Hey,
Pierre Poilievre says he is not going to take away three members of his caucus who had a three-hour lunch final month with Christine Anderson, a German politician the Conservative Chief has criticized for having “vile” racist views.
“No,” he mentioned Monday when requested concerning the challenge at a Parliament Hill information convention.
Mr. Poilievre had beforehand prevented talking in entrance of tv information cameras concerning the Feb. 21 assembly between the three MPs and Ms. Anderson. She sits within the European Parliament as a member of Different for Germany, a far-right celebration that has espoused anti-immigrant views and at occasions trivialized the Nazi dictatorship and the Holocaust.
In a written assertion issued by Mr. Poilievre’s workplace on Feb. 24, he mentioned “Christine Anderson’s views are vile and haven’t any place in our politics.”
“The MPs weren’t conscious of this visiting member of the European Parliament’s opinions, and so they remorse assembly along with her,” the assertion added. “Frankly, it could be higher if Anderson by no means visited Canada within the first place. She and her racist, hateful views should not welcome right here.”
Ms. Anderson has mentioned her views had been well-known, and he or she has ridiculed Mr. Poilievre’s declare that the MPs wouldn’t have been conscious of her political background.
The three Conservative parliamentarians who met Ms. Anderson are Haldimand-Norfolk MP Leslyn Lewis, a two-time candidate for the management of the Conservatives; Oshawa MP Colin Carrie; and Niagara West MP Dean Allison.
When Ms. Anderson met with the MPs, she was in Toronto as a part of a tour of Canada that additionally took her to Calgary and Hamilton, for rallies targeted on her opposition to vaccine mandates and her assist for final yr’s convoy protests.
An organizer of the tour mentioned the lunch included dialogue concerning the methods Germany and Canada had dealt with the pandemic.
On Monday, Mr. Poilievre didn’t discuss at size about Ms. Anderson, and he has not posted concerning the controversy on his busy social media accounts.
Requested about his determination to not punish the three MPs, given his pointed condemnation of Ms. Anderson, Mr. Poilievre mentioned solely that he’s involved concerning the “vile and racist views” of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whom he famous had worn blackface make-up prior to now. (Mr. Trudeau admitted through the 2019 federal election marketing campaign that he had worn such make-up often as a part of costumes, after a photograph surfaced of him with a blackened face at an Arabian Nights-themed celebration in 2001.)
BREAKING – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is scheduled to make an announcement on Parliament Hill and take media questions at 5:15 p.m. ET. Please watch The Globe and Mail for updates.
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TODAY’S HEADLINES
MANY SENATORS MISSING VOTES: GLOBE ANALYSIS – The Senate has sat for 104 days since November, 2021, however about 25 senators on common have missed every of the 37 legislative votes over that point, in keeping with an evaluation by The Globe and Mail. And a number of other members have forged fewer than 4 of the 19 votes since Parliament resumed sitting within the fall of final yr. Story right here.
MORE ACTION NEEDED AGAINST FOREIGN INTERFERENCE IN ELECTIONS: REPORT AUTHOR – The federal authorities must do extra to deal with overseas interference in Canada’s elections and will think about calling a public inquiry, says the creator of a report reviewing Ottawa’s efforts to guard the integrity of elections. Story right here.
EX-OPSEU PRESIDENT SAYS HE’S UNDER POLITICAL ATTACK BY RIVALS – Warren (Smokey) Thomas, the previous president of the Ontario Public Service Workers Union, says in court docket paperwork that latest allegations of monetary improprieties in opposition to him are a part of a political marketing campaign by his rivals that exploded after he appeared alongside Premier Doug Ford to announce a rise within the provincial minimal wage. Story right here.
BANK OF CANADA EXPECTED TO HOLD BENCHMARK INTEREST RATE STEADY – Nearly precisely one yr in the past, the Financial institution of Canada launched into its most aggressive rate-hike marketing campaign in a technology. That drive to boost borrowing prices will seemingly grind to a halt on Wednesday, with the central financial institution extensively anticipated to carry its benchmark rate of interest regular, somewhat than rising it, for the primary time in 12 months. Story right here.
TORY MP TO SEEK REPEAL OF MEDICAL ASSISTANCE IN DYING FOR MENTALLY ILL – Conservative MP Ed Quick mentioned Monday he’ll quickly desk a invoice to repeal a Liberal regulation that enables the mentally unwell to entry medical help in dying. Story right here from CBC.
