Hello,
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is convening a Feb. 7 meeting with the premiers and territorial leaders in Ottawa to discuss health care.
But as he announced the gathering, Mr. Trudeau said Wednesday there will be no health-care agreement on the table for the leaders to sign.
“It’ll be a good moment for us to gather, but we’re not going to be signing deals on that particular moment,” Mr. Trudeau told a news conference as this week’s federal cabinet retreat in Hamilton concluded.
The Prime Minister described a “working meeting” that will allow the federal government to share plans to support the health-care systems across Canada and hear their priorities for investment.
Mr. Trudeau did not say how much money he would advance for health-care transfers. “We’re going to have discussions. There’s no doubt about that,” the Prime Minister said.
Amidst challenges that have included crowded emergency rooms and delays in surgeries across Canada, the premiers have asked the federal government to cover 35 per cent of the cost of health care, compared with the current 22 per cent.
On Parliament Hill, federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, during a news conference, did not directly answer a question about whether he would increase health-care funding along the lines the premiers and territorial leaders have requested.
He did say, as prime minister, that he would listen to the priorities of the provinces.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said he is looking forward to the meeting. “We have a lot to discuss, including making sure the federal government properly funds the health care people rely on. When Team Canada works together, there’s nothing we can’t do,” Mr. Ford said in a tweet here.
In the Quebec town of Léry, Quebec Premier François Legault said he had spoken to Mr. Trudeau on Tuesday night, and that the Feb. 7 meeting will be a negotiating session.
“It’s a working meeting, so we don’t expect that we conclude and sign a deal Feb. 7. But we have been asking Ottawa for years to table a proposition,” Mr. Legault said Wednesday, according to a Montreal Gazette report here.
Senior political reporter Marieke Walsh reports here on the Feb. 7 meeting.
Mr. Trudeau’s comments came as this week’s cabinet retreat concluded. On Tuesday evening, the Prime Minister faced protesters in an incident recorded here. Mr. Trudeau downplayed the situation, saying he had generally experienced an “extraordinary” welcome in Hamiton. “A handful of angry people do not define what Hamilton is or democracy in this country is,” he said. There’s a story here from Global News.
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
BANK HIKES INTEREST RATE - The Bank of Canada increased its benchmark interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point, but said that it expects to hold off further rate hikes, making it the first major central bank to say it would pause monetary policy tightening. Story here.
CANADA YET TO CONFIRM TANKS FOR UKRAINE - The U.S. and Germany have unveiled they will send more than 100 tanks to Ukraine, while Canada has not yet committed to joining the plan. Story here.
TRANSIT ATTACKS PROMPT CALL FOR NATIONAL TASK FORCE - The president of a Canadian transit union wants to convene a national task force as violent attacks on public transit reach what he calls “crisis levels”. Story here. Meanwhile, Toronto Mayor John Tory is calling for a national summit on Canada’s mental health crisis. Story here.
RESULTS COMING ON SEARCH OF GROUNDS OF FORMER B.C. RESIDENTIAL SCHOOL - A First Nation in central British Columbia is ready to announce results from the second phase of an investigation of grounds around the former St. Joseph’s Mission residential school, outside Williams Lake. Story here.
FREELAND FORECASTS NEXT BUDGET - Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland says her 2023 budget will prioritize spending on health care and the green energy transition, while ensuring the government’s overall fiscal plan is sustainable during what is expected to be a challenging year. Story here.
CAMEROON ISSUE HIGHLIGHTS CHALLENGES FOR CANADA’S AFRICA STRATEGY - An embarrassing setback in a Canadian peace initiative in Cameroon has demonstrated the challenges that could hamper Ottawa’s planned new Africa strategy this year, but federal officials are optimistic the peace talks will still proceed. Story here.
