Out of the backroom

From: POLITICO Ottawa Playbook - Tuesday May 02,2023 10:00 am

May 02, 2023

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Thanks for reading Ottawa Playbook. I'm your host, Nick Taylor-Vaisey. Today, a Conservative heavyweight testifies at a House committee. Plus, another committee sorts through the morass of drug pricing regulations. Also, what's missing from the parliamentary debate on artificial intelligence?

DRIVING THE DAY

A RARE GLIMPSE — JENNI BYRNE isn't a total stranger to Ottawa these days. She even makes semi-public appearances now and again. Byrne schmoozed at an afterparty for the gala that capped JOE BIDEN's jaunt north, for example.

But she has made a career of working in the shadows. When she played a major behind-the-scenes role in PIERRE POILIEVRE's romp to the Tory leadership, POLITICO chronicled her ups and downs in campaign backrooms for two decades — celebrated proudly by loyalists, feared by gossipy detractors.

Byrne was a regular on TV for several years after the 2015 federal election. She was a vocal panelist on DAVID HERLE's Curse of Politics pod, infusing a steady (and memorable) stream of curse words into her weekly analysis. (Your Playbook host had a front-row seat for the daily version of the show on the 2021 campaign trail.)

Byrne also tweets. But she rarely speaks in an uncontrolled environment — say, a House committee.

— Until now: Byrne will testify at the procedure and House affairs committee at 8:30 p.m., the headliner of a three-panel set that features seven other witnesses. They're there to talk about foreign interference in federal elections.

Byrne appears alone for the committee's final hour.

The Conservative operative, styled as a "senior leadership adviser" in an NDP motion that signaled interest in hearing from her, will appear "as an individual" tonight. It's a clinical description of a woman central to the vibe of the current iteration of the Conservative Party.

Unconfirmed rumors have floated around for months that Byrne will be Poilievre's next national campaign manager.

— Why Byrne? Playbook asked RACHEL BLANEY, the NDP MP who sits on the committee, what she hopes to learn from Byrne in the context of a study mostly limited to alleged interference in the 2019 and 2021 elections.

Blaney is hoping to turn the clock back to 2015, when Byrne managed the national Conservative campaign.

Her committee heard last week from another former Tory campaign boss, HAMISH MARSHALL, who said intelligence briefings he received related to interference were "very, very vague and top-level" — not detailed enough to be of much use.

Marshall's Liberal counterpart in 2019, JEREMY BROADHURST, echoed the concern. "You are looking at raw data and asked to come to your own conclusions," he told MPs.

— Tonight's questions: Blaney says her aims are innocent enough. She wants to learn more about any whiff of foreign interference almost eight years ago:

"Were there any indicators of [interference] in 2015? Were there any systems in place? What information were they able to capture during that time? Where is the breakdown? Why is it not clear? Is the information going to folks not cohesive enough?"

What does Blaney really want? A public inquiry, natch.

— In sum: "I'm just digging," says Blaney. "It's up to [Byrne] how helpful she wants to be and what information she'll have for us."

The disappointing conclusion for drama enthusiasts could be simple. Byrne might not have much to say, or any news to make. Then again, that's not entirely up to her.

— Also appearing: Miller Thomson LLP partner GERALD CHIPEUR; former spy chief WARD ELCOCK; former chief of the spy agency's Asia-Pacific unit MICHEL JUNEAU-KATSUYA; Vancouver Anti-Corruption Institute advisory committee chair PETER GERMAN; independent researcher NANCY BANGSBOLL; uOttawa associate professor THOMAS JUNEAU; and Royal Military College professor CHRISTIAN LEUPRECHT.

Know someone who could use Ottawa Playbook? Direct them to this link . Five days a week, zero dollars.

TODAY'S HIGHLIGHTS

— Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU will chair the Cabinet meeting at 9 a.m. Later in the day, he’ll attend QP. He’s also due to speak with King Charles III at some point in his day.

