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A daily look inside Canadian politics and power. | | | | |  | | By Nick Taylor-Vaisey and Kyle Duggan | Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Nick | Follow Politico Canada Thanks for reading Ottawa Playbook. I'm your host, Nick Taylor-Vaisey, with Kyle Duggan. Today, we check in on the Liberal gun control bill's progress in the Senate. Plus, the Commons finance committee is asking for next year's pre-budget submission this summer. Also, an exit interview with National Post Ottawa bureau chief JOHN IVISON.
|  | DRIVING THE DAY | | ALTERNATE TIMELINE — If only last week hadn't been such a disaster, Public Safety Minister MARCO MENDICINO might've spent more energy on his gun control bill. Mendicino could use a big win before the summer. He stumbled through a week on the Hill that failed to contain the damage from his office's handling of PAUL BERNARDO's transfer to a medium-security prison. The minister has the sympathy of plenty of Liberals on the Hill, but his name is caught up in virtually all Cabinet shuffle speculation. If senators sent Bill C-21 to Rideau Hall for the governor general's signature, Mendicino would at least have a BBQ circuit conversation starter (our framing, not his). "It is a top priority for me to get this bill passed before Parliament rises this summer," Mendicino told Playbook early last week, before Bernardo's incarceration was all he heard about from reporters. "It is because it will save lives." But time is not on the minister's side. — What's in the bill: C-21 enshrines into law a freeze on handgun sales, purchases and transfers the government already enacted through regulations; pass "red flag" and "yellow flag" provisions that prevent the possession of firearms by some individuals who pose a threat to themselves or others; and increase penalties for gun trafficking. It's been a bumpy ride for the bill, which the government insists does not target law-abiding gun owners — but some opponents, notably Conservatives, disagree. After an earlier version of the bill hit a wall of criticism last year, the government undertook more consultations and came back to the Commons with new amendments — including a provision that says C-21 does not derogate Indigenous constitutional rights. — No rubber stamp: The Senate will sit for a maximum of eight days before rising for the summer, and don't bet on the upper chamber going the distance. Mendicino has complained that DON PLETT, the Tory leader in the Senate, is delaying the bill's progress. It's true that Plett is in no rush to see C-21 become law, but he and his fellow Conservatives are not alone in wanting more debate. Independent Senators Group Sen. STAN KUTCHER wants the Senate committee that takes up a study to hear from experts on suicide prevention and gun control legislation. Progressive Senate Group Sen. MARTY KLYNE told the chamber the bill is "somewhat flawed and has the potential to cause challenges for law-abiding gun owners." Klyne also wants more debate. — Grumbles from the minister: "By the end of the month, [senators] will have had five weeks to study this bill and to pass it," Mendicino said. That's two more weeks than the House needed to push C-21 through committee and past third reading in May. They really shouldn't need that much time, Mendicino heavily implied, because MPs already heard from a wide variety of witnesses. "The Senate has the full advantage and benefit of an exhaustive record of debate," he said. "Obviously, they have every right to do the work around studying the bill as well." — Timelines: Sen. HASSAN YUSSUFF opened second-reading debate on May 31. If the Senate rises on June 30 — a big 'if,' because senators could flee the chamber for the summer sooner — about four weeks will have passed since that first speech. — The bottom line: Unless the Tories give way and non-Tory senators with lingering concerns somehow speed up the legislative process, there's only one thing left to say: "See you in the fall."
| | | TODAY'S HIGHLIGHTS | | | — Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU will attend the site selection ceremony of the Residential Schools National Monument. Governor General MARY SIMON will also attend, along with Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister MARC MILLER and Heritage Minister PABLO RODRIGUEZ. The PM will also chair Cabinet at 9:30 a.m., and attend Question Period. — Deputy PM CHRYSTIA FREELAND is in Toronto for private meetings. 10 a.m. Kebaowek First Nation and Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg will "present an overview of their Indigenous-led assessment" of a radioactive waste proposal near the Chalk River nuclear facility west of Ottawa. Green leader ELIZABETH MAY will join. 11 a.m. NDP leader JAGMEET SINGH will talk to reporters in Ottawa about his motion "to take on ultra-wealthy CEOs." 12 p.m. Sen. MARTY DEACON will speak to reporters about a bill that would "establish national guidelines and regulations around the advertising and promotion of sports betting." 3:30 p.m. Sen. SCOTT TANNAS will submit a bill "aimed at advancing economic reconciliation for First Nations," drafted in collaboration with Chief ROY WHITNEY of Tsuut’ina Nation and Chief BOBBY CAMERON of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations.
