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Presented by CPAC: A daily look inside Canadian politics and power. | | | | |  | | By Kyle Duggan, Zi-Ann Lum and Nick Taylor-Vaisey | Presented by CPAC | Welcome to Ottawa Playbook. Let's get into it. In today's edition: → The House is back. We’ve got what’s on tap for the parliamentary agenda. → Marquee matchup: FRANÇOIS-PHILIPPE CHAMPAGNE squares off with Canada’s grocery execs. → MARK CARNEY shared his PIERRE POILIEVRE warning at a leftie political gabfest in Montreal. |  | Talk of the town | | SAVE THE DATES — Playbook Trivia is back. Get out your calendars and circle Oct. 16 at the Metropolitain. Doors open at 7 p.m. First question at 7:30. Registration is open. Space is limited. RSVP via this Google Form. Please don't send your RSVP via email. Please do send news tips and gossip. We’ll almost certainly hit capacity before 9 a.m. Don't delay! | | | Driving the Day | | | BACK TO SCHOOL — It’s the start of the fall semester and everyone’s talking about the popular kid’s enviable summer trip. Conservative leader PIERRE POILIEVRE is up in the polls, image polished through a big summer ad blitz and fresh off his axe-the-tax rallies zig-zagging across the country. All the other kids are jealous. NDP weekend fundraising took aim at him on housing. The Bloc is fuming mad that he’s branding carbon pricing as a JUSTIN TRUDEAU/YVES-FRANÇOIS BLANCHET tax and seems just about ready to go to war over it. And Poilievre’s name cast a long shadow over the Liberals’ caucus retreat ahead of Parliament’s return, helping to feed rough media coverage about inner-party turmoil and questions of whether Trudeau should go. — First policy defense: At a Sunday media avail, Poilievre touted his new housing bill expected to hit the Commons this week — marking his first major policy proposal since becoming leader. The move positions Poilievre to show he’s sinking his teeth into the sky-high costs of living and housing and won’t let go. But it also puts him on the defense for a change. His ideas will become open to challenge over the details for the first time, as pointed out by journalist STEPHANIE LEVITZ on West Block’s inside politics panel. And it comes on the heels of a Liberal move on the file. Amid their polling woes, Trudeau proposed to slash the GST on construction for new rental housing — a pitch welcomed with a side of worries. Asked if he’ll have to go back to the drawing board since some of the Liberals’ plan looks the same, Poilievre said, “No.” “They've plagiarized my message, but not my policy,” he added, calling the Liberals’ fix a paperwork-generating “photo-op fund.” — Consistent, if anything: Another reporter questioned if Poilievre’s summer refresh and new tone that seem to be paying off in the polls means there might be “anything that we can expect differently from you this fall in Parliament?” The response came in the form of a single word: “No.” All eyes on his first QP question. — New this morning: POLITICO’s Nick Taylor-Vaisey has this profile on Poilievre. — Notable quote: Harkening back to the recent party convention, Crestview’s CHAD ROGERS said: “I could not find a single faction that didn’t think he was doing a good job, or weren’t moved by the poll performance. … There was no one who wanted to show up and litigate the argument of ‘This is why I don’t like his style,’ or ‘This is what he’s gotta do.’” | | | | A message from CPAC: A healthy democracy needs the eye of the people. CPAC delivers the most comprehensive political & public affairs coverage in Canada, so you can watch for the issues that matter most to you. | | | | | THREE THINGS WE'RE WATCHING | | |  A food bank in Toronto | AFP via Getty Images | FOOD FIGHT — Monday kicks off with a highly anticipated — yet private — faceoff with the CEOs of Canada’s biggest grocers as the Liberals try to own the narrative on fixing the high cost of living. Innovation Minister FRANÇOIS-PHILIPPE CHAMPAGNEmeets behind closed doors with the heads of Loblaw, Sobeys, Metro, Costco and Walmart in a bid to out-Jagmeet NDP Leader JAGMEET SINGH. Will he, too, bring a giant stack of Canadians’ questions? It’s part of the swing-for-the-fences suite of measures Trudeau announced closing the Liberal caucus retreat, which includes a surprise overhaul of the competition act. The NDP also had a bill in the hopper on competition reforms — yet another key front where the Liberals will fight with an opposition party for headlines over policies. — Dumb but smart play: On CTV’s Question Period Sunday, conservative panelist KORY TENEYCKE from Rubicon Strategy said among the Liberals’ new measures, their moves on grocery prices are “closest to the target” since it’s a palpable pain Canadians can’t shake. “It’s demagoguery,” he said. “But it’s demagoguery that’ll probably get some traction.” SATURDAY SURPRISE — PMO finally dished