Hello,
MPs returning to the House of Commons on Monday after a week-long break arrived to a dramatically changed political dynamic created by the crisis in the Middle East.
On Oct. 7, the day after the break began, Hamas launched an attack on Israel that has caused international turmoil, led to the deaths of thousands including five Canadians, and left the fate of many others in Israel uncertain.
MPs were reflecting on the political impact.
Just after noon on Monday, the Prime Minister’s Office announced Justin Trudeau would deliver remarks in the House to provide an update on the situation in the Middle East.
Earlier in the day, Trudeau announced a new special envoy for Holocaust remembrance and combatting antisemitism, Deborah Lyons, who will serve for a two-year period.
The veteran diplomat who previously served as Canada’s ambassador to Israel replaced former attorney-general Irwin Cotler, who served as the country’s special envoy from 2020 to 2023.
Trudeau said Monday that in the aftermath of the “horrific attacks against Israel” that the government reiterates to Jewish communities across Canada that it stands with them.
Lyons said, “The agonizing grief caused by the Hamas attacks on Israelis earlier this month must propel us to move forward together to combat antisemitism.”
Also Monday came word that, by unanimous consent, the House of Commons had adopted a motion to hold a debate later in the day on Gaza and the West Bank.
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves Blanchet called for responsible discussion. “It is not a job for the opposition to say a government is wrongdoing this, or wrongdoing that. It is not the moment to try and score points,” he told a Parliament Hill news conference.
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TODAY'S HEADLINES
More than 20 Canadians evacuated from West Bank – The first group of Canadians fleeing the West Bank have crossed into Jordan by bus, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly announced.
Canadian businesses see inflation easing – Canadian businesses expect inflation to subside over the next two years, though many still expect it to take more than three years to return to the Bank of Canada’s 2-per-cent target, the central bank said in a third-quarter survey.
Quebec Liberals won’t name new leader until spring 2025 – The Quebec Liberals say their decision has split the party between backers of the only declared candidate and the rest of the general council.
Pharmacare deemed non-negotiable in NDP deal with Liberals – Delegates at the New Democratic convention say they will withdraw their support for the Liberals if the minority government doesn’t adhere to their pharmacare demands. Meanwhile, former NDP leader Thomas Mulcair reflects on the outcome of the NDP convention in Hamilton over the weekend.
Montreal mayor joins UN advisory group with New York and Paris counterparts – Valérie Plante has joined a new United Nations group to help local and regional governments implement the organization’s sustainable development plan.
Zexi Li, convoy organizers’ lawyers spar over use of the word ‘occupation’ in court – The woman who went to court to get an injunction against the truckers convoy last year repeatedly called the demonstration an “occupation” in her court testimony, to the frustration of the protest organizers’ lawyers.
Manitoba Tories had a better political hand to play: NDP campaign director – Brian Topp, on The Charles Adler Show, talks about his work as campaign director for the victorious NDP election effort in Manitoba. On the Progressive Conservatives, Topp says, “I think they had a much better [political] hand to play than the one they ended up playing.” Meanwhile, Manitoba Progressive Conservative Leader Heather Stefanson is apologizing for some of her party’s advertising in the campaign.
Commons Speakers assignment ‘gets the heartbeat going’ – Greg Fergus, the new Speaker of the Commons, says he might be the first Black person to hold the post but he hopes he’s not the last.
Solutions to the opioid and housing crisis are eluding Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim a year after he won the job – Ken Sim upended more than a decade of left-leaning civic politics to become Vancouver’s mayor, propelled by a surge of fed-up voters who hoped he and his new centre-right party could finally make a difference on the city’s most difficult files: homelessness, housing, crime, public disorder.
Woman adds to mortgage to finance needed surgery – A B.C. woman in acute need of hip surgery added $28,000 to her mortgage to get the procedure done in a private clinic because she couldn’t wait for public care, she says.
THIS AND THAT
Today in the Commons – Projected Order of Business at the House of Commons, today, accessible here.
Deputy Prime Minister’s day – Chrystia Freeland had private meetings in Ottawa, attended Question Period, and was scheduled to meet with leaders from the mining and steel industries, then speak at a reception held by the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs.
Ministers on the road – Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne, in the Ontario community of Bath, with Premier Doug Ford announces a new electric-vehicle battery parts factory. Small Business Minister Rechie Valdez, in Montreal, launches Small Business Week and announces additional funding to support female entrepreneurs.
In Ottawa – Energy Minister Jonathan Wilkinson was scheduled to make a 6 p.m. ET clean-energy announcement with Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston and New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs.
PRIME MINISTER’S DAY
After private meetings, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was scheduled to deliver remarks in the House of Commons to provide an update on the Middle East.
LEADERS
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves François Blanchet held a scrum on Parliament Hill, and attended Question Period.
Green Party Elizabeth May participated in the Commons virtually from her Vancouver Island riding.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, in Ottawa, participated in a House debate on the Middle East.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre attended Question Period.
THE DECIBEL
On Monday’s edition of The Globe and Mail podcast, Mark MacKinnon, the Globe’s Senior International Correspondent, talks about the conflict in Gaza based in his travels in the region since the war began. The Decibel is here.
OPINION
The Globe and Mail Editorial Board on whether the Supreme Court underscores the need for a climate of co-operation on greenhouse gases: “The problem is rooted in basic facts. Canada is a federation. The provinces and Ottawa each have their specific constitutional powers. But in matters of the environment and industry, these powers intersect. Conflict ensues – and the only real lasting solution is, even if it currently appears unlikely, co-operation.”
Shannon Proudfoot (The Globe and Mail) on how NDP members want more from Jagmeet Singh, which means demanding more from the Liberals: “In his keynote address on Saturday in Hamilton, Mr. Singh painted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as not truly understanding affordability worries because he’s lived a life of privilege, and portrayed Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre as opportunistically trying to profit from those anxieties. The NDP believes that profound voter fatigue with the Liberals opens up a big opportunity, so they are aimed squarely at the Tories as their competition.”
Eric Hoskins (Contributed to The Globe and Mail) on whether 2023 will be the year that Canadians finally get pharmacare: “Four years ago, as chair of the Federal Advisory Council on the Implementation of National Pharmacare, I published A Prescription for Canada: Achieving Pharmacare for All. The report was a detailed road map to achieving universal, single-payer, public pharmacare – something every other country in the world with universal health care has achieved, except for our own. Too many Canadians die prematurely because they cannot access the prescription medicines they need, while the health of countless others worsens, leading to a poorer quality of life.”
Candice Bergen (The Hub) on lessons from the Manitoba election defeat: “First, we need to stop trying to make our leaders into something they are not. The case in point is the Progressive Conservative leader who ran in this election. Anyone who knows her will tell you that she’s a kind and compassionate leader who is sensitive to people’s feelings. Trying to portray her as dogmatic and hard-edged, especially regarding searching the Winnipeg landfill for murdered Indigenous women, backfired.”
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