| | For your radar | | | | 
Anna Gainey greets supporters after winning the federal by-election in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce–Westmount. | Christinne Muschi, The Canadian Press | BY-ELECTION WATCH — Another of the Ottawa bubble's semi-regular rounds of "What Does It All Mean?" came to a crescendo Monday night. What does it all mean in the end? 338Canada’s PHILIPPE J. FOURNIER tells Playbook: “Considering the results point to a status quo, probably not much. Urban voters continue to elude the Conservatives, while the Liberals — even with the help of a former Conservative MP — cannot get to the finish line in rural Ontario. For the newly elected MPs, a win is a win. But for the main parties, last night’s results ended in a tie.” Here's how the four federal by-elections played out, and the biggest question spawned by each mini-vote. — Winnipeg South Centre, Man.: Liberal candidate BEN CARR, son of the late JIM CARR, erased any chance of a Conservative upset in a riding typically held by Liberals — but is high on the wishlist of PIERRE POILIEVRE's Tories. → Better know an MP: Carr was a high school teacher for four years before heading to Ottawa to work for MÉLANIE JOLY as director of parliamentary affairs. He left that gig for a new job as a Winnipeg principal (at a high school, not a firm). → The big question: The next time JUSTIN TRUDEAU shuffles his benches, a few newcomers will be hoping for a promotion — including, say, former Ontario finance minister CHARLES SOUSA. Where will Carr fit into a Liberal reset? — Portage–Lisgar, Man.: Conservative candidate BRANDEN LESLIE took a commanding majority of the vote in the riding formerly held by interim party leader CANDICE BERGEN. Leslie trounced People's Party leader MAXIME BERNIER, who had hoped to build on his party's strong showing in the riding in 2021. → Better know an MP: Leslie is a longtime Hill staffer who cut his teeth as a legislative assistant to former MP LAURIE HAWN. He also ran Bergen's 2019 re-election campaign. → The big question: If this by-election marked the end of an era for Bernier's People's Party, what's next for the former Cabinet minister? — Oxford, Ont.: Conservative candidate ARPAN KHANNA won a closer-than-usual race with Liberal challenger DAVID HILDERLEY. Retired MP DAVE MACKENZIE's daughter, DEB TAIT, lost the nomination to Khanna. MacKenzie endorsed Hilderley. → Better know an MP: Khanna was a key player in former Cabmin JASON KENNEY's outreach to ethnic communities. Between 2013 and 2015, Khanna was a Greater Toronto Area adviser to Kenney, organizing more than 300 events for 30-plus communities. → The big question: How quickly will Khanna, whose candidacy rubbed some Tories the wrong way, be appointed to Poilievre's shadow cabinet? — Notre-Dame-de-Grâce–Westmount, Que.: Liberal candidate ANNA GAINEY cruised to victory in MARC GARNEAU's vacated riding. It was a dogfight for second place between Green deputy leader JONATHAN PEDNEAULT, the NDP's JEAN-FRANÇOIS FILION and Conservative MATHEW KAMINSKI (note: not POLITICO's editor-in-chief). → Better know an MP: It's well known that Gainey is daughter of hockey hall of famer BOB GAINEY and wife of Trudeau’s childhood friend TOM PITFIELD. She also founded the Gainey Foundation in part to honor her sister, who died suddenly in 2006 after being swept overboard from a tall ship — a tragedy that bonded Gainey and Trudeau. → The big question: Gainey is a trusted Trudeau insider with a track record as party president. How swiftly will she rise through Liberal ranks? PRE-BUDGET SEASON — The House finance committee has formally opened the floodgates on stakeholder pre-budget submissions for 2024. The committee overhauled its timelines on the 2024 pre-budget study, setting a submission deadline of Aug. 4, approximately two months earlier than last year. The committee aims to present a report in December, while ministers are still submitting formal budget requests to the finance minister. In 2023, MPs only managed to send a report to the Commons in March. — Bye-bye, bubble: This year, MPs are planning hearings in Charlottetown, Halifax, Fredericton, St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Québec, Toronto, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Vancouver. — A little bit of levity: PAA Public Advisors' FERNANDO MELO jotted down a few lyrics to mark the occasion. This is, after all, Ottawa.
