TAXING THE GIANTS — Washington officials are looking north with furrowed brows. Finance Minister CHRYSTIA FREELAND has her mind made up. Canada will move ahead with a domestic digital services tax, in force as early as next January, that taxes major tech companies that operate in Canada — the likes of Google, Meta, Amazon, etc. The Americans argue a Canadian DST would undermine negotiations at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development on a global approach to taxing Big Tech. But this isn't a new threat from north of the border. — Paper trail: The minister has telegraphed the go-it-alone approach for a few years, promising in November 2020 that Canada would eventually collect revenue on its own if OECD talks failed to produce a deal. Years later, there's no deal. Not even a timeline. Freeland's department published on Friday a draft version of the DST plan that explains how it'll work once implemented. — Grumblings: D.C. is displeased. Here's how our colleague BRIAN FALER framed the brewing discord in a Pro dispatch on Monday: "Canada’s threat to press ahead with a special tax on American tech giants could blow a big hole in President JOE BIDEN's bid to remake the international tax system. It amounts to a vote of no confidence in the long-running effort, one the administration is worried could prompt other countries to follow suit — unraveling years of difficult negotiations." The specter of retaliation — aka a trade war — now threatens the cross-border relationship. — For the record: Freeland insists Canada is committed to a multilateral solution. But there's a but. "At the end of the day, you have to stand up for the national interest," she recently told POLITICO Editor-in-chief MATT KAMINSKI at the Aspen Security Forum. — Eye on the prize: The Business Council of Canada's GOLDY HYDER worries what a domestic DST will mean when lawmakers in three countries review the USMCA in a few years. “Both senior Republicans and Democrats have made clear that it will be hard to get the USMCA extension through Congress if Canada has a DST in place,” he told Faler. — Spotted: Chamber of Commerce President and CEO PERRIN BEATTY, sharing a Wall Street Journal story on the fight with his own note: “We need a Hippocratic Oath for politicians: First, Do No Harm.” LABOR PEACE (FOR REAL) — A bulletin published late Friday evening by the International Longshore & Warehouse Union Canada brought to an end more than a month of uncertainty at British Columbia ports. The ILWU membership ratified a tentative deal. — Not unanimous: The union's 7,000-plus members drove a hard bargain, having previously rejected a tentative deal forged with the help of federal mediators and recommended by their leadership. Friday's result was decisive: 74.66 percent, almost exactly three-quarters of votes, favored ratification of a deal reached with the help of the Canada Industrial Relations Board. — Futureproofing the ports: A joint statement from Labor Minister SEAMUS O'REGAN and Transport Minister PABLO RODRIGUEZ applauded the "good news" at the ports. But it wasn't all rainbows and sunshine from Ottawa: "We do not want to be back here again. Minister O’Regan has directed federal officials to review how a disruption on this scale unfolded, so that in future we can provide greater stability for the workers and businesses across Canada that depend on our B.C. ports. We will have more to say on this soon." — One option: The federal government isn't about to decimate collective bargaining rights, but industry groups want some restrictions at ports that are crucial to trade and commerce. The Canadian Chamber of Commerce called for "new tools that can be used in the face of labour disputes in sectors that are critical to Canada’s supply chain." DAN KELLY, president of the Canadian Federation for Independent Business, wants Ottawa to make ports an essential service that stay open during bargaining. Kelly also pitched a likely non-starter to O'Regan et al, asking the feds to scrap legislation banning replacement workers — so-called "scabs," to use union parlance — during labor disruptions that would "further tilt the balance of labour laws in favour of unions." Budget 2023 promised to introduce "anti-scab" amendments to the Labour Code before the end of the year. That measure is a key plank of the Liberal-NDP deal that virtually guarantees New Democratic support for confidence votes in the House. Further reading in the Globe: Fed-up workers are rejecting deals even their unions thought were good. THE FALL CIRCUIT — Treasury Board President ANITA ANAND is headlining a fundraiser next month, just a few days before the return of Parliament. Anand will help fill Kitchener South-Hespeler MP VALERIE BRADFORD's riding association warchest on Sept. 14. The evening's organizer is ABDULLATIF AL-SHAIKH, the founder and president of the Canadian Middle Eastern Council and president of the National Council on Canada-Arab Relations. — Running tally: The Kitchener fundraiser will be Anand's ninth since in-person events resumed in 2022 — and her fifth this year. A Playbook analysis of Elections Canada records reveals few Cabinet colleagues have been willing or able to match her pace. Nobody headlines more Liberal fundraisers than Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU, who has met donors in 24 rooms in 14 cities since the Omicron lockdowns ceased last year. Employment Minister RANDY BOISSONNAULT is second overall with 10 events, though four of them raised dough for his own battleground riding of Edmonton Centre. (Anand has only headlined one in her own Oakville riding, and the funds went to the party — not her own riding association.) The new housing minister, SEAN FRASER, is second to Trudeau in 2023 with six fundraisers, including stops in Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa, Richmond, B.C., and Mississauga, Ont. — A rootin', tootin' time: The Liberals recently posted their attendance figures for the Laurier Club Stampede Reception at Calgary's MobSquad Café. Trudeau, Anand and Boissonnault anchored the room. Among the crowd: MPs PARM BAINS, JAIME BATTISTE, GEORGE CHAHAL, PAUL CHIANG, BRENDAN HANLEY, TALEEB NOORMOHAMED and YA'ARA SAKS (recently appointed to Cabinet), Rubicon managing partner ANDREW BALFOUR, Bluesky co-founder TIM BARBER, Métis leader CLÉMENT CHARTIER, Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs director of public affairs KATE DALGLEISH, Canadian Jewish Political Affairs Committee deputy executive director RACHEL CHERTKOFF, Yukon Government director of business and industry development LISE FARYNOWSKI, social media strategist JARO GIESBRECHT, Shakti Strategies principal SABRINA GROVER, Crestview partner JULIAN OVENS, Canadian Bankers Association senior VP DAN OUIMET, Impact Public Affairs VP CHRISTIAN VON DONAT, Porter O'Brien partner JORDAN O'BRIEN, Counsel partner SHEAMUS MURPHY, and ALAR Strategy principal RICHARD MAKSYMETZ.
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