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TWENTY-SEVENTH YEAR, NO. 1326 CANADA’S POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT NEWSWEEKLY MONDAY, MARCH 21, 2016 $5.00
EXCLUSIVE POLITICAL COVERAGE: NEWS, FEATURES, AND ANALYSIS INSIDE
WHY CANADA’SPERMANENT ELECTIONCAMPAIGN IS HERETO STAY P. 23
PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARIES:PRIMER P. 18GREEN ECONOMY PP.27-35 DIVERSITY IN
PUBLIC SERVICE P. 16
NEWS SENATE NEWS LOBBYING
NEWS LIBERAL CAUCUSNEWS LEGISLATION
FEATURE BUDGET SHOES
Liberals set to put stamp on new government with budget, ‘watershed’ moment
Senate’s former HR director who alleges ‘fraudulent activity’ in Senate administration has preliminary communication with RCMP
If Ottawa bails out Bombardier, feds should help 400 laid-off Aveos workers, say Manitoba Liberal MPs
Budget to dominate House, ministers to testify at committees
Finance ministers and their shoes
BY ABBAS RANA
The Senate’s former HR director Darshan Singh who was fi red “without cause” in early December has had preliminary communication recently with the RCMP alleging “fraudulent activ-ity” in the Senate administration and has indicated willingness to share relevant information if the RCMP chooses to launch an of-fi cial investigation, The Hill Times has learned.
BY DEREK ABMA
Federal lobbying activity exploded in February, with the federal lobbyists’ registry showing there were 112 per cent more com-munications reports fi led than the same month a year earlier.
As well, when comparing Feb-ruary’s activity with one month earlier, the 2,927 communications reports marked a 185 per cent gain from January.
“You’ve got a combination of things happening here,” said Joe Jordan, a lobbyist with J.L. Jordan Group and former Liberal MP. “You’ve got a government that has signalled, through what
BY ABBAS RANA
If the federal government bails out Quebec-based aerospace gi-ant Bombardier with a fi nancial aid package, Manitobans will ex-pect fi nancial help for more than 400 workers who were laid off by aircraft maintenance company Aveos in Winnipeg in 2012, say Manitoba Liberal MPs.
BY RACHEL AIELLO
The House is back this week after a one-week break and it’s one of the most important weeks of the year in Ottawa.
Finance Minister Bill Morneau (Toronto Centre, Ont.) will release the new Liberal government’s fi rst budget on Tuesday, March 22, and the budget will dominate the House for most of the week, but there is other legislative business as well.
Last Friday, Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s took part in the pre-budget ritual of getting a new pair of shoes to wear while he brings down the budget this Tuesday.
He was presented by children at the Kiwanis Boys and Girls Club in Toronto with what was reportedly a pair of black lace-up shoes by Canadian designer Ron White. It wasn’t immediately clear who bought the shows, which the Ron White website indicates would cost about $400.
The Parliament of Canada website notes that, before this shoe-buying became a very publicized event, the ear-liest sign of this tradition on record, based on a Windsor Star report, is fi nance minister Donald Fleming wearing
new shoes as he presented the budget in 1960.The trend remained inconsistent for many years, but
Mitchell Sharp is on record as wearing new shoes for budgets he presented in 1966 and 1967, and Jean Chrétien for two budgets in 1978.
In 1979, John Crosbie did not have new shoes, but wore mukluks to the House to present his budget.
The new-shoe tradition seemed to pick up steam 1980s as Michael Wilson is on record for partaking in the tradi-tion for four-straight years between 1985 and 1988.
Paul Martin had a new pair of work boots to wear for his fi rst budget as fi nance minister in 1994, then he
seemed to ignore the tradition in later years. When Paul Martin became prime minister, his fi nance minister Ralph Goodale had new shoes for budgets in 2004 and 2005.
Jim Flaherty did the shoe thing in 2006, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, and 2014. He changed things up a little in 2007, as he instead opted to buy a pair of Canadian-made skates for his done John.
Joe Oliver bought a new pair of sneakers before bringing down last year’s budget.
BY DEREK ABMA
This week’s budget presents the Liberal government with an op-portunity to truly differentiate itself from a decade of Conservative rule that ended after last year’s election,
say those within government and outside observers.
On Tuesday, the Justin Trudeau (Papineau, Que.) government—as articulated by Finance Minister Bill Morneau (Toronto Centre, Ont.)—will bring down the fi rst
budget of its mandate, and it’s being seen as a major milestone for this party that has promised to invest in the economy—and run defi cits to do it.
Continued on page 39Continued on page 6
Continued on page 21 Continued on page 36
Continued on page 4
Federal lobbying activity heats up, refl ects Liberals’ friendlier stance with consultant lobbyists
CAL COVERAAAARARAAAARARAAARAAARAAARAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARAARAAARAAAAAAAAAARARAARAAAAAAAAAAARARARAAAAAARAAAAAAAAAAAARARAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARAAAAAAAAAARAAAAAAAAAAARAAARARAAARARARAAAAAAAAAARARARARAAAAARAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARARARARAAAAAAAAAAAAARARAAAAAAAAAAAARARAAARAAAAAAAAAAAARARAAAAAAAAAAAARAARAAAAAAAAAAAAAARARAAAAAAARAAAAAAAAARRARAARAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRAAAAAARRARAAAAAARRAAAAARAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARAAAAAAAAARAAAAAAAAAAAAAARAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARAAAAAAAAAAAAARRAAAAAAAAAAAARAAAAARRAAAAAAAAAAARRAAAAAAAAAARARAAAAAARAAAAAAAAAGGEGEGEGEGEGEGGEGGGEGEGGEGEGEGEGEGEGEGEGEGEGEGEGEGEGEGEGEEGEGEGEGEGEGEEEGEEEEGEEGEEEGEGEGEGEGEGEGEGEGGGGEGEGEGGGGEGEGEGEGGEEEEEGEGEEGEGEEGEEGEGEGEEGEGEEEEGEGEGGEGEGGEGGEGGEGEGEEEEEGEEGEGEGEGEEGEGEGEGEGEGEEGEGEGEGGGEGEGEEEEGEEEEGEGEEGEEEGEEGEGEGGEGEGEGEGEGEEEGEEGEGEGEGEEEGEGEGEGGEGGEEGEEEEEGEEGEGEGGGGGGGEGEEGEEEEEGEEEEGGEGGEGEGGEGGGGEGEEEEGEGGGGEGGEEGEGEEEEEEGGEGEGGGGEEEGGGEGEGEEEGEGEGEEEEEEEGEEEGGEEEEEGEGEEEGEEGEEEEEGEGEGGEEEEEGEGEEGEGGGEEGGEGGEGGEGEGEGEGEEEGGGEGEEEEEGEGGEEEGEEGGGEEEGEEGEGEGGGGGGEEGEEGEGGGGGGGGEEEEEGGGGGGGEEEGEEEGEGGEEEEEGGGGEGEEEEGEGEGGEGGEEGEEEEEEGGGGGGEEGEEEEEEEEGGGGGGGGGEEEEEEEEGGGGGGGGGGGGGEEEEEEGEEEEEEEEEGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: NNNNNENNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN WS, F ALYSIS IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNNSNSNSNNNSNNNSNNNNSNNSSNNNSNSNNSNNNNNNSNSNNNNSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSNSSSSNSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSIDIDIDIDIDIDIDIDIDIIIDDIDIDIDIDIDIDDIDIDIDDIDDDDIIDIDIDIDDIDDIDIDIDIDDIDDIDDIDIDDDDDIDIDIDIDIDDDDDIDDIDDDIDIDIDIDDIDIDDIIDDDIDIIDDDDIDIDIDIDIDDIDIDIDIIDIDIDDIIDDIIDIDIDDIDIDDIDIIIDIDDIDDIDIIIIDDDDDIIIIIDDDDIIIIDDDDDDIIIIIII EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Finance Minister Bill
Morneau and Treasury Board President Scott Brison, pictured
Jan. 11, at a pre-budget
consultation in Halifax during
a power outage and held by candlelight.
Photograph courtesy of Bill Morneau’s
Bill Morneau, pictured March 18. Twitter picture
Ever since Michael Zehaf-Bibeau’s shoot-ing rampage on Parliament Hill and at
the National War Memorial in Ottawa on Oct. 22, 2014 that left reservist Cpl. Nathan Cirillo dead and most of the city in lockdown, those of us working near the Hill get a little
nervous whenever we see scores of police of-fi cers, police cars and city blocks taped off.
But that was the scene at the corner of Metcalfe and Sparks streets Thursday at about 9 a.m., just as hundreds of people were coming into work.
While there ended up being no wider threat to the public, the incident was a trag-edy, nonetheless, as an RCMP offi cer took
his own life with a fi rearm. Sources indi-cated the offi cer was a member of a detail assigned to provide security for embassies in Ottawa. CBC identifi ed the deceased as Const. Jean-Pascal Nolin, a father of two who had been with the RCMP since 2005, based on a memo sent out to RCMP staff by Commissioner Bob Paulson.
The area where the incident happened is where a centre for RCMP offi cers who provide downtown embassy protective services and other general protective services is located.
Liberals vote for favourite Trudeau quote for T-shirt
The federal Liberal party is trying to raise money from a T-shirt that will include a quote by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that supporters have voted as their favourite.
The winning quote was “Better is always possible.” It won against “Canada is back,” “Because it’s 2016” (the quote was actu-ally ”Because it’s 2015,” but never mind), “A Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian,” “Sunny ways,” and “Positive politics.”
Keep in mind, you’ll need to donate $100 to the party in order to get one of these shirts once they’re ready.
There was some lively discussion on Twitter about this campaign. Mark O’Henly, who identifi es himself as a retired oilsands worker living near Calgary, suggested another quote for consideration: “Small busi-nesses are actually just ways for wealthier Canadians to save on their taxes.”
And a Twitter user calling himself Charles_GTA nominated “budgets balance themselves” for use on the T-shirt.
THE HILL TIMES, MONDAY, MARCH 21, 20162FEATURE BUZZ
A strong year-round offshore shrimp fishery builds a stronger economy.
StrongShrimp.ca CANADIAN ASSOCIATION OF
PRAWN PRODUCERS
Good jobs. Sustainable fishery.
RCMP incident creates stir in downtown Ottawa
HEARD HILLONTHE
BY DEREK ABMA
Continued on page 37
The Liberal Party is trying to raise money through a campaign in which supporters pick their favourite Trudeau quote for a T-shirt to be made available in April to those who donate $100 or more. Screen grab from Liberal.ca website
A portion of Metcalfe Street near Parliament Hill is closed off Thursday morning as police investigate what turned out to be a gun suicide by an RCMP offi cer. The Hill Times photograph by Rachel Aiello
Corporate support for the Cruelty-Free Cosmetics ActDear Prime Minister Trudeau,
Do you know if the shampoo and grooming products you used
today were tested on animals?
Our companies are part of a thriving North American beauty industry
that operates without any new animal testing. We believe that all
new cosmetic, toiletry and fragrance products can and should be
cruelty-free — and so too do the great majority of Canadians.
We therefore welcome the introduction of Bill S-214 — the Cruelty-
Free Cosmetics Act — and urge its swift enactment by the Canadian
government.
Already, 34 countries have banned animal testing for cosmetics.
Most have also banned the sale of newly animal tested beauty
products or ingredients. This includes the world’s largest cosmetic
market, the European Union, together with Norway, Israel and
India, New Zealand, South Korea and Turkey. Similar legislation
is also currently under discussion in the Unites States, Australia,
Taiwan, Brazil, Argentina, Russia and beyond.
The cornerstone of cruelty-free innovation is that safe ingredients
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fi rmly on the map as a country that says no to animal suffering in
the name of beauty, and that’s something we can all be proud of.
Please, help Canada make the leap to #BeCrueltyFree.
Respectfully,
March 2 016
The Right Honourable Justin Trudeau
Offi ce of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A2 BeCrueltyFree.ca
THE HILL TIMES, MONDAY, MARCH 21, 20164NEWS BUDGET 2016
“It is kind of a watershed, very key moment for them,” said Kevin Page, former parliamentary budget offi cer and now a University of Ottawa professor. “I think this is where their credibility as good fi s-cal managers will be on the line.”
Ian Lee, a professor at Car-leton University’s Sprott School of Business, said that, given how high profi le the federal budget has become in recent decades—sur-passing even the Throne Speech as a defi nitive statement of govern-ment—Tuesday’s budget will be a key occasion for the Liberal government contrast itself against its Conservative predecessors.
“[The Liberals] are going to use this document as the seminal docu-ment—the seminal document—to communicate the profound philo-sophical differentiation and differ-ences between the former govern-ment and the current government, and they’re going to do it chapter after chapter, page after page, in the words, and in the charts and in the graphs that they choose to put in the document,” Mr. Lee said. “So I think this is going to be the single most important document [for the government].”
Geneviève Tellier, an associate professor of political studies at the University of Ottawa, said this will be Liberals’ “most important budget of their mandate,” given all the promises that have been made, contrasted against a more diffi cult economic and fi scal situation than what was expected during the election campaign.
“Now we’re going to start to see the real thing, meaning actual money being spent, where and what program, and how serious they were with their promises, now that the economy is shifting a bit,” she said.
Liberal MP Wayne Easter (Malpeque, P.E.I.), chair of the House Finance Committee, agreed that this budget will be an important occasion for the government to make a statement about how it differentiates itself from the previous regime.
“It’s important to set the stage, basically for the term,” Mr. Easter said. “This is where it has to happen.”
Mr. Easter said there has been “all kinds of discussion” within the Liberal caucus about using this budget to show Canadians what kind of government the Liberals are running.
“We have made a number of commitments, and we expect that those have to be lived up to,” he said.
Perrin Beatty, CEO of the
Canadian Chamber of Commerce and a former cabinet minister under the Progressive Conserva-tive government of Brian Mul-roney, agreed that this budget is a crucial opportunity for the new government to make a statement.
“The budget, in many ways, will be the fi rst clear clue to what the government’s priorities are,” he said.
Mr. Lee—who’s been in every budget lockup since 2008 and is planning to go to Tuesday’s—said this will be an interesting occasion.
“I’m looking forward to this purely as an analyst because the last three or four budgets were kind of boring. … We even made jokes: ‘OK, what’s getting cut? How much is getting cut?’ [This year] is going to be very different looking at that document. There’s going to be spending initiatives falling out of the sky in that document.”
Mr. Easter’s House Finance Committee heard from more than 90 witnesses last month as part of pre-budget consultations. He said the overall message was that people are expecting the govern-ment to invest in the economy, but to do it responsibly.
“The majority are still say-ing, ‘Look, we need some kind of stimulus. We can accept going in debt, but be cautious; don’t go too far, watch the debt-to-GDP ratio,’ ” Mr. Easter said.
He added that another senti-ment coming out of pre-budget consultations—which included a wide range of business groups and not-for-profi t organizations— was that, as much as possible, the private sector should be an engine for economy, and the gov-ernment should take measures that allow that to happen.
“Everything that can be done to leverage private investment could go some distance to im-proving economic stimulus, so it doesn’t need to be all government money,” he said.
Mr. Easter said those who participated in pre-budget consul-tations—which included a wide range of not-for-profi t groups and organizations representing industry sectors—seemed genuine in their efforts of trying to help the government establish a sound fi scal plan and were reasonable in their expectations.
“They weren’t asking for things that were absolutely impossible,” he said. “You weren’t having off-the-wall kinds of ideas. People were trying to be realistic to say, ‘These are the kind of times we’re in. We all have to focus here on getting the economy moving.’ ”
Clues to where the government is likely to go in the budget can be seen in the Liberals’ election campaign from last year. Some of their promises included: $20-bil-lion over 10 years for, each, for public transit, green infrastruc-ture, and social infrastructure; removing GST from capital invest-ments in affordable housing at a cost of about $125-million a year; providing more fi nancial benefi ts to most Canadians with children while reducing such benefi ts for wealthier families; and reversing the Conservative cuts to CBC/Ra-
dio-Canada while adding another $150-million in annual funding.
As well, a report on pre-budget consultations from the House Finance Committee, tabled in the House on March 11, provides other signs for where this government could go with its budget. Among more than 50 recommendations in this report are suggestions to:
• Ensure a reduction of the country’s debt-to-GDP ratio over the next four years to preserve the government’s capacity to respond to severe economic downturns
• Reduce restrictions on inter-provincial trade and worker mobility;
• Provide a “robust plan” to encourage private-sector business investments though means such tax incentives and other regula-tory changes;
• Initiate a review of the fed-eral taxation system with a view of making it “simpler, fairer and more effi cient”;
• Review the temporary for-eign worker program to address its negative effects on sectors such as livestock and fi sheries, where companies are struggling to fi nd workers, and study the possibility of offering paths to citizenship for foreign workers who want it;
• Make rules on employment benefi ts less stringent for new entrants to the labour force and those living in areas of high un-employment;
• Study the feasibility of a national prescription-drug pro-gram and improvements to home health care;
• Consider longer-term and more predictable funding rela-tionships with municipalities;
• Implement incentives for businesses to develop and use green technology;
• Reallocate ineffective tax credits related to post-secondary education toward non-repayable grants, and ensure post-second-ary graduates are not be required to make repayments on principals of student loans while their in-come is less than $25,000 a year;
• And implement a pilot proj-ect around the concept of guaran-teed income.
Despite all the clues on budgetary direction within the Liberals’ platform and the Finance Committee’s report, Mr. Easter said there is still room for surprises on Tuesday.
“I think there’ll probably be some jewels in there that we know not of yet, but that’ll be the excitement of waiting ‘till March 22,” he said.
Bloomberg News last week reported anonymous govern-ment sources as saying the defi cit would be capped at $30-billion, with initiatives largely confi ned to what has already been outlined in the election platform. Mr. Trudeau was also quoted by Bloomberg as saying the budget will reverse the Tories’ previous measure to raise eligibility for old-age benefi ts to age 67 from 65.
Mr. Page said the Liberals made a lot of promises in the campaign, and they don’t have to fulfi ll all of them in one budget. However, he
said if the government is serious about using its fi nancial resources to kick-start Canada’s economy, a defi cit of $30-billion or more is reasonable, if spent wisely.
“They would have to have a world-class infrastructure program, I would argue,” Mr. Page said.
He added that any plans to borrow money for the purpose of supporting the economy should be well thought out, and he added that the government shouldn’t be averse to taking a proper amount of time to study certain ideas before they’re implemented. He said, in the early 1990s, the government tended to put so much study and analysis into ev-erything, that its style was described as “paralysis by analysis.”
He contrasted that with more recent times: “We’ve had 10 years where its seems like we’ve had no analysis. So we’ve had paralysis without analysis. …. So maybe if they start launching things in this budget that are not just about, ‘Here’s a new present to put under the Christmas three,’ but, ‘Here’s something we’re going to work on with various groups of society—First Nations people or provinces, municipalities,’ that would be kind of neat, so that the country gets engaged on build-ing a much stronger economic platform for the future.”
Mr. Page added that he hopes the government includes a higher level of analysis in this budget for things such as the state of the economy and government fi nances. He said this can be an opportunity to spell out for Canadians why the numbers are the way they are, whether these defi cits are structural or cyclical, and where the economy and the government’s fi scal numbers are expected to go in the future.
“They need to look different than the previous government. … If this is a government that is making the case that we have to do fi scal expansion, that we need a type of stimulus because the economy is going sideways right now, than I think, analytically right off the gate, they’ve got to come in with something that’s very different than the previous government,” he said.
While he said it would be hard to give a precise date for return-
ing to a balanced budget, Mr. Page said it would be reasonable to expect “credible fi scal targets.”
Mr. Beatty said the government has so far done a “great job’ at reaching out to various stakehold-ers and building relationships, though he added that this has raised expectations while a dete-riorating economy has lowered the government’s “fi nancial fl exibility.”
“The whole process of devel-oping the budget requires the government to set priorities and to communicate those priorities clearly to the Canadian public, and to begin for the fi rst time to say ‘no’ now to many groups with high expectations … and of course to give a clear indication of what their strategy is for the defi cit,” he said.
Ms. Tellier the government should ensure that everything that was said in December’s throne speech is addressed in the budget, because “if it’s not there, it’s going to send a strong signal saying, ‘Well, you know, we don’t have the resources. It’s not pos-sible for us as the moment; we’ll wait a bit.’ ”
Mr. Lee said he’ll be watching closely to see if announced infra-structure spending stays true to what “infrastructure” is supposed to be.
“The whole idea of infra-structure, and why economists have been so supportive of it, is because it’s the idea it increases and enhances productivity, it enhances effi ciency, in moving stuff, things, people across the economy,” he said.
With this defi nition in mind, he said roads, airports, railroads, and even investments in broadband internet networks qualify, but not what he deemed “social” expendi-tures on things such as day-care centres and community centres.
Mr. Lee added that it remains to be seen whether the govern-ment will commit to universal enhancement of the Canadian Pension Plan. He said the major-ity of Canadians are not in need of pension enhancements, so any efforts to address issues of retire-ment income should target people in who need it rather than the whole population.
[email protected] Hill Times
Liberals set to put stamp on new government with budget, seen as ‘watershed’ moment Carleton University’s Ian Lee says the budget is going to be ‘the seminal document’ for the Liberals to differential themselves from the Tories.
Continued from page 1
All eyes will be on Fi-nance Min-ister Bill Morneau on Tuesday as he pres-ents the Liberal gov-ernment’s fi rst budget of its mandate. Photograph courtesy of Bill Morneau’s Twitter
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THE HILL TIMES, MONDAY, MARCH 21, 20166NEWS LOBBYING
it’s said and what it’s done, that it values consultation. And then you’ve got the front end of a four-year mandate and a budget.”
Topics of discussion listed in communications reports that saw notable gains in February included; aboriginal affairs, for which its 310 reports marked a 933 per cent gain from one year earlier; 295 reports for infrastruc-ture, up 638 per cent, 280 reports for economic development, up 637 per cent, and 130 reports for climate, up 6,400 per cent from just two a year earlier.
Mr. Jordan said these are “topics this government has signalled, ab-solutely, they’re going to move on. And it’s attracting a lot of attention, like when little kids play soccer and there’s always 100 kids around the ball. People are going to fl ock to those subject areas.”
He recalled how there was a lull in lobbying activity late last year, after the new Liberal govern-ment was sworn in Nov. 4, which he attributed to “logistics” as many new ministers and MPs were still setting up their offi ces and staff.
He said February’s high numbers are probably a result, in almost equal amounts, of the friendlier stance the Liberals have toward consulting with lobbyists, and also because of the budget that is coming down on Tuesday.
Still, Mr. Jordan said February would have been a little late to have a profound infl uence on the direction taken in this upcoming budget, though he doesn’t dis-count efforts made by lobbyists.
“It would probably need to be something that almost directly aligns with a mandate objective, because I don’t think [the govern-ment] has a lot of leeway to drift off the script there,” he said. “I think it’s always useful to make budget submissions because sometimes you have ask for some-thing a couple times before you get some serious consideration.”
Mr. Jordan said this high level of contact between lobbyists and public offi cials will likely taper off in the months ahead as the government starts saying “no” to proposals more often, and minis-ters and MPs start feeling worn out. However, he said the federal lobbying scene will continue to be more active than it was under the Conservative government.
Perrin Beatty, CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and a former cabinet minister un-der the Progressive Conservative government of Brian Mulroney, said the accelerated lobbying as of late is the result of groups wanting to get familiar with the many new faces that occupy cabi-net positions and MPs’ offi ces.
“Every organization that deals with the federal government is needing to reach out to build rela-tionships to talk about their priori-ties, but also get an understanding of what the new government’s priorities are,” Mr. Beatty said.
He added that the government, too, has made efforts to reach out to various stakeholders, including his group.
“I’ve been astonished and very pleased at the amount of outreach they have done, ministers who have taken the initiative to call me with nothing more on their minds other than to say, ‘Look, I’m new to the portfolio. I just wanted to introduce myself and to say that we welcome input.’ … That is very refreshing, because it means that there’s a good open dialogue with the front end of the government.”
Two organizations, in par-ticular, stood out for the number of communications reports they fi led for February. The Canadian Federation of Students had the most with 178, followed by Cana-dian Manufacturers & Exporters with 106. The next group, Ford Motor Co. of Canada, had 33.
Despite the surge in commu-nications reports, the quantity of active registrations has stayed stable. As of March 17, there were 3,015 registrations, up slightly from 3,011 on the same date in 2015. Registrations from consul-tant lobbyists were up 1.7 per cent to 2,236, down 4.2 per cent to 293 for in-house corporate lobby-ists, and registrations for in-house organizational lobbyists declined by 4.1 per cent to 486.
Yet, there were notable gains in registrations that included certain subject matters. For example, there were 655 registrations that included infrastructure as a topic of discussion as of March 17, up 19 per cent from a year earlier. Economic development was in 635 registrations, a gain of 27 per cent.
“The reason for that is they know we’ve made the big com-mitment on infrastructure,” said Liberal MP Wayne Easter
(Malpeque, P.E.I.), who is chair-man of the House Finance Committee. “They’ve heard the [fi nance] minister and the prime minister say we’re going live with that commitment, even with the changing economic times. …. So certainly there is more pressure from companies, municipalities, provinces, that they want to have a piece of that pie.”
Mr. Easter said those lobby-ing on infrastructure are looking for investments in things such as highways, water-and-sewage equipment, social housing, and the internet, among other things.
The Information Technology Association of Canada (ITAC) is one organization that has been lobbying the government on both infrastructure and economic development.
“Given that this is a new gov-ernment with fairly well document-ed and published mandate letters, it is extremely important the we bring in front of the government and the appropriate ministers what are the key issues that are impor-tant for the technology sectors,” ITAC president Karna Gupta said.
While discussion of infrastruc-ture often brings to mind images of roads and bridges, Mr. Gupta said his group has been trying to convince the government of the importance of technological infrastructure.
For example, he said increas-ing broadband internet access, particularly in rural and remote areas, is the kind of investment that can have longer-term benefi ts to economic growth.
“As you’re building bridges and roads, make sure when you dig up the ground, you also lay down the fi bre that’s needed [for broadband internet],” he said. “It’s not just about paving over sand.”
He added that another type of infrastructure investment could be improving the level of online-service delivery by government to Canadians.
“Infrastructure discussions would always have a level of service delivery and application on top,” he said. “If I bring a pipe to your house and I don’t deliver wa-ter, it’s no good, right? All citizens consume and engage with govern-ment in terms of service consump-tion for everything … checking your EI, pension, you name it. Service delivery is very much part of this expansion of digital infra-structure that’s on the table”
Mr. Gupta said a lack of mobile-friendly websites and apps are a major shortcoming right now of online government services.
The Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) is another or-ganization that’s registered to lobby the government on infrastructure and economic development.
Raymond Louie, FCM presi-dent and a Vancouver city coun-
cillor, said his group is calling on the government to prioritize public transit, affordable hous-ing, and the environment in its upcoming infrastructure invest-ments, adding that this falls largely in line with what the gov-ernment has already promised.
He noted that the government has promised investments of $20 billion over 10 years in, each, pub-lic transit, social infrastructure, and green infrastructure. While he’s hoping this week’s budget provides greater detail on what specifi cally is meant by social and green infrastructure, he said he supports this level of investment.
“It’s a bold investment that this government’s made, and it’s very different to what the last govern-ment had committed to—essen-tially doubling the infrastructure spend,” Mr. Louie said.
Generally, Mr. Louie said he would like to see the govern-ment’s approach to funding municipal infrastructure transi-tion to more of a consistent and stable funding model, rather than the current way of requiring cities to apply for federal funding on a project-by-project basis, likening it to a “lottery system.”Physical fi tness advocacy group Participaction is among the organizations lobbying the government on economic devel-opment. When asked about how the group’s mandate extends to economic development, Partici-paction spokeswoman Katherine Janson cited a study her group
did in partnership with the Con-ference Board of Canada that found if 10 per cent of Canadians became more active, it would ben-efi t the economy by $7.5-billion by 2040 and save $2.6-billion in health-care costs. The economic benefi ts would come from things such as less worker absenteeism, fewer people on disability leave, and fewer premature deaths, according the study released in October 2014.
Ms. Janson said Participac-tion is seeking additional fed-eral funding for Participaction of about $35.5-million over the next fi ve years, or $7.1-million a year. Information on Participac-tion’s lobbying registry shows it received $2.9-million from the federal government in the fi scal year ended March 2015; $2-mil-lion from Sport Canada and almost $900,000 from the Public Health Agency of Canada.
Ms. Janson said Participaction’s approach to lobbying government and its requests have not changed since the election, though the group is fi nding the new Liberal government has been receptive.
“We’ve been met with open arms in Ottawa,” she said. “We’ve been able to secure meetings with ministers and with members of Parliament who are receptive to hearing from us, and who are en-thusiastic about championing our message. So we couldn’t be more pleased about that.”
[email protected] Hill Times
Federal lobbying activity heats up, refl ects Liberals’ friendlier stance with consultant lobbyists There were more than double the number of communications reports fi led in February. Aboriginal affairs, infrastructure, economic development, and climate were among the topics seeing major activity.
Continued from page 1
LOBBYING
FEDERAL LOBBYING COMMUNICATIONS REPORTS IN FEBRUARY BY SUBJECT MATTER
Subject Feb. 2015 Feb. 2016 Percentage Change
International Trade 276 623 125.7%Industry 169 502 197.0%Employment and Training 100 497 397.0%Agriculture 267 391 46.4%Taxation and Finance 88 378 329.5%Health 166 324 95.2%Aboriginal Affairs 30 310 933.3%Infrastructure 40 295 637.5%Education 47 292 521.3%Transportation 194 289 49.0%Economic Development 38 280 636.8%Environment 78 278 256.4%Budget 47 237 404.3%Research and Development 73 234 220.5%Energy 83 230 177.1%Science and Technology 74 170 129.7%Telecommunications 35 151 331.4%Arts and Culture 13 142 992.3%Intellectual Property 31 135 335.5%Climate 2 130 6,400.0%Broadcasting 31 118 280.6%Labour 48 113 135.4%Consumer Issues 65 109 67.7%Justice and Law Enforcement 16 101 531.3%Regional Development 39 84 115.4%Financial Institutions 38 81 113.2%Government Procurement 43 79 83.7%Internal Trade 55 76 38.2%Mining 42 73 73.8%Small Business 42 70 66.7%Immigration 55 64 16.4%International Relations 35 64 82.9%International Development 52 58 11.5%Tourism 14 56 300.0%Fisheries 13 44 238.5%Security 22 37 68.2%Forestry 15 27 80.0%Housing 12 27 125.0%Defence 6 20 233.3%Municipalities 17 19 11.8%Constitutional Issues 5 14 180.0%Pensions 5 10 100.0%Sports 3 10 233.3%Offi cial Languages 6 7 16.7%Privacy and Access to Information 15 2 -86.7% Source: Federal lobbyists’ registry
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THE HILL TIMES, MONDAY, MARCH 21, 20168
EDITORIAL SENATE APPOINTMENTS LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Publishers Anne Marie Creskey, Jim Creskey, Ross Dickson
General Manager, CFO Andrew Morrow
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ap-pointed seven well-qualifi ed new
Senators last week. In an attempt to make the Senate a more non-partisan Chamber, he made the appointments after receiv-ing the non-binding advice of the nine member non-partisan Senate advisory board headed by former deputy minister Huguette Labelle. For each of the seven seats, the advisory board is believed to have recommended fi ve names.
The newly-appointed Senators include: Peter Harder, former deputy minister and head of Mr. Trudeau’s transition team after the last election; Murray Sinclair, former head of the Truth and Reconciliation Com-mission; Chantal Petitclerc, former Paralym-pian; Raymonde Gagné, former president of the Université Saint-Boniface in Manitoba; Frances Lankin, former Ontario politician and United Way CEO; Ratna Omidvar, a Ry-erson University professor and multicultural-ism and diversity advocate and André Pratte, a veteran La Presse journalist.
In the 105-member Red Chamber, the Conservatives currently hold 42 seats and Liberals 26. Prior to the appointment of the seven new Senators, there were 13 Indepen-dent Senators while 24 seats were vacant. Now, there are 17 remaining vacant seats and three more—Quebec Liberal Sen. Céline Hervieux-Payette, Ontario Liberal Sen. David Smith and Quebec Ind. Sen. Michel Rivard-are scheduled to retire this year.
Since early 2014, Mr. Trudeau has ex-pressed his desire to bring “real change”
to the Senate by making merit-based appointments. At the time, he booted out all Liberal Senators from the national Liberal caucus. But there is still confusion in the Senate. Liberal Senators still call themselves Liberals.
There’s no question that all seven new-ly-appointed Senators are well-qualifi ed individuals but it’s unclear who the other 28 people are whose names were put forward but not appointed. In the interest of transparency, Mr. Trudeau should also release the names of all 35 recommended names and explain why he chose the seven over the other 28.
Also, the Prime Minister’s Offi ce announced that Mr. Harder has been appointed as the government Senate representative. The Trudeau government has renamed the government Senate leader’s position but it’s still unclear how the government Senate representative’s role is any different from the government Senate leader, in this case the government Liberal Senate leader. Also, it’s unclear if the government Senate representative will get an offi ce budget of about $850,000 that comes with the position.
The newly-appointed Senators have been appointed as Independent Senators, but they will have to prove with actions in their legislative work that they are truly independent legislators and not beholden to the prime minister who appointed them to plum posts, which includes a $132,000 salary until the age of 75.
Re: “Spirit Lake: the federal cemetery that Ottawa forgot,” (The Hill Times,
March 14, p. 15). I wanted to convey to Lubomyr Luciuk how much I enjoyed his column on the Spirit Lake Cemetery. As secretary general of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Canadian Agency, the graves of those internees have always been a preoccupation of mine. This is particularly true of those internees who are labelled Austrian. These intern-ees came from the Austro-Hungarian Empire and often were not Austrian, but emigrated from one of the other countries that made up this Empire. Often they came from what is now known as Ukraine. This places the internee in limbo with no country taking responsibility for them.