POILIEVRE ANNOUNCES FIRST-NATIONS CONSULTATIONS - The federal Conservative leader says he’s launching countrywide consultations between First Nations and industry leaders on a proposed opt-in policy for First Nations to share the revenue generated by resource development on their lands. Story here.
ONTARIO LEGISLATURE MEMBER PRAISED FOR MENTAL-HEALTH CANDOUR - A former Ontario cabinet minister’s public acknowledgment of her bipolar disorder and the fact she spent part of last spring’s election campaign hospitalized and in crisis was an “heroic” act that will help many others who are suffering, says the head of the Canadian Mental Health Association in Ontario. Story here from The Ottawa Citizen.
N.S. COMMUNITY REMOVES CORNWALLIS NAME FROM SIGNS - Another community in Nova Scotia has removed the name Cornwallis - as in former Nova Scotia governor Edward Cornwallis, who issued a “scalping proclamation” in 1749 - from municipal property – and the town of Lunenburg is now looking for new names from the public. Story here.
THIS AND THAT
HOUSE ON A BREAK – The House of Commons is on a break until Jan. 30.
GG TO FINLAND - Governor-General Mary Simon is going to Finland from Feb 6-10 for a state visit, the Prime Minister’s Office announced Wednesday. During her visit, Ms. Simon is scheduled to meet with Finland President Sauli Niinistö, Prime Minister Sanna Marin, and Antti Rinne, the first deputy speaker of the Finland parliament. She will also visit the northern city of Rovaniemi.
JORDAN’S KING VISITS - Jordan’s King Abdullah II of Jordan is to visit Canada on Thursday and Friday, and will meet with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Governor-General Mary Simon while in Ottawa.
PM REACHES OUT TO FORMER N.Z PM - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke Tuesday with Jacinda Ardern, the former New Zealand prime minister, according to Mr. Trudeau’s office. “Prime Minister Trudeau thanked Ms. Ardern for her thoughtful and inspiring leadership, friendship, and valuable partnership while she was in office,” said a statement here. Chris Hipkins was sworn in Wednesday as New Zealand’s new Prime Minister. Story here.
COMMITTEE MEETINGS - Quebecor Media Inc. President and Chief Executive Officer Pierre Karl Péladeau, Rogers Communications Inc. President and Chief Executive Officer Tony Staffieri and Paul McAleese, the president of Shaw Communications Inc are among the witnesses this afternoon at a meeting of the Commons Standing Committee on Industry and Technology on the Proposed Acquisition of Shaw by Rogers. There’s a meeting notice here that includes the link to watch the proceedings. The meeting began at 2 p.m. ET and is to run until 4 p.m. ET. Telecom Reporter Alexandra Posadzki and Irene Galea report here on the federal court dismissing the Competition Bureau’s appeal of the Rogers-Shaw takeover approval.
PRIME MINISTER'S DAY
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in Hamilton for this week’s cabinet retreat, held private meetings, visited an automotive resource centre, accompanied by Hamilton-area MP Filomena Tassi, the minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario. Mr. Trudeau held a media availability and then attended the cabinet retreat.
LEADERS
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre held a media availability on Parliament Hill.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, on Vancouver Island, visited Nanaimo where he and NDP MP Lisa Marie Barron of Nanaimo Ladysmith, held a roundtable on health care, then spoke to the media about the issue. Afterward, they met with municipal leaders and toured the Harmac Pulp Mill. Later, in the city of Duncan, Mr. Singh and NDP MP Alistair MacGregor of Cowichan-Malahat-Langford attended a meet-and-greet event.
No schedules released for other party leaders.
THE DECIBEL
On Wednesday’s edition of The Globe and Mail podcast, Montreal Reporter Eric Andrew-Gee talks about his visit to the Quebec City of Rouyn-Noranda where residents have long known about the arsenic emissions coming from the local smelting plant. The Decibel is here.
