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A daily look inside Canadian politics and power. | | | | |  | | By Kyle Duggan, Zi-Ann Lum and Nick Taylor-Vaisey | Thanks for reading Ottawa Playbook. In today's edition: → 18 weeks fly by, still no breakthrough on foreign interference inquiry → A Cabinet shuffle blast from the past → What government spends on safer inhalation kits for crystal meth |  | DRIVING THE DAY | |
SECURITY INTRIGUE — Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU is promising more details “in the coming weeks” about how his new National Security Council will work.
He told reporters Thursday it will “have a role of overseeing and setting stringent strategic direction for the new and real security challenges that countries like Canada are increasingly facing.” Its membership, along with the new Cabinet committees, are set to come during what will likely be a sleepy few weeks ahead in Ottawa. — Public inquiry negotiations drag on: And so does the blame game. The government and opposition parties continued to meet behind closed doors this week to talk about a foreign interference inquiry with no tangible indication of what’s going on behind them. Aside from barbs. Conservative Leader PIERRE POILIEVRE said the Conservatives have proposed names of “independent, highly qualified, nonpartisan potential commissioners,” along with a mandate and timeframe. “I understand occasionally we get a phone call or the odd email with an incomplete update, but we think Justin Trudeau is delaying,” he said Wednesday. Public Safety Minister DOMINIC LEBLANC dismissed that idea: “He should talk to his House leader, who has been engaged with me collaboratively, constructively in conversations that are advancing we think in a very encouraging way.” Regardless of who is slowing things down, it’s been a minute. — Add it up: → 127 days since the House called for a public inquiry. → 49 days since DAVID JOHNSTON announced he’d resign; 32 since he officially left. → 48 days since the door was declared open and the ball was put in the opposition’s court to work out details among themselves. → 37 days since the Liberals “appeared to be on the verge of calling a public inquiry.” → 21 days since the parties reached an agreement on terms. → 2 days since LeBlanc was asked “what’s the hold up?” and answered “I don't think there's a holdup.” Did someone forward Ottawa Playbook your way? Click here to sign up for your own edition. It’s free! | | TODAY'S HIGHLIGHTS | |
— Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU is in Brossard, Quebec for the opening ceremony of the Réseau express métropolitain at 9 a.m. He is expected to scrum with media afterward, alongside Transport Minister PABLO RODRIGUEZ.
— Deputy Prime Minister CHRYSTIA FREELAND is in Charlottetown this morning and will hold a media briefing at 11 a.m. local time. 8:30 a.m. Statistics Canada to release gross domestic product by industry figures. 9 a.m. Conservative Leader PIERRE POILIEVRE holds a press conference in Sudbury, Ontario. 9:45 a.m. The finance department released Fiscal Monitor for May and June. 6:30 p.m. Poilievre holds an “axe the tax” rally in North Bay, Ontario.
| | WHO'S UP, WHO'S DOWN | |
Up: RECHIE VALDEZ for achieving the impossible: making a Cabinet swearing-in ceremony interesting.