The Commonwealth War Graves at-tempts—where possible—to keep track of these graves. They make up part of our inspection tours. We attempt to keep as accurate a record as possible as to where they are buried. We attempt to have their graves marked with a temporary marker where possible. This is really all we can do as we do not have a mandate to care for them. As there is no country who will take responsibility for them and who will pay the commission to place a permanent marker on their graves and who will pay for their maintenance, all we can do at present is keep an eye on them as best we can.
I was most pleased to see what has happened in Kapuskasing—site of one of the largest interment camps—with the help of the Ukrainian community—lovely black marble markers were installed for each internee. I am committed to trying to fi nd a way to have every internee com-memorated in the fashion. I haven’t found a way yet but I am working on it.
David C. Kettle, CMM, CD, DDBrig.-Gen. (ret’d)
Commonwealth War Graves Commission Canadian Agency
Ottawa, Ont.
Canada has one-fi fth of the world’s fresh water, a quarter of its remain-
ing wetlands and its longest coastline, but is the only G7 country without legally enforceable national standards for drink-ing water.
More than 80 per cent of the Guide-lines for Canadian Drinking Water Qual-ity relating to chemical contaminants provide less protection for public health than other industrialized nations do.
On a typical day, more than 1,000 boil-water advisories are in effect across the country, many in indigenous communities.
The provinces have a patchwork of water policies, jeopardizing public health and compromising clean water for future generations.
More than 110 countries recognize their citizens’ right to live in a healthy environment, but the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is silent on this is-sue. A federal environmental bill of rights would remedy this omission, promote bet-ter environmental protections, and make communities healthier.
Some countries have used envi-ronmental rights legislation to protect marine biodiversity, limit overfi shing, stop destructive dam projects, and protect indigenous people’s right to clean water.
An environmental bill of rights that recognizes and protects our right to a healthy environment, including our right to clean water, would provide clear guide-lines for the transparent, predictable, and sustainable management of resources, economic development and the health and well-being of communities.
Every year, more than 20,000 Cana-dians die prematurely from exposure to environmental hazards, and the total an-nual cost of pollution in Canada exceeds $100-billion, so action must be taken.
More than 120 communities, repre-senting more than 12 million Canadians, have passed local declarations of environ-mental rights and now it is time for the federal government to act.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau prom-ised real change and to listen to Canadi-ans, and the right to a healthy environ-ment is certainly one area where action is necessary and overdue.
It’s time for the federal government to implement the right to clean water in Canada by passing an environmental bill of rights that respects, protects, and fulfi ls our right to a healthy environment, including the right to clean water.
Peter Schmolka Ottawa , Ont.
Good Senate appointments, but jury’s
out on real change
Commonwealth War Graves tries to keep track of internees’ graves
Feds should implement right to clean water in Canada: Schmolka
Editor Kate MalloyDeputy Editor Derek AbmaOnline Editor, Power & Influence Editor Bea Vongdouangchanh
EDITORIALASSISTANT DEPUTY EDITOR Abbas RanaNEWS REPORTERS Tim Naumetz,Rachel Aiello, and Laura RyckewaertPHOTOGRAPHERS Jake Wright and Cynthia MünsterEDITORIAL CARTOONIST Michael De AdderCONTRIBUTING WRITERS Denis Calnan, Simon Doyle, Christopher Guly, Leslie MacKinnon, and Cynthia MünsterCOLUMNISTS Keith Brooks, Karl Bélanger, Andrew Cardozo, John Chenier, David Coletto, Sheila Copps, David Crane, Murray Dobbin, Michael Geist, Greg
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Women and children at Spirit Lake. Lubomyr Luciuk says it’s the federal cemetery that Ottawa forgot. Photograph courtesy of Library and Archives Canada
9THE HILL TIMES, MONDAY, MARCH 21, 2016OPINION NSPS
On Feb. 23, the government presented its new national shipbuilding pro-
curement strategy (NSPS) to acquire the $26-billion Canadian Surface Combatant. Many of us hoped that the new Liberal government would have understood the signifi cant fl aws in the NSPS strategy that it inherited from the Conservative govern-ment and would have taken steps to miti-gate the risks. Sadly, it was not to be.
The previous government made two fatal mistakes with respect to the NSPS.
It intervened in the formation of indus-trial consortiums by preselecting one of the members of the consortium. By determin-ing that Irving Shipyards Inc. (ISI) will be the prime contractor and the builder of the ships, it made ISI the kingpin. All other partners would now bow to the will of ISI. It can be assumed that ISI’s fi rst priority will not be to the taxpayer or to the Canadian Navy, but to its shareholders.
As well, through two separate competitions and without having produced a statement of requirements, the government set out to select a systems integrator and a ship designer. Once selected, a long, iterative process would, by ne-cessity, ensue to reconcile the Navy’s require-ments with the companies’ offers and prices.
In presenting its new, revamped NSPS, the Liberal government decided to combine the separate competitions for the designer and integrator into one competition. This was smart. First, some time may be saved. Second, it is preferable that companies form their own partnering arrangements as opposed to governments dictating with whom each will partner. With separate competitions, there is the risk that the government would be forcing incompatible companies to work together.
However, the government left unchanged the dysfunctional iterative process mentioned above. It also left itself in the unenviable posi-tion of receiving bids from the ship designers detailing the costs to design and build the ships when, in fact, it is ISI that is actually account-able for building the ships. Clearly the bidders’ cost estimates cannot be relied upon.
The government should immediately undertake the following adjustments to the NSPS. First, it should release the SOR and evaluate all ship designers and system integrators based upon their responses to the SOR. The iterative process to adjust the bids to the requirements is rendered un-necessary and should be discarded.
Second, all ship designers should be re-quired to present third-party attestations as to the costs to build the ship they are propos-ing. The ship designs are to be off-the-shelf and as such there should be ample objective evidence as to the true cost to build the ship each is proposing. In so doing the govern-ment can turn ISI’s position “on its head.” Un-der the current process, ISI is paid on a cost plus basis thereby being rewarded for uncon-strained expenditures. Under the proposed process, ISI would now be instructed to build the ships for the essentially the same cost as was done in shipyards outside Canada.
This approach is both politically and fi nan-cially astute. This government will be seen as salvaging what could only be described as a disastrous process devised by its predecessor. Second, it will have found a way to cap the costs and ensure Canadians are paying no more sim-ply because ships are being built in Canada.
Alan Williams is a former assistant deputy minister of materiel at DND.
The disaster that remains the NSPS ENTREPRENEURS
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This breakthrough technology, being developed by Chen’s startup company WatTech Power, is only a few years away.
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ALAN WILLIAMS
THE HILL TIMES, MONDAY, MARCH 21, 201610COPPS’ CORNER TRUDEAU
OTTAWA—Canada is back. And in a big way!
With Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s successful trips to Washington and New York, there is a sense that our country has re-turned to the international stage.
And people like what they see. Flanked by a half-dozen minis-ters, the majority women, Trudeau reinforced his modern image.
What he said was even more compelling. In launching Canada’s
campaign for a United Nations Se-curity Council seat, he laid out the agenda that is already reshaping our international reputation.
First, his government’s deci-sion to aggressively fi ght climate change is a literal breath of fresh air. It is a clear departure from the previous Conservative plan to opt out of the Kyoto Protocol.
Second, his emphasis on Cana-da’s longstanding commitment to peacekeeping and the role of the United Nations signalled a stark change from the previous gov-ernment’s take on international engagement.
In the past decade, the focus was on participating in wars. It could be argued that both are dif-ferent sides of the same coin but it goes beyond ideology. When the Liberal government stuck to its guns in pulling out of airstrikes, there was signifi cant pushback in the country. But the decision re-inforced the role that liberals had lionized over the years: building toward peace, instead of foment-ing war.
Third, Trudeau focused on Canada’s quick response to the Syrian refugee crisis.
The Conservatives said it couldn’t be done, and despite public pushback, they stuck to their message.
Security checks were so oner-ous that a responsible government would need years to settle 10,000 people. The current government settled 25,000 in short order.
Our days in isolation are over. Politically speaking, the new internationalism plays very well to Trudeau’s Liberal base. En-gaged internationalism is a core value of many small-l liberals, and Trudeau’s decision to seek Security Council membership will ensure that he spends his full fi rst term reinforcing the Pearsonian commitment to multilateralism and the United Nations.
It could also provides a strik-ing contrast to the previous government’s humiliating loss to Portugal for a seat on the UN Security Council fi ve years ago.
The government of Stephen Harper explained the defeat by blaming dictators at the United Nations. But there was very little introspection as to how domestic policy contributed to the loss.
The former prime minister made it very clear from the start that he would disengage from previous international practices.
He cancelled Team Canada, a well-oiled initiative to engage the prime minister and premiers, along with the private sector, in joint travel abroad for Canadian trade promotion. It was a win/win, as the missions gave federal and provincial leaders valuable face time to build relationships. Personal friendships are critically important when inter-provincial squabbles erupt and mediation is required. The initiative also helped promote Canadian busi-ness abroad, especially in coun-
tries where government imprima-tur is a prerequisite for signing any private sector contract.
Harper also prided himself on travelling solo. He was the only national leader who refused to show up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, ostensibly to protest Chinese human rights abuses.
The whole purpose of the Olympics is supposed to be to shut down politics for a couple of weeks and come together through the power of sport. The Chinese remembered the snub and it took years to rebuild that relationship.
But international politics can only take you so far. While the events of the past couple of weeks have shone brightly in most Lib-eral circles, the average Canadian makes their electoral decision on bread and butter issues.
Hence, another announcement last week might actually mean more to most young Canadians. Trudeau announced the govern-ment’s decision to reverse a plan to raise the national retirement age to 67.
That change would not have kicked in until 2023, so it is dif-fi cult to get excited in the short term. But in the long term, it would have meant that more Ca-nadians would be working longer for the same pension return.
With diminishing numbers of companies offering a defi ned-benefi t retirement plan, the government’s plan to delay public payouts would have meant that millions of Canadi-ans needed to work longer for less.
The increased commitment to immigration, with an historic 300,000 annual target announced last week, means that new Cana-dians, and their offspring, will fi ll some of the pension-fi nancing gap.
In the end, the decision to lower the retirement age will affect everyone. And it too was good news for the country.
Thus far, the Trudeau team is hitting the right notes, at home and abroad.
Sheila Copps is a former Jean Chrétien-era Cabinet minister and is a registered lobbyist today.
The Hill Times
OAKVILLE, ONT.—Whenever federal budgets make news,
(such as now) the media inevita-bly focus on the mind-boggling spending numbers.
It’s a billion dollars here and a billion dollars there, here a billion, there a billion, everywhere a billion.
And that’s fi ne, except in the crazy world of politics, it’s often the little numbers that really matter.
After all, the big budgetary numbers, i.e. the ones that have a digit followed by nine zeros or more, are beyond the comprehen-sion of most humans.
Unless you’re an astronomer counting stars in the galaxy, it’s not likely you need to deal with massive government-style bud-getary numbers in your day-to-day life.
Mind you, such innumeracy helps politicians because it makes it more diffi cult for the public to get up in arms about the way their tax dollars are being spent.
I mean saying the government has a defi cit of say $30-billion is basically the same as saying it has a defi cit of $30-gazillion.
It’s abstract, meaningless, just a big number.
What’s more, the government can further soften the blow by as-suring citizens as to how all that money is being wisely “invested” on projects that will create jobs and improve our infrastructure and otherwise “stimulate” the economy.
Who can be against using a big number for stimulation?
What politicians forget, however, is that their big num-bers always include lots of small numbers, numbers which people can comprehend.
And it’s this comprehension which can cause a government to fall into trouble.
Just as tiny termites can eat away at a house’s foundation, tiny, understandable budgetary expenditures can eat away at a government’s credibility.
As proof of this, think back to the time when one-time Conser-vative cabinet minister Bev Oda made national headlines after it was discovered she billed taxpay-ers $16 for a glass of orange juice.
That single, seemingly insig-nifi cant, expenditure probably did more public relations damage to the Conservative government than all its defi cits combined.
In fact, the Conservatives probably would have received less fl ack if they had “invested” $16 billion on a subsidy to grow oranges in the Yukon.
And by the way, all government budgets come packed with similar examples of relatively small expen-ditures which are guaranteed to raise taxpayer eyebrows.
Consider these examples of spending found in the previ-
ous Conservative government’s “Economic Action Plan”: $900,000 for a new stage in Prince Edward Island; $965,000 for an Interna-tional Balloon Festival in Quebec; $500,000 for a Potato Research Centre; $1.5-million for the Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest.
In the wrong hands, such spending could be characterized and publicized as “Economic Ac-tion Boondoggling”
And remember, according to many in the media, the Conserva-tives were austere and heartless right-wingers who were deter-mined to slash away at govern-ment spending.
So just imagine all the juicy tidbits of oddball spending that might be included in a budget put together by a spend-happy Liberal government.
Indeed, I’m pretty certain the federal budget will be a happy hunting ground for taxpayer ad-vocacy groups like the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, which will scour each and every government spending document seeking out Liberal versions of expensive orange juice purchases.
And if they do uncover ex-amples of seemingly ridiculous spending and if they manage to get publicity for what they fi nd,
it will not only embarrass the Liberals, but perhaps also get Canadians to start questioning the government’s economic com-petence.
One basic rule of politics is that taxpayers can accept lots of government spending; they can even accept budgetary defi cits, but what they won’t accept or tolerate is government wasting their money.
To paraphrase an old expres-sion, the budgetary devil is in the spending details.
Gerry Nicholls is a communi-cations consultant.
The Hill Times
Canada’s back, in a big way
Liberals should sweat the small budgetary stuff
But international politics can only take you so far. While the events of the past couple of weeks have shone brightly in most Liberal circles, the average Canadian makes their electoral decision on bread and butter issues.
One basic rule of politics is that taxpayers can accept lots of government spending; they can even accept budgetary defi cits, but what they won’t accept or tolerate is government wasting their money.
POST-PARTISAN PUNDIT BUDGET 2016-2017
GERRY NICHOLLS
SHEILA COPPS
Finance Minister Bill Morneau, pictured in this fi le photo, will release the federal budget on March 22. The Hill Times photograph by Jake Wright
With Justin Trudeau’s successful trips to Washington and New York, pictured last week with Michael Bloomberg, there is a sense that our country has returned to the international stage, writes Sheila Copps. Photograph courtesy of Twitter
SUPPORTED BY:APRIL 14 | 11:30am – 5pmSHAW CENTRE OTTAWA
TRANSPORTATIONFORUM
EVENTS
This event examines the substantive recommendations put forward in the Transportation Act Review Report entitled Pathways: Canada’s Transportation System to World that was tabled on February 25, 2016 in the House of Commons. This was the first review in 15 years, took 18 months to complete and projects what changes are needed to support Canada’s future prosperity.
Speakers:
hilltimes.com/events/TNSP-forum.html
Kate YoungLiberal MP and
Parliamentary Secretary for Transportation
THE HILL TIMES, MONDAY, MARCH 21, 201612THE WAR ROOM SENATE APPOINTMENTS
TORONTO—The etymology of the phrase “lipstick on a pig” is politically
timely. Bear with me, here.Pigs, it turns out, have been bandied
about in human expression for a long time. There is a plethora of porcine proverbs. In the Bible, there is Matthew 7:6, “pearls before swine.” Making a silk purse from a sow’s ear is another one everyone says, even whilst everyone knows that silk comes from insect larvae, not some unfor-tunate pig’s auditory system.
In the 16th century, a British physician, of all people, decreed that “hog in armour is still but a hog.” (Yes, of course, but why
would a hog be wearing armour in the fi rst place? Are pigs useful in battle?) And, a couple hundred years later, a Baptist preacher picked up the theme, and ob-served that “a hog in a silk waistcoat is still a hog.” (Again, as with the wartime hog, why would anyone want to ruin a perfectly good silk waistcoat by sharing it with a pig?)
In any event, the precise origins of the “lipstick on a pig” aphorism are unclear. Some say it arose fi rst in a January 1980 edition of the much-read Quad-City Her-ald, in Brewster, Washington (pop., 2,730), where one wag observed therein that “you can clean up a pig, put a ribbon on it’s [sic] tail, spray it with perfume, but it is still a pig.” Indeed, its pigginess is inviolate. No argument here.
Others insist that the actual phrase came shortly after, when The Washington Post famously quoted a San Francisco KNBR-AM radio host who—when com-menting on a plan to fi x up Candlestick
Park for the Giants—decreed: “That would be like putting lipstick on a pig.”
A political cliché was born!After that, political folks would end up
saying it all the time. Barack Obama and John McCain both said it about each other, in 2008 presidential campaign. At least fi ve political books were written with “lipstick on a pig” in the title. And, most ominously, Dick Cheney declared that it was his “fa-vourite line.” (That’s almost as bad as being a Liberal, and enthusiastically welcoming warmonger Henry Kissinger to a state din-ner for you, and … oh, never mind.)
So, in typically circuitous and long-winded fashion, 376 words later, we arrive at this moment. I have elected to append the “lipstick on a pig” cliché—which I per-sonally consider vulgar and impolite, but occasionally apt—to Justin Trudeau’s latest Friday afternoon special, the appointment of seven new Senators by a panel of people he appointed. The appointees’ appointees.
It was in all the papers, along with glowing descriptions of the esteemed Canadians who have the thankless task, or the taskless thanks, of napping in the Red Chamber until the ripe old age of 75. There, they will receive the minimum annual sal-ary of $132,300; at least $161,200 to main-tain an offi ce; $22,000 a year if they live more than 100 kilometres from Ottawa, as Mike Duffy knows too well; some $11,100 on top of their regular pay, for sitting on a committee; and many thousands more if they are lucky enough to become the Sen-ate Speaker, or a Senate house leader, or what have you.
Nice work if you can get it, etc. Each of those seven Canadians—including the head of Trudeau’s transition team, so we can probably count him as a Liberal—will now doubtlessly shuffl e up to a micro-phone somewhere, and earnestly pledge to serve their fellow Canadians without regard to partisan affi liation, without fear or favour or grubby political consider-ations, blah blah blah. They will say all the usual stuff, which we have heard a million times before. And, in some cases (because, admittedly, there are not a few current Senators who are respectable and decent folks, focused on the public good) they may well end up telling the truth.
But the Senate of Canada is still—af-ter all of Justin Trudeau’s efforts to affi x lipstick to it—a pig. It is a disgrace. It is an anti-democratic abomination, and it should be abolished, not maintained. Kill it, now.
All of us have heard the arguments for the Senate. That it is a chamber of sober second thought. That it improves legislation emanating in the House. That its reports and resolutions are unsullied by politics.
But we don’t care. WE DON’T CARE. If the Senate of Canada were stuffed to its er-mine walls with cloned replicas of Mother Teresa, Mahatma Gandhi, Plato, Nelson Mandela, Mozart, Kahlil Gibran, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, Socrates, Mar-tin Luther King, Rosa Parks—and, on civic holidays, apparitions of the Buddha, Mo-ses, Mohamed and Christ—it would still be this: a body of unelected persons, however eminent, wielding real power.
It would therefore be illegitimate. It would be illicit. In a supposedly modern democracy, it would be unlawful, even.
Most of us, out here in the real world, don’t have expense allowances and living allowances and “travel points.” We aren’t guaranteed a job until age 75. We therefore don’t give a sweet damn about how impres-sive are the CVs of those who won the Mother of All Lotteries on Friday. We don’t give a sh*t, actually.
You can put lipstick on a pig, prime minister. But it is still—then, now and for-ever more—a pig.
Oink.The Hill Times
It’s Trudeau’s Friday afternoon special I have elected to append the ‘lipstick on a pig’ cliché—which I personally consider vulgar and impolite, but occasionally apt—to Justin Trudeau’s latest Friday afternoon special, the appointment of seven new Senators by a panel of people he appointed. The appointees’ appointees.
For more information or to reserve your government relations and public affairs advertising space, contact The Hill
Times display advertising department at 613-688-8825.
Communicate with those most responsible for Canada’s public policy decisions.
Publication Date: April 18, 2016 Booking Deadline: April 13, 2016
POLICY BRIEFINGPrime Minister Justin Trudeau’s
government is promising to make the New Building Canada
Fund, which is heavily backloaded with more than 70 per cent of its funding locked away until after 2019, more focused and more transparent with clearer project criteria and faster approval processes. We look into this. The Liberals are also promising to spend $20-billion over the next few years on infrastructure as part of its 10-year, $60-billion election pledge. Is this enough?
We also look into the idea of creating innovation hubs in municipalities across the country; we look at Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz’s
statements on municipal infrastructure spending; we look at how northern finance ministers want infrastructure spending at the top the federal government’s list; we look into Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale’s promise to open the government’s wallet to prepare for natural catastrophes; and we look into a C.D. Howe Institute report that wants the Liberals to break its election promises on creating the New Building Canada Fund and its promise to require cities to look for a private-sector partner to share the financial risks and windfalls of any infrastructure project.
Be a part of it.
INFRASTRUCTURE
WARREN KINSELLA
13THE HILL TIMES, MONDAY, MARCH 21, 2016
IMPOLITIC CONSERVATIVES
GATINEAU, QUE.—As American conser-vatism becomes more narrow, ridiculous
and mean, Conservative leaders here appear to be mellowing—except for Preston Man-ning, but more on him later. They speak in softer registers, they explicitly welcome gays and immigrants into the fold, they no longer claim climate change is a socialist plot.
Of course, Canada is a less right-wing country overall, and, historically, Canadian conservatism has been quieter, more sober, than the more bellicose variety embodied by the Tea Party and the shrinking crop of Republican leadership candidates.
You can also blame Justin Trudeau. He humbled Stephen Harper in October, not with his ferocious intellect or policy prescriptions, but with his message of hope and embrace of kindness. Canadian conservatives, provincial and federal, took notice: mean is no longer marketable.
At the federal level, interim Conserva-tive Leader Rona Ambrose has already established a more appealing image—and engineered some U-turns on policy. Her party now supports the inquiry into mur-dered and missing aboriginal women (it wasn’t on Harper’s “radar”) and has toned down opposition to legalization of marijua-na. Ambrose hasn’t uttered a word about niqabs, or “barbaric cultural practices,” nor does her party seriously oppose the gov-ernment’s Syrian resettlement plan.
We haven’t heard much about the “job-killing carbon tax,” either. Ambrose wants more pipelines and says the timing is wrong for carbon taxes, but her objections sound less theological, and more pragmat-ic, than Harper’s.
Ambrose’s less-barbed style appears to have full support of her caucus, too—some MPs even want her to run for the perma-nent leadership job in May 2017. The rules prevent that, however, and there are other potential candidates who have not lost the ability to smile.
One is the ever-charming Maxime Bernier, a hard-core economic libertar-ian. Perennial outsider Michael Chong is a measured, modern conservative. Ontario MP Lisa Raitt, brought up in Cape Breton, is probably the most likeable of expected contenders—and, apart from her weak French, an effective communicator.
However, Jason Kenney is expected to vault to the front when leadership hopefuls come out of hiding, probably at a party pol-icy conference at the end of May. Kenney is a pussycat compared to Ted Cruz, but no one would describe him as an easy-going, collaborative conservative.
But Canada isn’t Texas, and even Ken-ney has changed his tone, if not his tune,
since the October drubbing. Too often, he recently told a columnist, “our govern-ment went out of its way to make enemies, not friends, starting with the media.” He doesn’t repudiate attempts to force niqab-wearing women to unveil at citizenship ceremonies, “but, when dealing with a sensitive issue, you have to communicate with great nuance and subtly.”
This won’t comfort opponents of Harp-er’s provocative and unnecessary attack on veiled Muslim women, but it falls short of a Trumpian ban on all Muslim immigration.
Kevin O’Leary, reality television star and self-made millionaire, is the most Republican-style contender—although, with no French and a narrow focus on taxes and the econo-my, he probably won’t prevail. He resembles Donald Trump in some ways—another unteth-ered loudmouth with a large ego and a talent for channelling popular anger—but he isn’t as crude. And there isn’t as much anger.
O’Leary told the Manning conference re-cently that Ontario’s recent budget was “a load of crap,” adding, “I’m sick of seeing my money wasted. I’m really pissed off.” Trash talk isn’t going to win over Canadian conservatives; they aren’t suffi ciently enraged.
Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown offers an alternative, and potentially winning, version of conservatism. An unremarked backbencher in Harper’s federal caucus, the 37-year-old Brown unset-tled diehard Ontario Tories recently with his embrace of a revenue-neutral carbon pricing scheme—and his repudiation of faith-based education funding and Tory attacks on the public service. (He could have been channel-ing party patron saint Bill Davis.)
Brown invited union members, gays, lesbians, and the poor to join the Ontario PCs, proclaiming: “It doesn’t matter who you love. It doesn’t matter how much you make. It doesn’t matter where you worship. You have a home in (this party.)”
And Brown’s campaign spot takes words directly from Trudeau: “I believe that better is always possible.”
That doesn’t mean all the poison has drained from Canadian conservatism. Manning has recently abandoned his senior statesman pose with harsh at-tacks on Trudeau, personal and bitter. And Peter MacKay—another leadership hope-ful—emerges occasionally to blast the new government, most recently for claiming that “Canada is back” on the world stage. “Where, in God’s name, does this prime minister think we’ve been?” MacKay fumed.
Every time MacKay does this—and the same is true of Kenny, Tony Clement, Kellie Leitch, and company—it reminds voters of the Harper years. No one wants to go back to stupid, off-putting partisanship. Not in Canada, at least.
Susan Riley is a veteran political colum-nist and regular Hill Times contributor.
[email protected] Hill Times
U.S. conservatives crank up the vitriol, Canadians turns down volume No one wants to go back to stupid, off-putting partisanship. Not in Canada, at least.
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Aor trademarks of KPMG International.
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SUSAN RILEY
Republican candidate Donald Trump and Canadian personality Kevin O’Leary. American conservatives are getting more mean, Canadians are mellowing. Photographs courtesy of Flickr and Michael Vadon
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15THE HILL TIMES, MONDAY, MARCH 21, 2016
EQUAL VOICE WOMEN & POLITICS
OTTAWA—This past week, the Trudeau government
made headlines for its interna-tional engagement, particularly at the United Nations. The media widely reported on Prime Min-ister Justin Trudeau’s visit to the United Nations, not just because of Canada’s interest in attaining a security council seat but also because Canada sat down with executive director of UN Women,
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka to dis-cuss Canada’s support for a global gender equality. Trudeau was also celebrated by Catalyst for his leadership in appointing a gender-balanced cabinet—where he once again demonstrated his comfort in self-identifying as a feminist. It’s something to which Canadians are growing accustomed but it remains a novelty among male leaders the world over. Not surprisingly, it stood out.
What was less reported is that these meetings took place during the 60th session of the UN Com-mission on the Status of Women (UNCSW). The Commission on the Status of Women is the prin-cipal global inter-governmental body dedicated to the promo-tion of gender equality and the empowerment of women. Each year, governments from around the world deploy offi cial delega-tions comprised of ministers and outside experts to address key matters of women’s equality dur-ing the session.
Hundreds, sometimes thou-sands, of non-governmental ad-vocates for women’s equality also attend parallel sessions to discuss strategies and learn more about
each other’s issues. Canadian non-governmental groups have always made use of this forum to draw attention to outstanding in-equalities at homes or to advance global causes. For example, the UNCSW has been an important lever for women to raise atten-tion about Canada’s treatment of indigenous women when only limited attention was being paid to the matter domestically.
This year, Canada sent a 15-person delegation, led by Status of Women Minister Patty Hajdu, one of the largest in recent history, in which four of her federal colleagues, including the ministers of justice and interna-tional cooperation participated. Several provincial and territorial ministers of the status of women were also members of the offi cial delegation—as were representa-tives from key women’s organiza-tion including the Native Wom-en’s Association of Canada, the Girls Action Foundation, and the Canadian Network of Women’s Shelters and Transition Houses.
It was an ambitious and diverse delegation where much of the heavy lifting is undertaken away from the limelight. Gov-
ernment offi cials work assidu-ously over several days during the UNCSW to come to an agreement on a shared set of priorities and perspectives on the challenges and opportunities for women’s equality in the year ahead. It’s not an easy task and the politics behind the scenes are intense, in part because each country recognizes that while the goal of gender equality is obviously laudable, the cultural and struc-tural conditions required to make meaningful progress are complex, and resistant to change.
As Trudeau himself noted at the United Nations, Canada has a long way to go. Despite the historic ac-complishment of gender parity in Canada’s federal cabinet, it is only one of two cabinets in Canada to have 50 per cent women—the other being Alberta Premier Rachel Not-ley’s cabinet where women are, in fact, a majority. Setting this aside, women are just 26 per cent of Can-ada’s federal MPs and women’s representation in provincial and territorial legislatures ranges from a low of nine per cent in Nunavut to a high of nearly 38 per cent in British Columbia. At the current rate of progress, achieving parity in all of Canada’s Parliaments will take several decades, if not another century.
In an effort to shift that tide, Equal Voice is launching an ambi-tious national initiative, Daugh-ters of the Vote. Paying homage to the 100th anniversary of the vote for some women in certain west-ern provinces in Canada, Equal Voice recognizes that it is impera-tive to invest in future generations of women. To this end, we will
be inviting young women from the ages of 16 and 21 to apply to be selected as the representative of their federal riding for an in-novative leadership project which will bring them to both their respective provincial or territorial legislature—as well as to Ottawa for a groundbreaking leadership summit on International Women’s Day 2017. Throughout, Equal Voice will be featuring contem-porary women leaders who are charting a new path for their organization, sector or govern-ment—at whatever level.
It’s clear that for gender parity to be a reality in the lifetimes of these young women, the work must start now.
Nancy Peckford is the national spokesperson for Equal Voice.
The Hill Times
When the Liberals came up with a tax plan for their
2015 election platform, the great shrinkage of the federal govern-ment’s fi scal capacity after nearly
a decade of Stephen Harper at the helm was well-established.
The Department of Finance had already published the de-tails—and the trend line didn’t bode well if you wanted to develop the next generation of social programs and protect what had already been built.
Federal tax revenues were 13.5 per cent of GDP in 2006-2007 when the Harper government took offi ce. By 2014-15, they were projected to be just 11.4 per cent of GDP. That’s lower than in the mid-1960s before the creation of much of the modern welfare state.
Facing this revenue prob-lem, the Liberals put together a proposal to cut federal income taxes at an estimated annual cost of $3-billion in lost revenues. (Pitched as a “middle-class” tax cut, it turns out higher-income earners are the big winners of the new tax cut, or, as Maclean’s magazine puts it, “How the rich would benefi t from the Liberals’ middle-class tax cut.”)
The second piece of this tax plan would see a hike on the top one per cent earning more than $200,000. But this increase would not be fully offset by the “middle-class” tax cut. In other words, the tax changes wouldn’t be revenue neutral for an already starved
treasury. They would actually contribute to digging a deeper fi scal hole.
So here we are—budget week—with the fi rst Liberal budget in a decade. And it doesn’t appear as though the federal government is going to take a se-rious run at dealing with Ottawa’s revenue problem. It’s not just be-cause they’re sticking with their so-called middle-class tax cut that will see half of all the benefi ts going to the top 10 per cent (and two-thirds of tax fi lers don’t even make enough—$45,000—to ben-efi t from the new tax break).
The Liberals embraced the corporate tax-cut agenda the last time they governed, then watched Harper continue to follow through with it. Former Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff promised to split from the party’s most recent history—and Harper’s record—when he campaigned in 2011 on raising corporate taxes.
But now, even though the case for lower corporate taxes—it would create jobs and increase business investment—has turned out not to be borne out by the facts, Ignatieff’s successor ap-pears to be sticking with Harper’s approach.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau campaigned against any increase in corporate taxes, and despite
facing a fi scal capacity problem, he now says “where we are now is a very good place.” The corporate tax rate has dropped from 28 per cent in 2000 to 21 per cent in 2004 to 15 per cent by 2012; the cost of each percentage point reduction in corporate taxes is an estimated $1.8-billion, according to the par-liamentary budget offi cer.
There’s also a lack of clarity on the direction the government is going to take on tax loopholes to restrict favourable tax treat-ment of stock options that par-ticularly benefi t Canada’s top one per cent. Finance Minister Bill Morneau is now “expected to drop or postpone plan for increasing taxes on employee stock option benefi ts,” the Ottawa Citizen reported recently. “They hadn’t realized the unintended conse-quences,” an industry offi cial briefed by Morneau’s staff told the Citizen.
Let’s put this overall trend in perspective, and why timidity in tackling Ottawa’s shrunken fi scal capacity is such a big problem for those looking for leadership in building the next generation of social programs and protecting and expanding medicare with a national pharmacare plan.
Economist Andrew Jackson, the Broadbent Institute’s senior policy adviser and an adjunct
research professor in the Institute of Political Economy at Carleton University, pointed out recently that if the federal capacity were at the same level as in 2006, “Canada could afford eight national child care programs” or “we could in-crease by seven times the current level of funding of transit and municipal infrastructure.”
Looking at Canada’s fi scal capacity problem from another vantage point, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, in its 2016 alternative federal budget, explains:
“The federal government is the smallest it’s been since before the Second World War. Federal total spending as a share of the economy stands at 13 per cent of GDP, its lowest point in the past 60 years. The last time the government was this small we had no national health care plan, no pension plan, no guaranteed income supplement, no employ-ment insurance. Federal revenues have been diminished by cuts to the corporate tax rate, regressive income tax politics and tax eva-sion on an ever-widening scale.”
So how about that “middle-class” tax cut and holding steady on the corporate tax rate?
Sarah Schmidt is a director of communications of the Broad-bent Institute.
The Hill Times
Equal Voice launching ambitious national initiative, Daughters of the Vote
The Liberal government’s fi scal capacity problem
It’s clear that for gender parity to be a reality in the lifetimes of these young women, the work must start now.