on who’s moving where in the big parlsec shuffle, set off by this summer’s major Cabinet shakeup. Just in time. — Big changes: RACHEL BENDAYAN moves from being parliamentary secretary for tourism and associate finance minister to becoming parlsec to Deputy PM and Finance Minister CHRYSTIA FREELAND — a role that could become an eventual springboard into Cabinet. CHRIS BITTLE shimmied from the ever-problem-plagued heritage file to the priority/crisis portfolio of housing. London MP PETER FRAGISKATOSalso moved to housing but from revenue. Rising star JENICA ATWIN picked up a new role working for Indigenous Services Minister PATTY HAJDU, while B.C. MP RANDEEP SARAI picked up the veterans affairs file. — Lost perks: Partisan scrapper RYAN TURNBULL was given innovation, knocking ANDY FILLMORE out of the position. Fillmore posted on social media he’s “chosen to step away” from the role (which comes with a C$18,800 salary top-up) to focus his “undivided attention on Halifax.” Full list of changes here. — Much still MIA: The Liberals’ fall table-setting to-do list is far from over. The government overhauled Cabinet 84 days ago. But the PMO has not yet released updated mandate letters — some of which might not change very much at all, while others have more boxes checked off or new tasks. — Habitually behind: Just like last time, that process is taking forever. And there’s still no word on changes to Cabinet committees. — Musical chairs: Another big one that should soon be sorted: Committee chairs. Who gets the soft-landing pad after being dumped from Cabinet? Seven big-name MPs walked over the cliff’s edge and then looked down. Not one has yet been given a tiny cocktail umbrella for the fall. SWORDS CROSSED — Old scandals, new brawls — the fall lineup’s got it all. — First up: The legislative fights start with bail reform on Monday’s agenda. The bill, C-48, is aimed at toughening up on repeat violent offenders. — Still to come: Pharmacare legislation. A controversial online harms bill. Final regulations for the online news act. Debate over an AI and privacy bill poised to soon hit the committee table. — First day on the job:New Conservative MPs SHUV MAJUMDAR and ARPAN KHANNA aren’t the only ones learning the ropes. Quebec appeals court judge MARIE-JOSÉE HOGUE starts her new role presiding over Canada’s public inquiry into foreign interference today. — Don’t touch that dial: Just because an independent process is taking place doesn’t mean it’s an easy channel change for the Liberals. Or that it will be easy to get and hold people’s attention, for that matter. — Calendar check: A minority Parliament can of course fall at any time. But add it all up: the NDP-Liberal pact, the current polling, cost of living, the end of 2024 timeline for the public inquiry, the prospect that Google could decide to pull news from Canada, and Trudeau’s signalling last week that a vote is two years out. Don’t bet on it soon. | | | | 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. | | | | | | | For your radar | | LEFTIE LOVE-IN — Progressives donned their power suits at Le Westin Montreal this weekend for a two-day, invite-only summit to mull why they’re bad communicators. Months in the making, this year’s Global Progress Action Summit, co-hosted by Canada 2020 and CAP Action, featured its most star-studded lineup yet. Trudeau spoke. So did Norwegian Prime Minister JONAS GAHR STØRE, Deputy Prime Minister CHRYSTIA FREELAND, Foreign Affairs Minister MÉLANIE JOLY and U.K. Labour Party Leader KEIR STARMER included it as a stop on his global tour aiming to be the next PM. — Behind the scenes: The real power brokering happened in breakout rooms. On top of the panel discussions, organizers said 50 bilats were set up. Trudeau had a special secret chin-wag with delegates who happen to have “prime minister” on their CVs. — Ex-PM attendees: Former U.K. PM TONY BLAIR, former New Zealand PM JACINDA ARDERN, former Finnish PM SANNA MARIN, former Swedish PM MAGDALENA ANDERSSON. — Other A-listers: Ex-U.S. deputy national security adviser BEN RHODES and ex-European Commission VP FRANS TIMMERMANS. — Playbook’s notebook: Saturday’s events were open to media. Friday’s policy seminars and opening reception, which Trudeau attended, were closed to invitees only. Starmer did let slip in his panel comments that Trudeau had made in a private reception. The U.K. opposition leader made an in-crowd reference to “the moralizing that Justin was talking about” the previous night, on the perils of progressives being judgy. Trudeau didn’t make the same point publicly. — Hark! Some vision: Canada 2020 advisory board chair MARK CARNEY said the p-word (purpose) twice in his speech, which had a strong political bent. “Right now, here in Canada, we have a right-wing populist claiming that Canada is broken,” he said, referencing Poilievre’s sloganeering. “When politicians