Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attends during the international ceremony on Juno Beach in Courseulles-sur-Mer, Normandy, France, on June 6, 2019, as part of D-Day commemorations marking the 75th anniversary of the World War II Allied landings in Normandy.GUILLAUME SOUVANT/AFP/Getty Images
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Call it Rock The Vote for Generation Z: Elections Canada is hiring 13 social media influencers to reach young people where they are and encourage them to vote. The agency said the list includes musicians, TV personalities and YouTubers, all of whom have pledged to remain nonpartisan during the fall campaign.
“I have not picked these people and I have to confess that I probably wouldn’t recognize many of them if I were asked to,” said Chief Electoral Officer Stéphane Perrault, who’s a little outside the target age range.
The campaign is set to cost $650,000. The agency had been barred from encouraging voter participation in the last election under the former Conservative government’s Fair Elections Act.
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TODAY’S HEADLINES
Today is the 75th anniversary of D-Day, the massive seaborne invasion on the beaches of Normandy, France, that was a crucial step to the Allied victory over Nazi Germany in the Second World War. We have a visual guide of the military action here and the story of one veteran’s experience in the landing. Thousands of Canadians have journeyed to France to commemorate the occasion, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
The Federal Court of Appeal has pushed the pause button on the Lobbying Commissioner’s investigation of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s vacation with the Aga Khan. The investigation had started this spring after a Federal Court judge had ordered the commissioner to reconsider an earlier refusal.
The Conservatives and NDP are backing up a motion in the House of Commons from Liberal MP Neil Ellis to end veteran homelessness and create a housing subsidy to help get them off the streets.
The Conservative Party says Leader Andrew Scheer has no plans to march in Pride parades this year, but that he will show his support for LGBTQ Canadians in other ways.
And the Ontario government is planning a 1-per-cent wage hike cap for all public servants, including members of the Ontario Provincial Police, hospital staff and teachers.
Campbell Clark (The Globe and Mail) on departing Chinese ambassador Lu Shaye: “Certainly, Mr. Lu’s insults got under Canadian skin. But Chinese diplomats around the world are taking on a new, more assertive tone. Foreign policy under President Xi Jinping is explicitly unapologetic and assertive, and in practice, sometimes intimidating. This ambassador leaves as a symbol of that: Few diplomats are remembered for their insults."
David Mulroney, former ambassador to China, in The Globe and Mail on Canada’s condemnation of China covering up the Tiananmen Square massacre: “On closer review, however, there is less to the statement than meets the eye. It largely recycles language used by the Conservative government in 2015.”
Paul Wells (Maclean’s) on Trudeau’s approach to China: “As somebody once wrote about a previous government, the Trudeau Liberals have developed their approach to Asia, such as it is, behind closed doors. This is a mistake. Where is the leadership to explain to Canadians why this relationship is so important, to engage Canadians in the conversation, to make us aware of the dangers?”
Robyn Urback (CBC News) on Trudeau’s acceptance of the use of the term genocide by the inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women: “Indeed, the prime minister might find it hard to at once campaign on a positive image of Canada, while also charging it of committing one of the worst atrocities known to man.”
Abhimanyu Sud (The Globe and Mail) on the opioid crisis: “Another way is an all-hands-on-deck approach: involvement and action from every sector of society. This is no longer only a health problem but a problem of national development.”
Duff Conacher (The Globe and Mail) on lying in politics: “In fact, Canada already has some honesty-in-politics rules. Politicians are already prohibited from lying in response to a request for information from Parliament or its committees. Prohibiting them from lying anytime would do a lot to stop the spin, and counterspin, that dominates debates and confuses and turns off voters.”
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