Hello, welcome to Politics Insider. Let’s look at what happened today.
MPs have unanimously approved a motion calling on former transport minister Chrystia Freeland to again appear before a committee looking into BC Ferries’ decision to buy four new vessels from a Chinese shipyard.
At issue are new e-mails revealing that Freeland’s department had several weeks of advance notice on the controversial ferries plan.
Bill Curry reports that the motion was approved today just hours after The Globe and Mail reported on the existence of the advance warning.
Bloc Québécois MP Xavier Basralou-Duval moved the motion, saying that Freeland must be called back to explain what she knew at the time she was publicly criticizing BC Ferries’ plan.
“Everyone was taken for idiots,” he said in French. “I think we need to hear what she has to say to explain herself.”
Freeland has left her cabinet post as transport and internal trade minister to serve as Canada’s special representative for Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Mark Carney is in Mexico today where he will sign a strategic partnership on trade and security with that country.
Steven Chase reports that officials are describing the move as a reset of their relationship as both countries prepare for a renegotiation of their trilateral trade deal with an increasingly protectionist United States.
One Canadian official, speaking to journalists at a background briefing on Carney’s meetings with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, said Ottawa feels there is untapped potential to boost trade with Mexico. It currently ranks among the top five export markets for Canada.
Also David Lametti, the former federal justice minister, has been appointed Canada’s new ambassador to the United Nations, according to an advisory from the Prime Minister’s Office.
Lametti, who had been serving as principal secretary to the Prime Minister, will replace Bob Rae, who has been the UN ambassador since 2020.
The PMO also announced that Vera Alexander, a senior official at Global Affairs Canada, will be Canada’s next ambassador to Germany.
She succeeds the late John Horgan, a former B.C. premier, who died last year.
Chrystia Freeland prepares to appear at the House of Commons transport committee meeting on Parliament Hill, on Aug. 1.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
What else is going on
Number of asylum seekers turned back by Canada grows: The asylum seekers are being sent to the U.S. under a bilateral pact, even as the U.S. says it may deport them to third countries.
Progressive groups plan protests against Carney agenda: Canada-wide protests are planned this weekend, a coalition of progressive civil society groups say, in what organizers call an emerging “common front” to elements of the new Liberal government’s agenda.
Ukrainians who fled to Canada in limbo: Ukrainians who fled war in their country for safety in Canada now find themselves in a bureaucratic bind, as many encounter delays in renewing Canadian study and work permits, and face obstacles to renewing their Ukrainian passports.
Former senator Oliver dies: Donald Oliver, the first Black man appointed to the Senate of Canada, has died at the age of 86.
On our radar
Prime Minister’s Day: Mark Carney has travelled to Mexico City for meetings with President Claudia Sheinbaum. The day includes a working lunch, hosted by Sheinbaum, a roundtable discussion with Canadian and Mexican business leaders and a joint press conference with Sheinbaum. Carney is also attending a reception held by the Business Council of Canada and the Business Co-ordinating Council of Mexico.
Party Leaders: Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet held a news conference on the tabling of a Bloc bill on trade agreements. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre attended Question Period. Green Party Leader Elizabeth May is at Parliament. Interim NDP leader Don Davies met with British Columbia Finance Minister Brenda Bailey and that province’s Jobs and Economic Growth Minister Ravi Kahlon, members of a delegation led by Premier David Eby on a two-day visit to Ottawa.
Appointments to security, intelligence oversight committee: Former Commons speaker Greg Fergus and former federal cabinet minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor are among the new appointees to the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians. There’s an advisory from the PMO here.
Quote of the Day:
“He seems like a very young man. Maybe he wasn’t born when Brian Mulroney negotiated NAFTA with the Mexicans.” -Official Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre on International Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu, during an exchange over trade agreements between Canada and other countries.
Question period
“Canada has two official languages and I don’t speak none of them.” Which former federal cabinet, known for his green Stetson hats, made that comment.
Scroll to the bottom of this newsletter for the answer.
Perspectives
Canada can lead on the world stage again – and in the name of protecting civilians
Twenty years ago, Canada gave the world a new principle. The Responsibility to Protect (R2P), crafted through a Canadian-led international commission and endorsed unanimously at the United Nations in 2005, reframed sovereignty not simply as a bundle of rights and privileges conferred upon a state, but as a responsibility.
— Lloyd Axworthy is chair of the World Refugee and Migration Council and a former Canadian foreign minister. Allan Rock has served as minister of justice and attorney-general of Canada and Canadian ambassador to the United Nations.
The American right discovers that it loves cancel culture, too
This is not cancel culture, the right insists, as it scours the internet, searching for heretics. Iconoclasts will be identified – shamed, reported, and maybe even investigated – to ensure they are punished for their unacceptable opinions. This hunt is not limited to those who celebrated the assassination of MAGA influencer Charlie Kirk, which is arguably legitimate grounds for termination (indeed, publicly endorsing murder should be considered something of a red line), but also include those who spoke ill of him posthumously, or who quoted him inaccurately, or who said they won’t personally be mourning his death. Those people are being hounded and fired from their jobs, too.
— Robyn Urback, Columnist
Newfoundlanders can’t afford to say no to a hydro deal with Quebec
Voters in Newfoundland and Labrador are about to exercise their democratic franchise in the most important election their province has faced since it joined Canada in 1949.
— Konrad Yakabuski, Columnist
Go deeper
- The Decibel: The latest episode of the Globe and Mail podcast features Nojoud Al Mallees, who covers economic issues for The Globe, on the new Build Canada Homes agency that has the task of building affordable and supportive housing.
- Follow along for our stories on Canada-U.S. relations as news develops
- Get the latest insight and analysis from our political opinion writers
- Take a look at the history of immigration reporting and great political scandals from A Nation’s Paper, a book about The Globe and Mail’s role in Canadian history
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.
The answer to today’s question: Eugene Whelan, a former Windsor MP, who was appointed agriculture minister by then-prime minister Pierre Trudeau in 1972, and held the post until 1984 – aside from the nine months of Joe Clark’s Progressive Conservative government in 1979 and 1980.