Why timidity in tackling Ottawa’s shrunken fi scal capacity is such a big problem for those looking for leadership in building the next generation of social programs and protecting and expanding medicare with a national pharmacare plan.
PROGRESS BUDGET 2016
SARAH SCHMIDT
NANCY PECKFORD
This year, Canada sent a 15-person delegation to the 60th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, led by Status of Women Minister Patty Hajdu, one of the largest in recent history. The Hill Times photograph by Jake Wright
THE HILL TIMES, MONDAY, MARCH 21, 201616OPINION DIVERSITY
OTTAWA—The Liberal government included in its mandate letters to all
ministers a “commitment to transparent, merit-based appointments, to help ensure gender parity and that indigenous Ca-nadians and minority groups are better refl ected in positions of leadership.”
While the focus is clearly with respect to political appointments, this commitment will likely extend to the senior ranks of the public service in a renewed emphasis on diversity. Deputy minister appointments are made by the prime minister upon the recommendation of the clerk of the Privy Council.
While the foreign affairs minister rec-ommends ambassadorial appointments or equivalent, largely refl ecting public service recommendations, the prime minister ap-proves them. The PM also has the power to select candidates for high-profi le positions. ADM appointments in Canada, on the other hand, are done by the public service only.
With this in mind, I have established the baseline for the current representation of women and visible minorities that will al-low tracking of progress over time.
Overall, the public service is reasonably diverse with respect to women (54.1 per cent), visible minorities (13.2 per cent com-pared to the 15 per cent who are Canadian citizens), and indigenous Canadians (5.1 per cent). For the executive ranks, women are almost at parity (46.1 per cent), but visible minorities are under-represented (8.5 per cent) as are indigenous Canadians (3.7 per cent). All fi gures are from the Treasury Board
Secretariat report, Employment Equity in the Public Service of Canada 2013–14.
To determine representativeness, the government applies a labour market availability (LMA) benchmark (i.e., “the share of designated group members in the workforce from which the employers could hire”). For ADMs and other members of the EX category, the respective LMA is 45 per cent for women, 7.5 per cent for visible
minorities, and 4.5 per cent for indigenous Canadians.
Arguably, a more appropriate measure of inclusion is derived from comparison to the overall share of the population (or, in the case of visible minorities, the per-centage of those who are also Canadian citizens—15 per cent).
However, these aggregate numbers—both actual and LMA—do not give a de-tailed sense of diversity within the senior ranks of the public service, defi ned as deputy and assistant deputy ministers (DM and ADM or equivalent).
Ministers and parliamentary secre-taries are relatively diverse (41 per cent women, 21 per cent visible minority men or women). The question is how diverse those public servants are at senior levels.
For the 85 deputies, their associates, and equivalents, I used public sources such as GEDS (the government electronic contact database), and the parliamentary website, cross-checked with PCO deputy committee lists. This data does not include any of the recent changes announced by the prime minister.
For ADMs, the Treasury Board Secre-tariat (TBS) provided offi cial statistics for the 282 offi cials at the EX-4 or EX-5 rank for the 2013-14 year in the core public ad-ministration (77 organizations), along with estimated labour market availability.
For senior heads of mission (HoM), Global Affairs Canada provided a list of the 16 missions whose ambassadorial and high commissioner positions are currently classifi ed at the EX-4 to EX-5 level (these are a subset of the overall ADM numbers).
Some of these positions are over-fi lled by people at the DM level (e.g., Jon Fried at the WTO) or by former politicians (e.g., Lawrence Cannon in Paris, Gordon Camp-bell in London, and Gary Doer in Wash-ington). This data predates the announce-ment of the two ambassador-designates in Washington and the UN (New York), both men replacing men.
While the data for gender is reliable, data for visible minorities is less so, given that offi cial reports rely on self-reporting and that there are limits to using names and photos to identify visible minority status. However, this methodology is also used with respect to MP diversity.
What does the data show? Representa-tion of women is relatively close to gender parity, save for ambassadors and their equivalents (heads of mission and other ADM-equivalent offi cials abroad).
However, visible minorities are less than half of the percentage of those that are Canadian citizens (15 per cent) or in the House of Commons (14 per cent).
The “all EX” category has more junior executive positions (EX1-3) and thus the greater diversity in these feeder groups suggests that over time, diversity at more senior levels should naturally increase.
The public service may feel compelled to take a more active approach given the government’s commitment.
Likely early tests of the government’s commitment to increased diversity will occur as deputy ministers retire and are replaced along with changes to heads of mission over the course of the year.
Thirteen new deputies have been named to date by the prime minister, including six women (46 per cent, refl ecting in part the four women appointed on International Women’s Day!) and one visible minority (seven per cent). Future appointments will indicate whether this portends a trend.
By tracking this on an annual basis, along with changes to ADM ranks, prog-ress can be assessed.
Andrew Griffi th is the author of Multi-culturalism in Canada: Evidence and An-ecdote and Policy Arrogance or Innocent Bias: Resetting Citizenship and Multicul-turalism and is a regular media commenta-tor and blogger (Multiculturalism Mean-derings). He is the former director general for Citizenship and Multiculturalism and has worked for a variety of government departments in Canada and abroad.
The Hill Times
Diversity and inclusion agenda: impact on the public service For the executive ranks, women are almost at parity (46.1 per cent), but visible minorities are under-represented (8.5 per cent) as are indigenous peoples (3.7 per cent). All fi gures are from the Treasury Board Secretariat report.
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ANDREW GRIFFITH
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Andrew Griffi th says, overall, the public service is reasonably diverse with respect to women, visible minorities, and indigenous peoples. For the executive ranks, women are almost at parity, but visible minorities are under-represented as are aboriginals. The Hill Times photograph by Jake Wright
17THE HILL TIMES, MONDAY, MARCH 21, 2016
BACKROOMS CABINET
TORONTO—I recently read a column that suggested Prime Minister Justin
Trudeau might have a “problem” with the Italian-Canadian community because he has no ministers of Italian origin in his cabinet. I don’t think that’s the case.
My previous jobs didn’t allow me to be a full participant in the Italian-Canadian com-munity, but I have always kept in touch with many friends who are heavily involved, and I haven’t heard complaints about the lack of Italian names in the Trudeau cabinet.
The only complaints were coming from some disappointed Liberals who didn’t see the personal political infl uence they were expect-ing to gain from the government change in Ottawa, or complaints from some disgruntled Conservatives trying to stir the anti-Liberal pot among the Italian Canadian community.
The community, at large, didn’t pay a lot of attention to the list. If anything, they see the exclusion as the consequence of lack of trust on the qualifi cation of the Italian- Canadian contingent in the Liberal caucus, not as lack of respect for the community.
The second and most important reason why Trudeau’s Liberal Party has no prob-lem with the Italian Canadian community is because there is no logical reason why someone should be appointed minister only because of his or her ethnic origin.
Yes, in the past I have fought for a fair representation in cabinet for ethnic minorities, including for Italian-Canadians, but from a different perspective. While no one should be appointed because of their ethnicity, it is also true that no one should be excluded because of it. I remember a few years ago I had a conver-sation with a former prime minister who told me that he “couldn’t appoint another minister of Italian origin because I already have one.”
I was and I am against any quota for an appointment based on anything but profes-sional and moral qualifi cations, and I don’t see any element that might suggest that Trudeau has not appointed ministers of Italian origin to discriminate against the community. I see, in fact, people who want to be appointed only because they are of Italian origin and, if that’s the case, I am happy that Trudeau has not appointed any. Our communities can help to send people to Ottawa, however, to get into the cabinet, they need something more.
I have always been convinced that all political leaders need and have the right to appoint in their cabinet people believed to be professionally qualifi ed but also person-ally trusted. The level (unfortunately not very high) of professional qualifi cations required to be appointed in the cabinet is in large supply within the caucus, but there is always a shortage of trust.
Some time ago, a friend told me that he was not appointed to the cabinet because “the leader hates me.” I told him he was wrong and that in fact it was much worse. I told him that the leader didn’t see him at all and explained that it’s important to fall into at least one of the following three categories to be in cabinet.
A cabinet minister has to be trusted personally by the leader. A cabinet minis-ter must be a political powerhouse with a certain level of charisma who is capable of delivering votes in areas beyond their ridings. And a cabinet minister must bring lustre and superior expertise to the government.
So I went through the list of the Italian- Canadian MPs in the Liberal caucus and I don’t see any who are close friends of the prime minister.
I also don’t see social leaders or political powerhouses who helped Trudeau get elect-ed or helped improve Liberal fortunes. In fact, most of them were elected thanks to the leader and Liberal fortunes. Their election is already a reward for putting their name on the ballot.
Lastly, I don’t see any rocket scientists or Nobel Peace Prize winners on the list whose presence would have brought lustre to the Trudeau executive. I understand that all politicians want to be in cabinet. Your community can help you to get to Ottawa, but once there, you are on your own.
Angelo Persichilli is freelance journal-ist and a former citizenship judge for the Greater Toronto Area. He was also a direc-tor of communications to prime minister Stephen Harper and is the former political editor of Canadese, Canada’s Italian-lan-guage newspaper in Toronto.
[email protected] Hill Times
Want in cabinet? Be trusted, a political powerhouse, and have superior expertiseI recently read a column that suggested Prime Minister Justin Trudeau might have a ‘problem’ with the Italian-Canadian community because he has no ministers of Italian origin in his cabinet. I don’t think that’s the case.
www.rpi-ipr.com
THE CANADA SCHOOL OF THE PUBLIC SERVICE is no longer offering retirement seminars
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ANGELO PERSICHILLI
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, pictured in this fi le photo at the National Press Theatre. The Hill Times photograph by Jake Wright
THE HILL TIMES, MONDAY, MARCH 21, 201618IN THE HOUSE PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARIES
OTTAWA—One of the very real challenges that new
parliamentary participants must overcome is the general lack of absolutes, and the reliance on precedent and custom inherent in the system. In other words, you have to know what you don’t know in order to know what you don’t know, and the recursive na-ture of this cycle can sometimes lead to problems. One area where this lack of clarity almost always causes confusion is in the role of the parliamentary secretary (PS).
The caucus euphoria that fol-lows an election victory, like the one the Liberals had last fall, is quickly impacted by the selec-tion of a cabinet. It is not unlike a birthday party for eight-year-olds. You put them all in a room
and then one is singled out for all kinds of presents. The chosen few will be happy and the backbench MP will generally feel somewhat slighted. The PS is that strange species that exists in some sort of political purgatory, where they may believe that their actions will dictate whether their next move is up or down. It should be noted that a similar dynamic plays out when opposition parties pick their critics, albeit to a lesser degree.
A new Member of Parlia-ment will learn their job on the job, basically by reacting to the ongoing requests for action. You start with a backlog of issues and essentially never catch up. Min-isters, on the other hand, have a department that is only too happy to ensure that they don’t colour outside the lines, as long as they get to decide where the actual lines are.
Historically, the role of the PS has been largely defi ned by the minister. In some cases, they are seen as simply House duty replacements, while in other cases they are part of the policy process. Sadly, the former is more the norm and this can certainly lead to both
unnecessary friction and ineffec-tive use of these human resources.
Now the cynics among us may hold to the belief that job of PS was only invented to help pacify the dis-gruntled backbenchers. To keep with the bad analogy, it would be like the grab bags that are given out at the birthday party referenced above. Having been a PS twice in my short political career, I would like to think that they can be a valuable cog in the machinery of government, but a bit of structure is in order.
I would start with a detailed job description that lists basic respon-sibilities, as well as the function of the position within the overall organization. This could then be augmented by department-specifi c content, as the elements of the job will vary depending on the ministry. The resources provided should also be defi ned. These would include an offi ce in the ministerial wing of the department and a specifi c liaison person whose salary does not come out of the MP’s offi ce budget. The term of the appointment, either fi xed or rotating, should also be clear and understood.
Now comes the diffi cult part, diffi cult because it involves per-
ception and attitudes. The Prime Minister’s Offi ce (PMO) should en-sure that parliamentary secretar-ies have something meaningful to do. I would not advocate including them in the ministerial mandate letters, but someone with some authority should oversee this ele-ment of the relationship.
Ministers should try to include their PS as much as possible in the departmental processes. They should be allowed to attend meetings and briefi ngs unless there is a compelling reason to exclude them. These things will fi nd their balance over time, and a solid relationship with your PS will pay dividends to both parties. For example, the parliamentary secretary can be invaluable as a liaison with caucus and the op-position critics, but it won’t work if they don’t feel engaged. The late, and great Herb Gray had a rule that his offi ce would personally respond to an MP inquiry within 24 hours, regardless of what party they belonged to. I think that it is infi nitely reasonable that a PS should expect similar response times when they contact their min-ister, the department, or the PMO.
Now, everything I have said to this point is useless unless the parliamentary secretary con-fronts some hard truths. While job defi nition and clarity are helpful, it is critical that everyone under-stands what a PS is not. Simply put, they are not a cabinet minis-ter, they have little or no statutory authority and have no budget to control. One of the factors that negatively contributes to the rela-tionship with the minister and the department is rooted in the lack of understanding in this aspect, or in some cases the perception that this lack of understanding may exist. Nothing can throw a department into disarray quicker than a parliamentary secretary that thinks they are a minister. Trust me, the department will deal with this quickly, and if you are the offending PS you will not be happy with the outcome.
The notion that being a PS is a stepping stone to cabinet is another belief that really doesn’t stand up to scrutiny, especially if the PMO decides to simply rotate back-bench MPs through the positions every couple of years. Apart from causation-versus-correlation analy-sis, the cabinet has been picked and any future openings will be subjected to the same geographic, gender, and generational fi lters that resulted in the present mix. Success has more to do with luck, skill and timing than it does to whether someone has been a PS.
In conclusion, I think that under the right conditions, the parliamen-tary secretary can and should be a valuable member of the govern-ment apparatus. However, to simply assume that everyone understands how these things are supposed to work is asking for trouble, and to compound the felony, it will be trouble that is self-infl icted. The good news is that these things can be sorted out with a combination of information and understanding. There really isn’t a bad seat in the House and at the end of the day, it might be helpful to keep in mind the words of John Maxwell: “Teamwork makes the dream work.”
Joe Jordan is a second generation former Member of Parliament and principal at the Ottawa government relations fi rm the J.L. Jordan Group.
[email protected] Hill Times
The elusive parliamentary secretary (secretarius parlamentarius)The parliamentary secretary can and should be a valuable member of the government apparatus. However, to simply assume that everyone understands how these things are supposed to work is asking for trouble, and to compound the felony, it will be trouble that is self-infl icted. The good news is that these things can be sorted out with a combination of information and understanding.
TRUSTED ADVISOR AND INFLUENTIAL VOICE.A respected advisor on fiscal, economic and business issues that are important to building a prosperous future for Canadians and Canadian business.
JOE JORDAN
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, pictured in this fi le photo. Joe Jordan say one of the very real challenges that new parliamentary participants must overcome is the general lack of absolutes, and the reliance on precedent and custom, inherent in the system. The Hill Times photograph by Jake Wright
19THE HILL TIMES, MONDAY, MARCH 21, 2016
OPINION BUDGET 2016-2017
Boring documents that change the course of history: That’s
as good a defi nition as any for federal budgets.
I remember sitting in front of a typewriter—yes, a typewriter—on Dec. 11, 1979, when they handed out Progressive Conservative fi -nance minister John Crosbie’s bud-get. The proposed 18-cent-a-gallon excise tax on gasoline, meant as a get-tough measure to bring down the federal defi cit, leapt out among the so-called highlights.
With one look, I turned to a colleague and said, “That’s the end of this government.”
Unlike most of my predictions, that one proved right. No one, least of all Joe Clark, expected the Liberals, who had been left leaderless by Pierre Trudeau’s resignation, to defeat the minor-ity government on a confi dence vote over the budget and force an election. But two days later, that’s exactly what happened.
Pierre Trudeau, having been resurrected as leader and re-turned to power in the ensuing vote, went on to bring in one of the most momentous Canadian budgets of modern times. The highlight of that one in October 1980 was the National Energy Program. The NEP was a disaster, causing regional enmity still be-ing felt today and relegating the Liberals to political outcast status in Alberta for decades. Oddly, it wasn’t until Justin came along 35 years later that the party was fi nally able to signifi cantly mend some fences in Alberta.
When the PCs took over under Brian Mulroney in 1984, there was much talk about austerity and slaying the defi cit. But the economy (strong growth is the key to an improving fi scal picture)
wouldn’t cooperate, and Mulroney exited the national stage with a $39-billion annual shortfall.
Mulroney’s government had tried to make a start in its 1985 budget with a plan to save Ottawa money by de-indexing old age pensions. But he was confronted on Parliament Hill by a 63-year-old Ottawa woman, Solange Denis, who shouted, “You lied to us. You made us vote for you and then it’s goodbye, Charlie Brown.” Mulroney’s government soon backed down, a move some said characterized his approach to fi s-cal toughness from then on.
In the 1994 and 1995 budgets, Liberal fi nance minister Paul Mar-tin set out to actually do something about Ottawa’s budgetary black hole. He targeted government jobs, federal cash transfers to the prov-inces, and Employment Insurance benefi ts. The government went on to trim the defi cit much faster than expected, equipping Martin with the national reputation that pro-pelled him to power in the unedify-ing internecine Liberal political warfare that eventually followed.
On Oct. 18, 2000, to set the stage for an early election, the Chrétien government delivered a so-called mini-budget that was, for all practical purposes, a full bud-get. The centrepiece was $100-bil-lion in tax cuts over fi ve years—a promise meant to undercut the tax reduction promises of Canadian Alliance leader Stockwell Day. The following month, the Liberals won a majority election victory, in the process consigning Day to the asterisk category of Canadian party leaders.
The budget delivered in 2005 by former prime minister Paul Martin’s minority government was notable for its frailty as a matter of parliamentary confi -dence. Martin had to make an unusual deal with the NDP—with $4.6-billion in extra social program spending and a rollback of planned corporate tax reduc-tions—to stave off a vote of non-confi dence. But this stratagem only pushed back the inevitable until the following year.
Conservative fi nance minister Jim Flaherty’s 2008 fall mini-budget will be long remembered as a misstep that nearly triggered the defeat of the Conservative mi-nority government, with Harper being forced to seek permission to prorogue Parliament to avoid being ousted.
A month later, with Canada in the grip of the global reces-sion, Flaherty came back with an early, stimulative budget that contemplated unheard-of budget defi cits totalling $63-billion over two years.
In general, fi scal rectitude was central to Harper’s brand. But his governments ran budget defi cits for most of their years in power.
Flaherty’s budgets did change Canada in fundamental ways, though. Chiefl y, he and Harper succeeded in minimizing the federal government’s ability to expand national programs by reducing Ottawa’s revenues and, therefore, its fi nancial muscle. Trimming the GST in the 2006 budget was instrumental.
In the 2015 budget, Conserva-tive fi nance minister Joe Oliver
appears to have made things easier for the election-bound Lib-erals by sticking to his no-defi cit mantra despite the near-reces-sionary state of the economy.
Canadian voters, one has to conclude, were ready for a bit more imaginary, not to say, help-ful approach from Ottawa than Oliver’s smug lectures about the evils of debt-fi nancing. And then NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair sunk his party by following suit and pledging not to run defi cits.
So Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s approach is remark-able if for nothing else than for the Liberals’ unapologetic attitude on the need for generosity, as in the reversal of a lower retirement age, and the need to pump up the economy by spending extra billions on infrastructure—all that even if it means several years of defi cits.
The Hill Times
OTTAWA—Access to af-fordable medicines is a big
focus of the recently rejuvenated federal-provincial-territorial dialogue on health care. Ensur-ing that people can get the right medicines when they need them
and without fi nancial hardship is vital to achieving the outcomes Canadians expect from our $200-billion-a-year health-care system. The emphasis is on ensur-ing access to often life-saving prescription drugs, and rightly so. But a patient-centred approach also needs to recognize the role consumer health products play and consider whether our current fi scal policies toward these prod-ucts still make sense.
Self-care, what Canadians do for themselves to maintain their health and deal with illness, is a concept that includes hygiene, nutrition, lifestyle, environmental and socio-economic factors. Self-care also includes how Canadians manage minor health conditions like coughs and colds, heartburn, headaches, allergies, and bug bites. For millions of Canadians, consumer health products, such as evidence-based over-the-coun-ter medicines and natural health products, play a huge role in this area of health care.
Governments around the world recognize the role of self-care in the health of their citi-zens and on the sustainability of their health-care systems. They
understand that ailments that can be self-treated with consumer health products also account for a signifi cant number of doctor and emergency room visits, which come at a much greater cost to the public purse.
Over the last fi ve years, we commissioned three surveys ex-ploring how Canadians deal with minor health conditions, ranging from allergies to heartburn. For these and other conditions, the vast majority of Canadians who experienced symptoms practised some form of self-care, usually involving consumer health prod-ucts or home remedies. However, between four per cent and 19 per cent of Canadians reported visiting a doctor or an emergency room, often having a medicine prescribed instead. Surprisingly, 16 per cent of those who saw a doctor for their cough-cold, headache-migraine, or heart-burn-indigestion, did so despite reporting that their symptoms were relatively mild. To put that into perspective, those individu-als alone represent almost 2.7 million doctor visits. Eliminating just those doctor visits would free up enough physician resources to
give access to a family doctor to 500,000 Canadians who currently don’t have one.
Less surprising is that 26 per cent of those who got a prescrip-tion medicine for their minor health condition said they did so in order to save money by getting a prescription that was covered by their drug plan. This is where tax policy and health policy are out of sync.
Recognizing the value of consumer health products, Health Canada, like its international counterparts, increasingly adds new medicines to the self-care tool box by switching medicines from prescription to over-the-counter status. They do this after reviewing evidence that shows Canadians can use these medi-cines safely and effectively with-out a prescription, and they do it expressly to increase access to affordable medicines. But as soon as that switch takes effect, those medicines that as prescription drugs were once exempt from the GST and eligible as tax deduc-tions under the Medical Expense Tax Credit (METC), lose that GST exemption and are excluded from the METC. Health Canada
and the Canada Revenue Agency appear to be working at cross purposes, where Health Canada tries to encourage Canadians to practice self-care and the agency taxes them for doing so. Com-pounding the issue is the matter of tax fairness for the lower-income working Canadians who make up the vast majority of the millions of Canadians who don’t have a prescription drug plan and thus can’t avoid these taxes by visiting their doctor.
With access to affordable medicines top of mind for Cana-dians and their federal-provin-cial-territorial governments, it’s time to rethink the taxation of consumer health products used for self-care. Granting over-the-counter medicines the same tax treatment as prescription drugs isn’t just a matter of fairness for the millions of Canadians who don’t have a drug plan, it would align tax policy with health policy and give both working Canadians and their health care system, a much-needed break.
Gerry Harrington is the vice president, policy & regula-tory affairs for Consumer Health Products Canada, the organiza-tion representing the makers of evidence-based over-the-counter medicines and natural health products in Canada.
The Hill Times
What difference does a budget make?
Time to rethink the tax on self-care
So Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s approach is remarkable if for nothing else than for the Liberals’ unapologetic attitude on the need for generosity, as in the reversal of a lower retirement age, and the need to pump up the economy by spending extra billions on infrastructure—all that even if it means several years of defi cits.
A patient-centred approach also needs to recognize the role consumer health products play and consider whether our current fi scal policies towards these products still make sense.
GERRY HARRINGTON
LES WHITTINGTON
OPINION HEALTH
Finance Minister Bill Morneau. The Hill Times photograph by Jake Wright
THE HILL TIMES, MONDAY, MARCH 21, 201620CANADA AND THE 21ST CENTURY BUDGET 2016-2017
TORONTO—Finance Minister Bill Mor-neau’s fi rst budget should spell out the
stimulus package for Canada’s faltering economy—including implementation of the promised surge in infrastructure spending. This is all to the good. However, there are two huge gaps in the Liberal platform and we may not hear much about them, aside from big promises for the future.
These are, fi rst, measures to address the plight of many Canadians living in poverty or low incomes—the bottom 40 per cent—and, second, the urgent need for a serious strategy for innovation-led productivity gains, the only sustained way to boost in-comes and pay for an aging society facing mounting health-care bills.
The Liberal program is focused more on the middle class than the poor, with the so-called middle-class tax cut misconceived—using scarce dollars for little social gain.
A substantive policy would give priority to helping Canadians with lower incomes—the bottom 40 per cent of the population and not giving the biggest tax saving to individuals with taxable incomes in the top 10 to 20 per cent.
Because the tax cut has already been implemented as key plank in the Liberal platform, there’s little chance to change it. The country is stuck with a tax cut that will deliver an estimated $1.5-billion to $1.6-billion to Canadians with taxable incomes between $45,283 and $90,563 but, incredibly, a similar amount to a much smaller number of Canadians with taxable incomes in excess of $90,563. This money could have been better used.
For all those Canadians with taxable income below $45,283, there is nothing. The bottom 40 per cent did not loom large in the Liberal platform. But it is the bottom 40 per cent who are having the toughest time. Moreover, the tax measure is not revenue neutral, as the Liberals promised it would be. In 2016, it is estimated to add $1.6-bil-lion to the defi cit.
The fl aws in the middle-class tax mea-sure are well set out in a short paper by Richard Zuker, a former Finance Canada offi cial, for the Caledon Institute think-tank that deals with social policy. It is evident that the benefi t of the middle-class tax cut fl ows mainly to those in the upper income end of the middle class.
Zuker also examines the increase in the Canada child benefi t, which the Liberals also promised. Here, money does fl ow to low-income families. But again, low-in-come families play second-best. As Zuker points out, “the proposed increase in child benefi ts are greater for middle-income
than lower-income families.” Nonethe-less, the Canada child benefi t is projected to help 315,000 children escape poverty so that is at least an important step for low-income households where there are children.
Overall, Zuker fi nds the middle-class tax cut “costly and ineffective,” contend-ing the tax cut is “generally regressive in nature,” that the increases in child benefi ts are “regressive with respect to low-income families,” and that “low-income individu-als, both those with and without children, are not well served by either of these tax changes.”
So how can Canada do a better job? Zuker proposes increasing the tax rate in the 26 per cent bracket to 27 per cent, which would gradually offset the benefi t of the middle class tax cut to those with taxable incomes between $90,564 and $130,388, reducing their tax cut from $679 to $181.
But there are other important steps that could be taken. One is to raise the federal minimum wage. When the NDP proposed this as part of its platform, the Liberals sneered it would only benefi t a relatively small number of Canadians. That is true. But it would also set a benchmark for the provinces to follow. Low-income workers are not earning enough. They need and deserve a pay raise and too often the only way to get one is when government raises a minimum wage.
At the same time, the working income tax benefi t should be signifi cantly im-proved. This was introduced by the Harper government to provide Canadians earning the lowest workplace incomes to stay in or join the workforce by promising a modest
top-up if they did. While the concept was and is sound, the incentive is far too low.
In a paper admittedly now several years old, the Caledon Institute reported that 25 per cent of working Canadians made $10 an hour or less. “These are known as the ‘working poor’. They work full time in the labour market but do not earn enough money to lift them out of poverty,” it said. The problem has been made worse by the growth of non-standard work— part-time and temporary work. In 2014, the program delivered $1.2-billion of benefi ts to Canadi-ans with the lowest workplace incomes.
The Liberals should also get to work on measures for early childhood development. Their platform promised to work with the provinces on a new national early learning and child-care framework, and that this work would begin in the fi rst 100 days of a Liberal government. That doesn’t seem to have happened. Early childhood develop-ment is especially important in improving the life chances of young children in the bottom 40 per cent and should be a priority.
On innovation and productivity, Mor-neau has promised to deliver a “robust growth strategy” before the end of the year, fi lling in the other huge gap in the Liberal platform. Infrastructure spending, to be spelled out in the budget, will help stimu-late the economy and can contribute to productivity growth. But on the innovation/growth strategy, we’ll have to wait and see.
As the budget will show, the Trudeau government is very much a work in prog-ress. More substance and less posturing is needed.
David Crane can be reached at [email protected].
The Hill Times
Morneau’s fi rst budget should spell out stimulus package for Canada’s faltering economy
As the budget will show, the Trudeau government is very much a work in progress. More substance and less posturing is needed.
DAVID CRANE
Finance Minister Bill Morneau. The Liberal program is focused more on the middle class than the poor, with the so-called middle-class tax cut misconceived—using scarce dollars for little social gain. A substantive policy would give priority to helping Canadians with lower incomes—the bottom 40 per cent of the population and not giving the biggest tax saving to individuals with taxable incomes in the top 10 to 20 per cent, writes David Crane. The Hill Times photograph by Jake Wright
21THE HILL TIMES, MONDAY, MARCH 21, 2016
NEWS LIBERAL CAUCUS
“There’s a strong group of Liberal MPs who will fi ght for our aerospace industry, and that means whether it’s Air Canada, Bombardier, or even local compa-nies here in Winnipeg, that we be-lieve need to be given attention,” Liberal MP Kevin Lamoureux (Winnipeg North, Man.) said in an interview with The Hill Times last week.
Bombardier Inc. submitted a formal request to the federal gov-ernment in December of $1-bil-lion U.S. of funding for its C-Series jet program. The provincial Quebec government has already pledged this amount and is urging the federal government to match its commitment.
As of last week, the Justin Trudeau (Papineau, Que.) govern-ment had not made any commit-ment to Bombardier. Media re-ports suggested last week that the federal government has complet-ed the study of the Bombardier’s funding request and will render a decision in the coming weeks.
Air Canada announced last month that the airline will buy up to 75 of C-Series jets from Bom-bardier, for which delivery will start in 2019.
Quebec is Mr. Trudeau’s home province and it played a key role in helping the Liberals to win a strong majority government in the last election. Many feel the federal government will provide fi nancial help to Bombardier because of the company’s promi-nent position in the Canadian Aerospace industry, and also because of Quebec’s political sig-nifi cance. Bombardier announced plans, last month, to lay off about 7,000 of its employees in the next
two years with more than 2,800 of them in Canada.
In the 2011 federal election, Liberals won only seven of the 75 seats, but last year won 40 of 78 seats in the province. Because of the redistribution of electoral boundaries, Quebec gained three more seats in the last election compared to the 2011 election. Quebec has the second highest number of federal electoral seats after Ontario, which has 121 seats.
In Manitoba, Liberals won sev-en of 14 seats in the last election, a signifi cant increase compared to 2011 when the party won only one seat. Mr. Lamoureux was the only Liberal MP who was elected in Manitoba in 2011.
Aveos Fleet Performance, an aircraft maintenance company that had facilities in Winnipeg, Montreal, and Mississauga, fi led for bankruptcy protection in 2012 after Air Canada pulled work and moved it out of the country. Aveos relied heavily on the maintenance work provided for Air Canada.
The Quebec government took Air Canada to court, arguing the company violated the 1988 Air Canada Public Protection Act that required the airline to keep main-tenance work for its planes in Quebec, Manitoba, and Ontario. The court decided the case in favour of Quebec in 2013, and the Quebec Court of Appeal upheld the decision in November. Late last year, Air Canada challenged this decision in the Supreme Court.
Last month, Quebec settled the lawsuit with Air Canada in exchange for receiving a 20-year maintenance work from the air-line for its C Series jets that it will buy from Bombardier.
Also, Air Canada has agreed to establish a Western Canada Centre of Excellence for aircraft maintenance in Manitoba that will create 150 jobs, with the pos-sibility to create more jobs in the coming years.
“This agreement should fur-ther develop and diversify Mani-toba’s aviation expertise and help create quality jobs in a highly competitive and dynamic Indus-try,” said Air Canada CEO Calin Rovinescu in a press release last week.
Liberal MP Doug Eyolfson (Charleswood -St. James -As-siniboia -Headingley, Man.) is
leading caucus efforts to lobby the government to ensure that if Bombardier gets federal money, their province also gets fi nancial help to create jobs not only for the laid off Aveos employees, but throughout the aerospace indus-try in the province. The Aveos maintenance facility is located in Mr. Eyolfson’s riding, and a large number of laid-off employees also live there.
The aerospace industry employs about 5,500 workers in Manitoba and contributes about $1.6-billion annually to the econ-omy, said Ken Webb, executive director of Manitoba Aerospace Association.
Mr. Eyolfson said he met with Transport Minister Marc Garneau (Notre-Dame-de-Grâce -West-mount, Que.) and Mr. Trudeau last month to make the case that if Bombardier gets a subsidy, there should be fi nancial help for Mani-toba as well.
“They agreed with me that Winnipeg should not be left out,” Mr. Eyolfson told The Hill Times.
Liberal sources say that the Manitoba MPs want to ensure their province is not ignored the
way it was in 1986 when then-Progressive Conservative govern-ment of Brian Mulroney awarded the $1.4-billion CF-18 fi ghter jet maintenance contract to Canadair of Montreal, and Bristol Aero-space of Winnipeg was left out. It was believed by a number of ex-perts, at the time, that the Bristol Aerospace’s bid was better than the Canadair, but was ignored for political and electoral reasons.
Mr. Eyolfson said that would not happen this time as this is a different party, different leader, a different era, and Mr. Trudeau is well aware of political sensitivi-ties of Manitoba.
“The prime minister was cog-nizant of the fact that Manitoba did make a signifi cant contribu-tion to the number of seats there,” said Mr. Eyolfson. “It isn’t the same number of seats as Quebec, of course. But we did increase our seat count to the Liberal Party from one to seven. The prime min-ister has made it clear that he’s aware of that and understands there’s a lot of support here. He hasn’t forgotten.”
Mr. Lamoureux also echoed Mr. Eyolfson’s views
“The Manitoba Liberal caucus might not be large in comparison to the entire national caucus, but we have 50 per cent of the seats in Manitoba. It speaks volumes especially coming from Western Canada,” he said.