| | HALLWAY CONVERSATION | | National Post columnist JOHN IVISON has enjoyed the “total privilege” of having a “front-row seat on 20 years of Canadian and world history.” Tonight, friends and coworkers toast to his success while everyone is still in town, ahead of his last day working from Ottawa next month — 25 years to the day he first walked into the newsroom. (His columns will still appear after his big move to Costa Rica for his wife DANA CRYDERMAN’s diplomatic posting.) Playbook caught up with him to get his thoughts on his time in the Ottawa bubble, edited for clarity and brevity. — On Ottawa trends in openness and accountability: The old “Yes, Minister” line on open government: You can be open, or you can have government. It’s a joke but I think it’s been taken to heart, first by the Harper Conservatives who required so many levels of approval so, if you went to a department, that approval had to go straight to the center and then back again and it delayed things to the point of making them unworkable. Then the Trudeau government came in and said they’re going to be transparent by default. That has been a nonsense idea, that they were going to open up access to information to ministers’ offices and do all these other things. It just hasn’t happened. They’ve inherited a system which was working in suppressing information. And they’ve perfected it. If you phone a department now, you don’t get to speak to a human being. You leave a message, they’ll get back to you at some point. And you put in a request for information by email, and nine times out of 10 it will not arrive in time — despite the fact that a lot of departments now have three times as many communications staff as, let’s say, the National Post. Voters should be outraged at the levels governments have gone to to cover up what they’re doing. Another “Yes, Minister” line: If they don’t know what you’re doing, they don’t know what you’re doing wrong. That’s satire of the highest form because that is exactly what governments have done over the past 20 years. — How the tone has changed in politics: The Harper Conservatives started treating their political adversaries as enemies. And the Trudeau Liberals who came in saying they were going to unify things, there was going to be a new era of civility. Things have gotten worse because the Trudeau view of things is that if you don't agree with them, you’re not only in error, you’re in sin. … That clearly leads to polarization. And it's been an interest of politicians to polarize things. And I think there's a real problem, as we saw in the U.S. with civic ignorance — people don't really know how the system works. Because they don't know how it works, politicians are able to present simple solutions to complex problems and get away with it. — Which beach we can find him on in Costa Rica: Unfortunately none. Because if you look at a map of Costa Rica, the capital is bang in the middle of the country.
| | | MEDIA ROOM | | | — “When it comes to political or economic power, Black communities are still at the back of the bus and are taken for granted,” ERICA IFILL writes in the Star in a column that begins with Toronto’s mayoral race. — The inaugural meeting of the Forum of Ministers on Human Rights takes place in Halifax today. Writing for Policy Options, ALEX NEVE explains what should be at the top of their agenda. — “The lived experience of disability is either excluded or veiled in the rooms where policy decisions are made,” JENNIFER ROBSON writes for Air Quotes Media with insight prior to life-changing hip surgery. — Where to from here for Alberta’s NDP? The Strategists talk it out. COREY HOGAN zeroes in on the party constitution, including its lingering deference to the federal party. — The Globe’s SEAN FINE talked to legal observers who said the Canadian Judicial Council should release its report ordering a public inquiry into the alleged conduct of RUSSELL BROWN, who resigned last week from the Supreme Court of Canada.
| | PROZONE | | For POLITICO Pro s, our latest policy newsletter: FINA invites 2 cents, but makes change. In news for POLITICO Pro s: — Campaigns brace for explosion of AI in 2024.
— How El Niño could make extreme weather even worse.
— Groundwater moved by humans shifted Earth's spin.
— Renewable group shifts position, shakes up hydrogen debate.
