Hello,
Canada’s premiers say Ottawa’s actions on the carbon tax have treated people in various parts of the country differently, when the federal government should support all Canadians equitably.
That point was among those made today when the Council of the Federation wrapped up a two-day meeting in Halifax.
“One immediate action that we discussed as premiers that can be taken to address the affordability challenges is to ensure that all Canadians are treated fairly by the federal government when it comes to the federal carbon tax and home heating,” Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston, chair of the Council of the Federation, told a news conference.
Ultimately, the Progressive Conservative Premier said, while action on climate change is necessary, Ottawa needs to scrap the carbon tax and move on to working with the provinces on other initiatives. “There are much more effective ways to protect the planet,” he said.
At issue is an announcement by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to grant a three-year carbon tax exemption for heating oil that will largely affect Atlantic provinces. The region has been an electoral stronghold for the Liberals, who have been in power since 2015.
Also today, MPs were set to vote on a Conservative motion declaring that the carbon price should be lifted from all home heating and not just heating oil as targeted by the government announcement.
The premiers also noted that Trudeau has not convened a meeting of first ministers since December 2018, despite provincial and territorial leaders requesting one that could deal with competitiveness and strategic infrastructure.
Houston added that the lack of collaboration to date on certain specific issues has resulted in federal programs, particularly in housing, that create duplicate processes and risk pitting provinces and territories against each other.
“This is not a good thing,” he said.
BREAKING - Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly has confirmed here on X that two people were killed in an explosion at Canada’s High Commission in Nigeria. “The fire is out and we are working to shed light on what caused this situation,” Joly wrote. Please check The Globe and Mail for updates.
This is the daily Politics Briefing newsletter, written by Ian Bailey. It is available exclusively to our digital subscribers. If you're reading this on the web, subscribers can sign up for the Politics newsletter and more than 20 others on our newsletter signup page. Have any feedback? Let us know what you think.
TODAY'S HEADLINES
TVO strike over after 11 weeks - Workers at Ontario’s public broadcaster returned to their jobs today after voting this weekend to accept a new collective agreement and end a strike that’s stretched on for nearly three months. Story here.
Hundreds of thousands of Quebec public sector workers on strike today - It’s the first in a series of one-day strikes as four unions representing a “common front” of roughly 420,000 workers protest the province’s latest contract offer.
Politicians condemn presence of swastika at Parliament Hill rally - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and others were reacting to an image on social media that appears to show a man at a pro-Palestinian rally holding a sign portraying the Nazi symbol next to the flag of Israel. Story here.
Canadians in Gaza left in limbo after border crossing closed again - Global Affairs Canada says it had no information about when the Rafah border crossing will be reopened and that the timeline for evacuations over the next few days is uncertain. Story here.
Poilievre makes pitch to Saskatchewan conservatives - Speaking at the Saskatchewan Party convention in Regina this past weekend, the federal Conservative leader praised Premier Scott Moe and his government for fighting Ottawa’s carbon pricing program. Story here. Meanwhile, Moe received 97 per cent support in a leadership review vote.
Ottawa accused of stalling on campaign vow to end ocean fish farms in B.C. - The office of Fisheries and Oceans Minister Diane Lebouthillier declined to say when a transition plan from ocean-based pen farms to land-based production will be unveiled and whether the department will stop approvals of licence amendments.
India envoy tells Ottawa to produce evidence New Delhi was behind killing in Canada - Sanjay Kumar Verma told The Globe and Mail that India has not been shown concrete evidence by Canada or Canada’s allies that Indian agents were involved in the June gangland-style slaying of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, which took place in Burnaby, B.C. Story here.
THIS AND THAT
New campaign for Outhouse - Steve Outhouse, campaign manager for Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and her United Conservative Party’s successful bid to win this year’s provincial election, has a new campaign assignment. Outhouse says he will be working as campaign manager for New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs and his Progressive Conservative party in the Maritime province’s expected 2024 election. Higgs recently ruled out a snap election; the next official date for one is Oct. 21, 2024. Outhouse announced the assignment here on X. “I look forward to working with Party members across the province to win the next campaign.” Outhouse previously ran two bids by MP Leslyn Lewis to win the federal Conservative leadership.
Order of Ontario Appointees - Jordan Bitove, founder of the NBA’s Toronto Raptors, sprinter Andre De Grasse, who has won six Olympic medals, and producer Christina Jennings, whose projects include TV’s Murdoch Mysteries, are among 26 new appointments to the Order of Ontario set to be honored at a Nov. 27 ceremony.
Moreau is in - Mary Moreau, who has been a chief justice of the Court of King’s Bench of Alberta, has today been sworn in as a justice of the Supreme Court of Canada. She can now begin her duties as a member of the court, including sitting for hearings, Chief Justice Richard Wagner said in a statement. Moreau was sworn in at a private ceremony, during which Wagner presided. Moreau’s appointment means the court has a majority of female judges for the first time. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced in October that he was choosing Moreau to fill a vacancy on the court. Wagner said that a formal welcome ceremony for Moreau will he held in coming months with her family, friends and guests from the legal community. Moreau appeared last week before a hearing of parliamentarians.