“I truly believe he [Mr. Trudeau] cares about what’s happening in the prairies that the potential of the Liberal party is very strong in the Prairies. I don’t think he’s going to have the stigma of abandoning the prairies over another province.”
Liberal MP Terry Duguid (Win-nipeg South, Man.) said that Air Canada’s announcement of the cre-ation of 150 jobs in the province is a good start and more needs to be done. He said that he’s awaiting for this federal budget to be presented on Tuesday, as there might be positive news for funding to create more jobs in the province.
“I view this as positive news. Could it be more positive? Sure. I think more positive things are on the horizon, and let’s just see what the budget and other announce-ments bring,” said Mr. Duguid.
[email protected] Hill Times
If Ottawa bails out Bombardier, feds should help 400 laid-off Aveos workers, say Manitoba Liberal MPs Manitoba Liberal MPs are lobbying Transport Minister Garneau and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to help Manitoba’s aerospace sector if Bombardier receives funding.
Continued from page 1
Rookie Liberal MP Doug Eyolfson, top, and Liberal MP Kevin Lamoureux, above, are leading the Manitoba Liberal cau-cus efforts to ensure that the province gets more funding for its aerospace industry. The Hill Times photograph by Jake Wright
THE HILL TIMES, MONDAY, MARCH 21, 201622OPINION LIBYA
POWELL RIVER, B.C.—The dystopian situation in Libya is
so persistent that when we hear news of yet another slaughter, or the fragility of the new unity gov-ernment, or ISIS taking over large swaths of the country, we just fi le it under ‘old news’ and wait for the next story.
We shouldn’t. While account-ability of politicians is also an old news story, this one is particularly disturbing in its history and its consequences for the Libyan peo-ple, who before the “humanitar-ian” mission enjoyed the highest standard of living in Africa. That UN mission toppled the regime of Muammar Gadhafi in 2011 leaving a power vacuum that was fi lled by many competing armed factions and two separate group-ings claiming to be the legitimate government.
The Libyan story should pro-vide foreign policy lessons for the West and for Canada, but without some kind of mea culpa and rec-ognition of this catastrophic error, no one has to learn anything.
Which is what makes U.S. President Barack Obama’s recent admission that the Libyan inter-vention was a “mistake” so interest-ing. This was Obama’s singular intervention, even though Euro-pean allies did most of the bomb-ing. According to The Atlantic magazine, Obama told a former Senate colleague: “There is no way we should commit to governing the Middle East and north Africa. That would be a basic, fundamental mistake.” No kidding.
It seems that Obama wants to get out ahead of the legacy machine and admit this major foreign policy mistake early on. But what about Canada? Under the Harper government, Canada was one of the most eager par-ticipants in the elimination of the “madman” Muammar Gadhafi .
But the Harper government is gone, and its foreign policy has been vigorously repudiated by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Trudeau has tied his star to a U.S. president able to take risks as his term comes to an end and Trudeau has boldly told the world “Canada is back.” One way that he could prove that declaration would be to follow in Obama’s footsteps and acknowledge Canada’s mistaken support for the Libyan intervention.
All the major parties in Parlia-ment supported the UN mission, and not a single Canadian politi-cal leader who did so has ever acknowledged that the West’s in-tervention was a colossal foreign policy failure.
The situation is actually get-ting worse by the week as ISIS sweeps into areas that are com-pletely ungoverned. According to a report by Martin Kobler, the UN special representative to Libya, the lack of political structure is risking “division and collapse” of
the country… “Daesh [ISIS] takes advantage of the political and se-curity vacuum and is expanding to the West, East and to the South. While Libya’s fi nancial resources are dwindling, the criminal net-works, including human smug-gling, are booming.”
New Scientist magazine reported recently that because of the collapse of commerce people are turning to the killing of wild animals—including cranes, fl amingos, bustards, and herons—for meat.
Given the intermittent news coverage of the unfolding disaster in Libya, it simply becomes back-ground noise. With no account-ability, our collective culpability is gradually diluted as our memo-ries of how the thing started fade.
It started, of course, with the rationale of the lofty principles enshrined in the 2005 United Nations Responsibility to Pro-tect (R2P) doctrine which states that sovereignty is not a right, but rests on the responsibility
of governments to protect their populations.
One of its most vocal and respected proponents at the time of the Libyan intervention was former Liberal foreign affairs minister Lloyd Axworthy. When the Libyan mission—initially a UN approved no-fl y zone—spiralled into regime change and the murder of Gadhafi , Axworthy still maintained that R2P was a valuable doctrine.
Writing a year after the mis-sion was launched, Axworthy said: “R2P should not be judged on the basis of the military response in Libya. Somewhere along the way, R2P has become synonymous with military intervention…The reality is that the original International Com-mission… made clear that the implementation of R2P is about the protection of civilians, should be considered primarily preventa-tive and considers military action a very last resort.”
Unfortunately, Axworthy’s defence of R2P simply under-lines why it is a fatally fl awed principle—because it is not academics or humanitarians who decide when it should be used. It is a handy excuse for big power intervention whenever they have some geopolitical objective they can’t achieve by simply bullying smaller nations.
In fact, R2P should never have been applied to the situation in Libya at all. To be sure, there was armed confl ict in Libya and a single horrifi c instance of Libyan troops killing some 300 protest-ers in Benghazi in mid-February, 2011. But soon after, the troops fl ed the city and it was declared free by the protesters. A month later, on March 19, the UN began its military intervention.
But none of what had hap-pened up until UN Security Council Resolution 1973 was passed met the standard for R2P intervention. R2P is triggered by evidence of any one of four “mass atrocity” crimes: war crimes, genocide, crimes against human-ity and ethnic cleansing. None of the actions of Gadhafi ’s troops fi t any of these categories.
Perhaps the failed state that resulted from R2P in Libya will have laid to rest this fl awed doc-trine. And while Obama did not refer to R2P specifi cally, his dec-laration that the Libyan adven-ture was a mistake highlights just how easily the principle can be abused. While some things might change, imperial hubris does not.
The Hill Times
Acknowledging Canada’s complicity in the Libyan catastrophe Justin Trudeau has tied his star to a U.S. president able to take risks as his term comes to an end. And he has told the world ‘Canada is back.’ What better way to construct his own brand and contrast it with Harper’s record than to acknowledge Canada’s mistaken support for the Libyan intervention as a clear declaration that participation in new military adventures is not on his agenda.
MURRAY DOBBIN
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pictured with U.S. President Barack Obama March 10 in the Oval Offi ce. Photograph courtesy of Prime Minister’s Offi ce Adam Scotti
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23THE HILL TIMES, MONDAY, MARCH 21, 2016
OPINION POLITICS
TORONTO—When Parliament was dissolved last August and
the writ issued for the October election, the media reported that
the election campaign would be 11 weeks, the lengthiest since 1872. The media, however, did not explain what made that long-ago campaign so drawn out.
In Canada’s fi rst two fed-eral elections, the government determined the election date in each of the four provinces and the election taking place in them was conducted in splendid isolation in three separate months. The gov-ernment also drew the electoral boundaries and there was no secret ballot.
Long before Parliament’s dissolution in 2015, the Conserva-tives had run so many election ads that the offi cial “campaign” period meant much less than it once had—the standard had been 60 days in most elections until the rationale of shorting the cam-paign period to 37 days led to the use of a permanent voters list in 1997. During Stephen Harper’s prime ministership, Canada fi rmly entered the era of the permanent campaign and it is here to stay. The Conservatives opted for a long of-fi cial campaign because it permit-ted them to spend the $50-million they had in their bank account, an amount the other parties did not have and twice as large as what the Elections Act would permit in a fi ve-week campaign.
In the fi rst poll published after the writ was issued, the NDP led with 39 per cent with the Con-
servatives at 28 per cent. The Liberals trailed with 25 per cent. A year earlier, the positioning of the parties had been reversed: Liberals 38 per cent, NDP 21 per cent. What changed?
Two things: First, Albertans elected an NDP government in a provincial election in May leading many other Canadians to think, “If perpetually rock solid conservative Alberta can vote NDP, perhaps the federal party warrants a second look.” Second, the compelling Conservative ads denigrating Justin Trudeau as “just not ready” for the prime minister’s job led the two-thirds of Canadians who in both 2014 and 2015 had indicated in polls that they wanted a change in government to look around for an-other party that could produce that change. Only Tom Mulcair’s NDP fi t the bill, and it decided to run a front-runner’s campaign: Mulcair, for example, was the only leader who refused to take reporters’ questions on the campaign’s fi rst day and he refused to participate in any debate unless Harper participated.
The gap in support for the NDP and the Liberals began to nar-row after Trudeau appeared at the campaign’s fi rst debate “with his pants on”—something Conserva-tive spin doctors had dismissed as unlikely. Sept. 9 proved to be the pivotal day in the campaign: a poll appeared, the fi rst in months, showing a lead, though very nar-
row, for the Liberals. Subsequent polls showing the Liberals to be genuinely competitive stiffened the spine of erstwhile Liberal iden-tifi ers who had parked their vote for change with the NDP and they began to reconsider their options.
The Liberals then trapped the NDP by proposing to run defi cits, something of which they had given no hint before the campaign, and something the NDP could not pro-pose because it would have fed the long-established, if questionable, narrative of both the Liberals and Conservatives that the NDP are reckless spendthrifts. On the niqab issue, Mulcair defended his party’s principled position at length while Trudeau skillfully skated around the issue by merely mentioning his approval for the popularly revered Charter of Rights. According to Mulcair, NDP support in Quebec dropped by 20 per cent overnight.
As NDP support ebbed, Liberal support increased cor-respondingly. What did not change was the palpable appetite for change among most of the electorate. Conservative support was immobile, hovering around 30 per cent before, during, and on election night. It hovers there still. The Conservatives effectively admitted their defeat in the cam-paign’s dying days, when Harper used game-show props and the sound effects of a cash register to illustrate the impact of Liberal policies and to embrace Rob Ford.
The trade-off of votes between the Liberals and the NDP is a long established phenomenon in federal and many provincial elections. Although the NDP vote dropped to 20 per cent, it was the party’s highest percentage ever with the exception of 2011 and similar to its vote total in 1988. At 39 per cent, the vote for the Liber-als was within three points of what they had received in all four elections between 1993 and 2004.
Louis St. Laurent once called the CCF, “Liberals in a hurry.” In the 2015 election, as in the 1945 election when the Liberal platform offered a “New Social Order for Canada” that Mackenzie King said would “cut the ground in large part from under the CCF” with promises of public spending on housing and family allowances, the Liberals were the NDP in hurry.
The 2015 election saw the party system revert to norm: a two-and-a half party system with Liberals dominant, Conservatives as the natural opposition party, and the NDP as the half-party in an antagonistic, but symbiotic relationship with the Liberals in both the voters they capture and the platform images they project.
Nelson Wiseman is the director of the Canadian studies program and professor of political science at the University of Toronto.
The Hill Times
Why Canada’s permanent election campaign is here to stay Long before Parliament’s dissolution in 2015, the Conservatives had run so many election ads that the offi cial ‘campaign’ period meant much less than it once had—the standard had been 60 days in most elections until the rationale of shorting the campaign period to 37 days led to the use of a permanent voters list in 1997.
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During Stephen Harper’s prime ministership, Canada fi rmly entered the era of the permanent campaign and it is here to stay. The Hill Times photograph by Jake Wright
THE HILL TIMES, MONDAY, MARCH 21, 201624OPINION INDIGENOUS PEOPLES & RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
If Canada is to succeed in ad-dressing climate change and
becoming a global leader in environmental protection and management it needs to engage experts who know the land best, yet have been mostly ignored indigenous peoples.
The land mass in Canada is mostly remote, sparsely populat-ed and under pressure to develop its vast resources by governments and industries that operate from afar and have no real vested in-terest other than to maximize tax revenues or corporate profi ts.
Development and economic growth are needed and will hap-pen, particularly in partnership with indigenous peoples, whose standard of living is signifi cantly lower than the Canadian average, but it must be done in a balanced way that incorporates the very best environmental practices and contributes to efforts to address climate change. The chances of
this occurring will be immeasur-ably improved if Canada em-braces the assets, and respects the perspectives, brought to the table by indigenous peoples—who have a vested interest in the land and water.
The public debate over re-sources and indigenous peoples has tended to focus on how the latter can benefi t from the former, and how far their title and rights should go in terms of approv-ing—or rejecting—projects. The world is watching to see how Canada proceeds—as evidenced by successive United Nations and Amnesty International reports on the poor treatment of our peoples.
Our indigenous title and rights, and treaty and treaty rights, both in terms of our say in what happens on our lands, and our rights to share the benefi ts are indeed hugely important, but our role in protecting our envi-ronment is just as important and must be added to the equation.
As indigenous leaders made clear at the fi rst ministers meet-ing in Vancouver earlier this month, there can be no climate change strategy without us. It is a statement Canada should welcome. There are great envi-ronmental benefi ts to be gained by respecting Indigenous rights, culture and knowledge.
Perhaps the new federal government gets this—certainly Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been saying many of the right words, including acceptance of the United Nations Declara-tion on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. But we are still a long way from fi nding and implement-ing the right solutions.
For our peoples, exercising their title, treaties and rights to protect the environment and prac-tice our cultures is more impor-tant than profi ting from massive resource extractions that only offer short-term gains.
So, what if everyone started looking at the future not as an indigenous peoples-versus- re-sources development problem, but rather as an indigenous peoples and resource develop-ment solution? What if everyone started thinking about how indig-
enous peoples can help Canada make sure that any developments are as “green” as possible and will not worsen the problems we face with, for example, climate change, therefore ensuring a sus-tainable shared future?
We have always been the natural guardians and stewards of the lands and waters that are now being targeted for industrial development. A prime example is the mostly intact and globally vital Canadian boreal—one of the largest remaining intact forests on the planet—where our peoples are often the only inhabitants.
Our knowledge and science concerning our lands and waters was handed down through the generations. We are the fi rst to notice changes to environments and ecosystems and the impacts of climate change, as we are physically and spiritually commit-ted to these lands and waters. Our very identity is related to how we care for them.
All these facts were cited in a recent Boreal Leadership Council review of indigenous-led caribou recovery programs, but it does not stop there. Our peoples and communities offer the perfect workforce for land management, protection and project monitoring.
Indigenous peoples have played similar roles for gen-erations, whether as Canadian rangers, guides for outfi tters and parks, or as conservation offi cers.
A growing number of Indig-enous communities have already created their own formal pro-grams to protect, monitor and manage their lands. For example, the Haida in B.C. have the Haida Gwaii Watchmen, the Innu Nation in Labrador has the Innu Envi-ronmental Guardians program, the N.W.T.’s Lutsel K’e First Na-tion has developed the Nihat’ni Dene program.
The great interest being shown by indigenous communities inspired a pilot project last sum-mer. Young community leaders were provided with customized, university-accredited, indigenous-led courses in on-the-land pro-gramming at the Dechinta Bush University in the N.W.T. This trains them to manage guardian programs in their own lands. This indigenous Boreal Guardians (IBG) course was a huge success for the students and will conclude with a second semester this year. Dechinta is now working with its partners to create a perma-nent program. For this to really succeed, however, it will require
a signifi cant and coordinated Canada-wide effort to create funding for training and capacity building, through programs like the IBG, and at the community level to sustain operations.
The Australian government provides hundreds of millions of dollars to its “Working on Country” program, successfully engaging indigenous communi-ties to establish local ranger programs. This has signifi cantly improved certain socio-economic conditions and has helped create more indigenous protected areas, which is helping Australia meet its national conservation targets.
Our indigenous peoples are an untapped and neglected on-the-land asset—and it is time we changed that.
Former N.W.T. premier Ste-phen Kakfwi (Dene) is founder and president of Canadians for a New Partnership (CFNP). Bev Sel-lars (Secwepenc) is chair of B.C.’s First Nations Women Advocating Responsible Mining (FNWARM) and the best-selling author of “They Called Me Number One: Secrets and Survival at an Indian Residential School.” They are both senior advisers to the Indigenous Leadership Initiative (ILI).
The Hill Times
Indigenous peoples key to balancing environment with resource development The world is watching to see how Canada proceeds—as evidenced by successive United Nations and Amnesty International reports on the poor treatment of our peoples. Our indigenous peoples are an untapped and neglected on-the-land asset—and it is time we changed that.
UN CONSEILLER DE CONFIANCE. UNE VOIX INFLUENTE.Un conseiller respecté sur les questions fiscales, économiques et d’affaires qui sont importantes pour assurer un avenir prospère aux Canadiens et aux entreprises canadiennes.
STEPHEN KAKFWI AND BEV SELLARS
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been saying many of the right words, including acceptance of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. But we are still a long way from fi nding and implementing the right solutions. The Hill Times photograph by Jake Wright
25THE HILL TIMES, MONDAY, MARCH 21, 2016
DIGITAL WORLD TRANS-PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP
OTTAWA—The Trans-Pacifi c Partner-ship, a massive trade deal that covers
40 per cent of the world’s GDP, has mush-roomed into a political hot potato in the United States with presidential candidates Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, and Bernie Sanders all expressing opposition or concern with the agreement. The deal may be in doubt in the U.S., but the Canadian government is using the uncertainty to jump-start a much-anticipated and long-overdue public consultation.
Earlier this month, the Standing Com-mittee on International Trade announced plans for hearings to be held across the country and invited all Canadians to provide written submissions by the end of the April. When added to the open call for comments from Global Affairs Canada, the government department that negoti-ated the TPP, the public has an important opportunity to have its voice heard on a trade deal that could impact virtually every aspect of the Canadian economy.
The national consultation comes as a growing number of Canadian business leaders express concerns with the agree-ment. Jim Balsillie, the former co-CEO of Research in Motion, has garnered consid-erable media attention for his criticisms, but he has been joined in recent weeks by others such as Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke and Ford Canada CEO Dianne Craig.
Yet just as Canadians begin to grapple with the fi ne print of the 6,000-page TPP, it has become increasingly clear that Canada will face stiff opposition from the U.S. if it seeks to exercise fl exibility in how it imple-ments the deal. Growing concern over pro-visions that may increase health-care costs, extend the term of copyright, restrict the ability to regulate online services such as Uber, and limit rules designed to support Canadian culture seem likely to run into U.S. demands that it “certify” whether other TPP countries have, in its view, properly implemented the agreement.
The certifi cation process is not found in the text of the TPP, but it is how the U.S. approaches ratifi cation of trade agreements. Under U.S. law, before any trade agreement can take effect, the president must deter-mine whether the agreement’s partners have taken measures to bring it into compli-ance with the deal. The determination can involve extensive review and consultation involving many U.S. government agencies and departments including the State De-
partment, Commerce, Agriculture, Treasury, and the U.S. trade representative. If the president does not certify the implementa-tion, the U.S. cannot ratify the treaty.
The U.S. certifi cation process is not an objective process conducted by independent experts. In fact, U.S. companies have already begun to call for an aggressive certifi cation process with the creation of a “pre-certifi ca-tion checklist.” Those companies argue that certifi cation represents the best opportunity for the U.S. to ensure that its interpretation of the deal is followed by other countries.
How can the U.S. exclusively determine how other countries implement the TPP?
The agreement stipulates that it cannot take effect without ratifi cation from at least six countries representing at least 85 per cent of GDP within the TPP countries. This effectively means that the TPP cannot take effect without U.S. support. It plans to lever-
age this power by withholding ratifi cation until it is satisfi ed that other TPP countries meet its certifi cation requirements. The ap-proach gives the U.S. one last opportunity to shape the agreement by establishing its own requirements and forcing countries such as Canada to abide by its interpretation.
Canadian plans to take advantage of fl ex-ibilities on copyright or addressing cultural regulations could therefore result in a heated battle rendering much of the public consulta-tion and suggestions for reform moot, while leaving International Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland with the diffi cult challenge of rec-onciling public concerns and U.S. demands.
Michael Geist holds the Canada Re-search Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law at the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law. He can be reached at [email protected] or online at www.michaelgeist.ca.
The Hill Times
Pacifi c trade treaty consultation launches as deal in doubt Just as Canadians begin to grapple with the fi ne print of the 6,000-page TPP, it has become increasingly clear that Canada will face stiff opposition from the U.S. if it seeks to exercise fl exibility in how it implements the deal. The certifi cation process is not found in the text of the TPP, but it is how the U.S. approaches ratifi cation of trade agreements.
MICHAEL GEIST
Canadian plans to take advantage of fl exibilities on copyright or addressing cultural regulations could therefore result in a heated battle rendering much of the public consultation and suggestions for reform moot, while leaving International Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland with the diffi cult challenge of reconciling public concerns and U.S. demands. The Hill Times photograph by Jake Wright
THE HILL TIMES, MONDAY, MARCH 21, 201626NEWS SENATE REFORMS
BY ABBAS RANA
Nunavut Conservative Senator Den-nis Patterson, who tabled a private
member’s bill on March 10 proposing to repeal the constitutional requirement of $4,000 worth of land ownership for a Sen-ate appointment, says he wants to appear before the Senate Modernization Commit-tee to make the case that elimination of the property requirement should become part of the Senate modernization process.
“I do plan to present my proposal for repeal of these archaic provision to the modernization committee and seek their support,”Sen. Patterson told The Hill Times, last week.
“Since the bill eliminates that elitist re-quirement, it’s also more democratic than the present situation.”
In the interview last week, Sen. Patter-son, former premier of Nunavut, said that he tabled his private member’s Bill S-221, An Act to amend the Constitution Act, 1867 (Property qualifi cations of Senators), because millions of Canadians are not eli-gible for Senate appointments because of
the property ownership requirements.He said, based on the Statistics Canada
data, 83 per cent of Canadians in his region and about a third of Canadians in the en-tire country are ineligible to be considered for Senate appointments. Sen. Patterson said that he has wide support both in the Conservative and the Liberal Senate caucuses, and soon plans to approach MPs in the House to seek their support.
“I’m optimistic I will get support for my bill in the Senate,” said Sen. Patterson.
The 15-member special Senate Mod-ernization Committee is currently holding meetings to explore a variety of ideas and proposals on how to modernize the inner workings of the Senate. Some of the ideas that this committee is exploring include
election of the Senate Speaker, electing the chairpeople and vice-chairpeople of Senate standing committees, replacing Question Period with Issues Period, and webcasting and televising Senate proceedings.
Quebec Liberal Sen. Serge Joyal and Alberta Independent Sen. Elaine McCoy in interviews last week said that they sup-port Sen. Patterson’s bill, as it will make millions of people to the Senate appoint-ments eligible who currently are not. They said they would welcome Sen. Patterson’s appearance before the committee.
“Some people should not be barred from sitting in the Senate because of a technical problem like that,” said Sen. Joyal, who is the vice-chairman of the committee.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
(Papineau, Que.) unveiled the names of seven newly-appointed Independent Senators on Friday, including: Peter Harder, former deputy minister and head of Mr. Trudeau’s transition team; Murray Sinclair, former head of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission; Chan-tal Petitclerc, former Paralympian; Raymonde Gagne, former president of the Universite Saint-Boniface in Manitoba; Frances Lankin, former Ontario politician and United Way CEO in Toronto; Ratna Omidvar, a Ryerson University professor and multiculturalism and diversity advocate; and André Pratte, veteran La Presse journalist.
Mr. Trudeau also appointed Mr. Harder as the government’s Senate representa-tive, who will shepherd the government’s legislation in the Upper Chamber.
In the 105-member Red Chamber, Con-servatives currently hold 42 seats and Liber-als 26. Prior to the appointment of the seven new Senators, there were 13 Independent Senators, while 24 seats were vacant.
It remains to be seen if the newly-appointed Senators choose to caucus with any of the already existing parties’ cau-cuses, form their own caucus or decide not to caucus with anyone. Now, there are 17 vacant seats and three more—Quebec Lib-eral Sen. Céline Hervieux-Payette, Ontario Liberal Sen. David Smith, and Quebec Independent Sen. Michel Rivard-are sched-uled to retire this year.
Mr. Trudeau made the Senate ap-pointments on the non-binding advice of the non-partisan Senate advisory board chaired by Huguette Labelle.
Sen. Patterson fi ghts against property qualifi cation for Senate appointmentsPrime Minister Justin Trudeau has appointed Peter Harder, who led his post-election transition team, as his government Senate representative.
Newly ap-pointed Independent Senator Mur-ray Sinclair pictured with Prime Min-ister Justin Trudeau, who announced the names of seven new Senators last week. The Hill Times photo-graph by Jake Wright
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thewirereport.ca
GREEN ECONOMY
A HILL TIMES POLICY BRIEFING
March 21, 2016March 21
LIBERALS LIGHT ON DETAILS
FOR GREEN INNOVATION
SPENDING, OPPOSITION
WANTS ANSWERS
CLIMATE CHANGE
IS THE CHALLENGE
OF OUR GENERATION:
MCKENNA
THERE IS ONLY ONE
FUTURE ECONOMY,
AND IT’S
GREEN
CITIES TAKING STRIDES
TOWARD GREENHOUSE-
GAS EMISSION REDUCTION
ALBERTA OILPATCH
BRACES FOR
HIGHER CARBON COSTS
ECONOMIC GROWTH
NOT THREATENED BY CURRENT
CARBON PRICING:
EXPERTS
CANADA MUST PLAY A
LEADING ROLE
TO MOVE WORLD TOWARDS
GREEN GLOBAL
ECONOMY
TRUDEAU HAS PROFOUND OPPORTUNITY TO GALVANIZE
FALTERING ECONOMY
PAGE 30
PAGE 28PAGE 34
PAGE 32
PAGE 31 PAGE 32PAGE 33
PAGE 34
by Rachel Aiello
by RACHEL AIELLOby Green Party Leader
Elizabeth May
by Denis Calnan
by Denis Calnan by Denis Calnanby Conservative
MP Ed Fast
by NDP MP Nathan Cullen
28 THE HILL TIMES, MONDAY, MARCH 21, 2016
FEATURE MINISTER Q&A
GREEN ECONOMY POLICY BRIEFING
BY RACHEL AIELLO
Canada’s federal Environment Minister Catherine McKenna,
who is not ruling out impos-ing a national price on carbon if provincial leaders resist, says she expects the green economy to grow under her watch. But it will become clearer on March 22 just how serious the new Trudeau government is about investing in fi ghting climate change and stimu-lating the green economy when it releases its fi rst federal budget.
“We are now moving forward here at home on the development of a pan-Canadian framework on climate change in collaboration with the provinces and territories. Over the coming months and years I am looking forward to working with them to grow our economy and put Canada on the
path to a cleaner, more prosper-ous future,” Ms. McKenna (Ottawa Centre, Ont.) told The Hill Times in an email interview last week.
Your mandate is vast and multi-barrelled. What is your top prior-ity for this Parliament?
“Canadians elected our gov-ernment on the promise we would take real action to fi ght climate change. My fi rst big challenge after being appointed as minister of the Environment and Climate Change was to travel to the COP 21 Summit and work with 195 other countries to achieve the Paris Agreement, which sets the path for our planet to collectively reduce our greenhouse gas emis-sions and slow global warming.
“We are now moving forward here at home on the development of a pan-Canadian framework on climate change in collaboration with the provinces and territories. Over the coming months and years, I am looking forward to working with them to grow our economy and put Canada on the path to a cleaner, more prosperous future.”
I understand you’re ready to im-pose a national price on carbon if you’re unable to reach an agree-ment with the provinces. Why not let them determine what’s best for their regions?
“I’m pleased that we have agree-ment to move forward in a way that respects the challenges and particu-larities of jurisdictions across the country on carbon pricing.
“The commitment we made earlier this month in the Vancou-
ver Declaration shows all fi rst ministers in this country united on carbon pricing mechanisms. The fact that we had we have consen-sus on the need to include carbon pricing in our approach to address-ing climate change right across the country is a great thing indeed.
“I look forward to the great dis-cussions that our working groups are going to be bringing forward on this and other issues, and I look forward to continued collabora-tion right across the country with premiers who come together to sign a very ambitious and respon-sible declaration to engage with this great issue of our time.”
How much confl ict is there be-tween supporting Canada’ oil-and-gas sector, while also achieving emission-reduction targets, and how are such confl icts rectifi ed?
“Our government understands that the economy and the environ-ment go hand in hand. Both need to work together to ensure our future prosperity. Canada’s natural resourc-es are and will always be important. But the world is also moving towards a low-carbon economy, and we need to help Canada remain competitive and create good jobs in all sec-tors of our economy. So we look at climate change as a tremendous opportunity. It is a challenge, but it is also an opportunity to innovate, to share solutions with the world and to demonstrate the ingenuity and in-ventiveness of Canadians in solving signifi cant challenges.”
In Environment and Climate Change Canada’s report on plans and priorities for 2016-17, it high-lights as a key risk, the depart-ment’s ability to achieve progress on your clean stewardship man-date because of the many other players involved. How will you address this challenge?
“A lot of what needs to be done to reduce greenhouse gas emis-sions and address other environ-mental issues requires the federal government to act collectively, and to work closely with partners in all levels of government as well as with international partners.
“Through its leadership and col-laboration with partners and stake-holders, Environment and Climate Change Canada is working to align federal, provincial, territorial, conti-nental and international commit-ments and actions. As laid out in the Vancouver Declaration, Canada is working with the provinces, ter-ritories and indigenous peoples to develop a pan-Canadian frame-work for clean growth and climate change to secure a greener, more prosperous future for Canada.
“The government is also work-ing with international and domes-tic partners, including indigenous peoples, municipalities, stakehold-ers, and Canadians. Internationally, we are part of the landmark Paris Agreement. You may also have seen last week’s U.S.-Canada joint statement on climate, energy, and Arctic leadership, and our agree-ment on methane emission reduc-tions, the government’s signifi cant commitments on climate fi nance to help developing countries respond to the challenges of climate change as well as Canada’s participation in
‘We recognize that climate change is the challenge of our generation,’ McKenna won’t rule out national carbon price, expects green economy to grow under her watch Environment Minister Catherine McKenna says consensus on the need for carbon pricing is a positive step, despite not reaching an agreement with the provinces and territories at their March 3 meeting.
Environment Minister Catherine McKenna, with her press secretary Caitlin Workman. ‘Canadians elected our government on the promise we would take real action to fi ght climate change.’ The Hill Times photograph by Jake Wright
GREEN ECONOMY
CANADIAN CLEAN ENERGY FACTS
CLEAN POWER GENERATION INVESTMENT BY PROVINCE IN 2014
RANKING OF THE TOP FIVE PROVINCES FOR CLEAN ENERGY
LEADERSHIP
• In 2013, the rate of job growth in Canada’s clean energy sector outpaced that of every other sector.
• Clean-energy generation investment jumped 88 percent over the previous year.
• Ontario welcomed more than half of the nation’s clean-energy investment last year ($2.8-billion).
• Canada now ranks sixth in the world for investment in domestic clean energy generation projects.
• About 26,900 Canadians work in clean energy.
• Including large hydro, there’s now around 89 GW of renewable electricity capacity in Canada.
• Canadian renewable capacity ranks fourth in the world and is enough to power more than 35 million homes.
• Canada has shut down 4,600 MW worth of coal power, which is equal to scrapping 8.7 million vehicles.
• British Columbia: $1.34-billion• Alberta: $0.93-billion• Saskatchewan: $0• Atlantic Canada: $0.16-billion
• Ontario: $4.55-billion• Quebec: $3.93-billion• Manitoba: $0• North: $0
Rank Province Investment % of grid Growth in Policy Support (CAD Billion – renewable capacity (2014) renewables as % of 2010 to 2014) grid capacity (2010 to 2014)1 Ontario $12.7 39% 50% Average2 Quebec $8.6 98% 6% Leading3 B.C. $5.2 96% 12% Average4 Manitoba $1.7 95% 5% Leading5 Alberta $ 2.3 19% 37% Needs Improvement
—Source: Clean Energy Canada: Tracking the Energy Revolution—Canada 2015Continued on page 29
29THE HILL TIMES, MONDAY, MARCH 21, 2016
FEATURE MINISTER Q&A
GREEN ECONOMY POLICY BRIEFING
multilateral fora such as the Arctic Council, Climate and Clean Air Coalition, and Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition.
“We will continue to work multilaterally to advance our objectives, and I also look forward to working with Mexico and the U.S. to develop a continental environment and climate change plan.”
The government has promised to spend $100-million more a year on clean technol-ogy producers. Will this money be in the federal budget? And can you elaborate on how this money will be spent?
“I won’t speculate on the contents of the budget. But I can tell you that our government is committed to investing in clean technol-ogy to grow the economy of the future while reducing our greenhouse gas emissions. For instance, as part of Canada’s participation in Mission Innovation, we will be doubling investments in clean energy research and de-velopment over fi ve years and working with global partners to promote cleaner energy and better environmental outcomes.”
Further, the promise to spend $200-million more a year on innovation in Canada’s nat-ural resource sectors. Will this money be in the federal budget? And can you elaborate on how this money will be spent?
“We are committed to creating a clean-er, more prosperous future, while growing our local and national economies. I won’t speculate on the contents of the budget, but I can confi rm that the government is committed to helping our natural resource sector grow more sustainably, especially by fostering innovation in the sector.”
Your government has promised to boost investment in green infrastructure by around $6-billion over the next four years. How much of an environmental impact will this have? And is it justifi ed given the amount you are dedicating to spend on it?
“Canada is blessed with abundant clean energy resources and an emerging green economy. According to the World Bank, there is growing evidence that green innovation entails strong growth benefi ts and that clean technology research and development has economic benefi ts that can spill over to the rest of the economy. For Canadian business-es to succeed, we need to position Canada as a leader in green technologies. By making the right investments in green infrastructure and by enabling clean-tech innovations, we are creating jobs and building the economy of the future all while acting on one of the biggest challenges of our generation: climate change. That is why the federal government committed to fast-track existing infrastruc-ture allocations in all provinces and territo-ries, in addition to making signifi cant new investments in infrastructure.”
