 a.m. Governor General MARY SIMON invests appointees into the Order of Merit of the Police Forces for exceptional service. 11:30 a.m. Innovation Minister FRANÇOIS-PHILIPPE CHAMPAGNE is in Saint-Laurent, Quebec with Swiss Federal Councillor GUY PARMELIN at an engineering firm to make a cooperation announcement. — For your radar: At around 9 p.m. local time, JOE BIDEN will address a crowd expected to number about 20,000 in front of St. Muredach’s Cathedral in Ballina, before flying back to Washington D.C. | | | TRIVIA | | |
Thursday’s answer: The Mackenzie is the longest river in Canada — a fact many of you knew!
Props to SOPHIA LINDFIELD, TOBY HARPER-MERRETT, MARK AGNEW, DAVE EPP, WAYNE EASTER, BRIAN GILBERTSON, ETHAN SPENCER, JOHN DILLON, SHEILA GERVAIS, ANNE-MARIE STACEY, ALICE KEMPFF, ALLAN FABRYKANT, BOB DEWAR, LAURA JARVIS, CAMERON RYAN, ROBERT MCDOUGALL, MARC R. LEBLANC, RALPH LEVENSTEIN, NANCI WAUGH, LOIS CORBETT, JONATHAN INGRAHAM, SHAUGHN MCARTHUR, GEORGE SCHOENHOFER, JASON DEVEAU, JOANNA PLATER, LESLIE SWARTMAN, JOHN ECKER, GARY ALLEN and NATHAN GORDON. Think you have a harder trivia question? Send us your best. Friday’s question: Name the sitting parliamentarian who said, “My mom was born with five Inuk names — no English name and no last name. In the 1930s, the government decided Indigenous people in the North needed another identifier, so they started identifying people by number. My mom’s number was W3-779.” Playbook wouldn’t happen: Without Luiza Ch. Savage and Sue Allan. Want to grab the attention of movers and shakers on Parliament Hill? Want your brand in front of a key audience of Ottawa influencers? Playbook can help. Contact Jesse Shapiro to find out how: jshapiro@politico.com
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