Hello,
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his longtime partner Sophie Grégoire Trudeau announced on Wednesday that they are separating.
Mr. Trudeau, 51, has been married to Ms. Grégoire Trudeau, 48, for the last 18 years and have three children together: Xavier, 15, Ella Grace, 14, and nine-year-old Hadrien. Mr. Trudeau met Ms. Grégoire Trudeau, a former entertainment journalist, in 2003. Their wedding was held in Montreal in May 2005.
The announcement about the couple’s separation was posted to Instagram on Wednesday. Mr. Trudeau said that the couple had “made the decision to separate” and that they “remain a close family with deep love and respect.” He also asked that, for the well-being of his children, the family’s privacy be respected.
The separation is the first for a prime minister since Mr. Trudeau’s late father, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, divorced his mother, Margaret Trudeau, in 1984 – which is the same year the elder Trudeau stepped down from political office.
Full story here by Parliamentary Reporter Kristy Kirkup, Queen’s Park Reporter Laura Stone and myself.
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TODAY'S HEADLINES
Ottawa too secretive with government contracts, business groups say - Ottawa is too secretive with the details of government contracts, a tendency that undermines public trust and makes it harder for innovative companies to compete with larger rivals, business groups say. Story here.
Agency releases snapshot of national health care system – with notable gaps - Canada’s health information agency has released its first snapshot of the national data available to begin assessing a federal health care plan unveiled earlier this year – but Quebec’s figures are conspicuously absent from the effort. Story here.
NDP urges Ottawa to bolster emergency-preparedness capabilities for First Nations - First Nations leaders across the country have expressed concern about the impact of climate change – with severe weather events such as heat waves, floods, significant rainfalls and forest fires – and the extent to which they are prepared in case of an emergency. Story here.
B.C. port union to brief workers on new collective deal ahead of crucial vote - Longshore union negotiators will brief workers about a new tentative collective agreement with employers, ahead of a two-day vote on whether to approve the deal that could finally bring an end to British Columbia’s long-running port dispute. Story here.
Montreal’s new light-rail system suffers three disruptions in first three days - A computer problem has led to a third disruption in as many days for Montreal’s new light-rail train line. Story here. Meanwhile, the head of OC Transpo says she is confident the Ottawa LRT, closed because of technical issues for the last 17 days, will be running in time for back-to-school and work following the Labour Day weekend. Story here.
Poilievre fires back at Trudeau’s ‘cuts, be angry’ line, challenges PM to take responsibility - Pierre Poilievre is firing back at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for saying the Conservative Leader’s approach to everything is “cuts and be angry,” challenging Trudeau to take responsibility for Canadians’ anger. Story here from CTV.
Studies on cannabis smoke’s emissions or toxicity not taking place nearly five years after legalization - Nearly five years after Canada legalized recreational cannabis, former federal health minister Anne McLellan, who chaired the task force that laid the framework for legalization, is still waiting for what she thought would happen after ending prohibition: testing the smoke – a flurry of analyses on the potential health effects Story here.
Newfoundland and Labrador Premier’s luxury fishing trip wasn’t conflict of interest, writes commissioner - Premier Andrew Furey didn’t enter into a conflict of interest or violate the House of Assembly code of conduct when he visited World Energy GH2 chairman John Risley’s fishing lodge, according to a report from legislative standards commissioner Ann Chafe. Story here from CBC.
Queen Elizabeth statue coming to Ontario legislature after delay - A statue of Queen Elizabeth is coming to the grounds of Ontario’s legislature, ending a years-long delay and reigniting a conversation about the commemoration of historical figures. Story here.
THIS AND THAT
Today in the Commons – The House of Commons is now on a break until Sept. 18. The Senate resumes sitting on Sept. 19.
Ministers on the Road - Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Gary Anandasangaree, at the Kinistin Saulteaux Nation in Saskatchewan, joined provincial legislature member Betty Nippi-Albright and Chief Felix Thomas of the Kinistin Saulteaux Nation to celebrate a specific claim settlement agreement. Marci Ien, Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth, in Charlottetown, made an announcement on the National Action Plan to End Gender-based Violence with Prince Edward Island’s education minister, Natalie Jameson. Energy and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson, in Surrey, B.C., with Mayor Brenda Locke, made a funding announcement and provided a progress update on the 2 Billion Trees program in Surrey.