Can you update us on the progress you have made with Finance Minister Bill Morneau on making it easier for Canadian businesses to create clean jobs?
“Our government’s immediate objec-tive is to create jobs and growth, address urgent economic needs, and support long-term growth in transitioning to a low-car-bon economy. Minister Morneau and I have discussed the challenges facing Canadians as well as longer-term opportunities. We recognize that making strategic invest-ments in our economy to spur economic growth in the short term will benefi t our
economy and protect the environment. That is just one way we will tackle climate change and grow our economy for us, for our children, for the middle class and those working hard to join it.”
You have also been mandated with review-ing Canada’s environmental assessment processes. What progress has been made on this so far?
“Our government promised to introduce new environmental assessment processes as part of our efforts to restore public trust. But Canadians understand that a review and changes will take time. So in January of this year Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr and I announced an interim approach to federal environmental assessments that includes principles and plans for major projects. These principles will give certainty to the industry around the environmental assessment process, and they are the fi rst part of our broader strategy to review and restore confi dence in Canada’s environmen-tal assessment processes.”
How would you like to see the National Energy Board modernized?
“The National Energy Board falls under my colleague the Minister of Natural Resources, so I suggest you ask him about this.”
Past environment agreements, such as Kyo-to, have failed to achieve their intent. Why is what was agreed to in Paris different?
“In Paris, almost 200 countries came together to get achieve an ambitious agreement to reduce emissions below two degrees, striving for 1.5, These countries brought with them very different eco-
nomic profi les, coming at the negotia-tions from very different perspectives. And yet, it was a real success, mainly in my view due to the recognition from all countries understand that now is the time to act on climate, and to unite globally. Every single minister and negotiator I spoke to in Paris was completely engaged and committed to fi nding a global solu-tion to climate change. The negotiations were challenging at times, but every country ultimately agreed that to do their part, and, very importantly, they were going to come back and increase their level of ambition every fi ve years. It’s also important to note that the transpar-ency and reporting measures built into the Paris Agreement will be key to its success. These factors, along with some signifi cant international climate fi nanc-ing commitments, will be the keys to the success of the Paris Agreement.”
How committed will Canada be to reduc-ing emissions if the level of commitment in the U.S. and other countries declines signifi cantly in the coming years?
“We recognize that climate change is the challenge of our generation, and that we must act to avoid the most severe ef-fects of climate change here at home and globally. In Paris at COP 21 we saw 195 countries commit to reducing their emis-sions, and agreeing to do so with progres-sively increasing ambition. The world is shifting towards a low-carbon economy and a low-carbon future, and it’s important for Canada’s future prosperity, as well as for the health of our country, that we be a part of this shift.”
The Hill Times
Universities Canada and the University of Alberta present
What’s fuelling our future?Speakers from across the globe will share their perspectives on the future of energy systems.
Monday, April 18, 2016 • University of AlbertaFor more information, visit: univcan.ca/mindshare/energy
Imre Szeman Canada Research Chair in Cultural Studies and co-founder of Petrocultures, University of Alberta
Qi Yesenior fellow and director of the Brookings-Tsinghua Center for Public Policy, Beijing, China
Thom Masondirector, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy, Oak Ridge, Tennessee
Andreea Strachinescuhead of unit, New Energy Technologies and Innovation, Directorate General for Energy, European Commission
Continued from page 28
30 THE HILL TIMES, MONDAY, MARCH 21, 2016
POLICY CLEAN TECH & INNOVATION
GREEN ECONOMY POLICY BRIEFING
BY RACHEL AIELLO
The government is committed to growing Canada’s green economy,
says Environment and Climate Change Minister Catherine McKenna, but critics are calling for a concrete plan.
In an email interview with The Hill Times last week, Ms. McKenna (Ot-tawa Centre, Ont.) was light on details when asked about how the govern-ment intends to spend a collective $300-million a year on clean technol-ogy and natural resource innovation.
“I won’t speculate on the contents of the budget, but I can confi rm that the government is committed to help-ing our natural resource sector grow more sustainably, especially by fos-tering innovation in the sector,” said Ms. McKenna, who had similar com-ments about clean-tech spending.
The Liberals have promised to invest $100-million every year in clean-technology producers and $200-million more each year to sup-port innovation in Canada’s natural resources sectors, but days before the budget will be tabled, the govern-ment is staying mum on details of how this money is going to be spent.
“Both the amount and lack of fo-cus concern me because, during the campaign and in large parts since, the Liberals have kept things inten-tionally vague,” NDP MP Nathan Cullen (Skeena-Bulkley Valley, B.C.), his party’s environment and climate change critic, said in an interview.
“It gives them a lot of fl exibility to have very general defi nitions that say anything is clean tech … and get to their commitments without being all that focused or effective.”
Conservative MP Marilyn Gladu (Sarnia-Lambton, Ont.), her par-ty’s science critic, said either the Liberals don’t have a plan or are not being transparent about it.
Green investments about creating jobsMs. McKenna said her immediate
objective is to create jobs and has discussed with Finance Minister Bill Morneau (Toronto Centre, Ont.) “the challenges facing Canadians as well as longer-term opportunities.”
Innovation, Science and Economic Development Minister Navdeep Bains, on March 4 in Edmonton, an-nounced about $200-million in fund-ing for 36 clean-technology projects across Canada, through Sustainable Development Technology Canada.
Ms. Gladu told The Hill Times she is supportive of this spending to
create jobs and thinks there’s a “huge opportunity” for Canada to do so.
Pointing to her own riding. she said there are people ready and wait-ing for the government to commit more to clean-tech sectors.
“There are certainly people lining up,” she said. “In my riding, we have a company named BioAmber that makes bio succinic acid. They had started an original plant, and our previous Conser-vative government had helped support them to start up. … Now that plant is ready to double and they’re back to the government looking for help. There’s a project ready to go. … There are many like that in this area alone.”
Mr. Cullen said he’d like to see an overall strategy that’s not dependent on spending for a defi ned number of years and not necessarily sustained over the longer term.
He said there are many innova-tors currently working outside of Canada that want in.
“There’s a strong willingness of Canadian and other fi rms for Canada to be here. … There’s just been 20 years of failed effort and a few decades of that you can understand why they’re leery and want to see something serious, but their ears are open,” said Mr. Cullen.
Critics hope budget will shed more lightNow, all eyes are turned to this
week’s budget announcement to provide more concrete information on the Liberals’ plan.
Discussions around clean technol-ogy, tackling climate change, and the green economy featured prominently during the House Finance Commit-tee’s 2016 pre-budget consultations. Among the relevant industry repre-sentatives they heard from were: the Canada Green Building Council; the Green Budget Coalition; the Canadian Climate Forum; the Canadian Electricity Association; the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers; the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association; the Cana-dian Renewable Fuels Association; the Centre of Excellence in Energy Effi cien-cy; the Centre national en électrochimie et en technologies environnementales; the Mining Association of Canada; and Canada’s Ecofi scal Commission.
Mr. Cullen said there must be more details provided by the government soon, like how many jobs it wants to create or how much greenhouse gas it is looking to reduce.
“And it has to be dramatically more impressive than what they’ve committed to so far,” he said.
He said the Liberal environmental plan so far is a “drop in the bucket” compared to other countries.
“We have no target, we have no plan to get there, we have no price on car-bon,” he said. “If all those things remain question marks for months and perhaps years to come, then we are like someone trying to quit smoking without a plan or a deadline; odds are it’s not going to happen,” Mr. Cullen said.
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ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT AND CLIMATE CHANGE BUDGET RECOMMENDATIONS
OIL AND GAS
• The government should defend and promote Canada’s oil and gas industry.• The 2012 changes to the role of the National Energy Board should be
reversed, the board should modernize.• Ensure the National Energy Board’s composition refl ects regional views and
has suffi cient expertise and particularly greater indigenous representation.• A complete phase-out of the tax preferences to the fossil fuel sectors over
the next fi ve years.
• Review the public fi nancing portfolio of Export Development Canada as itcontinues to provide public fi nancing to the oil and gas sectors for explorations overseas.
• Implement a multi-dimensional natural resource strategy in key industries such oil and gas, mining and forestry that would manage Canada’s abun-dant resource wealth in a socially-inclusive, ecologically-responsible and economically-benefi cial manner.
RENEWABLE ENERGY
• Increase the already successful biodiesel mandate from 2% to 5% by the year 2020.
CONSERVATION, EFFICIENCY AND CLEAN TECHNOLOGY
• Support policies that will stimulate innovations in environmental sustainability.• Collaborate with the energy sector around energy effi ciency so that both
the energy and non-energy benefi ts – macroeconomic, jobs, industrial productivity and health and well-being—continue to fl ow.
• Sustain leadership and support for clean energy infrastructure and ensure that recently-proposed federal policy and fi nancial instruments such as the Canada Infrastructure Bank, Green Bonds and the Low Carbon Economy Trust, are open and accessible to all infrastructure developers in the elec-tricity sector, and do not unduly inhibit competition in the market.
• Announce 150 energy innovation projects throughout 2017.• Protect the environment and grow the economy through a refundable and
permanent tax credit to encourage the energy effi cient retrofi tting ofexisting homes.
• Focus on energy effi ciency, public transit and renewable energy to achievegreenhouse gas reduction goals and provide good jobs for workers.
• Increase support for clean technology and the bioeconomy through government programs, tax incentives, or the creation of a national bioeconomy framework.
• Offer incentives for Canadian fi rms to develop and adopt green technologies,
and support the development of emerging green technology manufacturingindustries in Canada.
• Investments should be made in green infrastructure projects, such as cleanenergy generation, interprovincial energy grids, public transit, and wastewater treatment facilities.
• Promote the commercialization of Canadian innovation in transporta-tion energy effi ciency while at the same time contributing to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by promoting the emergence of a new economic dynamic.
• Department of Transport, Environment and Climate Change, Innovation, Science and Economic Development, and Natural Resources be grouped together to invest in a program to advance the commercialization of Canadian spin-offs.
• Modernize the electrical distribution grid, provide some fi scal incentives for electricity storage technologies and encourage energy conservation in Canadian homes and businesses including a national home energy retrofi t plan with a grant program that low-income families would be able to access to retrofi t their homes.
TRANSPORTATION
• Facilitate the development of new market access for Canada’s energy resources and value-added products by supporting development of energy transpor-tation infrastructure, including pipelines and, where it makes sense, rail, as well as ports.
• Support the Energy East pipeline project and federal leadership to champion national pipeline projects.• Improve rail access in terms of frequency, modal choice, and cost competitiveness.
ENVIRONMENT AND CLIMATE CHANGE
AIR
• Pursue higher performance targets for all new construction in federal buildings.• Invest in engaging and enabling building owners and operators to bench-
mark their buildings and strategically invest in improvements to lower energy use and associated greenhouse gas emissions.
• Effectively move toward net zero carbon emission buildings, research and development to support the market and the ability to deliver these types of buildings over the next 10 years.
• Invest in energy infrastructure that reduces or eliminates greenhouse gasemissions.
• Implement pledges to support electric vehicles, including the establishment
of specifi c targets for the integration of electric vehicles into the federalvehicle fl eet.
• Ensure that any federal funding for infrastructure meets some strict criteria to ensure that it meets core policy objectives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, sequester carbon, and enhance the resiliency of our communi-ties against climate change.
• Establish a new tax credit so that Canadians can remediate the impacts ofradon in their homes.
• Provide funding and support to contribute to the reduction of greenhousegases through climate-friendly technology and practices.
WATER
• Create new marine protected areas and improve ocean science and monitoring.• Create a Canada water fund to ensure that the Canadian clean technology sector implements best practices in wastewater treatment technologies and water
quality monitoring.• Regarding the delivery of commitments under the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, the government should establish new funding.
LAND
• Create new national parks and national wildlife areas.• Ensure private landowners are engaged, supported and compensated for
their stewardship initiatives, and that they contribute to meeting Canada’s international conservation commitments.
• Invest in protecting species at risk and migratory birds.• Re-establish an advisory committee on environmental assessments• Re-establish the Species at Risk Advisory Committee.• Pan-Canadian Coordination• Develop a coordinated approach to addressing climate change, drafted in
partnership with the provinces and territories.
• Respecting provincial jurisdictions and federal-provincial tensions in this countryshouldn’t interfere with the development of effective environmental policy.
• In implementing cap and trade systems, the government should considerhow a minimum carbon price interacts with the existing provincial prices.
• The government should create a Canadian Climate Council that can be acatalyst to support policy development.
• Adopt measures to complement provincial carbon pricing initiatives.• Engage Canadians in nature to ensure Canadians have the opportunity to
experience the outdoors and to create employment opportunities for youth inthe environmental sector.
CARBON PRICING
• The government should take seriously the impact of carbon pricing on the competitiveness of fi rms, and on the overall impact on GDP growth.• Develop a national carbon pricing standard to ensure that we reach a common, coordinated carbon price across Canada of at least $50 per tonne of carbon
dioxide by 2020.• Modify its tax legislation to create certainty and alignment between the tax and accounting treatment of Greenhouse Gas Units keeping the administrative
work simple for taxpayers and CRA auditors.
CLIMATE CHANGE POLICY AND ADAPTATION
• Implement new environmental policy only after completing a cost-benefi t analysis of the economic and distortive impacts of the proposed changes, taking into account the increased costs already in place in regions across Canada with a similar policy.
• Reinvest all new revenues from climate policy into applied research and development grants, renewable electricity incentives, education and awareness initiatives, energy effi ciency rebates and signifi cant tax relief, all of which must be made accessible to individuals and businesses.
• Slow down in its thinking about climate policy and make sure to get thedetails right.
• Achieve emissions reductions in the most cost-effective way possible.
• Where appropriate, the government should transfer many of the risks associated with climate change that can impact infrastructure to the private sector where appropriate to build and maintain green infrastructure.
• Invest in infrastructure that mitigates the effects of severe weather, including fl oods, and eliminates reliance on winter roads bring goods and fuel into remote and northern communities.
• Renew funding for the climate change Adaptation Platform.• Provide funding and support to farmers for adapting to climate change.—Source: House Finance Committee Report on Pre-Budget Consultations, 2016
Critics say there are Canadian innovators ‘lining up’ for federal support but need to see a more detailed, consistent spending plan from the government.
Liberals light on details for green innovation spending, opposition parties want answers
31THE HILL TIMES, MONDAY, MARCH 21, 2016
NEWS ALBERTA OILPATCH
GREEN ECONOMY POLICY BRIEFING
Alberta oilpatch braces for higher carbon costs
BY DENIS CALNAN
Alberta’s oil-and-gas sector is measuring potential costs that
are soon to be added to the price of taking fossil fuels out of the ground.
Some of those costs may be guesstimates right now, but additional costs are a fact, as governments pile-on to the idea of pricing carbon as a way to curb greenhouse gas emissions caus-ing climate change.
Things have changed on the oilpatch, as companies have moved from dealing with two levels of government that were unabashed promoters of Alberta oil to replacements on both levels that plan to price carbon beyond its current humble tax.
It was less than a year ago that the Alberta Progressive Conserva-
tive Party under industry-friendly Jim Prentice was turfed by voters in favour of the NDP and Rachel Notley. Then just months ago, oilsands promoter Stephen Harper and his Conservatives were tossed federally as Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party took the reins of government.
Some in the oil sector are embracing the new government’s approach.
“We look forward to this [federal] government. We believe this is more inclusive, more open, that talks about how do we create growth for Canada that benefi ts all,” said Alex Ferguson, vice-pres-ident of policy and performance at the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP), an organization that represents com-panies that explore and develop natural gas and crude oil.
Mr. Ferguson said the industry is innovating extensively in order to lower emissions on extracting oil, and a price on carbon will further incentivize that.
“If you assign an important value to that commodity, then you will do things about it,” he said. “You may provide a tax on emis-sions, you may do any number of other mechanisms.”
“If it has a value, what value can we get from carbon rather than emit-ting it or not emitting it,” he said.
Pricing carbon is now un-avoidable, said Dale Beugin, the research director at Canada’s Ecofi scal Commission.
“In theory, the ideal price is something close to the social cost of carbon; that is the marginal damages from incremental emis-sions,” said Mr. Beugin.
He said there are many cost dynamics at play in a global
market and the cost of carbon is not necessarily a deal-breaker for an industry.
Some emphasize that any modest price that governments heap on top of the cost of extract-ing oil will not be a signifi cant determinant on how the fossil fuel is developed in the province because it will still be competitive on the global market.
“The sector will be able to absorb the extra cost of a carbon price, absorb the extra invest-ments that it will need to make to reduce its emissions, and that won’t push up its operating costs that much,” said Nic Rivers, the Canada Research Chair in Climate and Energy Policy at the University of Ottawa, where he is also an assistant professor in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs and the Institute of the Environment.
“If I were a oil-and-gas pro-ducer in Western Canada I would be much more concerned about things that happen on the world market that might push down the price of oil than I would be about things that happen on the domes-tic market,” he said.
Mr. Rivers said the policies that Alberta are to introduce will increase the price of a barrel of oil less than a dollar, and that fol-lows a period in which “the price of oil has just dropped by $60.”
Marc Lee, senior economist and co-director of the Climate Justice Project at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives in British Columbia, said the new federal government sells itself as both pro-pipelines and tough on emissions.
“The Trudeau government wants to have it every which way.
They want to be great on climate but they also want to build pipe-lines. And you can’t have all of the above,” said Mr. Lee.
He said he is waiting for a clear choice in path by the gov-ernment.
Mr. Ferguson, with CAPP, rejected that sentiment.
“The politics of either-or is yesterday’s news,” he said, noting petroleum products are going to be needed for a long time coming, and Canada should sell its prod-
uct as meeting high environmen-tal standards.
On top of the domestic efforts to tax carbon, the Paris Agree-ment on climate change may factor into how development progresses on the oilsands.
“If the world gets serious about climate change as a whole. it has to really push down demand for oil, and that’s going to push the price down,” said Prof. Rivers.
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CANADIANS WANTMORE EFFICIENT CITIES.THE CANADIAN URBAN TRANSIT ASSOCIATION WANTS TO HELP.
VISIT LETS-MOVE.CA
Things have changed on the oilpatch, as companies have moved from dealing with two levels of government that were unabashed promoters of Alberta oil to replacements on both levels that plan to price carbon beyond its current humble tax.
The elections of New Democrat Rachel Notley, shown, as Alberta premier and Justin Trudeau’s Liberals federally have changed the situation for Alberta’s oil-and-gas producers with regard to carbon pricing. The Hill Times photograph by Jake Wright
32 THE HILL TIMES, MONDAY, MARCH 21, 2016
NEWS CARBON PRICE NEWS CITIES
GREEN ECONOMY POLICY BRIEFING
BY DENIS CALNAN
The approach of various prov-inces in pricing carbon will
likely not have a signifi cant effect on economic growth in the short term because current incentives are so modest, according to some sector observers.
“At the levels of ambition that the provinces are targeting right now … there’s no real tension between economic growth for the whole economy and emis-sions reduction,” said Nic Rivers, the Canada Research Chair in Climate and Energy Policy at the University of Ottawa, where he is also an assistant professor in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs and the Institute of the Environment.
“I don’t think instrument choice is all that important,” he said, refer-ring to the various ways the provinc-es are going about pricing carbon, like the tax in British Columbia and Alberta, or the cap-and-trade system of Quebec and Ontario.
“I think that there are certainly some implications of choosing different instrument types, or recycling revenues in different ways for particular industries. But at the levels of ambition that we’re talking about right now, especially around 10 or 15 per cent reductions in emissions, it’s unlikely that we’ll be able to pick up any impact or any footprint on economic growth from any type of market-based approach to reduc-ing emissions,” said Prof. Rivers.
“If we start pursuing more ambitious emission-reduction targets, then we start having a potential impact on economic growth. And we can mitigate some of that impact” by diverting revenues into key areas, he said.
Prof. Rivers said it makes sense for provinces to start with a mod-est cost on carbon because to start with a high price would shock the economy, and a slow phase-in al-lows everyone to adjust.
How lowering greenhouse gas emissions may play out federally, he said, is far from clear. Because the
environment is not addressed in the Constitution, it is not certain if it is federal or provincial jurisdiction, he added. Still, through the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, the federal government can stake some claim over regulating greenhouse gases, he said.
“It’s a political question. It’s a question of whether the federal government is willing to step on pro-vincial toes. And I think that that’s very much unclear still,” he said.
While the provinces and fed-eral government may be unsure about how to progress on this, many analysts have views on what should happen next.
“My preferred model would be to have a national carbon tax, and you could scale it up over time,” said Marc Lee, senior economist and co-director of the Climate Justice Project at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives in British Columbia.
“You would use the revenues in two respects. … Half of the rev-enues would be in support of other complementary climate-action activities, and in particular invest-ment in green infrastructure. … The remaining half of the funds, I would use to create a broad-based transfer, similar to what we do with the child tax benefi t or old-age security. So you have a maximum amount that goes to folks on the bottom to low-middle end, and then a long tail,” said Mr. Lee.
He said that after so many years with spending restraint on infra-structure from all levels of govern-ment, there is now a hunger for it.
Mr. Lee said a straight-up carbon tax, like B.C.’s system and what Alberta is moving toward, is benefi cial because it is transparent and easy to integrate into existing economies, whereas the cap-and-trade policy of Quebec and Ontario requires much more government money due to the administration of it. On top of that, he said cap-and-trade also has many loopholes.
The carbon tax has another supporter in Trevor Tombe, an as-sistant professor economics at the University of Calgary.
“If you ask any economist what is the best way to go about lowering emissions, they’re going to say a carbon tax or some way of pricing carbon,” said Prof. Tombe, noting that he considers B.C. and Alberta the leaders in this regard.
He said Canada needs to think about the cheapest way to lower emissions and that may be through a uniform national price on carbon. After a price is set, it would then be up to the market that is incen-tivized through the costs to fi nd cheap ways to lower emissions.
“The beauty of carbon pric-ing is you let the market decide where emissions should be re-duced. Price carbon at a reason-able level and let the chips fall where they may. It may lower the business case for certain sectors [like the oilsands] to expand … but maybe it won’t,” he said.
“The tricky thing is not having governments pick winners or los-ers in terms of where emissions should fall,” said Prof. Tombe.
The Hill Times
BY DENIS CALNAN
Cities may lack the hefty pow-ers of provinces and the fed-
eral government to enforce laws and policies that would lower emissions en masse, but several cites are trying to cut greenhouse gas emissions, and in doing so, putting themselves in better fi nancial positions as carbon pric-ing starts to take effect.
“The challenge is that municipal governments don’t have as many policy tools to be able to address the challenge as the senior level of government,” said Marc Lee, senior economist and co-director of the Climate Justice Project at the Ca-nadian Centre for Policy Alterna-tives in British Columbia.
“Cities are also incredibly porous. So the City of Vancouver is just one municipality among [many] municipalities in metro Vancouver,” he said.
Mr. Lee said that while Vancouver may make moves to be more con-scious of its environmental footprint, it is surrounded my a slew of other municipalities that may not be mak-ing the same efforts, and therefore one unifi ed regional plan is lacking.
He said that there have been good steps taken in Vancouver, such as the recapturing of heat from the sewage system in what was the ath-letes village during the Olympics.
“It’s a really interesting model,” he said.
He said Toronto has a similar model to cool buildings during the summer with water from Lake Ontario.
Meanwhile, a municipality like Guelph, Ont., has a Community
Energy Initiative that aims to reduce energy use by 50 per cent and cut greenhouse gas emis-sions by more than half by 2031 through a combination of urban planning, use of technology, regu-lations, and public awareness.
Mr. Lee said that “Vancouver is defi nitely on the right path,” noting the city’s “Greenest Cities” plan.
“They’re trying to employ measures that move in the right direction,” he said. “There’s been a lot of effort to increase capacity for sharing road space for bik-ing. To make that a mode that’s not just spandex suited men,” he laughed, but “that’s open for women and families and other folks to get around. So they’re building separated lanes for that.”
Montreal has accelerated at building separated bike lanes and has a network that criss-crosses the city. Toronto lags in this area, having only installing such lanes in recent years, and giving cyclists fl exible poles as a means of separation between them and vehicular traffi c, rather than solid concrete curbs like in Montreal and and Ottawa.
Some municipal governments, like Vancouver, are hoping that the federal government’s enthusiasm about the Paris Agreement on climate change and lowering greenhouse gas emissions could mean it pours infrastructure money into cities, most notably for transit projects.
If some infrastructure funds are dedicated to cities, Toronto may get its downtown relief subway line, something the city is desperate for since the Toronto Transit Commission has some-what stalled in growth for de-cades because of the lack of funds and an indecisive city council.
Trevor Tombe, an assistant professor of economics at the University of Calgary, said that cities stand to benefi t from lower-ing their greenhouse gas output under any provincial or federal move to price carbon.
“Another beauty of pricing car-bon is you’ll have millions of small decisions being made, but that all adds up,” he said. “And the price on carbon incentivizes those cheap-est decisions to lower emissions. Municipalities will respond to the price, so will households, so will businesses. And if we want more emissions reductions, we’ll just raise the price of carbon,” he said.
The Hill times
Cities taking strides toward greenhouse-gas emission reduction
Economic growth not threatened by current carbon pricing: experts‘If we start pursuing more ambitious emission-reduction targets, then we start having a potential impact on economic growth,’ says Nic Rivers from the University of Ottawa.
Guelph, Ont., has a Community Energy Initiative that aims to reduce energy use and cut greenhouse gas emissions through a combination of urban planning, use of technology, regulations, and public awareness, and Vancouver is seen as being ‘on the right path’ with its ‘Greenest Cities’ plan.
Environment and Climate Change Minister Catherine McKenna, pictured. ‘After so many years with spending restraint on infrastructure from all levels of government there is now a hunger for it,’ says economist Marc Lee. The Hill Times photograph by Jake Wright
33THE HILL TIMES, MONDAY, MARCH 21, 2016
OPINION GLOBAL GREEN ECONOMY
GREEN ECONOMY POLICY BRIEFING
Canada must play a leading role to move world towards green global economy
As Canada continues to move toward a greener and more sustainable econo-
my, it is important to place our efforts with-in the context of the global movement to preserve and improve our shared environ-ment for future generations to enjoy.
Those global efforts include, among other things, addressing the challenges of species at risk; protecting and properly managing forests and wetlands; reducing our collective carbon footprint in accordance with our com-mitments at the Paris Climate Change Confer-ence (COP21); eliminating toxins that pollute the air sheds in which we live; incentivizing environmentally responsible behaviour; and promoting the use of goods which improve
environmental outcomes around the world. Given the broad scope of these objectives, let me just focus on one, the latter.
Freer and more open trade in environ-mental goods is an excellent example of global cooperation, although there is sig-nifi cantly more to be done. Trade policy has generally not been recognized as one of the more effective agents in helping us move to a greener global economy. This is unfortunate.
As Canada’s former minister of interna-tional trade, I participated in negotiating on behalf of Canada an agreement on the trade of environmental goods, fi rstly among the 21 countries of Asia-Pacifi c Economic Co-operation (APEC), and later as a plurilateral agreement (EGA) under the auspices of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
These agreements provide for the reduc-tion and, in many cases, elimination of tariffs on a host of environmental goods in order to promote their trade and the role such goods can play in addressing the very pressing environmental challenges facing the global community. The benefi ts of the EGA are extended to all members of the WTO on a most-favoured-nation basis, not just to those who negotiated the agreement.
Not surprisingly, the baskets of prod-ucts which represent clean and renewable energy opportunities are well-represented on the lists. Similarly, solid and toxic waste
and wastewater management goods, as well as those related to air pollution and energy effi ciency, also populate the lists. It is hoped that this agreement will eventually lead to a broader agreement covering additional goods and environmental services as well.
The bottom line is this: Trade, when done well, does not have to be a burden on our en-vironment. Indeed, increasingly international trade agreements are featuring robust and en-forceable chapters addressing the environmen-tal commitments of their respective parties.
Furthermore, the increased proliferation of bilateral, regional, and plurilateral trade agreements around the world provides new opportunities to reduce and eliminate the oft-burdensome tariff and non-tariff barri-ers that represent a drag on the willingness to freely trade in environmental goods.
Canada stands to be a major economic benefi ciary from the improved trade in environmental goods. As one of the world’s leaders in sectors such as carbon capture storage, wind, solar and tidal energy, and battery and fl y-wheel storage technology, to name just a few, we offer the world our cutting-edge environmental solutions.
As a major world producer of oil and gas, Canada faces the commensurate challenge of developing and deploying the technology that will reduce the environmental footprint of extracting and refi ning these fuels, not
just at home but around the world. I believe our industries are up to that challenge.
With the federal government proposing to spend more than $100-million every year on clean technology development, and $200-mil-lion more annually to support innovation in Canada’s natural resources sector, these investments represent an opportunity to harness the innovative strengths that I refer-enced above—with one major caveat.
In its report, Building Canada’s Green Economy: The Municipal Role, the Federa-tion of Canadian Municipalities articulated three basic principles to guide investments in the green economy: act locally; make value for money a top priority; and work with the market where the market can work. We are wise to heed such advice. Governments are notoriously bad at “investing” taxpayers’ dollars, and just as poor at selecting “winners.” Witness On-tario’s problematical Green Energy Act.
Canada must play and surely will continue to play a leading role in moving the world towards a green global economy. I look forward to working with my parlia-mentary colleagues in that effort.
Conservative MP Ed Fast, who rep-resents Abbotsford, B.C., is the former international trade minister and his party’s environment and climate change critic.
The Hill Times
Imre Szeman titulaire de la Chaire de recherche du Canada en études culturelles et cofondateur de Petrocultures, University of Alberta
Qi Yeagrégé supérieur de recherche et directeur du Centre de politiques publiques Brookings-Tsinghua, Beijing, Chine
Thom Masondirecteur, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Dept. of Energy,Oak Ridge, Tennesee, États-Unis
Andreea Strachinescuchef d’unité, Nouvelles technologies de l’énergie, innovation et charbon propre, Direction générale de l’énergie, Commission européenne
Universités Canada et la University of Alberta présentent
Quel sera le moteur de notre avenir énergétique?Des conférenciers du monde entier discuteront des systèmes énergétiques de l’avenir.
Lundi 18 avril 2016 • University of AlbertaPour obtenir un complément d’information, consultez le univcan.ca/convergences/energie
CONSERVATIVE MP ED FAST
Canada stands to be a major economic benefi ciary from the improved trade in environmental goods.
34 THE HILL TIMES, MONDAY, MARCH 21, 2016
OPINION CLIMATE CHANGE
GREEN ECONOMY POLICY BRIEFING
There is only one future economy, and it’s green
In October, an overwhelming ma-jority of Canadians cast ballots
to defeat the Harper Conservatives and bring a new government to Ot-tawa. Canadians took Prime Minis-ter Justin Trudeau at his word and his promise of “real change”—es-pecially when it comes to Canada’s role fi ghting climate change.
There is no issue more critical to this generation and genera-tions to come.
Often disguised by this crisis, however, are profound opportuni-ties. The Liberal government has a sterling opportunity before it to modernize and strengthen our economy, while averting cata-strophic climate change.
For those of us who believe in the science of climate change and in the urgent need for substantive action, Harper’s Conservative gov-ernment is not a hard act to follow. The bar has been set extraordinari-ly low, but that won’t excuse a lack of action from Trudeau.
With the federal budget coming, many Canadians will be watching to see what kind of treatment it gives to the most pressing environmental and eco-nomic challenge of our time. Will Trudeau’s fi rst budget seize this opportunity for what it is, or will Canada continue down the well-worn path of dithering and delay set out by Stephen Harper?
The Conservatives’ legacy is one of inaction and indiffer-ence not only in terms of failing to address climate change, but but failing to take advantage of opportunities in clean tech and renewables as well. This can and should end now.
Canada’s current position-ing in the global fi eld of clean tech and renewables is a bit of a
mixed bag. A recent report from Clean Energy Canada showed Canada’s market share in clean energy declined by almost half, from USD$7.4-billion in 2014 to USD$4-billion in 2015.
Meanwhile, in terms of market share in clean tech, we have fallen from 14th globally to 19th since 2008 as other countries pour resources into innovating clean solutions for their economies. In fact, at the same time as Canada’s share of global investment in clean energy fell in 2015, invest-ment in clean energy rose to an unprecedented USD$367-billion worldwide—compared with USD$253-billion on new power from fossil fuels. All of this while the cost of wind and solar power in the United States fell by 61 per cent and 82 per cent, respectively, since 2009.
Canada is by no means out of the mix but it’s clear that, while economies around the globe have been transitioning away from fossil fuels towards clean energy, Canada has been stuck in neutral or head-ed the wrong direction entirely.
For years, provincial and mu-nicipal governments, think-tanks and the business community have been fi lling the void left by the federal government. The time for strong federal leadership on this
most important question for our environment, our economy, and our collective future is right now.
Trudeau’s commitments to date—$200-million to support clean tech innovation in the resource sector, and $100-million to support clean tech producers—are laudable, but that amounts to pocket change more than Real Change™ in the big picture.
Carbon pricing is an essential component of this discussion, and the path forward in that regard will be politically fraught. But the more holistic and forward-thinking question is around trans-forming our economy in general. A growing number of voices across the spectrum in Canada are agreeing it is impossible to fi ght climate change without transitioning to a clean energy economy. But as Clare Demerse of Clean Energy Canada notes, in doing so, “there’s money to be made every step of the way.”
A recent report out of Stanford University charts a course for Canada to become fossil fuel-free by 2030. The Canadian Labour Congress is setting down a plan for 1 million climate jobs to transition Canada into a cleaner economy. Leaders in the clean tech and renewables sector are calling for a national task force
on clean energy and a review of the tax code to propel growth and innovation in their sector.
Opportunities for transfor-mative change and growth in the Canadian economy aren’t abstract dots on the horizon. They are standing before us, waiting to be seized right now.
