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A daily look inside Canadian politics and power. | | | | |  | | By Kyle Duggan, Zi-Ann Lum and Nick Taylor-Vaisey | Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Kyle | Follow Politico Canada Thanks for reading Ottawa Playbook. In today's edition: → Washington’s China watchers will turn their focus today to an urgent Canadian pitch to work together to counter Beijing's state attempts to meddle with democracies. → The estranged family of a Russian oligarch is desperately trying to get Canada to remove its sanctions against them. → MARTINE BIRON, Quebec’s minister for international relations and la Francophonie, chats with Playbook about the message she’s sending to ambassadors.
|  | DRIVING THE DAY | | | 
Michael Chong prepares to appear as a witness at a committee hearing on foreign election interference in Ottawa in May. | Spencer Colby/THE CANADIAN PRESS | CHONG’S DAY IN WASHINGTON — Conservative foreign affairs critic MICHAEL CHONG brings his story to Washington today with a message that “transnational repression” is not just taking place in the United States. Democracies like Canada are in the crosshairs, too. He’ll be speaking with the U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China (livestreamed here) and warn that Western democracies need to urgently work together to counter foreign meddling, intimidation and surveillance. But he doesn’t want the focus to be all on himself. “I'm going to highlight not just what happened to me,” he tells Playbook, “but also the incidents of numerous incidences of transnational repression we've seen, directed by the PRC toward pro-Hong Kong democracy activists, human rights activists, people speaking out defending the rights of Tibetans, Uyghurs and other minorities in Canada.” — First-hand experience: RUSHAN ABBAS, founder of the Campaign for Uyghurs, will also appear at the hearing. She tells Playbook she knows too well the “devastating impact” of the Chinese communist regime’s reach beyond its own borders: her own sister was abducted in China. “My family members have been targeted and detained in retaliation for my advocacy and activism on behalf of my community. Unless you stop that, the Uyghur people in the United States won't feel safe to speak out,” she said. “If we don't take action today, it will be our children and grandchildren in the United States and all over the world who will pay the consequences of an illiberal world.” — Context: The committee has a good share of notable China hawks, such as reps. CHRIS SMITH (R-N.J.) and JAMES MCGOVERN (D-MA), along with Sens. MARCO RUBIO (R-Fla.), Sen. JEFF MERKLEY (D-Ore.) and TOM COTTON (R-Ark.). The hearings come amid a legislative push in the Senate for the Transnational Repression Policy Act, which would “hold foreign governments and individuals accountable when they stalk, intimidate, or assault people across borders, including in the United States.” — Determination, renewed: Chong told Playbook what happened to him — from a diplomat gathering intel on his family to a disinformation campaign launched against him on Chinese social media WeChat — has only underscored the importance of standing up to China. “Beijing's targeting of me has only further emboldened me to continue to do the work that I've been doing on this file, because it has demonstrated to me that we are being effective.” — His policy pitch: Exchange standards among Five Eyes intelligence partners about how and when to release information about foreign interference threats during elections and in between, and turn intel into evidence so justice systems can deal with these threats. Chong will also urge close cooperation on foreign agent registries — something Canada has yet to establish. — Parliament returns, issue hangs: MPs will soon head back to the House, although some are still concerned about being targeted. “That's why I think it's really important that our intelligence services brief MPs on the threats they are facing,” Chong said. PLAN B — Federal Liberals are meeting in London, Ont. today for their three-day caucus, with or without Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU there in person. — Twist: Housing is earmarked as a priority for discussion, but chit-chat about canceled and delayed flights has risen as an unexpected wild card for the caucus. Trudeau found himself stranded in India after a mechanical issue with his ‘80s-era ride (a Royal Canadian Air Force CC-150 Polaris) kept him and the entire Canadian delegation on the tarmac. “The situation remains fluid,” hedged Trudeau’s comms team on Monday. — Earliest departure: Late this afternoon (about the time when this newsletter arrives in inboxes). Trudeau’s extended stay in the country was spent working in his hotel room.