OPINION
The Globe and Mail Editorial Board on how Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is (rightly) courting a fight over the notwithstanding clause: “Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stirred up a constitutional hornet’s nest this week when he said that his Justice Minister is looking for ways to curb the chronic overuse of the notwithstanding clause by some provinces, and that Ottawa might ask the Supreme Court for a reference on the matter. The loudest buzzing came from Quebec, where Premier François Legault immediately condemned the PM’s audacity in well-rehearsed language. “Mr. Trudeau’s desire to do this is a frontal attack on our nation’s ability to protect our collective rights,” Mr. Legault tweeted. “Quebec will never accept such a weakening of its rights. Never!” Understood. But Mr. Trudeau is right to point out, as he did this week in an interview in La Presse, that the use of the notwithstanding clause by provincial premiers has become “trivialized.”
Andrew Coyne (The Globe and Mail) on how the federal government’s fiscal plan is a sham: “As a former deputy minister of Finance – he was Paul Martin’s right-hand man in the deficit-busting 1990s – David Dodge would know a thing or three about misrepresenting the country’s finances. In those days the game was “hide the surplus”: Federal budgets serially understated the strength of the government’s fiscal position to fend off demands for more spending. Well, now, here we are more than 20 years later, and Finance is playing a very different game, as Mr. Dodge describes in a new report co-authored with Robert Asselin – budget director under another former Liberal finance minister, Bill Morneau – and Richard Dion, a senior adviser at Bennett Jones. Don’t let the anodyne title (Assessing the Potential Risks to the Sustainability of the Government of Canada’s Current Fiscal Plan) and diplomatic language fool you. The gist of the report is this: The government’s numbers are a fiction and a fraud. Only now the game is “hide the deficit.”
Gary Mason (The Globe and Mail) on how Preston Manning’s COVID-19 panel appointment is a $253,000 travesty: “When Alberta Premier Danielle Smith announced that former Reform Party leader Preston Manning would be leading a review of the province’s COVID-19 pandemic response, few could appreciate the pure genius of the move. Yes, the cost is steep: a budget of $2-million and a salary of $253,000 for Mr. Manning. But not many knew at the time that the arch-conservative former federal politician had already done extensive leg work in this area. Indeed, in May of last year, Mr. Manning issued the findings of an inquiry into the federal government’s handling of the pandemic. Report of the COVID Commission, it was entitled. And it was written by Mr. Manning himself. How great is that? Actually, not that great at all.”
Adam Goldenberg (Contributed to The Globe and Mail) on how it’s not Justice Rouleau’s job to say if Ottawa was right to invoke the Emergencies Act: “Did the Trudeau government act lawfully when it invoked the Emergencies Act on Feb. 14, 2022? That question dominated the hearings before the Public Order Emergency Commission in the fall. Unsurprisingly, many expect the commissioner – Justice Paul Rouleau – to provide his answer in his report, which must be tabled in Parliament by Feb. 20. Justice Rouleau should not answer that question. The Ontario judge should instead leave it to the federal courts and to Parliament to decide whether the government acted with proper statutory authority.”
Rosalie Wyonch (Contributed to The Globe and Mail) on how we have to stop pretending that health care is entirely public: “The recent controversy sparked by Ontario’s announcement that it will expand the use of private surgery and diagnostic-imaging clinics has missed the point. Health care in Ontario is already much more “private” than most people know, and the province has never had a universal system that is publicly funded and publicly delivered in a truly comprehensive manner. Myths about how our health care system does (or does not) work are unhelpful when attempting to address the very real challenges that result in long delays for surgeries and doctor’s appointments.”
Michael Wernick (Policy Options) on the pull and push of the centre that haunts the public service: “Recently this tension has been revealed in heated discussions of post-pandemic workplaces. Should the “centre” impose consistency on hybrid-work arrangements or leave the discretion to individual deputy heads who could in turn delegate decisions further down in their organizations? The policy that came out tries to have it both ways, creating a common framework but leaving a lot of flexibility within it.”
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.