With 2016 budget just around the corner, Trudeau has a pro-found opportunity to galvanize our faltering economy and take strides towards reducing Canada’s greenhouse gas emis-sions. For the economy, for future generations, and for the planet, he should have the courage and ambition to embrace that oppor-tunity.
NDP MP Nathan Cullen, who represents Skeena-Bulkley Valley, B.C., is his party’s environment and climate change critic.
The Hill Times
We can no longer discuss the economy in isolation from the
climate crisis. Put bluntly, we have no economic future if we continue to assume the changes to meet the Paris Agreement commitments are mere tweaks on “business as usual.” Nor do we avoid climate disaster through carbon pricing alone. We need to set a course to get off fossil fuels entirely.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is the fi rst prime minister in our
history to say so out loud. In his recent opening address at the Vancouver Globe conference he said, “We all know we have to get beyond fossil fuels.”
For those who think this is only a rhetorical statement, check out the latest science. Dr. Joeri Rogelj, research scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Austria, is the lead author of a critically important new paper published in February 2016 in the respected journal, Nature Climate Change. The paper, “Differences between carbon budget estimates unrav-elled,” represents the work of numerous scientists in Europe as well as from the Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analy-sis within Environment Canada.
They conclude that all of our estimates of the atmospheric bud-get for the amount of greenhouse gases (GHG) that can be dumped into the atmosphere before the catastrophic impacts of climate change become unavoidable have been far too generous.
Dr. Rogelj says: “In order to have a reasonable chance of keeping global warming below 2°C, we can only emit a certain amount of carbon dioxide, ever.
That’s our carbon budget.“This has been understood for
about a decade, and the physics behind this concept are well un-derstood, but many different fac-tors can lead to carbon budgets that are either slightly smaller or slightly larger. We wanted to understand these differences, and to provide clarity on the issue for policymakers and the public.
“This study shows that, in some cases, we have been overestimat-ing the budget by 50 to more than 200 per cent. At the high end, this is a difference of more than 1,000 billion tons of carbon dioxide.”
One impact of understanding the concept of a global carbon budget is that most of the known reserves of fossil fuels must stay in the ground. The 2012 World En-ergy Outlook of the International Energy Agency made this point. It set out starkly: “No more than one-third of proven reserves of fossil fuels can be consumed prior to 2050 if the world is to achieve the 2°C goal.”
But that calculation was made under the too generous analyses that predate the new assessment. The carbon budget is shrinking. As Governor of the Bank of Eng-land, Mark Carney, made clear in
his presentation at a side event to COP21, the fossil fuel industry is saddled with “unburnable carbon.” Carbon Tracker, an independent fi nancial think-tank now tracks the problem of stranded carbon assets. As the carbon bubble bursts, many companies will be found to have over-estimated their assets. They are over-valued and are a bad investment. Investment dollars are increasingly migrating away from fossil fuels. Two years in a row, 2014 and 2015, global investment in renewables has outstripped global investment in fossil fuels.
And note, thus far, all calcu-lations I have cited are to keep global average temperature to no more than 2°C. The Paris Agreement, with leadership from Canada, called for striving to avoid increases above 1.5°C. What is the difference?
As one leading IPCC scientist explained it to me at the COP21 meeting in Paris, if we want a reasonable probability of keeping the Greenland ice sheet intact, we should stay at no more than 1.5°C. We might avoid losing the Greenland ice sheet at 2°C, but the odds are not nearly as good. And what happens to Canada
if we lose the Greenland ice sheet? Sea level rise of seven to eight metres. And it is even worse for Canada, according to the team led by Dr. Richard Proctor of Uni-versity of Toronto, if we lose the Western Antarctic ice sheet.
The damage to our coastal cit-ies would not merely be “environ-mental damage.” It would be an economic catastrophe. We cannot merely greenwash our current economy. This is a challenge of re-imagining our current economy.
While a challenge, it is also an economic opportunity on the scale of the transition from horse and buggy to the Model T Ford. This is an economic revolution in which many innovative entrepre-neurs and corporations will be huge winners.
Canada has been lagging in the new industrial revolution. For the sake of job creation, innova-tion and competitiveness, we have to catch up. In 2016, there is no economic strategy that does not start with the fundamental ques-tion: does this investment help us get off fossil fuels?
Green Party Leader Elizabeth May represents Saanich-Gulf Islands, B.C.
The Hill Times
OPINION ECONOMIC STRATEGY
NDP MP NATHAN CULLEN
GREEN PARTY MP ELIZABETH MAY
There is no issue more critical to this generation and generations to come than the struggle to lessen global warming and protect against catastrophic climate change.
Trudeau has profound opportunity to galvanize faltering economy
In 2016, there is no economic strategy that does not start with the fundamental question: does this investment help us get off fossil fuels?
For those of us who believe in the science of climate change and in the urgent need for substantive action, Stephen Harper’s Conservative government is not a hard act to follow, writes Nathan Cullen. The Hill Times photograph by Jake Wright
The Ontario government’s announcement supporting the extended operation of the Ontario Power Generation (OPG) Pickering Nuclear Generating Station by four years to 2025 is good news for the province’s environment and economy. This latest statement is further evidence of the province’s continuing commitment to achieving more greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions, securing a long-term, Ontario-based electricity supply, mitigating rising electricity costs, and supporting and creating good jobs.
The Pickering Station generates 3,100 megawatts of safe, low-cost, low-carbon electricity for Ontario. A recent analysis by Strategic Policy Economics (Strapolec) confirms that each year the station’s output helps avoid millions of tonnes of GHG emissions while annually contributing hundreds of millions of dollars to the economies of Durham Region and Ontario. As well, extending the station’s operations by just four years reduces electricity system costs by over $600 million, saves $4 billion from avoided energy imports and provides over $1.2 billion in additional revenues to the provincial government. That’s good news for the environment, Ontario’s economy, consumers and taxpayers.
In fact, over the past seven years, Ontario’s nuclear stations have safely and affordably provided more than half of the province’s electricity. Each year, the province’s three nuclear stations have helped avoid tens of thousands of tonnes of smog producing
pollutants and about 60 million tonnes of GHG emissions. That’s equivalent to taking about 12 million vehicles off the road! Moreover, Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator indicates that the all-in cost of the electricity produced is less than the average cost of electricity in Ontario today.
The Darlington and Bruce Stations are among the top performing stations in the world. The mid-life refurbishment of the Darlington and Bruce Power Nuclear Generating Stations means another 30 years of affordable, 24/7, GHG emission-free electricity for our homes and businesses. As noted in Ontario’s 2013 Long-Term Energy Plan, these refurbished stations will produce electricity more affordably than any other new source of generation, including electricity imports from Quebec.
Generating electricity in Ontario keeps economic wealth and jobs here instead of exporting these benefits to other jurisdictions. Nuclear energy is not just Ontario’s electricity workhorse, but also a major contributor to the province’s economy. Ontario is the heart of Canada’s $6 billion plus a year, 60,000-job nuclear industry. This includes 180 supply chain companies located in communities across the province and support for high-tech innovation-focused R&D at Ontario’s universities and colleges.
Currently, Ontario’s three nuclear stations are among the province’s biggest employers. OPG’s Pickering and Darlington Stations are the largest industrial employers in Durham Region and the Bruce Nuclear Station employs more people than GM’s Oshawa Plant. Most importantly these are high-skilled, well-paying jobs.
Analyses show that extending the operation of the Pickering Station and the mid-life refurbishments of the Darlington and Bruce Stations will generate billions in GDP, thousands of good jobs and more high-value, innovation-focused R&D. The Pickering extension will support 40,000 person years of employment alone. Renewing the Darlington and Bruce stations will add hundreds of thousands of person years of employment including ongoing station operations and maintenance, construction trades, manufacturing of materials and supplies, and engineering.
According to the Conference Board of Canada, the economic activity from refurbishing the Darlington Station will generate, on average, more than 11,000 jobs per year between 2014 and 2023. Ontario workers and businesses are expected to receive 96 percent of the economic benefits.
For more than a century, Ontario has focused on developing a secure electricity supply
as the foundation of its economy. Nuclear energy has been, and will continue to be a major provider of reliable, low-carbon, low-cost electricity for decades to come.
This is good news for the environment and another generation of Ontarians who will benefit from the high-skilled, middle-class jobs.
By Don MacKinnonPresidentPower Workers’ Union
FROM THE MEN AND WOMEN WHO HELP KEEP THE LIGHTS ON.
A Great Decision For Our Province
Extending the operation of the Pickering Nuclear Station to 2025 and
refurbishing the Darlington and Bruce Nuclear Stations will deliver
tremendous environmental and economic benefits for Ontario.
• Avoids 10s of millions of tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions
every year
• Delivers long-term, low-carbon energy security
• Keeps billions of dollars here in Ontario
• Contributes to affordable electricity prices
• Sustains and creates hundreds of thousands of person years
of high-skilled, good-paying jobs
• Supports Ontario’s role as an innovation leader
Ontario’s nuclear technology advantage is clearly our province’s
best option for tackling climate change while generating economic
prosperity and good jobs.
For more information please go to: www.pwu.ca
Ontario Delivers Good News For Jobs and Greenhouse Gas Reductions
THE HILL TIMES, MONDAY, MARCH 21, 201636NEWS LEGISLATION
Monday March 21 is the fi nal supply day, of this supply period and the last day for the House to vote on the government’s supplementary spending estimates. The House will also debate a Conservative opposi-tion motion dealing with Canada’s Offi ce of Religious Freedom.
Also on Monday, MPs will vote on two government bills at second reading: Bill C-6, An Act to amend the Citizenship Act and to make consequential amendments to another Act; and Bill C-2, An Act to amend the Income Tax Act.
On Tuesday, the House will carry on as usual until 4 p.m., at which time Mr. Morneau (Toronto Centre, Ont.) will table the budget for 2016-17.
Wednesday and Thursday the House will have the fi rst days of budget debate.
Transport Minister Marc Gar-neau (Notre-Dame-de-Grâce-West-mount, Que.) is expected to table a bill this week that was put on the notice paper during the last sitting week. The bill is called “An Act to amend the Air Canada Public Participation Act and to provide for certain other measures.”
Committees get to work on new studies, travel plans
MPs will also be spending a lot of time in House committee. Numerous cabinet ministers are set to testify about their mandate letters, includ-ing Agriculture and Agri-Food Minis-ter Lawrence MacAulay (Cardigan, P.E.I.) and Environment and Climate Change Minister Catherine McK-enna (Ottawa Centre, Ont.).
As well, committee study will begin on Bill C-4, An Act to amend the Canada Labour Code, the Par-liamentary Employment and Staff Relations Act, the Public Service La-bour Relations Act and the Income Tax Act. This is the fi rst government bill to be studied by a House com-mittee in this Parliament and will put to test the Liberals’ promise of more independent committees.
Study gets underway in the House Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status
of Persons with Disabilities Commit-tee with witness testimony from the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour MaryAnn Mihychuk (Kildonan-St. Paul, Man.)
Other interesting studies hap-pening this week include the House Public Accounts Committee, which is continuing its look into the audi-tor general’s fall report, this time digging into chapters on Canadian Armed Forces housing and the Canada Pension Plan Disability Program; the House Public Safety and National Security Committee is continuing its study on operational stress injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder in public safety of-fi cers and fi rst responders; and the House Natural Resources Commit-tee is looking into the future of Cana-da’s oil, gas, mining, and nuclear sectors, and sustainable solutions.
On the Senate side, the Senate’s National Security and Defence Com-mittee will be hearing from Com-munications Security Establishment Canada Chief Greta Bossenmaier on its study on Canada’s national security and defence policies, prac-tices, circumstances, and capabilities. The Senate Transport and Commu-nications Committee will be hearing from Amarjeet Sohi, minister of infrastructure and communities, about his mandate letter.
Many committees have solidi-fi ed their spring study plans.
The House International Trade Committee will be travelling to Vancouver, Calgary, Saskatoon, and Winnipeg this spring for its pre-study of the Trans-Pacifi c Partnership (TPP) trade agreement. The committee estimates this travel will cost $101,955. This committee will also be spending $20,000 on its upcoming study of the Soft-wood Lumber Agreement between Canada and the United States.
The House National Defence Committee has began a study of Canada and the Defence of North America that will include a $57,432 trip to Winnipeg and Colorado Springs, Colo., this spring.
The House Environment and Sustainable Development Commit-tee will be beginning a review of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 at a cost of $30,300.
The House Foreign Affairs and International Development Commit-tee will be spending $37,300, for the study on Women, Peace and Security.
The House Fisheries and Oceans Committee is dedicating $10,900 of their budget for the study of The Im-minent Closure of MCTS Comox.
And, the House Justice and Human Rights Committee has al-ready begin a $26,500 study of the Access to the Justice System.
Government House Leader Dominic LeBlanc (Beauséjour, N.B.) has previously told The Hill Times part of the Liberals’ plan to strengthen committees is to make sure they have enough resources to conduct their studies.
The Hill Times
Budget to dominate House, ministers to testify at committeesOn the Senate side, the Senate’s National Security and Defence Committee will be hearing from Communications Security Establishment Canada Chief Greta Bossenmaier as part of its study on Canada’s national security and defence policies.
MONDAY, MARCH 21• The House will have its final supply day for this supply period, and will
debate an opposition motion on the Office of Religious Freedom.• The House Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure of
the Citizenship and Immigration Committee will meet in-camera at 1 p.m. in 131 Queen St., Room 8-53, to discuss committee business.
• The House Health Committee will meet at 3:30 p.m. in 131 Queen St., Room 8-53, to discuss the Canada Health Act Annual Report and the Status of Canada’s Health Care System. It will hear from Department of Health experts Abby Hoffman, assistant deputy minister of strategic policy, and Gigi Mandy, director of the Canada Health Act Division.
• The House Offi cial Languages Committee will meet at 3:30 p.m. in Centre Block, Room 253-D, to discuss committee business and receive a briefi ng on the mandate and vocation of Cable Public Affairs Channel (CPAC). It will hear from President and General Manager Catherine Cano.
• The House Transport, Infrastructure and Communities Committee will meet at 3:30 p.m. in 131 Queen St., Room 7-52 to discuss rail safety. It will hear from Transport Department offi cials Assistant Deputy Minister of Safety and Security Laureen Kinney, Director General of Rail Safety Brigitte Diogo, and DirectorGeneral of Transport Dangerous Goods Nicole Girard.
• The House Natural Resources Committee will meet at 3:30 p.m. in 1 Wellington St., Room C-120 to discuss the future of Canada’s Oil and Gas, Mining and Nuclear Sectors: Innovation, Sustainable Solutions. It will hear from Canada’s Oil Sands Innovation Alliance Chief Executive Dan Wicklum.
• The House Agriculture and Agri-Food Committee will meet at 3:30 p.m. in 1 Wellington St., Room C-110 to study the Main Estimates 2016-17 and will receive a briefi ng from the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Lawrence MacAulay on his Mandate Letter. It will also hear from Agriculture and Agri-Food Deputy Minister Andrea Lyon, and a handful of other assistant deputy ministers from within the department. This meeting will be televised.
• The House Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities Committee will meet at 3:30 p.m. in Centre Block, Room 237-C, to deal with committee business and begin its study on Bill C-4, An Act to amend the Canada Labour Code, the Parliamentary Employment and Staff Relations Act, the Public Service Labour Relations Act and the Income Tax Act. On this it will hear from Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour MaryAnn Mihychuk, as well as other senior offi cials from the Department of Employment and Social Development. This meeting will be televised.
• The House Pay Equity Committee will meet at 5:30 p.m. in 1 Wellington St., Room C-110 to discuss pay equity in Canada. It will hear from Beth Bilson, former chair of the Pay Equity Task Force and, Interim Dean and Professor of Law, University of Saskatchewan, via video conference in Saskatoon, Sask.; and Marie-Thérèse Chicha, former member of the Pay Equity Task Force and, Professor, School of Industrial Relations, University of Montreal, from Montréal, Que.
• The Senate Offi cial Languages Committee will meet at 5:30 p.m. in Room 257, East Block to conduct a study on the application of the Offi cial Languages Act and the regulations and directives made under it. It will hear from Commissioner of Offi cial Languages Graham Fraser, as well as Assistant Commissioner in the Policy and Communications Branch Mary Donaghy and Ghislaine Saikaley, assistant commissioner of the compliance Assurance Branch in the Offi ce of the Commissioner of Offi cial Languages.
• The Senate National Security and Defence Committee will meet at 1 p.m. in Room 2, Victoria Building, 140 Wellington Street to examine and report on Canada’s national security and defence policies, practices, circumstances and capabilities. On this it will hear from Communications Security Establishment Canada Chief Greta Bossenmaier; and Canada Border Services Agency’s VP of Programs Martin Bolduc, and VP of Operations Caroline Xavier. It will then move on to its study on security threats facing Canada where it will hear from Norman Paterson School of International Affairs assistant professor Stephanie Carvin; Canadian Forces College Deputy Director of Education Adam Chapnick; MacEachen Institute for Public Policy and Governance associate professor Kevin Quigley; and Andrew Graham, adjunct professor at the School of Policy Studies, Queen’s University.
TUESDAY, MARCH 22• The House will begin with more debate on Bill C-6, until
4 p.m., at which time Finance Minister Bill Morneau (Toronto Centre, Ont.) will table the Liberal budget for 2016-17.
• The House Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure of the Foreign Affairs and International Development Committee will meet at 9 a.m. in-camera in 131 Queen St., Room 8-53, to discuss committee business.
• The House Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure of the Environment and Sustainable Development Committee will meet at 1 p.m. in-camera, in 131 Queen St., Room 7-52, to discuss committee business.
• The House National Defence Committee will meet at 8:45 a.m. in East Block, Room 362 to discuss Canada and the Defence of North America. It will hear from Assistant Chief of Defence Intelligence in the Canadian Forces Intelligence Command Stephen Burt and Director General, International Security Policy Rear-Admiral Scott Bishop; and Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Director General of the International Security and Intelligence Bureau David Drake.
• The House Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics Committee will meet at 8:45 a.m in 1 Wellington Street, Room C-160 to discuss the Access to Information Act
and committee business. It will hear from department offi cials from Citizenship and Immigration and the Department of National Defence.
• The House Public Accounts Committee will meet at 8:45 a.m. in 1 Wellington St., Room C-110 to discuss Chapter 5 of the latest Auditor General’s report, on Canadian Armed Forces Housing. Appearing before the committee will be Auditor General Michael Ferguson and Principal in the AG’s offi ce Gordon Stock. The committee will also hear from offi cials from the Department of National Defence, including Senior Associate Deputy Minister Bill Jones and Military Personnel Commander Lt-Gen. Christine Whitecross. This meeting will be televised.
• The House Procedure and House Affairs Committee will meet at 11 a.m. in 1 Wellington St., Room C-110 to discuss committee business and future witnesses for their continued study on initiatives towards a family-friendly House of Commons.
• The House Public Safety and National Security Committee will meet at 11 a.m. in 1 Wellington St., Room C-160, to discuss Operational Stress Injuries and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. It will hear from University of Regina psychology professor Nicholas Carleton via video conference in Regina, Sask.; Veterans Transition Network Executive and Clinical Director Mike Dadson, via Langley, B.C.; Research on Trauma Lab at the University of Toronto Director of Health, Adaptation, Research Judith Pizarro Andersen; and via video conference from Toronto, Ont., Centre for Addiction and Mental Health psychologist Donna Ferguson.
• The Senate Aboriginal Peoples Committee will meet at 9:30 a.m. in Room 160-S, Centre Block to continue its study on best practices and on-going challenges relating to housing in the North. It will hear from the Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corporation’s Director of Policy, Research and Monitoring Morley Linstead, and Director of Engineering Colleen O’Keefe; as well as Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami President Natan Obed.
• The Senate National Finance Committee will meet at 9:30 a.m. in-camera, in Room 705, Victoria Building to discuss: Supplementary Estimates (C) for the fi scal year ending March 31, 2016; Main Estimates for the fi scal year ending March 31, 2017; and to consider a draft report.
• The Senate Rules, Procedures and the Rights of Parliament Committee will meet in-camera at 9:30 a.m. in Room 356-S, Centre Block to consider a draft agenda for future business.
• The Senate Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources Committee will meet at 5 p.m. in Room 257, East Block to study the effects of transitioning to a low carbon economy. It will hear from offi cials from Environment and Climate Change Canada: Assistant Deputy Minister of the Environmental Stewardship Branch Mike Beale, Director General of the Economic Analysis Directorate, Strategic Policy Branch Derek Hermanutz, and Assistant Deputy Minister of the Strategic Policy Branch Dan McDougall.
• The Senate Fisheries and Oceans Committee will meet at 5 p.m. or when the Senate rises in-camera, in room Room 505, Victoria Building to consider a draft agenda for future business.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23• The House will begin debate on the Liberal budget for
2016-17.• The House Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure of
the Public Accounts Committee will meet at 3:30 p.m in-camera, in Centre Block, Room 112-N to plan future business.
• The House Offi cial Languages Committee will meet at 3:30 p.m. in Centre Block, Room 253-D to conduct a review of the Status of Offi cial Languages in Minority Settings across Canada. It will hear from the Offi ce of the Commissioner of Offi cial Languages, including Commissioner Graham Fraser, Assistant Commissioner of Policy and Communications Branch Mary Donaghy, Assistant Commissioner, Compliance Assurance Branch Ghislaine Saikaley, and Acting Director and General Counsel of the Legal Affairs Branch Pascale Giguère. This meeting will be televised.
• The House Natural Resources Committee will meet at 3:30 p.m. in 131 Queen Street, Room 7-52, to continue its study on the future of Canada’s Oil and Gas, Mining and Nuclear Sectors: Innovation, Sustainable Solutions. It will hear from the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers Vice-President of Policy and Performance Alex Ferguson; and from videoconference in Calgary, Alta. Suncor Energy Inc. Executive Vice-President, Strategy and Corporate Development Steve Reynish; and also in Calgary, Alta. the Pembina Institute’s Executive Director Ed Whittingham.
• The Senate Special Committee on Senate Modernization will meet at 12 p.m.in Room 257, East Block to consider methods to make the Senate more effective within the current constitutional framework. It will hear from Senators Paul J. Massicotte and Stephen Greene.
• The Senate Subcommittee on Veterans Affairs will meet at 12 p.m. in Room 2, Victoria Building to discuss services and benefi ts provided to veterans and their families. Witnesses appearing before the committee will be the Veterans Review and Appeal Board’s Acting Chair Thomas Jarmyn and Director General Dale Sharkey.
• The Senate Banking, Trade and Commerce Committee will meet at 4:15 p.m. in a room to be determined, to study the issues pertaining to internal barriers to trade. It will hear from The Canadian Chamber of Commerce Director of Transportation and Infrastructure Policy Ryan Greer; AdvantageBC International Business Centre Vancouver President and CEO Colin Hansen; and Senior Vice President of National Affairs at the Canadian Federation of Independent Business Corinne Pohlmann.
• The Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee will meet at 4:15 p.m. in Room 257, East Block, to study matters pertaining to delays in Canada’s criminal justice system. It will hear from President of the Canadian
Police Association Tom Stamatakis and Former Chief Judge of the Provincial Court of Manitoba Raymond Wyant.
• The Senate Social Affairs, Science and Technology Committee will meet at 4:15 p.m. in a room to-be-determined, to study the issue of dementia in our society. It will hear from Mimi Lowi-Young, CEO of the Alzheimer Society of Canada; Lynn Posluns, founder and president of the Women’s Brain Health Initiative; and Bonnie Schroeder, executive director Canadian Coalition for Seniors’ Mental Health.
• The Senate Aboriginal Peoples Committee will meet at 6:45 p.m. in Room 160-S, Centre Block to continue discussing best practices and on-going challenges relating to housing in the North. It will hear from the Nunavut Housing Corporation’s President Terry Audla, Director of Policy and Strategic Planning Tim Brown, and Vice President and CEO Gershom Moyo; as well as Director of Northern and Aboriginal Policy at the Conference Board of Canada, Christopher Duschenes.
• The Senate Transport and Communications Committee will meet at 6:45 p.m. or when the Senate Rises, in Room 2, Victoria Building to study emerging issues related to its mandate and ministerial mandate letters. It will hear from Minister of Infrastructure and Communities Amarjeet Sohi, and Deputy Minister of Infrastructure Canada Jean-François Tremblay.
THURSDAY, MARCH 24• The House will have the second day of debate on the
Liberal budget for 2016-17.• The House Justice and Human Rights Committee will
meet at 8:30 a.m. in Centre Block, Room 253-D, to discuss the Main Estimates 2016-17. Appearing before the committee will be Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould, as well as numerous offi cials from the Justice Department, the Canadian Human Rights Commission, the Supreme Court of Canada, Administrative Tribunals Support Service of Canada, Courts Administration Service, and the Offi ce of the Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs. This meeting will be televised.
• The House Public Accounts Committee will meet at 8:45 a.m. in Centre Block, Room 237-C to discuss Chapter 6 of the Auditor General’s Fall report, on Canada Pension Plan Disability Program. It will hear from Assistant Auditor General Jerome Berthelette and Principal Glenn Wheeler from the offi ce of the Auditor General of Canada; Deputy Minister of the Department of Employment and Social Development Ian Shugart; Service Canada Director General of Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security Program Oversight Cliff C. Groen; Social Security Tribunal of Canada Chairperson Murielle Brazeau and Vice-Chairperson Margot Ballagh; Administrative Tribunals Support Service of Canada Chief Administrator Marie-France Pelletier and Executive Director Raynald Chartrand. This meeting will be televised.
• The House National Defence Committee will meet at 8:45 a.m. in East Block, Room 362 to discuss Canada and the Defence of North America. It will hear from Commander of the Royal Canadian Air Force Lt. Gen Michael Hood.
• The House Environment and Sustainable Development Committee will meet at 11 a.m. in Centre Block, Room 237-C to receive a briefi ng from the Minister of Environment and Climate Change on her Mandate Letter; Main Estimates 2016-17: Vote 1 under Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, Votes 1, 5 and 10 under Environment, Votes 1 and 5 under Parks Canada Agency; and Subject Matter of Supplementary Estimates (C) 2015-16: Votes 1c and 10c under Environment, Vote 1c under Parks Canada Agency. It will hear from Minister Catherine McKenna as well as her Deputy Minister Michael Martin; Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency President Ron Hallman; and Parks Canada Agency Chief Executive Offi cer Daniel Watson. This meeting will be televised.
• The House Subcommittee on Private Members’ Business of the Procedure and House Affairs Committee will meet at 1 p.m. in Centre Block, Room 112-N to discuss non-voteable items.
• The House Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure Committee will meet at 3:30 p.m. in-camera in The Valour Building, Room 228 to discuss committee business.
• The Joint House and Senate Scrutiny of Regulations Committee will meet at 8:30 a.m. in Room 256-S, Centre Block to review Statutory Instruments.
• The Senate Banking, Trade and Commerce Committee will meet at 10:30 p.m. in a room to be determined to continue its study on the issues pertaining to internal barriers to trade. It will hear from Managing Director of the Macdonald-Laurier Institute Brian Lee Crowley and senior fellow Sean Speer; Business Council of Canada’s Vice President of Fiscal and International Issues Brian Kingston; and Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Director of the Trade and Investment Research Project Scott Sinclair.
• The Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee will meet at 10:30 a.m. in Room 257, East Block to study on matters pertaining to delays in Canada’s criminal justice system. It will hear from Victimes d’agressions sexuelles au masculine President Alain Fortier and Vice-president Frank Tremblay; Executive Director of the Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime Heidi Illingworth; and Federal Ombudsman for Victims of Crime Sue O’Sullivan.
• The Senate Social Affairs, Science and Technology Committee will meet at 10:30 a.m. in a room to be determined, to discuss the issue of dementia in our society. It will hear from College of Family Physicians of Canada Executive Director and CEO Dr. Francine Lemire; Canadian Geriatrics Society’s Frank Molnar; the Canadian Nurses Association director of policy, advocacy and strategy Carolyn Pullen; and Chris Simpson, past president of the Canadian Medical Association.
THE WEEK AHEAD
Continued from page 1
37THE HILL TIMES, MONDAY, MARCH 21, 2016
FEATURE BUZZ
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s new best buddy, U.S. President Barack Obama, will be addressing Parliament later this year.
It will happen some time in June, when Mr. Trudeau is slated to host Mr. Obama and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto for the Three Amigos summit.
If you’re thinking that having a U.S. president address Canadian Parliament is a rare occurrence, you would be right. The last time this happened was with Bill Clinton in 1995, while Jean Chrétien was prime minister.
Before that, it was Ronald Reagan in 1987, while Brian Mulroney was in power. That was Mr. Reagan’s second appearance, having also appeared before Parliament in 1981, while Pierre Elliott Trudeau was prime minister.
Before that, Richard Nixon addressed Canadian Parliament in 1972, John F. Ken-nedy did it in 1961, Dwight D. Eisenhower had the pleasure in 1958 and 1953, and Harry S. Truman did the honours in 1947.
There have been several other world lead-ers who have addressed Canadian Parlia-ment as well, most recently French President François Hollande and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in 2014, and British Prime Minister David Cameron 2011.
Broadbent Institute gets set for Progress Summit
The political left’s answer to the Manning Centre Conference is set to start at the end of this month, as the Broadbent Institute gets things in place for its Progress Summit.
“If any government in Canada wants to check the pulse of the country’s pro-gressive movement and the ideas that are fueling it, the Progress Summit is where they’ll learn about solutions to the big challenges facing Canada—from fi ghting climate change to tackling inequality in a slow-growth economy to getting electoral reform right,” Broadbent Institute execu-tive director Rick Smith said in an emailed statement.
“Only in its third year, the Progress Summit has already started to shape the national political discussion, and its infl u-ence will continue to grow.”
The event, being held at the Delta Ot-tawa City Centre, gets started on Thursday, March 31, with a reception hosted by the Government Relations Institute of Canada that will feature remarks from Mr. Smith and former NDP leader Ed Broadbent.
Mr. Broadbent will be back the next morning with a speech titled Shaping the Future, which will be followed with a key-note address from world renowned femi-nist and political activist Gloria Steinem.
Another highlight will be a panel dis-cussion on climate change on Friday, April 1, featuring federal Environment Minister Catherine McKenna, Alberta Environment Minister Shannon Phillips, and Andrea Re-imer, a Vancouver city councilor. Maclean’s political editor Paul Wells will moderate this discussion.
The Progress Summit will wrap up on Saturday, April 2. Among the events of interest that day is a panel discussion on the merits of making proportional representation part of Canada’s electoral system. Arguing in favour of RP will be Postmedia News columnist Andrew Coyne and former Privy Council clerk Alex Hime-lfarb, as Conservative MP Michelle Rempel and National Post and iPolitics columnist Tasha Kheiriddin argue against it. CFRA radio host and Maclean’s contributor Evan Solomon will moderate.
The Broadbent Institute said it expects a sellout crowd of about 1,000 people this year, rising from 900 last year, and 600 the year before that.
Former Citizen colum-nist turns up at CBC
Joanne Chianello, up until recently a local affairs columnist with the Ottawa Citizen, is now doing local news for CBC Ottawa.
Ms. Chianello told The Hill Times that she left the Citizen—voluntarily—at the end of January, and started doing “some work for the local team of CBC Ottawa on a casual basis” a few weeks ago.
“Broadcasting, not surprisingly, pres-ents a huge learning curve for an old print dog like me, but everyone at CBC Ottawa has been very welcoming and patient,” she said.
Ms. Chianello had been with the Citizen for more than 20 years. She is among sev-eral longtime journalists who have left the newspaper in this year amid buyout offers as its parent company, Postmedia Network, struggles fi nancially.
Publisher Cruickshank leaving Toronto Star
Toronto Star publisher John Cruick-shank said last week he’ll be stepping down from the newspaper as of May 4.
“Today, I am announcing that I’m ready to leave scaling new journalistic heights to someone with less arthritic limbs and more recently-acquired tools and skills,” he said in a statement to staff.
“It has been a privilege to serve with such a remarkable team of journalists and all those who support them, including Torstar’s senior management and our pro-gressive, engaged and enthusiastic board of directors,” Mr. Cruickshank said in his statement.
Mr. Cruickshank has been publisher of the Star since 2009. He said he will remain as co-chairman of Canadian Press Enter-prises and stay on as one of Torstar’s direc-tors on the CPE board.
Grégoire Trudeau catching international media attention
The tradition of Trudeau men becom-ing prime ministers and having wives who attract international media attention seems to be continuing.
For reasons quite different than when Pierre Elliott Trudeau’s ex-wife (and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s mother) Marga-ret Trudeau generated headlines in 1970s, the current prime minister’s wife, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, has been given a fair amount of ink outside of Canada.
That’s particularly true since the couple travelled to Washington, D.C., recently for a state dinner with U.S. President Barack Obama.
The New York Times wrote that she brought attention during the trip to Cana-dian clothes designers, noting the gown she wore to the state dinner was created by Romanian-Canadian designer Lucian Matis. The article also remarked how fi rst lady Michelle Obama wore a dress by Taiwanese-Canadian Jason Wu, noting she makes a practice of wearing clothes from the countries of visiting offi cials during state dinners.
The article cited comments from Jessica Mulroney—Ms. Grégoire Trudeau’s stylist and daughter-in-law to former prime Min-ister Brian Mulroney—who said the prime minister’s wife is committed to increasing the global profi le of Canadian designers.
The Daily Mail in the United Kingdom called Ms. Grégoire Trudeau and Ms. Obama “an incredibly chic pair,” based on their appearance at a morning event during the Canadian delegation’s visit to Washington, in which they both wore “knee-length dresses and heels.”
The New York Post, meanwhile, called Grégoire Trudeau the “hottest fi rst lady in the world” in an article published shortly after Trudeau’s election last October, even though the position of “fi rst lady” does not offi cially exist in Canada.