— Deputy Prime Minister CHRYSTIA FREELAND is in Washington.

10 a.m. Budget watchdog YVES GIROUX drops by the Senate national finance committee. Senators are studying the Liberals’ budget legislation, Bill C-47.

10:30 a.m. Liberal MP SALMA ZAHID will table a private member's bill: “An Act to amend the Canadian Security Intelligence Service Act (duty of candour)." She'll then speak with reporters, and will be joined by representatives from the National Council of Canadian Muslims and "other supportive community organizations."

11:30 a.m. Three NDP MPs — LEAH GAZAN, BLAKE DESJARLAIS and LORI IDLOUT — will host a news conference and call on the government to "urgently act to save Indigenous lives and to declare the continued loss of Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people a Canada-wide emergency."

1 p.m. Freeland will co-chair the first meeting of the joint Canada-U.S. Energy Transformation Task Force, along with AMOS HOCHSTEIN, the U.S. special presidential coordinator for global infrastructure and energy security.

2:15 p.m. NDP leader JAGMEET SINGH will attend question period.

3:15 p.m. The PM will meet with Nunavut Premier P.J. AKEEAGOK.

3:45 p.m. Singh will meet with the Unifor Marine Workers Local 1.

4:30 p.m. Freeland will meet with LAEL BRAINARD, director of the White House's National Economic Council.

7 p.m. Singh will attend the Thunder Bay-Rainy River NDP nomination meeting.

For your radar

DRUG PRICE DRAMA — Who knew the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board had this much intrigue within its walls?

The House health committee will hear from two witnesses today who resigned earlier this year from the PMPRB, the quasi-judicial regulatory body that prevents excessive drug prices. MATTHEW HERDER and DOUG CLARK both left the agency amidst a battle over new pricing regulations years in the making.

— The tl;dr is this: Back in 2017, the Liberals embarked on a journey to reduce drug prices. The government eventually proposed new regulations meant to accomplish that goal. The regulations were delayed repeatedly during the pandemic. There were court battles with the pharmaceutical industry. For months, the regulator has consulted on draft guidelines to implement the regulations. But that’s been delayed, too.

— Today's agenda: Herder quit the board in February, alleging a cozy relationship between Health Minister JEAN-YVES DUCLOS and the pharma industry. Duclos had intervened last fall to request further industry consultations.

“When government adds its voice to that of industry,” Herder wrote in a letter, “all that lies before the regulator is an endless tunnel with no light.”

The same week, Clark announced his resignation as the PMPRB's executive director after nearly a decade with the agency. A press release at the time said Clark would remain as a "special adviser to the Board for a specified period as he transitions to retirement ."

This morning at 11, the pair gets a chance to tell their sides of the story while cameras roll.

HALLWAY CONVERSATION

NEEDS MORE WORK — POLITICO led a conversation on artificial intelligence last week at the Public Policy Forum's Canada Growth Summit 2023. (Here's one back-and-forth on the rapid rise of chat-bots in recent months.)

Microsoft Canada president CHRIS BARRY and AI public policy director OWEN LARTER reflected on the need for federal legislation to regulate the technology.

On Monday, Playbook asked a pair of experts for their take on what's missing from the debate on Bill C-27, the legislation meant to keep up with lightning-fast advances in AI.

CHRISTELLE TESSONO, a tech policy researcher at Princeton University's Center for Information Technology Policy: We need to hear the perspectives of people who bear the costs of failures in AI systems. There are many different applications of AI used in gig work.

For example, in food delivery apps, workers' conditions are defined by algorithms. Their pay, the distance they have to travel between orders, the types of orders they have to take, etc., are defined by algorithms.

In many instances, they do not have a direct supervisor they can talk to. They end up first talking with a chat-bot and later may be able to speak to a person (who may not really be their "manager").

