CHARLOTTETOWN CHESSBOARD — Federal politicians really want young people’s attention. Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU’s three-day Cabinet retreat begins this afternoon in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, and the evening will end with a working dinner to delve into the financial realities of Canada’s economic situation. “If there are two core priorities for this Cabinet retreat, I would say it is housing affordability and it is the welfare of young Canadians — and the opportunities for young Canadians,” a senior government official tells Playbook about details they weren’t allowed to discuss publicly. Liberals are on the hunt for ideas to encourage a “healthier housing ecosystem.” They’ve seized on the specific issue of “lack of entry.” — Political impetus: Liberal supporters don’t think the party is paying enough attention to the cost of housing, an obvious mid-mandate challenge on their plate. Morale is another prickly problem for Team Trudeau, as reported by the Toronto Star’s ALEX BALLINGALL, flicking to tensions between the Prime Minister’s Office and caucus. The retreat’s core priorities nod to Conservative Leader PIERRE POILIEVRE’s success at driving narratives on the issue. The prime minister’s office has responded with a July Cabinet shuffle, sold to Canadians as proof they’re taking economic issues seriously. There’s time in the agenda to address general priorities such as national security, economic growth, affordability, public safety and climate. But this summer retreat is intended to focus minds on housing affordability and how youth are faring in Canada — topics Cabinet ministers are expected to get into group discussions about. — Mid-mandate check in: The retreat’s structure also reflects an effort by Liberals to stem slipping support among young voters, a demographic that helped propel Trudeau to victory in 2015 and, for whom housing affordability has become a source of anxiety. — Behind closed doors: Day 2 of the retreat will have panels on housing, youth and issues facing young Canadians, the official said. Generation Squeeze’s PAUL KERSHAW has been invited to speak. So has PLACE Centre at the Smart Prosperity Institute founding director MIKE MOFFATT and Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness’ TIM RICHTER. — Data point reminder: Millennials became the largest voting bloc in the 2019 election. That same year marked enfranchisement for Generation Z (born after 1997), a demographic that, according to Elections Canada, “is more ethnoculturally diverse than previous generations.” The prime minister did not give his 38 Cabinet ministers (including 7 rookies) homework ahead of this week’s retreat, according to the official. Trudeau’s cadre of ministers have instead been assigned an evergreen, portfolio-agnostic, philosophical prompt to ask themselves daily: “What am I doing to help fulfill the promise of Canada?” — Cross-party virtue signaling: Poilievre and his deputy leader MELISSA LANTSMAN have also stood in the House of Commons to extoll “the promise of Canada,” a non-partisan concept that promotes the virtue that hard work pays off. It’s a rhetorical argument that’s great for political sloganeering, but has sketchy merits in our contemporary world. Ask any gig economy worker if more work correlates with increased job security. — Wednesday, today: Don’t expect Trudeau and his Cabinet to present new, sparkling policy ideas to Canadians when the retreat ends. A press conference with the prime minister (likely with the traditional human backdrop of Cabinet ministers) is scheduled for Wednesday morning. Afterward, ministers will get back to work in closed-door discussions about how to take in the data presented to them over the two days and debate ideas to refine them. Those discussions, the official said, will “bear fruit in policy in the coming weeks and months.” Know someone who would like Ottawa Playbook? Please direct them to this link. Five days a week, zero dollars. | 