Coren describes acceptance of same-sex marriage in new book
A conservative columnist describes his “Change of Heart & Mind” in a upcoming book dealing with how he came to favour same-sex marriage.
The book by Michael Coren will be called Epiphany: A Christian’s Change of Heart & Mind over Same-Sex Marriage, and is slated for release on April 26.
In a promo for the book on Amazon.com, Mr. Coren is quoted as describing how he was “considered something of a champion of social conservatism in Cana-da,” until he publicized his change of posi-tion on same-sex marriage. The former Sun Media columnist said the backlash against him included being “fi red from columns that I wrote for years,” a ban “from various Catholic TV and radio stations,” and per-sonal attacks that affected his family.
Mr. Coren previously wrote a book called Why Catholics Are Right.
Talking innovation in TO with Navdeep Bains
[email protected] Hill Times
Obama to be fi rst U.S. president in two decades to address Parliament
HEARD HILLONTHE
BY DEREK ABMA
Continued from page 2
President Barack Obama talks with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during the G20 Summit inTurkey last November. Photograph courtesy of the White House
Former NDP leader Ed Broadbent, seen here in 2014, will be among the speakers at the third annual Progress Summit starting at the end of March. The Hill Times Photograph by Jake Wright
Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, from the left, poses with fi rst lady Michelle Obama, Prime Minster Justin Trudeau, and U.S. President Barack Obama during this month’s state dinner in Washington, D.C. Photograph courtesy of Twitter Justin Trudeau
Michael Coren’s upcoming book describes how he changed his mind about same-sex marriage and the repercussions he faced afterward. Photograph courtesy of Michael Coren
Innovation, Science and Economic Development Minister Navdeep Bains speaks at an event in Toronto last week, put on by the Pearson Centre for Progressive Policy and the Toronto Region Board of Trade. The event was called Innovation and the #Econ4Tmro. It also featured a panel discussion with Ilse Treurnicht, CEO of the MaRS Discovery District, Sheldon Levy, Ontario’s deputy minister of Training, Colleges and Universities, and Stephen Lake, CEO of Thalmic Labs. Photograph courtesy of the Pearson Centre
THE HILL TIMES, MONDAY, MARCH 21, 201638
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THE SPIN DOCTORS“Should the Liberal government reassess the current national shipbuilding strategy?”
By Laura Ryckewaert
“Last fall, we promised Cana-dians that we would rebuild and modernize the Royal Canadian Navy and the Coast Guard. We understand the pressing need to build icebreakers, supply ships, surface combatants, and Arctic, and offshore patrol ships. Not only do these ships help ensure the safety and security of those who so bravely serve our country, but they will also create good-paying jobs, strengthen the middle class, and foster sustainable economic growth in communities across Canada. As we move forward, our objective remains to provide the Navy and Coast Guard with these ves-sels as quickly as possible— and at the best value for taxpayers’ dollars. We remain dedicated to buy our ships in Canada. We will continue to work with retired British Navy rear admiral Steve Brunton—who spent almost 36 years in acquisitions—to ensure our procurement strategy is competitive, effective, and ef-fi cient. We remain committed to build a more agile, better-equipped Canadian Armed Forces.”
KATE PURCHASE
Liberal strategist
“It was our previous Conservative government’s shipbuilding strategy that was held up as a model procure-ment process by the auditor general, so it shouldn’t surprise anyone to hear me saying that we expect the Liberals to follow our lead, protect Canadian taxpayers, ensure the delivery of ships is on time, within budget, and meets the need of our Navy and Coast Guard.
“The shipbuilding strategy, and really defence procurement in general, should be an open and transparent process—one that will see that our military has the equipment they need while providing the obvious benefi ts to Canadian industry. What we’ve seen from the Liberals instead, however, is a plan to go behind the closed doors of a secret cabinet committee for procurement. That’s quite the opposite of a government that tries to describe itself as open and transparent.
“Our process brought together the right combination of knowledge, experience, and expertise to help validate the requirements for major military procurement projects. What we get in place of that now is our military ending up with equipment that the Liberals want, rather than what our military needs.”
CORY HANN
Conservative strategist
“There are few issues that have been as mishandled, mismanaged, and twisted to serve partisan ends by successive federal governments as big ticket military procurement.
“Since the election we have seen, time and again, the Liberal govern-ment unable to deliver on its election promises—making clear that during the last campaign Justin Trudeau was willing to say just about anything he thought people wanted to hear in order to secure their vote.
“In campaign, Liberals declared they would hold an open competition, but also wouldn’t even consider buying the F-35s. In government, they have said they’re fi ne with selecting Stephen Harper’s favourite plane. And now, just like in the past, accusations of potential confl icts of interest and insider friends of the Liberal government getting spe-cial treatment are swirling around.
“What we really need is a govern-ment focused on ensuring that decisions are made In a non-partisan, evidence-based way and that our shipbuild-ing industry grows in all regions of Canada. But let’s be clear—it’s the re-sponsibility of the government to ensure Canadians get value for their tax dollars on military procurement, and not to help their own party get political value for spending Canadian tax dollars.”
IAN WAYNE
NDP strategist
“The Liberal government seems to be making a mistake by opening the door to foreign bid-ders on government shipbuild-ing contracts. Canada’s national shipbuilding strategy should instead give preference to ship-yards in Canada and Quebec, which provide signifi cant local economic benefi ts. Why give lucrative contracts to foreign countries with our money?
“We have outstanding shipyards, such as the Davie Shipyard in Lévis, Que., which was voted ‘North American Shipyard of the Year’ in 2015. The large shipbuilding compa-nies create high-quality jobs with good wages. Canada and Quebec should not be deprived of the economic spin-off gener-ated by the high-value contracts to modernize the Canadian fl eet.
“The next national shipbuild-ing strategy should ensure that contracts are distributed fairly among the various regions that have shipyards. The Conservative government had the bad habit of ignoring the Davie Shipyard when awarding lucrative contracts. Let us hope the new government allo-cates contracts a little more fairly.”
MATHIEU R. ST-AMAND
Bloc Québécois strategist
“Canada has been a mess for as long as most of us can remem-ber. While the national shipbuild-ing procurement strategy was designed to start tackling ship-building with a degree of coher-ence, it hasn’t worked out that way. Instead, Canadians are still subjected to low-ball estimates for shipbuilding costs—estimates that predictably balloon due to delays and infl ation. While the Conserva-tives predicted costs to be $35-bil-lion, the auditor general pegs the actual costs at $105-billion.
“Meanwhile, these delays and drastic cost overruns are threaten-ing the viability of our existing defence and research fl eets. With many ships reaching the end of their lifecycle after decades of ser-vice, we risk being forced to deploy old and unsafe vessels before the new ones are complete.
“The government admits it has a lack of in-house expertise in dealing with the complex procure-ment and production process. The Greens would fi x that, and open up this process to serious and transparent parliamentary review to ensure, once and for all, an ef-fective and effi cient procurement process.”
CAMILLELABCHUK
Green strategist
39THE HILL TIMES, MONDAY, MARCH 21, 2016
NEWS SENATE
In the preliminary communi-cation with the RCMP, Mr. Singh has said that he was fi red from his job because he raised ques-tions about alleged “fraudulent activity” by some Senate admin-istration offi cials, according to sources. Sources also told The Hill Times Mr. Singh has told the RCMP that some Conservative and Liberal Senators were aware and may also be complicit in the alleged improper activities that he raised objections about. As of last week, sources said, Mr. Singh had not named any names.
Mr. Singh started his employ-ment with the Senate adminis-tration in October 2013 and was fi red from his job on Dec. 2 of last year. About two weeks after his termination, Paul Champ, Mr. Singh’s legal counsel, sent out detailed letters to all 15 Senators on the Senate’s Internal Economy, Budgets and Administration Com-mittee which oversees all aspects of the Senate administration, in-cluding the Senate’s $100-million annual budget, to request that his client appear before the commit-tee and share his side of the story. Mr. Singh’s request was declined by the Senate Internal Economy Committee.
Citing confi dentiality, a spokeswoman for Conservative Sen. Leo Housakos (Wellington, Que.), chair of the powerful Sen-ate Internal Economy Commit-tee, said that neither he nor any of the top Senate administration offi cials could comment on Mr. Singh’s case.
“As you know, until such a time as Mr. Singh or his lawyer agree to allow us to do so [waive confi dentiality], the Senate [in-cluding clerks and other employ-ees] are not at liberty to discuss the circumstances surrounding Mr. Singh’s departure,” said Sen. Housakos in an email statement sent out to The Hill Times through his communications adviser and director of parliamentary affairs Jacqui Delaney.
Sen. Housakos has been the chair of the Internal Economy Committee since May of last year and the Quebec Senator ques-tioned, in his emailed statement, why Mr. Singh never brought any allegations of improper conduct by any Senate administration of-fi cial to his attention.
“Despite having ample op-portunity to do so, at no point during my tenure as chair of the Committee on Internal Economy, Budgets and Administration did Mr. Singh ever bring any such allegations of this nature to my attention, as would have been incumbent on him to do,” Sen. Housakos wrote.
But Mr. Champ, in an inter-view with The Hill Times, said that Mr. Singh tried to inform Senators of inappropriate activi-ties but was not allowed by his Senate administration superiors. Mr. Singh, however, raised his objections in writing to his supe-riors and asked that this informa-tion be shared with Senators, Mr. Champ said.
“The different issues that Dar-shan raised with Senate admin-istration he did not raise directly with the Senators because he was instructed not to and that, with their chain of command within the Senate, it would be basically insub-ordination for him to go directly to the Senators,” Mr. Champ said.
“There’s all kinds of different is-sues with respect to Senate admin-istration both in staffi ng and other-wise that he had raised in writing with his superiors, that he said in writing that should be raised with the Senators, and he was informed that he was not to do so and that
they would take it forward if they felt it was appropriate.”
Mr. Champ declined to specify any names of superiors who stopped his client from reaching out to Senators directly saying that it’s public information who Mr. Singh reported to.
The Senate administration is led by three top executives, in-cluding Charles Robert, the Sen-ate clerk; Nicole Proulx, the chief corporate services offi cer; and Michel Patrice, the Senate law clerk. Mr. Singh reported directly to Ms. Proulx. Sources told The Hill Times in January that a week before Mr. Singh’s dismissal, he had fi led a discrimination com-plaint against Ms. Proulx.
Neither Ms. Proulx nor the other two senior offi cials re-sponded to interview requests by The Hill Times.
Last month, Mr. Singh con-tacted 10 Conservative, Liberal and Independent Senators’ offi ces requesting a meeting to share his concerns about the Senate admin-istration and why he was fi red but did not hear back from anyone, sources told The Hill Times.
The 10 Senators who sources say Mr. Singh reached out to were: Conservative Senators Daniel Lang (Whitehorse, Yukon), Elizabeth Marshall (Newfound-land and Labrador) and Scott Tannas (Alberta); Liberal Sena-tors Larry Campbell (Vancouver, B.C.), Jim Munson (Ottawa/Rideau Canal, Ont.), Joan Fraser (De Lorimier, Qu.), Percy Downe (Charlottetown, P.E.I.) and Mobi-na Jaffer (British Columbia); and Independent Senators Anne Cools (Toronto Centre-York, Ont.) and John Wallace (Rothesay, N.B.).
The Hill Times also contacted these Senators’ offi ces. Five responded and fi ve didn’t. The ones who responded declined to offer a comment arguing that it is a legal personnel case between the Senate administration and Mr. Singh and that it’s inappropriate for them to comment.
Senate Speaker George Furey was unavailable for an interview last week.
Former Senate ethics offi cer Jean Fournier said it’s “unfortu-nate” that another controversy has landed in the Senate. He said he would only comment once he knows the specifi c allegations and if there is any evidence.
“This is the most unfortunate situation and this must be taken seriously and it is for the RCMP to look at the information that has been provided to them and decide what, if any, steps need to be taken,” said Mr. Fournier.
The RCMP declined to confi rm or deny if they had already launched an investigation or any preliminary communication between the RCMP and Mr. Singh.
“Generally, only in the event that an investigation results in the laying of criminal charges, would the RCMP confi rm its investiga-tion, the nature of any charges laid and the identity of the individual(s) involved,” RCMP spokeswom-an Valérie Thibodeau said in a statement to The Hill Times.
Mr. Singh’s employment termi-nation case is currently before the Public Service Labour Relations Board and a decision is likely go-ing to be rendered next year.
Since the Senate expenses scandal became public in 2012, the Upper Chamber has dealt with a number of major contro-
versies. Mr. Singh’s dismissal case and preliminary communica-tion between the RCMP and him is the most recent one.
The Senate expenses scandal resulted in the suspension of three Conservative Senators - Mike Duffy, Pamela Wallin, and Patrick Brazeau—and Liberal Senator Mac Harb resigned from his seat in August 2013 and paid back almost $232,000. Sen. Wal-lin has now returned to the Red Chamber while Sen. Duffy and Sen. Brazeau’s legal cases are still before courts. Sen. Duffy’s criminal trial, in which he faced 31 charges of fraud, breach of trust and bribery, wrapped up last month and a decision is expected next month. In the Duffy trial, Ms. Proulx, former Senate law clerk Mark Audcent, Senate Human Resources Offi cer Sonia Makhlouf, and Mr. Furey testifi ed as witnesses.
On Monday, March 21, the Sen-ate Internal Economy Committee will release former Supreme Court justice Ian Binnie’s Senate arbitra-tion report on the 14 Senators who disputed federal Auditor General Michael Ferguson’s audit fi ndings last year. Mr. Ferguson conducted a comprehensive audit of all 116 Senators and former Senators’ expenses that served in the Senate between April 1, 2011 and March 31, 2013. The AG started this audit in 2013 and tabled fi nal report in June of last year.
In the fi nal audit report, Mr. Ferguson identifi ed 30 Senators who he alleged inappropriately spent $992,000 combined. Mr. Ferguson recommended that the cases of nine Senators be referred to the RCMP.
But the Mounties have been reviewing the fi les of all 30 Sena-tors whose expenses were fl agged by the AG. As of deadline last week, the RCMP had not made any public announcement as to the outcome of their examina-tion of these 30 Senators cases. However, citing unnamed sources The Globe and Mail reported, last week, that the RCMP has exoner-ated 24 of these 30 Senators. The RCMP declined to confi rm or deny this report, last week when contacted by The Hill Times.
Following the release of the Senate expenses audit report, the Senate Internal Economy Committee set up an independent arbitration process for any of
the 30 Senators who intended to challenge Mr. Ferguson’s audit fi ndings. Mr. Binnie started the process in September and sent his fi nal and binding rulings to the Senate procedural clerk Adam Thompson, late last month. For the arbitration process, Mr. Thompson served as the registrar. The Internal Economy Commit-tee will receive this report on Monday, March 21 and will make it public the same day.
Another embarrassing con-troversy that the Senate is cur-rently dealing with is allegations against Toronto Conservative-turned-Ind. Sen. Don Meredith, a Pentecostal pastor, of having an inappropriate sexual relationship with a 16-year-old girl. The To-ronto Star reported in June that the relationship continued for two years and both had sexually ex-plicit chats over Skype and Viber and were intimate physically. When reached by the Star, Sen. Meredith said he was too busy to answer questions and hung up.
Ottawa lawyer Colin Baxter, who is representing Sen. Mer-edith, said in June in a brief statement that Sen. Meredith will respect Senate internal proce-dures. He did not directly address any of the allegations.
Last month, The Toronto Star reported that Sen. Meredith will not face criminal charges as the young woman in question told po-lice to close the case becasue she does not want her name to come out and doesn’t want to deal with the stress if the case proceeds to court. She is now 18.
The Ottawa Police, however, told the Star that it does not confi rm or deny any investigation unless charges are laid. Following this development, Sen. Meredith declined to offer any comment to the Star saying he will not say anything until “everything is cleared up.” He said until that happens, he will continue to work for his community and country.
Senate Ethics Offi cer Lyse Ri-card’s is currently undertaking a preliminary review of allegations against Sen. Meredith. Ms. Ricard is also investigating allegations of workplace harassment against Sen. Meredith.
CTV National News recently reported that Sen. Brazeau had to be hospitalized in January because of a suicide attempt.
The Hill Times
Senate’s former HR director who alleges ‘fraudulent activity’ in Senate administration has preliminary communication with RCMP Allegations of alleged ‘fraudulent activity’ in Senate administration is ‘most unfortunate’ for the institution: Jean Fournier.
Continued from page 1
Quebec Conservative Sen. Leo Housakos is the chair of the Senate Internal Economy Budgets and Administration Committee. He declined to comment on former Senate HR director’s preliminary communication with the RCMP citing confi dentiality reasons. The Hill Times photograph by Jake Wright
THE HILL TIMES, MONDAY, MARCH 21, 201640INSIDE POLITICS CONSERVATIVES
Federal Conservatives have moved with astonishing speed and depth in their
repudiation of the Stephen Harper years.Some senior members of the party
now talk of the need for carbon pricing. They back the Liberal inquiry into miss-ing and murdered indigenous women. They talk of a national anti-poverty strat-egy, speak in more centrist tones, and are showing Canadians a softer, more appealing style with Rona Ambrose as interim leader.
They are quickly putting the days of snitch lines and niqab wedge politics be-hind them.
And then there’s that obnoxious, mi-sogynist neighbour downstairs, the guy
bellowing late into the night, shouting out his poll numbers, playing loud metal, and breaking the furniture.
As federal Conservatives embark on a national leadership race, Donald Trump is no longer just a distraction. He is a stain on a political philosophy, just as the Canadian right is seeking to moderate.
He is not going away, as conservatives initially hoped. He is almost certain to win the Republican nomination and the saturation Canadian coverage of his race to the White House against Hillary Clinton will only ramp up and act as unwelcome background music to a Conservative lead-ership race.
The Canadian right and American right were not always comfortable bedfellows, but there were unmistakable and enduring Conservative and Republican links. The Tea Party era leaked north of the border but now Conservatives must run from their brawling, cussing cousins.
Can they can run far enough?
The presence of Trump on the front of Canadian websites and topping network television news every night only helps Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
For Trudeau, this is all remarkably easy. He can sit at any U.S. venue, avoid direct comments on Trump, say he has faith in the “better angels” of U.S. democracy, vow to work with anyone, smile and have every-one watching him know they are watching the true anti-Trump.
One of the early victories for Trudeau has been his aggressive gender equality campaign, his self-proclaimed feminism that he links inextricably with progressive policies. He has challenged men to step up. He was given an award in New York for his gender equality and it has won him global acclaim.
While he was preparing to accept his award, an anti-Trump ad was in heavy play in Florida in which women read back some of the comments about women from the Republican frontrunner.
“Women. You have to treat them like s---,’’ recites one. “You know, it really doesn’t matter what (they) write as long as you’ve got a young and beautiful piece of a--,” recites another.
Trump calls Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly “Crazy Megyn,” still upset that she asked him tough debate questions, attribut-able, in Trump’s view, to the fact she was menstruating.
Wednesday, he released an online ad featuring Vladimir Putin and a Daesh fi ghter and Clinton barking like a dog, as if in response to the dangers.
Trudeau repudiates this with his ac-tions. Conservatives must do it with words as well.
To her credit, Ambrose has said Trump’s voice would not be welcome in the Conser-vative party. She repudiated his “ridiculous” call to temporarily halt Muslim immigra-tion into the U.S.
But the fact is, links remain. Republi-can strategists have worked on Canadian campaigns. Conservatives have travelled to Republican conventions and have studied Republican get-out-the-vote strategies.
There have been widening gaps between the two parties in recent years before this year’s chasm.
Canadian Conservatives, for example, assiduously courted immigrants, with electoral success in 2011. Republicans have repeatedly ceded the Latino vote to Demo-crats in the U.S. through a mix of rhetoric, failed policies, and candidates lacking appeal.
The Republican car crash south of the border does have ramifi cations for the right in Canada, even if no serious potential Conservative leadership candi-date holds views anywhere near Trump’s, whether on immigration, foreign policy, trade, or the treatment of women.
They are in a box—trying to engage voters who have tuned them out, trying to provide a pragmatic conservative view in a country which has shown its preference for progressive politics, with a crazy American uncle reminding every Canadian voter how quickly the right-wing vessel in that country can come unmoored.
There seems to be a question for Trudeau about Trump every 15 minutes.
It might be more interesting to ask prospective Conservative leadership can-didates about the man whose presidential bid once sparked amusement, but now sparks fear among allies. The distance between Trump and Trudeau is well known. The distance between Trump and Canadian Conservatives is more crucial.
Tim Harper is a national affairs writer for The Toronto Star. This column was released March 18.
[email protected] Hill Times
Trump an issue for new-look ToriesAs federal Conservatives embark on a national leadership race, Donald Trump is no longer just a distraction. He is a stain on a political philosophy, just as the Canadian right is seeking to moderate.
On March 24, Hill Times Events presents A New North American Future. Faced with increased global pressure from international trade
agreements, a strengthening Europe and emerging-markets, this Hill Times Policy Panel explores the public policy initiatives required to
enhance North America’s economic competitiveness. This event is timed to follow the Prime Minister’s visit with the US President in early
March and in anticipation of a tri-lateral meeting with Mexico and the US.
Agustin Garcia-Lopez, Mexican Ambassador to Canada will open the event and provide his insights that will frame the ensuing discussion.
Following, Catherine Clark, will moderate a substantive discussion with Eric Miller, Sr. Vice President of Business Council of Canada, Matthew
Wilson, Vice President of Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters and Mairead Lavery, Sr. Vice President at Export Development Canada.
A NEW NORTH
AMERICAN FUTURE
SUPPORTED BY:
MARCH 24 | 7:30-9:00 AMDELTA OTTAWA CITY CENTRE
EVENTS
Speakers:
hilltimes.com/events/NNAF.html
TIM HARPER
41THE HILL TIMES, MONDAY, MARCH 21, 2016
OPINION VETERANS’ BENEFITS
Since Canada passed the Pension Act in 1919—its fi rst major
legislation to support veterans—every 20 years or so a review of veterans’ benefi ts is conducted because veterans’ needs change. The Pension Act has been amend-ed many times over its almost century of existence. The Canadian Forces Members and Veterans Re-establishment and Compensation Act, commonly known as the New Veterans Charter (NVC), came into being in 2006 because the Pension Act was not meeting the needs of younger veterans and not support-ing the principles of modern dis-ability management. The reality is both pieces of legislation produce undesirable outcomes resulting in inadequate support for veterans and their families.
There are a variety of reasons for this inadequacy. Years of deliv-ering support in the same way can create almost insurmountable bar-riers to cultural change for service providers when change is required. These reasons have a common fac-tor: The outcomes for veterans have never been clearly defi ned.
Although there are published outcomes for veterans’ programs, they do not necessarily translate into well-defi ned outcomes for veterans. Veteran Affairs Canada (VAC)’s fi rst strategic outcome in its 2016-17 report on plans and priorities is the following: fi nan-cial, physical, and mental well-be-ing of eligible veterans. Digging deeper into the document, we fi nd that from a fi nancial perspective, VAC’s fi nancial program will en-sure that recipients have income that is “adequate to meeting their basic needs.”
So what does that mean to a veteran? How much support is VAC going to provide to veterans to meet their basic needs? What benchmark is being used to determine adequa-cy? How will success be measured? The performance measure currently being used to measure success in VAC’s latest report on plans and priorities is the percentage of eli-gible veterans whose family income is above the low income measure (LIM), representing 50 per cent of median household income adjusted for family size. Is this the fi nancial outcome we want for our citizens who sacrifi ce themselves in defence of Canada? Is this what veterans deserve?
Meeting veterans’ basic needs leaves much open to interpreta-tion with no defi ned end state. How can we adequately support ill and injured veterans when the outcome we are trying to achieve is unclear? How can we know we have achieved success, if we can-not measure it? However, what if
the outcome for a disabled veter-an who can no longer work is that he or she would receive fi nancial support at a level that duplicates what they could have received had they been able to complete a full military career of 35 years? It would now be clear to the Veteran what fi nancial support he or she should be receiving. Likewise, it would be clear to VAC what they should be providing. That outcome would be clearly defi ned and measureable. Is that not what we should be doing?
Using the words “basic needs” also leads down a path that takes a minimalist approach to provid-ing veterans’ benefi ts. So, why take that approach? This is where the socio-economic norms of by-gone eras still infl uence the way we support veterans today. Re-search shows that three universal pension principles were incorpo-rated into early veterans’ pension legislation: gratitude, payment of debt and subsistence.
The “gratitude” principle was typically addressed through the award of ribbons and medals. The “payment of debt” principle considered that a contract exists between the soldier and his coun-try, resulting in a debt payable by the state to the soldier for his dis-ability in service to the country, or to the widow and children for the soldier’s death. Finally, the “subsistence” principle considered that no veteran should become a public charge. This was at a time when state-funded social assis-tance was almost non-existent. Under this principle, a pension was provided for the essentials of life, or subsistence living, on an income-tested basis with pen-sion amounts based on average earnings in the general labour market. The Canadian Oxford Dictionary defi nes subsistence as the income required to provide a
minimal level of existence. Is this the fi nancial outcome we want for our citizens who sacrifi ced them-selves in defence of Canada?
Along with suffi ciency, there is also a problem of accessibility. Why are some veterans and their families still struggling to access benefi ts? Simply put, because benefi ts are too complex, not only for veterans but also for VAC staff. After decades of layering legislative amendments, policies and regulations one on top of the other, with no regard for how such overlapping would affect veter-ans, a system has been created that is diffi cult to administer. As a result, decisions take too long, reasons for decisions are not well understood by veterans, there are signifi cant mis-conceptions about what benefi ts are available and to whom, as well as inconsistent adjudication decisions for the same injuries and/or illnesses.
Everyone involved in veterans’ issues recognizes these problems, and yet they remain. They need to be solved as quickly as possible be-cause every day they are not, they cause frustration to ill and injured veterans and their families. To right this situation and give veterans the level of service they deserve, it is time to start focusing on service de-livery outcomes for veterans. If we do not know what is to be achieved from a veterans perspective, then how can we ensure we adequately support all veterans?
In recent weeks, I spoke to both the House of Commons Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs and the Senate Subcommittee on Veterans Affairs about the impor-tance of keeping a laser-like focus on outcomes. Determining the outcome we are trying to achieve should be the starting point rather than trying to justify the outcome after implementing a benefi t. If we use this approach, we will fi nd the root causes of problems and be bet-ter able to solve them.
When I look at outcomes for veterans these are the types of questions that need to be asked:
Why do veterans have to apply for benefi ts when they release if the government already has all the information necessary to determine eligibility for benefi ts? Could we not create a one-stop shop environment where a veteran could easily fi nd all the information necessary, be guided through the process and offered proactive service? VAC could con-duct a fi le review and adjudicate any and all benefi ts for which the veteran would be entitled.
Why is the burden on the veteran to show eligibility? If the burden was on the government to show ineligibility, would it not change the overall effect on veterans and make it easier for the average veteran to access sup-port? Would this not stop forcing veterans to re-tell their stories time and time again, which often re-traumatizes those suffering from psychological injuries?
Could we not use the evidence that certain military occupations incur certain injuries to presume that when a veteran applies for benefi ts, those injuries are service-related?
The way we do business today is not working as well as it should. If it were, we would not have as many frustrated ill and injured veterans as we do. So, let’s go beyond today’s ideas and shape tomorrow by clearly defi n-ing veterans’ outcomes—the end results that we want to achieve—and fi gure out the steps needed to attain optimal results for veterans and their families. It is time that benefi ts and service delivery are simplifi ed and meet veterans’ needs. Veterans and their families deserve no less.
Guy Parent is Canada’s federal veterans ombudsman.
The Hill Times
The importance of keeping a laser-like focus on veterans’ outcomes
Determining the outcome we are trying to achieve should be the starting point rather than trying to justify the outcome after implementing a benefi t. If we use this approach, we will fi nd the root causes of problems and be better able to solve them.
VETERANS OMBUDSMAN GUY PARENT
Soldiers pictured in Afghanistan. Veterans Ombudsman Guy Parent asks why the burden’s on the veteran to show eligibility? If the burden was on the government to show ineligibility, would it not change the overall effect on veterans and make it easier for the average veteran to access support? Canadian Armed Forces/DND photograph
BY KATE MALLOY
Stephen Harper is keeping a low profi le. The former Conservative prime minis-
ter, who led the country from 2006 to 2015 with an iron grip, still comes through the back door on Parliament Hill. Now an op-position MP, he shows up for House votes, but doesn’t attend weekly Conservative caucus meetings and he’s not talking pub-licly. There is speculation he will sit out the session until June and then resign.
As Globe and Mail writer-at-large John Ibbitson writes in his book, Stephen Harper, which has been nominated for this year’s prestigious $25,000 Shaugh-nessy Cohen Prize in Political Writing, Mr. Harper reshaped Canada by “making gov-ernment smaller, justice tougher, and the provinces more independent.” Mr. Harper may go down in the history books as one of Canada’s most divisive prime ministers, but Mr. Ibbitson argues he was also one of Canada’s most important and points to the economic management, the new trade agreements, tax cuts, the balanced bud-get, the reformed immigration system, the defence of Israel and Ukraine, and the fi ght against terrorism under his time in power.
Yet Mr. Harper’s government was also regarded by critics as “autocratic, secretive, and cruel” for its “punitive justice, muzzled scientists, assaults on the judiciary and contempt for Parliament.”
Mr. Ibbitson, 60, who’s been reporting in Ottawa since 2002, with the exception of 2007 to 2009 when he was posted in Wash-ington, D.C., wrote Stephen Harper, the biography, to know more about the man and how “a shy, closed, introverted loner united a fractured conservative movement, defeated a Liberal hegemony, and set out to reshape the nation.”
Mr. Ibbitson’s book, published by Signal and McClelland & Stewart, has been nominat-ed along with: Greg Donaghy’s Grit: The Life and Politics of Paul Martin Sr. (UBC Press); Norman Hillmer’s O.D. Skelton: A Portrait of Canadian Ambition (University of Toronto Press); Andrew Nikiforuk’s Slick Water: Fracking and One Insider’s Stand Against the World’s Most Powerful Industry (Greystone Books and the David Suzuki Institute); and Sheila Watt-Cloutier’s The Right to Be Cold: One Woman’s Story of Protecting Her Culture, the Arctic, and the Whole Planet (Allen Lane). The winner will be announced at the Politics and the Pen event in Ottawa April 20.
Why did you want to write this book? “A great deal has been written about Ste-
phen Harper, but most of it is strongly biased either for or against him. I wanted to under-stand who he was, where he came from, what shaped him, and how those forces infl uenced the course of his prime ministership.”
Did you think Stephen Harper was going to win the election? Why or why not?
“I began work as the Senate expenses scandal was fi rst breaking, so it was clear that the odds were against him. But he had beaten the odds before, and I thought he had a reasonable chance of eking out a mi-nority government. But the outcome of the election was immaterial to the book itself.”
Why is this book important and who should read it now?
“Like it or not, Stephen Harper was a ma-jor prime minister. He gave Canada 10 years of strongly conservative government. Much,
though not all, of that legacy will endure. Once passions cool, people are going to want a clear-eyed assessment of his life and times, which this book aims to provide.”
Why do you think your book has been nominated for the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize in Best Political Book?
“Such things are an eternal mystery. I always bear in mind the words of my friend and mentor Charles Gordon, who once said: John Ibbitson has lost a number of major awards.”You consider Stephen Harper a “major” prime minister. Can you elaborate? How will Stephen Harper be remembered in the history books?
“He will be remembered for shrinking the size of the federal government; for redefi ning the relationship between Ot-tawa and the provinces (passive federal-ism); for restructuring the immigration and refugee system to curb abuses; for broadening Canada’s trading relation-ships; for altering the balance within the justice system against the accused and the convicted; for creating a more aggressive foreign policy (this may prove ephemeral); for bringing the West into the heart of the federal government; and for establishing a stable, broad-based Conservative Party that, for the fi rst time perhaps in its history, has endured an election defeat without splintering. He also centralized power to an unprece-dented degree, injected partisanship into previously non-partisan spheres, and at times dangerously abused the separation of powers between government and the judiciary.”
How would you describe him personally? What is his character?
“He is a deeply introverted, closed, suspicious, and incredibly stubborn person who is also whip smart, with a strong strategic (but not always tactical) sense, and who learned to bend in the short term in order to achieve long-term ends. He is also a loyal friend—to those who are true friends—and devoted parent.”
Why do you think Stephen Harper called one of the longest campaigns in Canadian history?
“I think he was hoping to exhaust the fi nances and, more important, the strength of his two opponents. That was a mistake.”
Why do you think he’s still sticking around the House of Commons? And is this un-usual for a former prime minister?
“It is in fact quite usual. To resign his seat would force a byelection, which would be awkward at this time for the party. Paul Martin did exactly the same thing.”
Why do you think there’s so much curios-ity about Stephen Harper and about what he plans to do?
“I think such curiosity is typical for any retired leader.”
How is Stephen Harper different from Justin Trudeau as prime minister?
“Obviously they are polar opposites: extroverted vs introverted; open vs. closed; in love with the limelight vs. shunning it. Whether the Liberal government will, in the long term and on the fundamental issues, prove genuinely more open and consultative remains to be seen.”
Why do you like to write books? “I love the opportunity to think and
write in long form. Honestly, I write because I’m a writer. I’ve been writing since I was in high school and I can’t ever imagine not writing. What else would I do? There have been very days in my life when I have not put time aside to write. I have, for example, never been able to grasp the notion of taking a vacation. Why would you deliberately create a situation in which you made it diffi cult for yourself to write? On my gravestone I want them to say, ‘He wrote to length and deadline.’ “
The Hill Times
‘Like it or not, Stephen Harper was a major prime minister’: Ibbitson Globe and Mail writer-at-large John Ibbitson talks about his book, Stephen Harper, which has been nominated as a fi nalist for this year’s $25,000 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing.