CLIMATE CHANGE THREATENS NATIONAL SECURITY, PROSPERITY: CSIS – Canada’s spy service warns that local weather change poses a profound, persevering with risk to nationwide safety and prosperity, together with the potential lack of elements of British Columbia and the Atlantic Provinces to rising sea ranges. Story right here.
ONTARIO LIBERALS SCRAP DELEGATED LEADERSHIP CONVENTIONS – Ontario Liberals have voted to scrap their system of delegated management conventions, in a choice that unofficially kicks off a race to select the brand new face of the celebration upfront of the following provincial election. Story right here.
COURT RULING STRIKES DOWN ONTARIO RESTRICTIONS ON ELECTION ADS – The Ontario Court docket of Enchantment has struck down the Ford authorities’s restrictions on election adverts, siding with a coalition of unions that challenged a transfer to increase a $600,000 restrict on spending by teams apart from political events in order that it utilized for 12 months earlier than a provincial vote. Story right here.
OTTAWA ACCUSED OF INACTION ON BANNING ELEPHANT IVORY, RHINO HORNS – The federal authorities has been accused of dragging its ft over its promise to ban the import of elephant ivory and rhino horn, together with from trophy hunts in Africa. Story right here.
THIS AND THAT
TODAY IN THE COMMONS – Projected Order of Enterprise on the Home of Commons, March 6, accessible right here.
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER’S DAY – Chrystia Freeland, who can also be the Finance Minister, held non-public conferences in Toronto, and met, as a part of pre-budget consultations, with enterprise leaders within the essential minerals sector on the Prospectors and Builders Affiliation of Canada 2023 conference. Ms. Freeland was additionally scheduled to carry a roundtable dialogue on the federal government’s essential minerals technique, as a part of pre-budget consultations.
POLITICAL FORECAST – THE WEEK AHEAD – Members of the Home of Commons are again after a two-week break. They may sit this week, after which take a one-week break.
There’s going to be quite a bit packed into this week. For instance, Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Fee, who’s in Canada for a go to, will deal with Parliament within the Home of Commons chamber at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday.
And federal, provincial and territorial justice ministers are scheduled to fulfill in Ottawa on Friday, with points round bail on the agenda. (The Globe and Mail Editorial Board mirrored on that challenge right here.)
In the meantime, diversified high-profile witnesses will probably be telling their tales to Commons committees.
They may embrace officers from Google, who will probably be explaining, to the heritage committee, their transfer to dam some Canadians from accessing information via the Google search bar. Ottawa reporter Marie Woolf famous Monday that the committee was pressured to cancel a listening to with Google executives due to technical difficulties. Ms. Woolf explains the bigger Google state of affairs right here.
On Tuesday, Public Security Minister Marco Mendicino was to testify, earlier than the federal government operations and estimates committee, on federal authorities consulting contracts awarded to McKinsey & Firm. Story right here. There’s a gathering discover, together with a video hyperlink, right here.
Amid issues about the price of groceries, key executives will seem earlier than the agriculture and agri-food committee. On the witness record: Galen Weston, chairman and president of Loblaw Firms Restricted; Eric La Flèche, president and chief government officer of Metro Inc.; and Michael Medline, president and chief government officer of Empire Firm Restricted.
And two former overseas affairs ministers will probably be showing earlier than the Senate’s overseas affairs and international-trade committee. On Wednesday, Lloyd Axworthy will testify a few research on the Canadian overseas service and parts of the overseas coverage equipment inside World Affairs Canada. John Baird will deal with the identical subject on Thursday. Particulars right here.
And the week may even embrace the 91st annual Ottawa Convention on Safety and Defence, which is able to happen on Thursday and Friday. The agenda contains dialogue of the conflict in Ukraine, arms management, NATO and great-power competitors. Amongst these addressing these points will probably be Defence Minister Anita Anand; Jody Thomas, who’s nationwide safety and intelligence adviser to the Prime Minister; Admiral Christopher Grady, vice-chairman of the USA Joint Chiefs of Workers; and Yulia Kovaliv, Ukraine’s ambassador to Canada.
MINISTERS ON THE ROAD – Households Minister Karina Gould, in Regina with Saskatchewan Schooling Minister Dustin Duncan, introduced that Saskatchewan will obtain $10-a-day licensed youngster care, with federal assist, by April 1, 2023. (Story right here from CBC.) Pure Sources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson, in Toronto on the Prospectors and Builders Affiliation of Canada 2023 conference on mineral exploration and mining, introduced the start of a Canada–Britain collaboration to deepen engagement and co-operation on essential minerals. Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne, in Toronto on the prospectors affiliation, mentioned leveraging superior applied sciences to spice up the Canadian economic system and construct towards a low-carbon future. He appeared with Rio Tinto chief government Jakob Stausholm at an occasion additionally attended by Mr. Wilkinson.
