Hello,
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.
Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer is warning of a “very tight race” between vaccines and variants of concern as severity indicators and daily cases of COVID-19 are back on the rise.
At a briefing Friday, Dr. Theresa Tam said new incidents are highest among young adults.
She said daily cases have increased more than 30 per cent over the past two weeks, with an average of 29 deaths reported daily.
And variants of concern are an increasingly high proportion of new cases in several provinces.
Details on the briefing are here.
Meanwhile, the Auditor-General says Canada did not use its pandemic early warning system appropriately during the early months of COVID-19 and underestimated the threat posed by the virus. Grant Robertson reports here on Karen Hogan’s findings.
TODAY’S HEADLINES
Carbon Pricing Ruling: The warming of the planet is a “threat to the future of humanity,” the Supreme Court said Thursday, ruling that Ottawa has the authority to impose a minimum price on greenhouse gas emissions across the country. The Globe and Mail explainer on carbon pricing in Canada has been updated and is available here.
Committee conflict: Federal Liberal cabinet ministers will instruct their staff not to appear if called to any parliamentary committees in an attempt to curb what they call an “abuse of power” by opposition parties.
Municipal infrastructure funding: Ottawa plans to double to $4.4-billion in next month’s budget a fund cities and towns use to build infrastructure as part of a package of COVID-19 spending dedicated mostly to health care costs and vaccination efforts.
Military misconduct: Military Ombudsman Gregory Lick said Thursday that he would have taken the same actions as his predecessor, Gary Walbourne, if faced with an anonymous sexual misconduct complaint.
Quebec and Nova Scotia Budgets: The Quebec government’s pandemic budget increased spending on health, education and infrastructure on Thursday but avoided any major new plans either to generate new revenue through taxes or to spend it. Patrick Brethour explains here how budgets from Ontario and Quebec set the stage for next month’s federal budget. Meanwhile Nova Scotia also tabled a budget yesterday - the first since Iain Rankin became premier - that forecasts a $585-million deficit, but a return to balance within four years. Details here.
ROUNDUP
Ten weeks after the Newfoundland and Labrador election was called, voters will get the results Saturday. Results were expected Feb. 13, but the outcome and voting has been delayed due to the impact of the pandemic. Now Elections NL, the provincial elections agency, says results will be out Saturday at noon NT. Story here. Meanwhile, the Yukon is going through its own pandemic election, with parties and the public dealing with a new dynamic detailed here and an interesting new voting feature ahead of an April. 12 vote.
The federal Conservatives have held their policy convention. Next up, among the national parties, comes the federal Liberals, with a virtual convention scheduled April 8 to 10. Four MPs - Rachel Bendayan, Marci Ien, Terry Beech and Mona Fortier - are convention co-chairs. A federal NDP convention scheduled for April 9-11 will overlap. (The last Green party convention was in 2018.) The two imminent conventions come amidst speculation that a federal election call is looming.
Canada has a new ambassador to Israel. Lisa Stadelbauer, most recently Canada’s high commissioner in Kenya, is replacing Deborah Lyons, says a statement from Global Affairs Canada.
PRIME MINISTER’S DAY
Private meetings and the Prime Minister, joined by Winnipeg South MP Terry Duguid, virtually meets with nurses from Victoria General Hospital, in Winnipeg.
OPINION
Campbell Clark (The Globe and Mail) on where the Supreme Court carbon price ruling leaves federal and provincial conservatives: “So Mr. O’Toole’s job, in political terms, is to make the last stand against carbon taxes without making too big a deal of it. Mr. O’Toole has promised to scrap the Liberals’ carbon tax, although he has endorsed the idea of some form of industrial carbon pricing, but also to issue a climate plan without one. That can be done – heck, he could ban coal plants and gasoline engines cars – but no effective method will be without costs, or universally popular.”
Andrew Coyne (The Globe and Mail) on why the biggest winner out of the Supreme Court carbon tax ruling may be Erin O’Toole: “ Suppose these four provinces decide to bow to the inevitable and collect the tax themselves. Behind the scenes, Mr. O’Toole might even be encouraging them to. Because at that point there would be no federal tax to scrap. The tax would now be solely a provincial tax, even if collected at the federal government’s behest. Mr. O’Toole has always said he would support the provinces in whatever they decided. All he has to do then is shut up about it.”
Kelly Cryderman (The Globe and Mail ) on that path ahead after the Supreme Court carbon price ruling: “With the Supreme Court of Canada decision on the carbon tax, the federal Liberals clearly won the day. The main pillar of Ottawa’s climate-change plan, to impose minimum carbon-pricing standards across the country, is upheld by Thursday’s decision. Provincial governments in Ontario, Saskatchewan and Alberta will have to undergo a process of radical acceptance – Canada’s carbon-tax policy is here to stay, or at the least has become much more difficult to unwind. But it’s a mistake to think climate policy in Canada is somehow settled, and quarrelsome premiers such as Jason Kenney are now going to back off.”
Tanya Talaga (The Globe and Mail) on why the RCMP needs a new commissioner: “In the business world, when there is a crisis of confidence within a company, the CEO steps down to appease the shareholders. This is de rigeur: Someone takes responsibility and a thorough review happens or else investors flee. Canada’s bureaucratic public institutions must be held to an even higher account, as they serve the people; the RCMP, which deals in life and death, should be held to standards even higher than that.
DO YOU HAVE A POLITICAL QUESTION?
Send along your political questions and we will look at getting answers to run in this newsletter. It’s not possible to answer each one personally. Questions and answers will be edited for length and clarity.
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