As a result, AI shapes the nature of the work delivery drivers do, and when things go wrong/end unfairly (e.g. missing tips, uneven pay for laborious work, road accidents), their recourse is severely limited and defined by the platform and algorithm.

We need to have more conversations around AI regulation that focus on the real-world impacts that current systems have, instead of legislating around the "potential socially beneficial applications" of AI.

ANNA JAHN, Mila's director of public policy and learning: Now that Canada is getting closer to legislating the potential harmful use of AI systems, I think we need to pay more attention to how Canada will align our legislative and regulatory frameworks with the rest of the world.

The question of interoperability of our governance systems, especially with the U.S. and the E.U., deserves more attention and immediate coordination efforts. And Canada could play a leadership role in bringing everyone around the table to address this urgent global AI governance challenge.

Secondly, we should think more about how our existing legal frameworks, like the Canadian Human Rights Act, can be used and better applied in AI applications in addition to the new legislative tools.

MEDIA ROOM

— Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU told the House of Commons that he has asked officials to investigate allegations that Conservative MP MICHAEL CHONG's family was targeted by China's intelligence service.

— The Globe's JOSH O'KANE reports: Crowd displeaser: As Online Streaming Act becomes law, just about everyone is unhappy

— News from our colleagues in London: UK locks horns with WhatsApp over threat to break encryption.

— And from POLITICO’s SUZANNE LYNCH: Biden-von der Leyen 2024?

— KARAMVEER LALH makes the case that Alberta UCP leader DANIELLE SMITH is, in fact, conservative. He was rebutting arguments to the contrary made by KEN BOESSENKOOL and JARED WESLEY.

— My descent into TikTok News Hell is a cautionary tale from DEREK ROBERTSON.

— In case you missed it, FRANCES DONALD is the latest guest on the Herle Burly.

PROZONE

For POLITICO Pro s, our latest policy newsletter: Freeland to D.C. for energy task force meeting No. 1

In news for POLITICO Pro s:

— U.S. could breach debt limit by June 1, Yellen warns.
— Fortier puts a price tag on deal with Canada's federal workers.
— POLITICO Pro Q&A: Rio Tinto’s Ivan Vella on aluminum’s comeback.
— Another big Alaska fossil fuel project gets Biden team’s blessing.
— Manchin says he would repeal 'sections' of Democrats' climate law.

PLAYBOOKERS

Birthdays: HBD to former MPs BELINDA STRONACH and JIM KARYGIANNIS. Post columnist COLBY COSH is also another year older.

Bonus May 1 HBDs: MARK OLSHESKI, VP at Sussex Strategy; and DAVID SHEPPARD, parliamentary affairs aide to Sen. JANE CORDY.

Spotted: Windsor–Tecumseh MP IREK KUSMIERCZYK, declaring a city parking pass gifted to him each year. … Economist and Hill Times columnist ERICA IFILL, playing down the Public Service Alliance of Canada's claimed victories at the bargaining table.

Ottawa mayor MARK SUTCLIFFE, reporting from a reopened Wellington Street.

Movers and shakers: BRANDEN LESLIE is the Conservative candidate in the yet-to-be-called Portage–Lisgar byelection to replace CANDICE BERGEN. Leslie beat three other candidates, including former Manitoba finance minister CAMERON FRIESEN — who resigned both his Cabinet gig and seat in the provincial legislature to seek the nomination.

JULIE SAVARD-SHAW, former deputy chief of staff to Public Safety Minister MARCO MENDICINO, announced her new gig off the Hill: executive director of The Prosperity Project, a charity "founded to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Canadian women who are being disproportionately affected."

Glencore, the mining giant angling for a takeover of Teck Resources, tapped the talents of STEPHEN YARDY, PAA Advisory senior adviser and former NDP Hill staffer.

Enterprise Canada government relations consultant SAM MACMILLAN is lobbying for Maritime Launch Services, the aspiring commercial spaceport in Nova Scotia.