TORIES NOMINATE CANDIDATE IN CALGARY RIDING – Shuv Majumdar, a former foreign-policy adviser to foreign-affairs minister John Baird, who has extra just lately labored as a world director at Stephen Harper’s consulting agency, has been nominated as the Conservative candidate in the riding of Calgary Heritage. Mr. Harper, the previous Conservative prime minister, represented a earlier configuration of the driving.
Calgary Heritage was beforehand held by Conservative Bob Benzen, who received with 58 per cent of the vote within the 2021 election, to 17 per cent for the New Democrat candidate. He stepped down on the finish of final yr.
PRIME MINISTER’S DAY
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in Ottawa, held non-public conferences and delivered keynote remarks on the Canadian Federation of Agriculture’s 2023 annual normal assembly, and took part in a question-and-answer session. Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau additionally attended. Mr. Trudeau was additionally scheduled to make an announcement at 5:15 p.m. ET.
LEADERS
Conservative Chief Pierre Poilievre held a information convention on medical help in dying, accompanied by Abbotsford MP Ed Quick and Saskatchewan Senator Denise Batters.
NDP Chief Jagmeet Singh, in Ottawa, held a media availability on his celebration’s opposition-day movement, which asks that just lately introduced well being care funding not be used for the growth of for-profit well being care. He later spoke on the annual normal assembly of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture.
No schedules launched for different celebration leaders.
THE DECIBEL
Proper now, one in 25 Canadians who use Google can’t discover some information websites via its search bar. That’s as a result of the tech big has deliberately blocked these searches in response to laws put ahead by the federal authorities. On Monday’s version of The Globe and Mail podcast, Deputy Ottawa bureau chief Invoice Curry explains the invoice taking the combat to Google and different huge tech corporations, and what the federal government is attempting to perform with this laws. The Decibel is right here.
TRIBUTE
PASSING OF RCMP COMMISSIONER’S HUSBAND – The RCMP has announced the dying of Ray Gauther, RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki’s husband. No different particulars had been supplied within the Saturday tweet.
OPINION
The Globe and Mail Editorial Board on breaking down the blue wall of police silence: “Policing could be harmful. 5 officers have been killed within the line of responsibility prior to now six months alone. However serving as an officer additionally carries an superior duty: the ability to legally detain residents, to assault and even to kill. With that energy comes solemn obligations, akin to totally co-operating in investigations, significantly these involving a dying. Canadians have a Constitution proper to not incriminate themselves. However an officer in uniform, with a gun and the precise to make use of lethal pressure, isn’t the identical as an atypical Canadian. There is no such thing as a easy authorized path to oblige cops to co-operate with felony investigations. However reforms are clearly overdue.”
Kelly Cryderman (The Globe and Mail) on how Alberta adoption funding is a political transfer to maintain the United Conservative Occasion electable: “A comparatively small $4-million-a-year quantity within the latest Alberta funds – an merchandise targeted on making adoption within the province extra inexpensive – may be a profit to some households and youngsters. But it surely’s additionally a deeply political transfer, targeted on preserving the often-divided United Conservative Occasion each electable, and all on the identical web page. The 2023-24 funds paid particular consideration to ‘securing the way forward for our youngest Albertans by lowering value obstacles related to adoption bills, in order that extra youngsters can discover their endlessly houses.’”
Shannon Proudfooot (The Globe and Mail) on what occurs when Mr. Loud turns into Mr. Quiet: “This selective communication permits Mr. Poilievre to defang the story within the mainstream media together with his strident condemnation of Ms. Anderson, whereas passively obscuring it from his followers who worship her as a convoy hero, and who’re unlikely to eat any of the mainstream sources that ran his denunciation. If you construct your profession and your public self as Mr. Mouth, everybody learns that you simply’re excellent at it while you kick into that gear. The issue is, everybody may even see while you conveniently flip into Mr. Nothing to See Right here. And ultimately, they’ll discover that you simply solely present as much as a combat while you’re the one who began it.”
Tom Koch (contributed to The Globe and Mail) on why, as a gerontologist, he’s deeply frightened about advance consent for MAID: “Approving MAID as a complicated request isn’t a kindness for the individual in misery. It solely provides credence to a worry of the longer term but skilled. The query now could be whether or not we, as a rustic, embrace that worry as a rationale for early dying, or focus as an alternative on the richness that’s nonetheless potential, assuring the requirements of life for these affected by dementia and different limiting situations.”
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