Today in the Commons - Projected Order of Business at the House of Commons, Nov. 6, accessible here.
Deputy Prime Minister’s Day - Private meetings, and Chrystia Freeland attended Question Period.
Ministers on the Road - Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly is in Tokyo through Wednesday for the G7 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting. Veterans Affairs Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor, in the New Brunswick town of Oromocto, presented the Minister of Veterans Affairs Commendation to a veteran at Royal Canadian Legion Branch 93 in Oromocto, and laid a wreath at the Oromocto LAV Memorial. Later, in Ottawa, Taylor participated in the annual Candlelight Tribute to honour fallen heroes and Veterans.
Commons Committee Highlights - Natalka Cmoc, Canada’s ambassador to Ukraine, appears before the foreign affairs and international development committee on the situation at the Russia-Ukraine border and implications for peace and security.
Senate Committee Highlights - Natan Obed, president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, appears before the national security, defence and veterans committee at a hearing on Bil C-21, the federal government’s gun-control bill.
PRIME MINISTER'S DAY
Private meetings. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also delivered remarks at Diwali and Bandi Chhor Divas on the Hill.
LEADERS
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves François Blanchet held a news conference in the foyer of the House of Commons ahead of question period.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre held a news conference on Parliament Hill.
Green Party Leader Elizabeth May participated virtually in Parliament from her Saanich-Gulf Islands riding and attended private meetings. May also spoke at the St Paul’s United Church in Sidney, B.C., to the Seniors Arts and Spirituality group.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, in Ottawa, spoke in the Commons on his private members bill – C-352 – to lower food prices, then held a news conference. Later, Singh joined a picket line at the Gatineau Hospital.
THE DECIBEL
The Globe’s Alanna Smith and Josh O’Kane are on Monday’s edition of The Globe and Mail podcast to talk about turmoil at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, which has included the Alberta government dismissing the entire board in late October. The Decibel is here.
PUBLIC OPINION
Hopes for the federal Liberals? - There are some developments that could build support for the governing federal Liberals, according to new research by Abacus Data released today. These include Justin Trudeau’s departure as federal Liberal leader, a drop in mortgage interest rates, an improvement in the economy and the prospect of Pierre Poilievre being in a position to win the next election. Details here.
OPINION
The Globe and Mail Editorial Board on housing shifts from NIMBY to nimble: “The acronym NIMBY is brandished regularly against opponents of new housing. Indeed, some homeowners are often the loudest voices against proposals to build new homes – not in my backyard! – and too many city councillors seem beholden to such constituents. It’s not just your imagination. A new study last week in the Journal of Urban Economics cites “direct evidence that NIMBYism is a significant impeding force in housing supply.” The study, using data from Toronto in the 2010s, shows councillors whose wards had higher levels of home ownership tended to oppose new housing, especially in their own wards. This entrenched local opposition is the reason this space has long called for higher levels of government to wrest some control over housing away from city councils, who have failed to make way for enough new homes by maintaining out-of-date regulations and too-strict zoning rules.”
Campbell Clark (The Globe and Mail) on how all Justin Trudeau needs is a little luck and a time machine: “It’s true, as Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson told the Commons last week, that heating oil is different. It is particularly dirty, he noted, and far more expensive than natural gas. But it is hard for lower-income families with oil furnaces to switch to another type of heating – say a heat pump. That, Mr. Wilkinson argued, is the reason why the Liberals suddenly froze carbon levies on heating oil for three years: People need time, and money – in the form of free heat pumps for lower-income folks – to adjust. The last part makes sense. And it could all work out so simply, for both the Liberal government’s mangled carbon policy and its political fallout. All they need is a time machine.”
Shannon Proudfoot (The Globe and Mail) on how much the carbon tax climbdown is worth to Justin Trudeau’s government: “The human backdrop at a political event means taking real people and reducing them to scenery, curated and arranged like a person bouquet. If you’re a supporter who gets plucked out of the crowd to stand onstage, it must feel like going out to run errands and ending up as an extra in a movie. If you’re a politician, it has to be less fun. You have skills and accomplishments, and presumably you take pride in something beyond your ability to applaud like a trained seal. But at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s recent press conference announcing that his government was suspending the carbon tax on home heating oil, the human backdrop was a special fascination.”
John Polanyi (Contributed to The Globe and Mail) on how we cannot give up on the dream of nuclear disarmament: “When I was a young chemist at the University of Toronto in 1961, I found myself drawn into the central debate of the age. The Globe and Mail’s pages were discussing nuclear war, asking, “if war comes, would we survive?” The question is as valid today as 62 years ago, but we have learned a little in the interim.”
Got a news tip that you’d like us to look into? E-mail us at tips@globeandmail.com. Need to share documents securely? Reach out via SecureDrop.