Hello,
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Finance Minister Bill Morneau are meeting today. While such a meeting would not normally be a surprise, it comes amid questions about how the government can help steer the country out of pandemic-fuelled economic crisis and whose hands will be on the wheel.
The Globe reported last week that Mr. Trudeau and Mr. Morneau had increasingly clashed this year about the government’s spending – the Prime Minister wanting more and the Finance Minister wanting less. Insiders have wondered whether Mr. Morneau could be removed from his post in an upcoming cabinet shuffle.
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TODAY’S HEADLINES
After 10 years of court proceedings, the Toronto police have settled a class-action lawsuit over mass arrests at the 2010 G20 summit. The settlement is worth $16.5-million. Federal Public Safety Minister Bill Blair was chief of the Toronto police at the time of the arrests.
Advocates for defunding police and redirecting the funds to other services are running into an obstacle in Canada: The laws governing municipalities make it very difficult to force police services to cut their budgets. Police make up a large share of many municipal budgets – anywhere from 8 per cent to 30 per cent of spending.
The federal government has denied the Canadian Football League’s request for a $30-million, interest-free loan. The CFL says it has no choice but to skip the 2020 season.
Former federal cabinet minister Herb Dhaliwal is trying to help his friend, businessman David Sidoo, serve a 90-day prison sentence in Canada instead of the United States. Mr. Sidoo pleaded guilty as part of the college admissions scandal.
Migrant farm workers, brought into Canada through the Temporary Foreign Worker program, say they are being punished by their employers for raising concerns about COVID-19 precautions.
Travel to the U.S. by land may still be banned for non-essential purposes, but travel by plane is an option for those seeking leisure, according to Air Canada.
And the nomination of Kamala Harris as the vice-presidential candidate on the Democratic party ticket is sparking a debate about racial identity in politics, even as she makes history as the first woman of colour to be on a White House ticket.
Campbell Clark (The Globe and Mail) on Peter MacKay, Erin O’Toole and the final days of the Conservative leadership race: “Over the leadership race, both Mr. MacKay and Mr. O’Toole have complained about the Liberals’ deficit spending and suggested they’d set out a path back to balanced budgets, but neither has provided much detail. Fiscal restraint is part of the Conservative brand, but cutting deficits might be a tough sell when voters are still feeling vulnerable.”
Sean Speer (National Post) on outgoing leader Andrew Scheer’s tenure: “Scheer cultivated a young, dynamic and diverse roster of candidates that included a significant number of millennials and generation X Conservatives. More than 15 per cent of Conservative MPs were born in the 1980s and ’90s. Nearly 45 percent are below the age of 50. This isn’t your grandfather’s Conservative party and Scheer deserves considerable credit for overseeing a generational turnover in the parliamentary caucus.”
Estella Petersen (The Globe and Mail) on her experiences as an Indigenous woman working in the oil sands: “There’s been growing concern about the violence faced by Indigenous women in this country, and that’s a good thing. But when people try to focus their energy to separate Indigenous women from the resource industry, that’s a mistake. I’ve never once felt unsafe while working here. For me, the best way to protect myself and to be independent is to give my family and myself the privilege of options in life – and for me, that has come from working in this industry.”
Peter Coffman (Ottawa Citizen) on the new design for the Chateau Laurier extension: “After nearly four years of resistance, re-design, protest and even legal action, we now have a proposal for the addition to the Château Laurier that has met Heritage Ottawa’s approval. Is it better than what city council approved last summer? Yes. Is it a truly outstanding design that will be a jewel in the crown of the parliamentary precinct? No. Is it the best outcome possible given our inadequate heritage processes? Probably.”
Lori Fox (The Globe and Mail) on what the future holds: “The world we knew is gone. The life you thought you were going to have is gone. The lives we all thought we were going to have are gone. And, maybe, that’s a good thing. A good – and very hard – thing.”
MJ Banias (The Globe and Mail) on why you actually should worry about flying saucers: “It is easy to dismiss UFOs, or as they are called today, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP). Nearly a century of mass media has turned a curious phenomenon into a tinfoil hat-wearing enterprise filled with extraterrestrials, martian invasions and far-future technology. It is unlikely that pilots are being harassed by pop culture aliens in flying saucers. However, our southern neighbours seem to be concerned with the fact that something is zipping around North American airspace and no one seems to know how to deal with it.”
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