proclaim that our great democracies are broken, it's not because they want to fix them. It's because they want a licence to demolish.” Carney addressed anxieties over AI, saying there needs to be a focus on tech to improve existing job quality to allow workers to “unleash their creativity” and actually build their skills. “That will require comprehensive tax reforms in most of our economies to favor skills development and business investment,” he said. “It means bold new approaches, in all our economies … so that our colleges and universities provide mid-career training for everyone. Everyone wants it.” — Just for laughs: Former U.K. Prime Minister TONY BLAIR was in conversation with Liberal MP-elect ANNA GAINEY (who will be sworn in today) for some real talk about the strangeness of politics. “Politics is a weird profession because it's the only profession in the world where you take a really important job and put into it someone with no qualifications at all,” he said, before wishing Gainey good luck. — Spotted in Montreal: MARK CARNEY and his iPad, MICHAEL WERNICK, GERRY BUTTS and DAVID LAMETTI hitting the escalator together to head to lunch; Rebel News’ ALEXANDRA LAVOIE sitting in the Fortifications ballroom as the delegates arrived for lunch before getting kicked out; KATIE TELFORD, MIKE MCNAIR, ELAINE LARSEN, JOHN MATHESON, ALEX STEINHOUSE, RICK ANDERSON, BRUCE ANDERSON, CAROLINE SÉGUIN, GUILLAUME BERTRAND, TYLER MEREDITH, KATHERINE FEENAN, MONA FORTIER, GREGOR ROBERTSON, ELAINE PARK ROBERTSON, TOM PITFIELD, MELISSA ROYLE CRITCH, KNUT DETHLEFSEN and RACHEL BENDAYAN. — MVP: The black curtain that was raised after Trudeau’s arrival to bar pesky reporters’ view and access from a block of rooms where the PM was taking meetings.
| | | | A message from CPAC:   | | | | | TODAY'S HIGHLIGHTS | |
— Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU is in Ottawa and will attend Question Period.
— Defense Minister BILL BLAIR is in London to meet with Canadian representatives and British officials. — 11 a.m. Deputy Prime Minister CHRYSTIA FREELAND and Innovation Minister FRANÇOIS-PHILIPPE CHAMPAGNE meet with executives from major grocery store chains to discuss “measures to stabilize grocery prices.” 9 a.m. Government House Leader KARINA GOULD holds a presser on the upcoming sitting of Parliament in the West Block foyer. 12:30 p.m. NDP Leader JAGMEET SINGH holds a press conference in West Block on his party’s fall priorities. 1:30 p.m. Energy Minister JONATHAN WILKINSON makes a clean energy announcement in Calgary. 3:30 p.m. Interim Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner KONRAD VON FINCKENSTEIN headlines the House access to information, privacy and ethics committee for a briefing session.
| | | | A message from CPAC: A healthy democracy needs the eye of the people. That’s why CPAC delivers the most comprehensive political & public affairs coverage in Canada.
Watch for context and accountability.
Watch for questions and answers.
Watch for debates and decisions.
Watch for the issues that matter most to you.
Watch for democracy. | | | | | ALSO FOR YOUR RADAR | | |  Mary Ng tested positive for Covid. | AFP via Getty Images |
POST-CAUCUS COVID — Three tiers of catered viennoiserie sat untouched Friday morning while provincial and territorial trade ministers waited for MARY NG’s arrival for an in-person meeting at GAC HQ.
But 20 minutes before start time, Ng’s staff moved around the room with an update: The minister tested positive for Covid, a day after the Liberal caucus retreat. “My notes, as I read them here, say today marks the first time that I am hosting this in person,” the minister deadpanned in her remarks, opening the annual stock-take meeting. Deputy minister ROB STEWART and KEVIN COON, Ng’s new chief of staff, looked on from their assigned seats flanking their boss’ televised head. — On mute: Ministers arrived with binders prepared with topics to cover, but the runaway headline from the day was that Ng’s “Team Canada” trade mission, scheduled in just over three weeks, had been cancelled. — Quick erosion: After making much noise about the big Indo-Pacific plans to grow economic ties with India, the federal government has retreated into silence about what soured relations so quickly in the four months since Indian Commerce Minister PIYUSH GOYAL visited Ng in Canada to improve bilateral ties. — Look here instead: While Ng’s Indo-Pacific homework continues, her colleagues Natural Resources Minister JONATHAN WILKINSON and Innovation Minister FRANÇOIS-PHILIPPE CHAMPAGNE are expected to announce two agreements with Japan Thursday when Tokyo’s Trade Minister YASUTOSHI NISHIMURA visits this week. — Lol open government: Japanese newspaper Nikkei broke the news about the two memoranda of understanding expected to be signed this week on battery supply chains and industrial research. Wilkinson’s