| | | | GO INSIDE THE WORLD’S BIGGEST DIPLOMATIC PLATFORM WITH UNGA PLAYBOOK: The 78th Session of the United Nations General Assembly will jam some of the world's most influential leaders into four city blocks in Manhattan. POLITICO's special edition UNGA Playbook will take you inside this important gathering starting Sept. 17 — revealing newsy nuggets throughout the week and insights into the most pressing issues facing global decision-makers today. Sign up for UNGA Playbook. | | | | | | | For your radar | | SANCTIONS APPEAL — The latest to take on Foreign Affairs Minister MÉLANIE JOLY in Federal Court seeking to get their names knocked off Canada’s Russian war sanctions list are the estranged family members of Russian billionaire MIKHAIL FRIDMAN, who is connected to Russia’s largest private bank. His former spouse OLGA AYZIMAN and their two daughters, LAURA and KATIA FRIDMAN, each filed separate cases taking issue with Global Affairs deciding in 2022 that they count as “close associates of the Russian regime, including officials of Russian financial institutions and their family members, who were sanctioned for their complicity in Russia’s unjustifiable invasion of Ukraine.” They turned to the courts after the 256-day mark from when they first filed to be de-listed, on the grounds that they no longer have personal or financial relations to the oligarch in the family and are not entitled to inherit his fortune — yet are taking stiff financial and reputation hits from the sanctions. — Cut ties: The couple divorced in 2005 and Mikhail cut financial support to Ayziman in 2009, according to her court filing. It adds she was removed from sanctions in the EU and the U.K. after challenging those listings in 2022. Born in 1967 in Irkoutsk, Siberia to a family of displaced Jewish Ukrainians, Ayziman now lives in Monaco and runs an interior design business, acting as the “sole financial support for her elderly parents and aunt, as well as her cousin and his family, who fled Russia in 2015 following the annexation of Crimea.” Katia resides in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France while renting an apartment in New York with her partner, and has worked a range of consulting jobs in the U.S. Those include as a “research manager for the Commission for Art Recovery, Inc., an international not-for-profit agency affiliated with the World Jewish Congress, which works towards the identification and restitution of Holocaust-era looted art.” — Visa denied: Katia’s filing said she has been “unable to renew her work visa in the United States” due to the sanctions listing. Laura is meanwhile a professional ballerina living in Tel Aviv, Israel, who started a business during the pandemic called Pet Aviv that sells “t-shirts with her original designs of cats and dogs,” her filing states. The federal government has not yet responded in court. ‘POLITICAL ORPHAN’ TO CALL IT QUITS — Independent MP ALAIN RAYESannounced on social media he will leave politics when the next election rolls around. The ex-Conservative MP will serve out the rest of his term, but after discussing it with his family, he decided after “15 years in municipal, provincial and federal politics, it is time to leave and take on new professional challenges.” Per his statement: “I had this ideal of doing politics differently and in a positive way, of managing public finances responsibly. I realized that in the current environment, I have found myself, like many people, as a political orphan at the federal level.” Rayes left the Conservative caucus in 2022 to sit as an independent after PIERRE POILIEVRE took the helm, having backed JEAN CHAREST in the leadership race. WESTWARD HO — Tory leader PIERRE POILIEVRE is squeezing in one last western swing before Parliament returns from a summer break next Monday. "Swing" is the operative word in each chosen rallying spot. — Today: Poilievre whips up Vancouver Island supporters at a winery in Black Creek, B.C., where he's hoping to gain RACHEL BLANEY's NDP seat in the next election. — Wednesday: The roadshow shifts to B.C.'s Lower Mainland, where Poilievre headlines an afternoon "Protect our Natural Health Products" town hall at the Richmond Olympic Oval in another swing seat: Liberal MP WILSON MIAO's Richmond Centre. Later, he'll visit a Rosh Hashanah meet-and-greet in yet another potential pickup — Liberal MP TALEEB NOORMOHAMED's Vancouver Granville — before heading back to the Richmond oval for a meetup with the Chinese community. — Thursday: Poilievre heads north to Terrace for a 6 p.m. rally in NDP MP TAYLOR BACHRACH's Skeena–Bulkley Valley. The New Democrats have held the riding since 2004, but 338Canada considers it a likely Conservative gain according to current trends. — Friday: The weeklong roadshow extends north to Whitehorse, where the Tory leader will fill a rec center. The Tories held Yukon during the Harper majority years. It's now a toss-up.