Down: DAVID LAMETTI, who took the deepest plunge from Cabinet. | | HALLWAY CONVERSATION | |
This week was one of the leakiest Cabinet shuffles in recent memory, a constant drip, drip, drip of information and speculation both in public through various media outlets and also in the chatter behind the scenes. That always brings its critics. Playbook reached out to former shuffle spin architect ANDREW MACDOUGALL, former communications director for STEPHEN HARPER’s PMO who orchestrated a shuffle through social media — novel at the time — for thoughts on the rollout. The interview was edited for clarity and brevity. Were you following the leaks/speculation leading up to this week’s Cabinet shuffle? It kind of went sideways, didn’t it? I think that was a function of everybody in that Prime Minister's Office being pretty damn tired and kind of not thinking too clearly, and probably a reflection of unhappiness in the ministerial ranks. You have to do these things kind of by surprise and it's not an easy thing to do when there's such a big cast of characters. Are there pros/cons to leaking this information out, though, ahead of time? There is from the center's [PMO’s] perspective. What you want to leak is the motive — not the who, what, where and the specifics. When we did our big mid-mandate reset in 2013 where we led with Twitter, the only thing we briefed out in advance was a very tight line on the need for fresh faces and experienced hands. The second you get more people involved, then people start doing the kind of jigsaw of moving pieces around — Will they go here? Who goes there? — and you just lose whatever chance you have communicating your motive and top line. Could you even do something like that today? Probably not. Or you probably have to do it somewhere like TikTok, really push the envelope to do something different. Shuffles are overhyped and they really don't mean much, but we make them into these big things. That’s why we made the process such a big part of it by doing it on Twitter. Because that would suck up some of the oxygen: “Oh, it's interesting how they did that.” How did you keep it tightly wrapped? We were quite transparent about keeping the timeline tight. We had a definite identified target for the main message that we wanted to get out about the shuffle. We had the advance team that knew which ministers to bring in what order. We had all the tweets pre-written in advance. Then the PMO told Cabinet to be back in town. Even the ones that weren't being shuffled. Nobody knew for sure that they were staying, going or being switched, so they couldn't leak anything out. And then as late as possible in the moment, you tell them what their new brief is. I can't remember specifically, if that was even the morning of, but it was quite late in the game. | | For your radar | |
POILIEVRE EMPOWERS WOMEN — ANAIDA POILIEVRE, that is. The Tory leader's wife is sitting down for a Saturday evening "fireside chat" co-hosted by Conservative deputy leader MELISSA LANTSMAN and King-Vaughan MP ANNA ROBERTS.
— The night's theme: "Empowering Conservative women." — The venue: Venu Event Space in Vaughan, Ont. | | PAPER TRAIL | |
THE COST OF KITS — Conservative MP GARY VIDAL asked Indigenous Services Minister PATTY HAJDU during a May 29 committee meeting to find out how much the government spends on safer inhalation kits for crystal meth.
Vidal told the committee at the time that a constituent sent him a photo of a Ziploc bag found outside a service station. Inside, he said, was a Canada flag, and a logo marking the package as a safer inhalation meth kit. He asked Hajdu for help costing the kits, which can include a mouthpiece, pipe screens and a glass pipe, along with safety guidance. She obliged and added, “I can tell you that it will be enormously cheaper than the treatment of a variety of different [infectious] diseases from using contaminated inhalation kits.” — The answer: C$2.76, according to a response recently posted by the Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee. Indigenous Services Canada’s Saskatchewan region spent roughly C$23,000 on safer inhalation kits for crystal meth in 2022-23, it read. The department estimated that C$20,000 would be spent on kits in 2023-24. | | MEDIA ROOM | | — Top of POLITICO this hour: DONALD TRUMP charged with new crimes in classified documents case. — Columnist SUSAN DELACOURT is on the Star’s This Matters pod to discuss the shuffle. — CP’s STEPHANIE TAYLOR writes: DAVID LAMETTI’s legacy as justice minister is advancing cause of wrongfully convicted. — National Post’s CATHERINE LÉVESQUE profiles new heritage minister and former rocker PASCALE ST-ONGE. — The Globe’s KRISTY KIRKUP and LAURA STONE, first out of the gate with the PM’s combative comments that the Conservatives are “stoking anger.” — Global’s AARON D'ANDREA picked up on JUSTIN TRUDEAU defending his government’s military spending from comments by U.S. Sen. DAN SULLIVAN (R-Alaska), despite Canada always missing the NATO target. — EMMA GRANEY reports from Alberta: TC Energy to split into two separate companies. | | PROZONE | |
For POLITICO Pro s, our latest policy newsletter by ZI-ANN LUM: Trudeau plays defense on defense.
In other news for Pro s:
— The Inflation Reduction Act turns one.
— U.S. balks at China supply-chain effort at WTO.
— Biden announces action on heat as nation sizzles.