PAM HRICK celebrated her election as a bencher at the Law Society of Ontario.

Media mentions: The 2023 Canada-United Kingdom Media Freedom Award was presented Monday to Mada Masr, an Egyptian online newspaper.

Farewell: Gordon Lightfoot died Monday night at 84.

Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU tweeted: "We have lost one of our greatest singer-songwriters. Gordon Lightfoot captured our country’s spirit in his music — and in doing so, he helped shape Canada’s soundscape. May his music continue to inspire future generations, and may his legacy live on forever."

On the Hill

→ Find the latest on House committee meetings here.

→ Keep track of Senate committee meetings here.

8:15 a.m. Filmmaker JENNIFER BAICHWAL teams up with Liberal MP JENICA ATWIN in West Block to hold a press conference to call for political accountability on glyphosate use.

9 a.m. The Senate transport committee meets to study Bill C-18.

9:30 a.m. Senators RATNA OMIDVAR, PATRICIA BOVEY, CHANTAL PETITCLERC and JUDITH SEIDMAN will be witnesses at the Senate rules, procedure and rights of Parliament committee.

10 a.m. Budget watchdog YVES GIROUX drops by the Senate national finance committee. Senators are studying the Liberals’ budget legislation, Bill C-47.

10:30 a.m. Liberal MP SALMA ZAHID holds a press conference in West Block after tabling her private members bill, “An Act to amend the Canadian Security Intelligence Service Act (duty of candour).”

11 a.m. International Development Minister HARJIT SAJJAN is up at the House foreign affairs committee to take questions about main estimates.

11 a.m. An incredible 46 department officials are on the witness list for the House finance committee’s study of the Liberals’ budget legislation, Bill C-47.

11 a.m. The House transport committee meets to hear Canada Infrastructure Bank CEO EHREN CORY’s testimony at its study probing McKinsey’s role in the bank’s creation.

11 a.m. The House health committee continues its study of the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board. The board’s executive director, DOUGLAS CLARK, is on the witness list.

11 a.m. The parade of Ontario MPs continues at the House procedure and House affairs committee’s study of the province’s electoral boundaries with cameos from MARIE-FRANCE LALONDE, ANNA ROBERTS, RUBY SAHOTA and DOUG SHIPLEY.

11:30 a.m. NDP MP LEAH GAZAN holds a media availability.

3:30 p.m. MORRIS ROSENBERG, former Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation president, will be at the House ethics committee to discuss his 2021 Critical Election Incident Public Protocol report.

3:30 p.m. The House natural resources committee kicks off its first meeting for its study of Canada’s pulp and paper industry.

3:30 p.m. The House public safety committee meets to take Bill C-21 through clause-by-clause consideration.

6:30 p.m. The House procedure and House affairs committee continues its study of foreign election interference.

6:30 p.m. The Senate agriculture committee meets to study Bill S-236.

— Behind the scenes: The House science committee’s subcommittee on agenda and procedure meets to go over “committee business”; the House science committee mulls its report on international moonshot programs.

TRIVIA

Monday’s answer: The Alberta Liberals governed Alberta for the first 16 years after it became a province in 1905?

Props to DAN ARNOLD, MATTHEW GASPARIN, DOUG SWEET, WAYNE EASTER, BRANDON RABIDEAU, MARC LEBLANC, ROBERT MCDOUGALL, ANNE-MARIE STACEY, BILL PRISTANSKI, GERMAINE MALABRE, MATT CONLEY, SHAUGHN MCARTHUR, NANCI WAUGH, DOUG RICE, GEORGE SCHOENHOFER and BOB GORDON.

Today’s question: On this date in history, who said: “For 18 years — for 18 long years — my party has been in opposition. It could only say, it could not do. Today we are charged with the deep responsibility of government. Today, enough of talking — it is time now to do.”

Send your answers to ottawaplaybook@politico.com.

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