| | | TODAY'S HIGHLIGHTS | | | — Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU is, as of Playbook’s deadline, still trying to leave India after his plane was grounded. — Deputy Prime Minister CHRYSTIA FREELAND is in Toronto for private meetings. — Federal Liberals meet for their national caucus in London, Ont. today. The party’s rural, women and Indigenous caucuses are on deck to kick off the multi-day program. 9 a.m. The Parliamentary Budget Officer will release a new report titled, “Break-even Analysis of Production Subsidies for Stellantis-LGES and Volkswagen.” 10 a.m. Conservative MP MICHAEL CHONG is in Washington to testify before the bipartisan Congressional-Executive Commission on China as part of lawmakers’ ”Countering China’s global translational repression campaign” study. 11:30 a.m. Federal officials hold a technical briefing on Covid-19 vaccines at the Sir John A. Macdonald Building in Ottawa. The U.S. FDA greenlit new mRNA vaccines on Monday. 12 p.m. The C.D. Howe Institute will host a roundtable luncheon with Chief of Defense Staff Gen. WAYNE EYRE. 12 p.m. (1 p.m. AT) NDP Leader JAGMEET SINGH makes a visit to the Fundy Ocean Research Centre for Energy in Parrsboro, Nova Scotia and at 3:30 p.m. (4:30 p.m. AT) meets with 2SLGBTQIA+ community groups. Both are closed to media. 9:30 p.m. (6:30 p.m. PT) Tory Leader PIERRE POILIEVRE hosts a rally in NDP MP RACHEL BLANEY’s backyard at the Coastal Black Estate Winery in British Columbia’s Comox Valley.
| | | HALLWAY CONVERSATION | | | |  Martine Biron at the Canada in Asia conference in February. | Pandora Wong | AP | BIENVENUE AU QUEBEC — Dozens of foreign ambassadors gathered at the Chateau Cartier in Aylmer, a short drive from Ottawa, on Monday morning. They'd been invited by MARTINE BIRON, the former Radio-Canada journalist who ran for office in 2022 and has served as minister for international relations and the status of women for nearly a year. The point of the meeting: a crash course on Quebec. The minister was joined by several Cabinet colleagues, including Transportation Minister GENEVIÈVE GUILBAULT, Minister of the French Language SIMON JOLIN-BARRETTE and Minister of Culture and Communications MATTHEW LACOMBE. Biron sat down with Playbook to talk about her first year in government — and her team's message for the foreign diplomats in the room. (The interview was edited for length and clarity.) You oversee a team of Quebec diplomats in the U.S. and around the world. What kind of work do those offices do? We have 35 representations in 20 countries. I'm going to Tel Aviv before Christmas to open up a new office. It is incredible what we've done as a sub-national government. We have a powerful network. If I compare us with what's going on in a sub-national government like Flanders in Belgium, they have a huge network internationally. But it's trade offices. We have diplomatic bureaus. Our international politics are two pillars. The first pillar is economic. The second pillar is our diplomacy. We have political contacts in all these countries. So it's different from a trade office. We're doing business, for sure. But we're doing diplomatic work. It makes a difference when it's two minutes before midnight, and we ask, "Where do you want to go with your new investment?" We can call politicians and other actors in different countries. Even Prime Minister Trudeau recognizes it. Sometimes, some country might say, "Well, Quebec wants to do business with us. But does Canada say yes?" At [a recent Francophonie Summit in Tunisia], that question was asked, and Trudeau said what is good for Quebec is good for Canada. How does that relationship work where Canada also has diplomatic representation? In Paris, we have almost an embassy. It's our biggest office. In Colombia, the office is attached to the Canadian embassy. It is in China, too. It will be in Tel Aviv. But in Paris, London, Belgium, and lots of other places, we are autonomous. The relationship with Canada's embassies is good everywhere. We are friends. We have different objectives, and there's lots of respect in between. You're not describing a symbolic presence in these places, but a practical one. I'll give you this example. Americans are looking for new ways of doing things. They want to diversify. We have offices in New York, Boston, Washington. We are well-positioned in the northeast near the border to do some business, and they are quite interested. We work on the battery file, but I can talk to you about the semiconductor file, which is developing in our new innovation zone in Bromont. We have the quantum innovation zone in Sherbrooke. What message are you giving to the ambassadors in the room this week? I think sometimes in Quebec, we should be better understood. We are a nationalist government. We're not talking about sovereignty. There is no appetite for that. We want to enrich Quebec. We are working for Quebecers, and we want the ambassadors, and Canada, to understand very well who we are and what we are doing. The best way to be well understood is to be here and to meet them.