Duncan in chemotherapy - Former sports minister Kirsty Duncan says, in a posting on X, formerly known as Twitter, here, that she has had her third non-hospital outing in seven months thanks to health professionals and is now facing a hard week of chemotherapy. In January of this year, Ms. Duncan said in a statement, that because of a “physical health challenge” she would be taking medical leave, but remain as MP for Etobicoke-North, a riding she has represented since 2008.
Ignatieff says Canada has to get serious about defence - Former federal Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff, in an interview here with the CDA Institute, says there won’t be a Canadian secretary-general of NATO because Canada doesn’t make military-spending commitments equivalent to its economic power. “We’re now in a world where we must understand the necessity of possessing military capabilities – not just to ship up to Ukraine, but to defend our borders, to make full commitments to NORAD, to our Arctic defence, to our maritime defence,” he said.
PRIME MINISTER’S DAY
Private meetings in Ottawa, and speaking with South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa.
LEADERS
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, in St. John’s, attended the St. John’s Regatta.
No schedules available for other leaders.
THE DECIBEL
On Wednesday’s edition of The Globe and Mail’s podcast, Calgary reporter Carrie Tait explains what’s going on in an continuing class-action lawsuit against the Calgary Stampede that alleges the organization did not properly protect children from a sexual predator for decades. The Decibel is here.
OPINION
The Globe and Mail Editorial Board on how to adapt to a metastasized climate heating: “The city of Delta, south of Vancouver, is home to 110,000 people. As the city’s name attests, Delta is surrounded by water. It is protected from a potential inundation of floodwaters, from either the Fraser River or the Salish Sea, by 67 kilometres of dikes. The protection, however, is inadequate. The dikes are in – at best – mediocre condition. Long stretches likely could not hold back serious floodwaters. The estimated bill to repair and bolster the system is $1.9-billion. The city’s total annual budget is $350-million. Start multiplying that sort of money across the country to come up with the sum needed to tackle exposure to floods – the country’s costliest disasters – and wildfires, a worsening hazard. The cost starts at vertiginous and gets dizzier from there. This is what’s on the table as Canada tentatively begins to face the challenges of adaptation to an ever-hotter climate.”
Lawrence Martin (The Globe and Mail) on how, instead of grumbling about Canada’s defence spending, Americans should look in their own backyard: “Recently we’ve heard the usual bellyaching from south of the border about Canada’s military spending, about the country not carrying its weight. The focal point of the criticism is that, like the majority of the 31 NATO members, it is not meeting its commitment of two per cent of GDP in defence spending. It is only at 1.3 per cent. A commitment made is one that should be kept. There should be no disputing this, nor the fact that the Canadian military could definitely use the upgrades. But while Americans condemn our defence failings, they might want to examine their own, which they don’t. They turn a blind eye or give a pass to the massive amounts of waste in Pentagon spending, to the obscene profits of taxpayer-fleecing defence contractors, to the ineffectiveness of vast spending advantages in conflicts like Afghanistan.”
Kate Taylor (The Globe and Mail) on how Canada’s new culture minister will have to tackle tech bullies and copyright reform: “Canada has a long tradition of culture ministers drawn from Quebec. Most famously, Marcel Masse, as minister of communications for Brian Mulroney’s Conservative government in the 1980s, expanded the nationalistic cultural policies that the Liberals had initiated in the 1970s. Prime ministers of many stripes clearly recognize that cultural politics matter more intensely in Quebec than in the rest of Canada and appoint accordingly. The Online Streaming Act, for example, is central to linguistic politics in Quebec. By requiring the streaming services to provide some original French-language Canadian content, the act should bolster the sparse French offerings that tend to leave Quebec viewers watching in English.”
Thomas Gunton, David Wheeler and Kyla Tienhaara (Contributed to The Globe and Mail) on how the federal government’s plan to end fossil fuel subsidies does not actually end a single one: “In 2009, Ottawa made its first commitment to end “inefficient” fossil fuel subsidies that “encourage wasteful consumption, distort markets, impede investment in clean energy sources, and undermine efforts to deal with climate change.” Last year, this was adopted as a mandate of the Trudeau government. However, instead of delivering on this pledge when the federal government released its framework in July, the new policy consists only of guidelines to evaluate subsidies without announcing the elimination of any of them.”
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