— New studies: Facebook doesn't make people more partisan.
— EU has no easy options to help Ukraine shift its grain. | | Playbookers | |
Birthdays: HBD to Liberal MP MARCO MENDICINO. Greetings also to Sandstone Group senior associate, longtime Liberal staffer and Playbook trivia regular GEORGE YOUNG.
Celebrating Saturday: Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth MARCI IEN and former MP DAVID DE BURGH GRAHAM. On Sunday: Former Ottawa mayor JIM WATSON, Alberta MLA JOE CECI, former Conservative MP KELLIE LEITCH and former trade minister JIM PETERSON. Send birthdays to ottawaplaybook@politico.com . Spotted: Former Liberal MP KAREN MCCRIMMON, winning an Ontario by-election in Kanata-Carleton. ANDREA HAZELL earned the Scarborough-Guildwood riding for the Liberals. Former justice minister DAVID LAMETTI, paying his respects to the late Sinead O'Connor on Facebook — and reflecting cryptically on having lost a seat in Cabinet. Speaking with CBC, he said it came as a surprise. At PIERRE POILIEVRE's Calgary fundraiser on the first day of Stampede at an Italian restaurant in the city's downtown core: former premier ALISON REDFORD, Conservative Party president ROB BATHERSON, Conservative Fund chair ROBERT STALEY, former provincial Cabmin TED MORTON, former federal Cabmin MONTE SOLBERG, Counsel Public Affairs VP AMBER RUDDY, Maple Leaf Strategies partner PHIL VON FINCKENSTEIN, former Alberta MLA SHAYNE SASKIW, Mullen Group CEO MURRAY MULLEN, Wellington Advocacy senior consultant CLANCY BOUWMAN, Coril Holdings CEO DEANNA ZUMWALT, Coril Holdings founder RON MANNIX, Canadian Global Affairs Institute CEO KELLY OGLE, Bennett Jones vice chair PERRY SPITZNAGEL, United Conservative Party Provincial Board president CYNTHIA MOORE, Cenovus senior VP JEFF LAWSON, Navigator associate principal LAUREN ARMSTRONG. Former Treasury Board President SCOTT BRISONgreeting ANDREW COYNE from “oblivion.” Blank front pages on Black Press papers, making a point about C-18. Canada’s Ambassador to China JENNIFER MAY meeting with Alibaba Group … Environment Minister STEVEN GUILBEAULT at the G-20 in Chennai, India exchanging gifts with Japan’s Environment and Nuclear Emergency Preparedness Minister AKIHIRO NISHIMURA … Conservative MP BLAINE CALKINS paying tribute to his late great uncle, JAMES ALVIN CALKINS, a Korean War veteran … U.S. Ambassador DAVID COHEN making friends at Saskatoon City Hall. Movers and shakers: Vice News senior reporter MANISHA KRISHNAN was nominated for an Emmy. | | TRIVIA | |
Thursday’s answer: It’s PETER KENT who has street cred as a former environment minister and member of the Canadian Broadcast Hall of Fame.
Props to JOE BOUGHNER, MATTHEW POIRIER, GEORGE YOUNG, GUY SKIPWORTH, PATRICK DION, SHAUGHN MCARTHUR, LESLIE SWARTMAN, JOHN DILLON, NANCI WAUGH, JOHN ECKER, DOUG SWEET, JASON DEVEAU, DOUG RICE, GRANT PETERS, FRANCIE FORD, SEAN MOORE, STAV NITKA, ROBERT MCDOUGALL, YAROSLAV BARAN, MARC LEBLANC, LAURENT CARBONNEAU, BOB GORDON, RALPH LEVENSTEIN and GORD MCINTOSH. Today’s question: The opening of this tower on this day in 1968 inspired a Canadian newspaper op-ed to announce: “Not only does it symbolize the city’s progressive spirit, it adds a strikingly modern landmark to the skyline.” Name the tower. Send your answer to ottawaplaybook@politico.com 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 | | | | |  |