| | | | Enter the “room where it happens”, where global power players shape policy and politics, with Power Play. POLITICO’s brand-new podcast will host conversations with the leaders and power players shaping the biggest ideas and driving the global conversations, moderated by award-winning journalist Anne McElvoy. Sign up today to be notified of the first episodes in September – click here. | | | | | | | MEDIA ROOM | | — NDP MP CHARLIE ANGUS has a plan to ask the House natural resources committee to summon Suncor CEO RICH KRUGER why the company is increasing its fossil fuel assets, MIA RABSON reports for The Canadian Press. — Former ambassador LOUISE BLAIS pens a piece in Policy Options about the ways Canada has undermined its own international stature: “Feel-good diplomacy is not effective diplomacy.” — “OMG Kathleen, put on some make-up.” Former Ontario premier KATHLEEN WYNNE responds via Air Quotes Media to criticism about her looks: “Your bile and judgment will not silence me.” — Global News reporters COLIN D'MELLO and ISAAC CALLAN got their hands on Ontario Premier DOUG FORD’s secretive 2018 mandate letters, which eschewed “elite interests.” — BMO Financial Group Chief Economist DOUGLAS PORTER writes in Policy Magazine about the “nervous couple of months” ahead for Canada’s economy — and lays out what Wednesday’s August U.S. consumer price report portends for the Bank of Canada’s own calculus. — HADI HASSIN reports in TVA Nouvelles on Québec Solidaire and the Liberal Party of Quebec paying for ads during a by-election after the parties said they wouldn’t spend money on new ads on Meta platform to protest the company’s response to Bill C-18.
| | | PROZONE | | | For POLITICO Pro s, our latest policy newsletter from ZI-ANN LUM and GRAHAM LANKTREE: Big beef in U.K.-Canada trade talks. In other news for POLITICO Pro s: — EU-China trade dialogue set to take place on Sept. 25
— Biden administration walks tightrope on Chinese battery tech rules
— We won’t cut China out of AI summit over spying scandal, UK says
— POLITICO Q&A: Costa Rican Trade Minister MANUEL TOVAR RIVERA
— Bipartisan House lawmakers to launch caucus on agriculture trade to press Biden for more trade deals
| | Playbookers | | Birthdays: CTV News columnist DON MARTIN celebrates today as well as Quebec Seniors Minister MARGUERITE BLAIS. Send us birthdays: ottawaplaybook@politico.com. Spotted: The human backdrop of six federal Liberal MPs who stood behind Toronto Mayor OLIVIA CHOW while standing behind Innovation MINISTER FRANÇOIS-PHILIPPE CHAMPAGNE announcing new rules for telcos to give mobile service for TTC riders. FRANÇOIS JUBINVILLE, Canada’s consul general in Rio de Janeiro, squished in for a team selfie to mark his first day in his new posting. Movers and shakers: STEPHEN BARBER has been elected by the Conservative Party’s national council as its new president, to succeed ROB BATHERSON. Foreign Affairs Minister MÉLANIE JOLY has appointed CARMEN SORGER as ambassador to Uruguay, replacing ISABELLE VALOIS … SAÄD RAFI, former Ontario deputy minister of health and long-term care between 2010-2014, has joined Santis Health as an executive adviser. Media mentions: Broadcast journalist GINELLA MASSA on CTV Your Morning, making her first TV appearance in nearly a year … Reporter IREM KOCA leaving The Toronto Star to join CPAC’s Prime Time Politics team as a producer. Send Playbookers tips to ottawaplaybook@politico.com.
| | Monday’s answer: PIERRE ELLIOTT TRUDEAU and BRIAN MULRONEY are the two Canadian PMs who delivered addresses to joint sessions of Congress. For the bonus point: Former Governor General VINCENT MASSEY was the other Canuck who gave a talk before a joint session. Props to BOB GORDON, GEORGE SCHOENHOFER, KEVIN BOSCH, RALPH LEVENSTEIN, QASIR DAR, BRAM ABRAMSON, ROBERT MCDOUGALL and GANGA WIGNARAJAH. Have a question that will stump Playbook readers? Send it our way. Today’s question: This past weekend wasn’t the first time a Trudeau flight ran into problems. During the 2019 election campaign, the Liberal bus crashed into the campaign plane. In what year did that same bizarre incident happen during one of PIERRE ELLIOTT TRUDEAU’s campaigns? Answers 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? Run a Playbook ad campaign. Contact Jesse Shapiro to find out how: jshapiro@politico.com. Playbook wouldn’t happen without: POLITICO Canada editor Sue Allan, Luiza Ch. Savage and Emma Anderson.
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