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Stephen Harper, by John Ibbitson, Signal, McClelland & Stewart, 436 pp., $35.
John Ibbitson says much, though not all, of former prime minister Stephen Harper’s legacy will en-dure. ‘Once passions cool, people are going to want a clear-eyed assessment of his life and times, which this book aims to provide.’ The Hill Times photograph by Jake Wright
42 THE HILL TIMES, MONDAY, MARCH 21, 2016
FEATURE Q&A JOHN IBBITSON
SHAUGHNESSY COHEN PRIZE FOR POLITICAL WRITING
43THE HILL TIMES, MONDAY, MARCH 21, 2016
HILL CLIMBERS POLITICAL STAFFERS
Innovation, Science and Economic Devel-opment Minister Navdeep Bains recently
hired a press secretary to handle his media requests and oversee communications in his ministerial offi ce, along with a slate of other new assistants.
Philip Proulx is now Mr. Bains’ press secretary. He moved to Ottawa from Que-bec to take on the job where, until recently, he was press secretary to the Quebec Minister for Culture and Communications, Hélène David. A former project manager at National Public Relations back in 2010, Mr. Proulx was a communications coordinator for the Quebec Liberal Party’s youth wing and in 2012 was hired in then-Quebec pre-mier Jean Charest’s offi ce as an assistant adviser on youth issues. He also worked as co-chair of Quebec Premier Philippe Couil-lard’s 2013 leadership campaign.
Joshua Bragg, now special assistant for the Atlantic region, recently moved to Ottawa from Halifax where he left his job as executive assistant to Nova Scotia’s Liberal Minister for Energy and Acadian Affairs Michel Samson.
A former special assistant in the offi ce of the mayor of Halifax, Mike Savage, Mr. Bragg was also previously a fundraising offi cer for the Nova Scotia Liberal Party for about a year-and-a-half beginning in May 2011. He’s previously worked as a recruit-ment manager for King’s College University in Halifax and before that was an admis-sions counsellor at Mount Allison Univer-sity in Sackville, N.B., his alma matter.
Daniel Grubb is now Mr. Bains’ special assistant for Ontario. Mr. Bains is also the Liberal MP for Mississauga-Malton, Ont. Mr. Grubb was a fi eld organizer for the party in Ontario ahead of the 2015 election and was campaign manager to Liberal MP Filomena Tassi, the newly-elected MP for Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas, Ont. He’s also previously worked on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s 2013 leadership campaign.
As well, Shaun Govender is now a special assistant for the West to Mr. Bains. Mr. Gov-ender recently moved from Vancouver, B.C., to join the minister’s offi ce. Mr. Govender has been executive director of the B.C. Liberal Party for the last three years and before that served as director of operations and outreach for the Liberals in British Columbia for a time.
Before that, he worked as a project co-ordinator for Scenic Oasis Film Inc., which provides set building services for TV and fi lm productions in Vancouver.
Meanwhile, Democratic Institutions Minister Maryam Monsef recently wel-comed Byrne Furlong to her ministerial staff team as a legislative assistant.
Ms. Furlong recently studied a master of arts in human rights at the University College London in England, and has a bachelor degree in English literature and French language and literature from Mc-Gill University.
During the summer of 2014, she taught at Canadore College in North Bay, Ont., and before that was a substitute teacher with the Nipissing Parry Sound Catholic District School Board. She spent about a year in 2012 teaching English in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and before that worked for almost two years as a government and public relations consultant with the Daisy Consulting Group in Toronto. In 2010, she was a summer intern for the Liberal Party in Ottawa.
Ali Salam, director of policy and parlia-mentary affairs, is currently acting chief of staff to Ms. Monsef.
In a clarifi cation to a recent Hill Climb-ers column: Lili-Anne Delage Larson, scheduling assistant to National Revenue Minister Diane Lebouthillier, also acts as Ms. Lebouthillier’s executive assistant in her capacity as the MP for Gaspésie-Iles-de-la-Madeleine, Que.
Status of Women Minister Hajdu hires communications help with new director
Status of Women Minister Patty Hajdu has hired Nadege Adam to serve as her ministerial director of communications, Hill Climbers has learned. Up until this month, Ms. Adam has spent the last six-and-a-half years working for Bombardier Inc. as a manger of government and parlia-mentary affairs since 2009.
Before that, Ms. Adam was a media rela-tions adviser at NAV Canada, which owns and operates Canada’s civil air navigation service.
She’s also previously spent time working for the Canadian Real Estate Association in Ottawa, for the Canadian Labour and Busi-ness Centre as a communications specialist, as a campaigner with the Council of Canadi-ans, and as a national political organizer for ACORN in Washington, D.C., among other past jobs, as indicated on LinkedIn.
As well, Ms. Hajdu has hired spe-cial assistant Antonio Redfern-Pucci. Mr. Redfern-Pucci studied a master’s in political science and government at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ont., before studying a PhD in philosophy in the social, cultural and political stream at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ont., which is also where he studied his undergrad.
While studying his undergrad in politi-cal science, Mr. Redfern-Pucci spent two summers as an intern for the Federal Eco-nomic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario (FedNor) in Thunder Bay, Ont.
Maria Lamani has joined Foreign Af-fairs Minister Stéphane Dion’s ministerial offi ce as assistant to the minister’s par-liamentary secretary, Pamela Goldsmith-Jones, the MP for West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country, B.C.
Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr has a couple of new assistants now work-ing away in his ministerial offi ce, including Mackenzie Radan, assistant to the parlia-mentary secretary for Natural Resources, Kim Rudd, the Liberal MP for Northumber-land-Peterborough South, Ont.
Mr. Radan was until recently a legislative assistant and issues manager in the offi ce of Ontario’s Liberal Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Minister Jeff Leal, and has also previ-ously worked for Ontario’s education minister as an operations and communications as-sistant in 2015. Before that, he worked for the Ontario Liberal Party, fi rst starting in August 2013 as a manager of political organization for the South West and South Central regions.
Christina Furino, meanwhile, is execu-tive assistant to Mr. Carr’s chief of staff, Janet Annesley. Ms. Furino was previously a departmental staffer with Natural Re-sources Canada, serving as the minister’s departmental receptionist.
Canadian Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly has hired Elliott Lockington to serve as a special adviser in her offi ce. Mr. Lockington was a fi eld organizer for Environment and Climate Change Minis-ter Catherine McKenna in Ottawa Centre, Ont., during the 2015 campaign.
Families, Children and Social Develop-ment Minister Jean-Yves Duclos recently welcomed Marc-Étienne Vien to his minis-terial team as a new policy adviser.
A tax lawyer from Québec City, Mr. Vien was a summer student in law at Heenan Blaikie in Quebec in 2013 after studying law at l’Université Laval. He became a member of the Quebec bar in 2014, accord-ing to his LinkedIn account, and studied tax law at l’Université de Montréal.
A look at the Conservative research bureau
Now in offi cial opposition, the Conser-vative Party has a smaller parliamentary research bureau this time around to match its reduced caucus, with an annual budget of $2,273,054 for 2015-2016.
Dubbed the Conservative Resource Group, or the CRG, the Conservative Party’s Hill research bureau is not only smaller—as funding levels are based on caucus size—but the Conservative caucus is now also without the added support that comes with being in government: namely, the support of the public service in policy research and drafting legislation.
That makes the work of the slimmed-down CRG all the more important to the party on the Hill in this Parliament. The offi ce is typically intertwined closely with respective leaders’ offi ces.
Martin Bélanger remains in charge of the Conservative caucus’ research branch, now
under the title of director of caucus services for policy and research. Mr. Bélanger fi rst became director of the CRG after the 2011 election, having worked his way up the chain since fi rst being hired as a researcher back in 2006. His LinkedIn profi le indicates he studied policy implementation at the Man-ning Centre for Building Democracy in 2007.
Marc Lemire, previously manager of creative services in the CRG, is now associate manager of caucus services and head designer.
Samantha Clusiau-Lawlor and Chris Tomalty both work as designers in the offi ce. Ms. Clusiau-Lawlor was previously a junior graphic designer in the CRG and is the illus-trator of Little Voice, a children’s book. Mr. Tomalty was also previously a junior graphic designer in the CRG, and for a time served as an aide to former Conservative MP Nina Grewal, among other past roles.
Paul Dagenais, previously a junior designer for new media, now works under the title of new media developer.
Evan Webster, a former IT support staffer for the Conservative Party, continues as senior video specialist in the CRG, aided by Ivana Yelich as video specialist and caucus liaison. Ms. Yelich, who is daughter to former Conservative minister of state Lynne Yelich, joined the CRG at the beginning of 2015, after the Sun News Network shut down. She had worked as a chase producer for Sun News since May 2012, according to her LinkedIn profi le, and before that was an aide the late Conservative Senator Doug Finley.
Philip Bailey is manager of caucus services, continuing in the same role as last Parliament. Christopher Grier, who previ-ously worked under the title of director of special projects during the Conservative Party’s time in majority government, is now manager of opposition research. He oversees Eric Duchesne who continues to work as a researcher in the offi ce.
Former PMO regional affairs adviser for Quebec Virginie Bonneau is a policy adviser in the offi ce as are Laura Smith, Sean Phelan and Nik Zylstra.
Cam Vidler is a senior economic policy adviser to Ms. Ambrose. Until recently, he was director of international policy for the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Ottawa and he’s previously also worked for the Canada-India Business Council, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Develop-ment, and for the Fraser Institute in Toronto.
Salpie Stepanian is manager of corre-spondence in the Conservative research of-fi ce. Ms. Stepanian was previously manag-er of correspondence in Stephen Harper’s PMO (Prime Minister’s Offi ce) for years. Back in 2009, she testifi ed as a witness as part of the Mulroney-Schreiber about the work of the PMO correspondence unit.
Craig Maguire continues as senior cor-respondence writer, while Carolina Salas continues as a writer. Ashley Cain, who was most recently a correspondence writer in the Conservative PMO but before that was executive assistant to Mr. Bélanger, is back in the CRG as a writer and executive assistant. Leslie Virgin also continues to work as a writer in the research offi ce.
Semion Iarotsky continues to work as a translator, while Patsy Bromfi eld continues as manager of personnel and administra-tion in the offi ce.
The Hill Times
Innovation Minister Bains hires slate of new assistants
HILL CLIMBERSBY LAURA RYCKEWAERT
Canadian Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly has hired Elliott Lockington to serve as a special adviser in her offi ce. Mr. Lockington was a fi eld organizer for Environment and Climate Change Minister Catherine McKenna in Ottawa Centre, Ont., during the 2015 campaign.
Philip Proulx is press secretary to Innovation, Science and Economic Development Minister Navdeep Bains. Photograph courtesy of LinkedIn
Byrne Furlong is legislative assistant to Democratic Institutions Minister Maryam Monsef. Photograph courtesy of LinkedIn
Nadege Adam is Status of Women Minister Patty Hajdu’s director of communications. Photograph courtesy of LinkedIn
Mackenzie Radan is assistant to the parliamentary secretary for Natural Resources, Liberal MP Kim Rudd. Photograph courtesy of LinkedIn
44 THE HILL TIMES, MONDAY, MARCH 21, 2016
FEATURE EVENTS
MONDAY, MARCH 21 House Sitting—The House returns March 21-25,
breaks for two weeks, returns on April 11 and sits until April 22, breaks for one week, returns May 2 for three weeks until May 20, breaks for one week, and returns again on May 30. It’s scheduled to sit for four weeks until Thursday, June 23.
TUESDAY, MARCH 22Big Thinking on the Hill with André Blais—The
Federation for the Humanities and Social Sci-ences’ Big Thinking on the Hill lecture features André Blais speaking on ‘Reforming Canada’s voting system: What would proportional representation change?’ André Blais, a leading scholar in the fi eld of electoral systems and professor of political sci-ences at Université de Montréal, explores answers to these questions in a conversation with federation past president Antonia Maioni, professor of political Science at McGill University. A hot breakfast will be served on Tuesday, March 22 from 7:30 a.m. to 8:45 a.m. in the Parliamentary Restaurant, Centre Block. Free for parliamentarians and the media—$25 for all others. For more information and to RSVP, go to www.ideas-idees.ca/big-thinking or call 613-238-6112 ext. 310.
Cabinet Meeting—Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is expected to hold a Cabinet meeting in Ottawa. For more information, call the PMO Press Offi ce at 613-957-5555.
Budget Day—Finance Minister Bill Morneau is expected to release the federal budget document in the House on at 4 p.m. EST.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23 Liberal Caucus Meeting—The Liberals will meet in
Room 237-C Centre Block on Parliament Hill. For more information, please call Liberal Party media relations at [email protected] or 613-627-2384.
Conservative Caucus Meeting—The Conservatives will meet for their national caucus meeting. For more information, contact Cory Hann, director of commu-nications, Conservative Party of Canada at [email protected]
NDP Caucus Meeting—The NDP caucus will meet from 9:15 a.m.-11 a.m. in Room 112-N Centre Block. Please call the NDP Media Centre at 613-222-2351 or [email protected]
Joint Annual Reception—The supply managed com-modities of Chicken Farmers of Canada, Egg Farmers of Canada, Turkey Farmers of Canada and Canadian Hatching Egg Producers are hosting their Joint Annual Reception from 5:30 p.m.-9 p.m. in the Ballroom of the Chateau Laurier, 1 Rideau St., Ottawa. An excellent selec-tion of hors d’oeuvres prepared with high-quality Canadian chicken, turkey and eggs will be served. Please RSVP at [email protected]
Chow Down for Charity—Speaker of the House of Commons Salon, Room 216-N, 12 noon-1 p.m. The Evening in The Maritimes Sponsors and Citizen Advocacy board Members will join invited members of the Senate and House of Commons for a chowder lunch in the House Speaker’s Salon to raise aware-ness for Citizen Advocacy Ottawa. This is the offi cial launch of Evening in The Maritimes. Citizen Advocacy’s annual gala is raising funds for its Everyday Champions program. This event is by invitation only. For more information, call Virgilia Partridge, Citizen Advocacy
of Ottawa, at 613-761-9522, ext. 240 or email to [email protected]
The National Capital Regional Group of the Institute of Public Administration of Canada—Presents The Evolving Nature of Democracy and Governance to be held. 5:30 p.m. registration, networking and light refreshments, 6 p.m. panel discussion, Impact HUB Ottawa, 71 Bank St. (6th fl oor), Ottawa. IPAC members $15; Impact Hub Ottawa members $15; IPAC new professional members $10; IPAC student or retired members $5; non-members $20. Register online by credit card by March 22nd at http://opengov2016.eventbrite.ca. Contact: [email protected]
Forum for Young Canadians MP Reception–The Forum for Young Canadians is a unique educational program that brings high school students from across the country to Ottawa for a weeklong, behind-the-scenes look at federal politics on Parliament Hill. All MPs are invited to join these smart and ambitious youth from all over Canada for an evening reception at the Sir John A. Macdonald Building (144 Wel-lington St.), from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. If you have any questions, or to learn more about Forum for Young Canadians, please check out our website http://forum.ca/, or contact Catherine McDonald. Tel: 613-233-4086, email: [email protected]. To RSVP to this reception, please contact Laura Seguin at [email protected] or call 613-235-1400.
THURSDAY, MARCH 24HT Events Presents a New North American
Future—Join Hill Times Events for a discussion on A New North American Future. Agustin Garcia-Lo-pez, Mexico’s ambassador to Canada, will provide the opening remarks. Catherine Clark will then moderate a substantive discussion featuring Eric Miller, senior vice-president Business Council of Canada; Matthew Wilson, vice-president, Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters Association; and Mairead Lavery, senior vice-president, Export Development Canada. Delta Ottawa City Centre, 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. No charge, but advance registra-tion is required. Get tickets: Eventbrite. Contact: [email protected]
Sean Bruyea’s Thesis Defence of Remembrance For-gotten: 70 Years of Neglect of the Canadian Forces and the Obligation We Owe Them—10 a.m., Room 1124 Amphitheatre, St. Paul University, 223 Main Street, Ot-tawa, Ont. RSVP [email protected]
TUESDAY, MARCH 29 Canada’s Defence Perspectives 2020-2050:
Recapitalization and the Canadian Forces—Hosted by the Mackenzie Institute, the conference will engage military and civilian offi cials of the Department of National Defence, the defence and security industry, and academia in a series of expert panels to inform rec-ommendations for future Canadian defence planning. Fairmont Chateau Laurier Hotel, Ottawa, March 29-30, eventbrite.ca.
THURSDAY, MARCH 31 The Pearson Centre’s Pursuing Justice Project
Launch—Featuring Irwin Cotler, and moderated by Jean Chrétien, John Turner, Kim Campbell, Paul Martin, and Indira Naidoo-Harris. Mingle with federal, provincial parliamentarians, ministers , and former prime min-isters. 5:30 p.m.-7 p.m. reception with cocktail and food stations and 7 p.m. dialogue on pursuing justice with Mr. Cotler. 8 p.m. dessert reception. The Pearson Centre launches its Pursuing Justice Project, March 31, King Edward Hotel, Toronto. Eventbrite.ca
Broadbent Institute’s 2016 Progress Summit—Canada’s largest annual progressive policy confer-ence, is being held from March 31 to April 2, at the Delta Ottawa City Centre (101 Lyon St. N.). Feminist icon Gloria Steinem is headlining the event and will be joined by other leading thinkers, policy experts, and organizers over three days of training and policy talk. The event is almost sold out. Register at http://www.broadbentinstitute.ca/summit2016. The #pr-grs16 line-up includes: Barack Obama’s ad maker John Del Cecato and Sara El-Amine, who heads up Obama’s grassroots organizing movement; federal En-vironment Minister Catherine McKenna and Alberta Environment Minister Shannon Phillips; France’s former minister of justice Christiane Taubira, who stepped down in January over objections to the Hol-lande government’s terror policy; the Great Debate on proportional representation with Alex Himelfarb, former clerk of the Privy Council, Postmedia News columnist Andrew Coyne, Conservative MP Michelle Rempel and Tasha Kheiriddin, National Post and iPolitics columnist; Beer and Politics panel on the Bernie-Hillary race with CNN political commenta-tor Sally Kohn; and Broadbent Institute founder Ed Broadbent.
TUESDAY, APRIL 5 Transition 2015: How the Federal Public Service
Managed the Transition of Executive Power—Join IPAC for an unprecedented, behind-the-scenes look at how the federal public service managed the transition of executive power in 2015. This panel discussion will feature Allen Sutherland (assistant secretary to the cab-inet, machinery of government) and Dr. Lori Turnbull (Policy Advisor, Machinery of Government), 5:30 p.m.-7:45 p.m., $15 IPAC members, $20 non-members. Register online https://goc2015.eventbrite.ca
Finance Minister Morneau to release budget March 22
Parliamentary Calendar
Continued on page 46
Publication Date: April 4, 2016 Booking Deadline: March 29, 2016
POLICY BRIEFING
In this important and timely policy briefing, The Hill Times will
take a closer look at the new federal Liberal government’s promises to invest in public transit, specifically to quadruple federal spending by investing $20-billion more in public transit infrastructure over the next decade. We look deeper into this. Is this enough? Where will the money go? Have Canada’s transit woes been exacerbated by the politicization of infrastructure projects? And what are the experts saying?
As well, we look into Transport Canada’s plans to bring in new
rules to regulate drones by 2017; the Canadian Transportation Act’s report on Canada’s international competitiveness; how Aviva Canada is filling a gap as the first auto insurer in Canada to develop a policy for ride-sharing services; the court ruling on Canada Pacific Railway’s liability from lawsuits triggered by the deadly Lac-Mégantic disaster; the Railway Association of Canada’s report on the transporting crude oil by railways and pipelines; and the Canadian government’s expanded no-fly list.
Be a part of this policy briefing.
TRANSPORTATION
For more information or to reserve your government relations and public affairs advertising space, contact The Hill
Times display advertising department at 613-688-8825.
Communicate with those most responsible for Canada’s public policy decisions.
pCanada’s plans to bring in new
pthis policy briefing.
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0029 PROPERTY RENTALS
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0030 CONDOS FOR RENT
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FURNISHED CONDO IN BYWARD MARKET
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0030 CONDOS FOR RENT
NEW EDINBURGH
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0032 TOWNHOUSE FOR RENT
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0040 HOUSES FOR RENT
3 BRAND NEW, VERY LARGE, ELEGANT EXECUTIVE HOMES FOR RENT. WALK TO EMBASSY COMMUNITY/CENTRAL
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1,750 sq ft and 3,500 sq ft homes, built new in 2016, luxury living, 4 and 5 bedroom, with theater room, balconies, plus den, intercom system. Custom designed kitchens and staircase. Interior/exterior high-end finishes. Roof-top access. Walk to Ottawa river, Ottawa University, Rideau Tennis Club, new Adàwe bridge, and 24h Loblaws. Extra features. $2,750-$3,250/month. Parking available. Visit www.36ontario.ca or call 613-581-7041 [Call: 613-581-7041] .
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0040 HOUSES FOR RENT
HOME FOR RENT IN SANDY HILL1890s character home with original features. Main floor, 3 large rooms and kitchen. First floor, four bedrooms and bath-room. Garage and parking stalls. 2 porches and a deck. Can be rented furnished or unfurnished. $2500 613-316-6951
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0041 APARTMENTS FOR RENT
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0074 WANTED TO RENT
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0211 ARTICLES FOR SALE
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THE HILL TIMES, MONDAY, MARCH 21, 2016 45
HILL TIMES CLASSIFIEDINFORMATION AND ADVERTISEMENT PLACEMENT: TEL. 613-232-5952, FAX 613-232-9055
PLAY A KEY STRATEGIC ADVISORY ROLE.
The Canadian Medical Association (CMA), founded in 1867, is the national voice of Canada’s physicians. Our mission consists in “Helping physicians care for patients.”
Advisor, Political EngagementBased in Ottawa, and reporting to the Director, Political Engagement, you will contribute significantly to the execution of strategic political engagement plans and major policy initiatives aligned with CMA’s mission and objectives, including those susceptible of influencing key players at the federal, provincial and municipal levels. You will also work to extend the capabilities of the Department to monitor, and respond to, regulatory and legislative developments.
Diplomatic and highly skilled as a communicator, you know how to convey effectively the political actions, policies and strategic thinking of the CMA to diverse audiences. You hold a university degree, have 3 to 5 years of relevant experience, and demonstrate resourcefulness and sound judgment in making decisions that may have significant impact. Proficiency in English is required; fluency in French would be an asset.
This is your opportunity to contribute to a corporate culture based on teamwork and service excellence. For more information, visit our website. Please reply, in confidence, to Human Resources, Canadian Medical Association, at [email protected] Canadian Medical Association is an equal opportunity employer. We sincerely thank all candidates who apply; however, only those individuals selected for an interview will be acknowledged.
JOUEZ UN RÔLE CLÉ EN CONSULTATION STRATÉGIQUE.
L’Association médicale canadienne est le porte-parole national des médecins du Canada. Créée en 1867, elle a pour mission « d’aider les médecins à prendre soin des patients ».
Conseiller, Mobilisation politiqueBasé à Ottawa et relevant du directeur, Mobilisation politique, vous jouerez un rôle de premier plan dans l’exécution de plans stratégiques de mobilisation politique et d’importantes initiatives stratégiques qui cadrent avec la mission et les objectifs de l’AMC, y compris celles qui sont susceptibles d’influencer les intervenants clés à l’échelle fédérale, provinciale et municipale. Vous devrez également renforcer les capacités de surveillance et d’intervention du service en ce qui a trait aux développements en matière de réglementation et de législation.
Diplomate et très doué pour la communication, vous saurez transmettre efficacement les actions politiques, les politiques et la réflexion stratégique de l’AMC à divers auditoires. Vous détenez un diplôme universitaire, avez de 3 à 5 ans d’expérience pertinente, et faites preuve d’ingéniosité et d’un niveau élevé de discernement dans la prise de décisions qui pourraient avoir des répercussions importantes.
Saisissez cette chance de contribuer à une culture d’entreprise basée sur le travail d’équipe et l’excellence du service. Pour de plus amples renseignements, visitez notre site Web. Veuillez postuler en toute confiance auprès du Service des ressources humaines de l’Association médicale canadienne à [email protected]’Association médicale canadienne est un employeur offrant l’égalité professionnelle. Le genre masculin sert uniquement à alléger le texte et désigne tant les femmes que les hommes. Nous remercions toutes les personnes qui postuleront, cependant nous ne pourrons communiquer qu’avec celles considérées pour une entrevue.
cma.ca
HTHTwork.ca
Call HT Classifieds to place your ad!
613-232-5952
POLITICS THIS MORNING
POLITICS THIS MORNING
A DAILY EMAIL FOR HILL TIMES SUBSCRIBERS
46 THE HILL TIMES, MONDAY, MARCH 21, 2016
FEATURE EVENTS
FRIDAY, APRIL 8NDP Federal Convention—The
federal NDP will meet for a policy convention April 8-April 10 at the Shaw Centre, Edmonton, Alta. Rick Devereux is the convention’s director. For more information, call the NDP in Ottawa at 1-866-525-2555.
MONDAY, APRIL 11 Innovative Medicines Canada
Open House—Wonder how new medicines are discovered? Or how
they become available to Canadi-ans? Innovative Medicines Canada invites Parliamentarians and media to learn about the pathway to in-novation and access from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the Commonwealth Room, Centre Block. To RSVP, please contact Jennifer Lamothe at [email protected] or 613-236-0455 ext. 253.
TUESDAY, APRIL 12Canadian Life and Health
Insurance Industry Advocacy Day—Under the theme “Working Together for a Better Canada,” industry CEOs will be in Ottawa to meet with parliamentarians about issues of
importance to Canadians, such as health care, investing in infrastruc-ture projects and fi nancial literacy. For more information, contact Susan Murray ([email protected]).
Hope in Fragility: Healthy Futures for Women and Children in the World’s Toughest Places—Join President & CEO Michael Messen-ger as World Vision Canada hosts an experiential reception to explore how to improve women’s and children’s health in the toughest parts of the world at 6 p.m.-8 p.m. Drawing Room, Fairmont Chateau Laurier, 1 Rideau St. RSVP: 613-569-1888 or [email protected]
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13The Agricultural Institute of
Canada Conference—It will be holding a conference, April 13-14 on “Disseminating Agricultural Research.” Delegates will be part of a national dialogue on the place of agricultural research to re-establish Canada as a leading developer of innovative and sustainable agricul-tural products and technologies.
Smart Global Development Conference—This event will explore the role of higher educa-tion in advancing sustainable development goals, April 13-14, at the Delegation of the Ismaili Imamat, Ottawa. Organizers and sponsors: Aga Khan Foundation Canada, Academics without Bor-ders, International Development Research Centre. Undertaken with fi nancial support of: Global Affairs Canada. Registration is now open at smartglobaldev.ca.
Recreational Vehicle Dealers Association (RVDA) Reception—RVDA and CCRV will be hosting a reception as part of their 2016 Parliament Hill Days from 5:30 p.m.-7 p.m. in room 601 of the Parliamentary Restaurant.
One block south of the Hill Locally Owned & Operated since 1921
www.ottawaleathergoods.com
NDP federal convention April 8-10 in Edmonton
Parliamentary Calendar
Continued from page 44
Continued on page 47
Budget Day—Finance Minister Bill Morneau is expected to release the federal budget document in the House on Tuesday, March 22, 4 p.m. EST. The Hill Times photograph by Jake Wright
47THE HILL TIMES, MONDAY, MARCH 21, 2016
FEATURE EVENTS
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13Former Parliamentarians—The
Canadian Association of Former Parliamentarians eleventh an-nual Douglas C. Frith Dinner will take place on Wednesday, April 13, 2016 in the Ballroom of the Fairmont Château Laurier Hotel from 6 p.m. to 9:30 pm. The guest speaker, Minister of Democratic
Institutions Maryam Monsef will speak about “Understanding our Parliamentary history to help shape the reforms of tomorrow.” For ad-ditional information please call the CAFP offi ce at 613-947-1690.
THURSDAY, APRIL 14 Bacon & Eggheads Breakfast—
PAGSE presents a talk ‘Exploring a Simulated Brain: From Human Be-haviour to Drug Effects’ with Chris Eliasmith, University of Water-loo. 7:30 a.m. Parliamentary Dining
Room, Centre Block. No charge to MPs, Senators and media. All oth-ers, $25. Pre-registration required by Monday, April 11 by contacting Donna Boag, PAGSE [email protected] or call 613-991-6369.
HT Events Presents Transportation Forum—Join leading industry execu-tive and senior policy specialists for Hill Times Events Transportation Forum to examine the substantive recommen-dations put forward in the Transporta-tion Act Review Report entitled, Path-ways: Canada’s Transportation System to World. 11:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m., Shaw Centre, Ottawa. Registration prices are $249 for subscribers and $299 for non-subscribers. Special group discounted pricing is available. Get tickets: Eventbrite or contact [email protected]
Immigration Minister John McCallum at Economic Club of Canada— ‘Canada’s Renewed Com-mitment to Hosting, Integration, and Success of Immigrants,’ 11:45 a.m.-1:30 p.m., the Westin Ottawa, 11 Colonel By Dr., Ottawa. Members: individual seat $89 plus HST, or table of 10 for $800 plus HST; guest seat $110 plus HST and table of 10 $990 plus HST
Canadian War Museum Hosts Prestigious Society for Military His-tory Conference—The Canadian War Museum and the Canadian Museum of History are proud to host the 83rd Annual Conference of the Society for Military History, which will take place in Canada’s National Capital Region from April 14 to 17. It is considered to be one of the world’s top events for military historians and a certain draw for all those interested in history, heritage, security and current affairs. For more information on the Society for Military History and this year’s conference held at the Ottawa Mar-riott Hotel, please visit the Society’s website: www.smh-hq.org.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20 Writers’ Trust of Canada An-
nounces Shaughnessy Cohen Prize Winner—At 10 p.m. EST, the
prize winner will be announced at the Politics and the Pen Gala in Ottawa. Details of the authors and their nominated books are available on the Writers’ Trust website: writ-erstrust.com. Last year’s winner was Joseph Heath for Enlighten-ment 2.0: Restoring Sanity to Our Politics, Our Economy, and Our Lives.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27Donner Prize Ceremony—The
18th anniversary of the Donner Prize to reward excellence and innovation in public policy writing by Canadians for 2015-2016, will be held on Wednesday, April 27, 2016 at 6 p.m. at The Carlu, 444 Younge St. in Toronto. Invitation only.
THURSDAY, APRIL 28Conservative MP Tom Kmiec
Fundraiser: Trudeau 2.0: How Conser-vatives Must Respond. Cocktail and private dinner with Conservative MP Tom Kmiec, cocktail reception at 5:30 p.m. and dinner at 6:30 p.m. The Polish Canadian Cultural Centre, 3015 15 Street NE, Calgary, Alta. Special guest speaker: Conservative MP Jason Kenney, $100. Tickets online at http://tomkmiec.ca/april28
TUESDAY, MAY 3 Nestlé Canada Parliamentary
Reception—All parliamentarians are invited to join Nestlé Canada’s business leaders from across the country to celebrate 150 years of Nestlé ‘Good Food, Good Life’. 6 p.m.-8 p.m., Daly’s Restaurant, The Westin Ottawa Hotel. RSVP to Laura Seguin [email protected] or call 613-235-1400.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 11 Canadian Rail Summit 2016—Ca-
nadian Rail Summit 2016, Canada’s leading rail event. Explore cutting-edge products and services from 50 tradeshow exhibitors, and choose from a wide variety of technical and conference sessions on key industry
issues such as competitiveness, safety and emerging technologies. Register at www.railcan.ca/crs2016 and for more information, contact Janet Greene at 613-564-8109 [email protected] or Lynn Raby at 613-237-3888 or [email protected]
THURSDAY, MAY 12 Polytechnics Canada Annual
Policy Conference: This year’s confer-ence theme is “Learning that Works: Polytechnic Education”. Speakers include disruptive innovation expert Michael Horn, best-selling higher edu-cation author Jeff Selingo and ESDC deputy minister Ian Shugart. The conference will be held on May 12th and 13th, 2016 at Humber College in Toronto, ON. For more information visit polytechnicscanada.ca.
THURSDAY, MAY 26, 2016 Liberal Biennial Convention—The
federal Liberals will hold their conven-tion in Winnipeg, Man., Thursday, May 26, to Sunday, May 29, 2016.
Conservative Convention—The federal Conservatives will hold their convention in Vancouver, May 26 to May 29, 2016.
TUESDAY, JUNE 7Registration Now Open
CIPMM’s 27th Annual National Workshop—June 7-8, 2016. The workshop fee is $875 plus HST and includes access to all keynote and breakout sessions. More than 400 delegates from PWGSC, ESD, DND, HC, RCMP, CSEC, DFATD, DFO, TBS, NRCan, IC, AAND, CIC, and LAC. Senior government offi cials from the lead depart-ments and agencies will be at the networking reception. There will be exhibitors, subject matter experts representing both the public and private sectors.
The Parliamentary Calendar is a free listing. Send in your political, cultural, or governmental event in a paragraph with all the relevant details under the subject line ‘Parliamentary Calendar’ to [email protected] by Wednesday at noon before the Monday paper. Or fax it to 613-232-9055. We can’t guarantee inclusion of every event, but we will defi nitely do our best.
[email protected] Hill Times
®
mosaicco.com
McCallum to speak at Economic Club April 14 in Ottawa
Parliamentary Calendar
Continued from page 46
Immigration Minister John McCallum at Economic Club of Canada—‘Canada’s Renewed Commitment to Hosting, Integra-tion, and Success of Immigrants,’ 11:45 a.m.-1:30 p.m., the Westin Ottawa, 11 Colonel By Dr., Ottawa, April 14. The Hill Times photograph by Jake Wright
Politics, up closeand personal.Every Monday and now every Wednesdayin print, starting April 13.
The Hill Times is online every day on a new website, call 613-688-8822 for a free trial
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