office declined to publicly confirm details. — Power move: Several Japanese media outlets gleaned deets from leaks. Reps from major companies including Mitsubishi Corp., Asahi Kasei, Sumitomo Corp. and Panasonic Energy are scheduled for a public-private roundtable discussion alongside the trade visit, according to a Japanese government official not authorized to speak publicly. | | MEDIA ROOM | | — Don’t miss: SHANNON PROUDFOOT’s profile of KATIE TELFORD, “the last woman standing in Justin Trudeau’s inner circle.” — SUSAN DELACOURT has a final assessment on the Liberal caucus retreat: “Even with the governing party tanking in some opinion polls, emboldening many Liberals to do some tough talking in advance of this week’s gathering, this much is obvious: Trudeau doesn’t have to worry about open revolt.” — DANA HATHERLY at Yukon News on Poilievre taking shots at local Liberal MP BRENDAN HANLEY during a rally in Whitehorse: “There’s one person in all of Yukon that wants to ban hunting rifles.” — DAVID LJUNGGREN reports for Reuters: Canada is directing C$33 million toward purchasing air defenses for Ukraine. — From CNN’s CHRIS ISIDORE: “Ford also faces strike at Canadian plants Monday night.” — PETER SNOWDON reports for POLITICO about U.K. Labour Leader Starmer meeting Trudeau — two leaders of similar political ilk headed in opposite directions in the polls. — PAUL WELLS on TONY BLAIR and what political confabs that pull in big names are really all about. — STUART THOMSON at the Hub points out that MPs return to an entrenched hybrid Parliament. — ELLIOT HUGHES substacks that Liberals should “use the return of Parliament to unleash a new battle cry.”
| | | PROZONE | | For POLITICO Pro s, our latest policy newsletter from ZI-ANN LUM and KYLE DUGGAN: Parliament’s wild fall begins Monday. — Canadian farmers beef with UK over ‘turd’ of a trade deal
— U.S. IPEF ag proposal takes on “sustainability” trade barriers
— Biden to skip U.N. climate summit
— Corporate America is about to cough up more climate intel
— America’s potential Achilles’ heel in a cyber battle with China: Guam | | PLAYBOOKERS | |
Birthdays: HBD to Liberal MP SHAUN CHEN, former Vancouver mayor GREGOR ROBERTSON and journalist JONATHAN KAY.
Got a document to share? A birthday coming up? Send it all our way. Spotted: Convoy activist TAMARA LICH getting top billing as a guest on the Rebel’s latest Caribbean cruise. New Brunswick Premier BLAINE HIGGS digging in as leader amid caucus turmoil. Fasken’s GUY GIORNO and KYLE MORROW holding a webinar on “Tips, Strategies and Tactics for Dealing with Parliamentary Investigations.” Movers and shakers: Sandstone Group's crisis comms team brought on four new faces: veteran journalists JOAN BRYDEN and NEIL MACDONALD, commentator and media exec ANTHONY FUREY, and comms specialist WENDY CUMMING. Prince Edward Island Sen. JANE MACADAM joined the Independent Senators Group. Media mentions: Metroland shuttering dozens of community papers across Ontario.
| | On the Hill | | 11 a.m. The House natural resources committee meets to hear from six department officials from industry, environment, finance and natural resources to talk about “Canada’s clean energy plans in the context of North American energy transformation.” 11 a.m. The joint committee on the Library of Parliament meets to elect joint chairs. 3:30 p.m. Interim Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner KONRAD VON FINCKENSTEIN headlines the House access to information, privacy and ethics committee for a briefing session. Behind closed doors: “Committee business” is on the agenda with the House human resources committee set to get drafting instructions for their “financialization of housing” study; the House science and research committee to consider a draft report of their “citizen scientists” study; the House transport committee to meet; and the House agriculture committee’s subcommittee on agenda and procedure set to meet.
| | TRIVIA | | Friday’s answer: In 1993, Canada fought its "biggest battle since the Korean War" up to that point at the Battle of Medak Pocket in Croatia. Props to DUANE BRATT, BARB WRIGHT, TRACY SALMON, NEIL SWEENEY, SHAUGHN MCARTHUR, ROBERT MCDOUGALL, DARREN MAJOR, ETHEL FORESTER, JOSH ZANIN, DOUG RICE, JONATHAN INGRAHAM, JEFFREY VALOIS, KEVIN BOSCH, DAN FONDA, JOHN DILLON, MARTIN CHAMPOUX, KATHERINE FEENAN, PATRICK DION, JOHN ECKER, GEORGE SCHOENHOFER and BOB GORDON. Monday’s question: Among the many naughty words and phrases ruled unparliamentary language in the House of Commons over time is the oddly specific insult, “the political sewer pipe from Carleton county.” Who said it in the House? Send your answer to ottawaplaybook@politico.com Playbook wouldn’t happen without: Luiza Ch. Savage, Sue Allan and Emma Anderson. 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.
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