— Politico Pro Q&A: Carsten Spohr, Lufthansa CEO.
| | PLAYBOOKERS | | | | 
Spotted: Brian Mulroney and Justin Trudeau, on stage at the Atlantic Economic Forum. | Darren Calabrese, The Canadiann Press | Birthdays: HBD to Thunder Bay Mayor KEN BOSHCOFF, NDP organizer MAT WHYNOTT, former Alberta MLA RICK STRANKMAN, and ROMEO TELLO of the Canadian Medical Association. Movers and shakers: CHRIS HALL starts at Navigator this week as principal. CBC’s former national affairs editor retired as host of The House a year ago. Longtime CHRYSTIA FREELAND staffer MAAZ YASIN leaves government at the end of this week. Canada's chief of protocol, STEWART WHEELER, takes on a new assignment as deputy high commissioner in India … Bluesky Strategy Group's MIKE BLANCHFIELD signed up in the lobbyist registry for Vancouver's Seaspan Shipyards, which is building long-delayed naval replenishment ships and a polar icebreaker. Ontario Liberal leadership candidate TED HSU announced his campaign co-chairs: former finance minister GREG SORBARA, former agriculture minister and rural MPP CAROL MITCHELL, and the Tragically Hip's ROB BAKER. Cocktail circuit: Navigator executive chair JAIME WATT throws a book launch this evening at the firm's Ottawa office. “What I Wish I Said: Confessions of a Columnist” is a retrospective collection that “revisits 48 of his most eye-opening, illuminating, and provocative columns and reflects on what he wishes he'd said.” Spotted: NDP MP LAUREL COLLINS, welcoming baby ÉOWYN: "I’ll be taking a bit of time over the next few months to spend with this little one, but my community office will still be open and we will continue to serve our region" … A MARK SAUNDERS lawn sign, in front of DOUG FORD's house, though the premier hasn't officially endorsed any candidate in Toronto's mayoral by-election. PM TRUDEAU, on stage at the Atlantic Economic Forum alongside former PM BRIAN MULRONEY, Immigration Minister SEAN FRASER and St. Francis Xavier University President ANDY HAKIN.
| | On the Hill | | → Find the latest on House committee meetings here. → Keep track of Senate committee meetings here. 10 a.m. Investigative journo SAM COOPER, former director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service WARD ELCOCK, and EVE SAMSON from the U.K. House of Commons will be at the House procedure committee. 11 a.m. The House committee on science and research will hear from RMC and Queen’s professor CHRISTIAN LEUPRECHT as it studies China’s ties to Canadian universities. During its second hour, it will consider the long-term impacts of pay gaps at universities. 11 a.m. Liberal MP JUDY SGRO will be at the House health committee for clause-by-clause consideration of Bill C-284 during its first half hour. 3:30 p.m. Lobbying Commissioner NANCY BÉLANGER and LYNE ROBINSON-DALPÉ of the Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner will be at the House ethics committee to discuss former Cabmin NAVDEEP BAINS' new gig at Rogers Communications. 3:30 p.m. External Monitor JOCELYNE THERRIEN will be at the House defense committee. 3:30 p.m. Auditor General KAREN HOGAN and officials will be at the House human resources, skills and development and status of persons with disabilities committee for a briefing on accessible transportation. In camera: The House procedure committee holds a meeting at 6:30 p.m. to discuss future business. The House finance committee will be planning its pre-budget consultations.
| | TRIVIA | | Monday’s answer: JOHN F. KENNEDY once said of JOHN DIEFENBAKER that he “never wanted to see the boring son of a bitch again.” Props to NANCI WAUGH, JOHN DILLON, BRANDON RABIDEAU, PATRICK DION, DANIEL PROUSSALIDIS, JOHN ECKER, JOHN MERRIMAN, WAYNE EASTER, BOB GORDON, BOB PLAMONDON, DOUG RICE, GEORGE SCHOENHOFER, CAROLYN MCCRIMMON, JEFFREY VALOIS, ROBERT MCDOUGALL and MARK AGNEW. Join us in Washington for Ottawa Playbook Trivia on June 26 at Penn Social's Little Pen Coffeehouse. Doors open at 7 p.m. First question at 7:30. We'll have a special guest quizmaster: Ambassador KIRSTEN HILLMAN. RSVP via this Google Form. Today’s question: This Canadian ambassador represented prime ministers Trudeau, Turner and Mulroney in D.C. Answers to ottawaplaybook@politico.com. Have a stumper for Playbook’s trivia players? Send it our way. 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. Playbook wouldn’t happen without: Luiza Ch. Savage, Sue Allan and Emma Anderson. | | | | 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 | | | | |  |
