Filibuster bluster 

By KYLE DUGGAN, ZI-ANN LUM and NICK TAYLOR-VAISEY

06/08/2023 06:00 AM EDT

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Thanks for reading Ottawa Playbook. I’m your host, Kyle Duggan, with Zi-Ann Lum and Nick Taylor-Vaisey. We’ve got the skinny on PIERRE POILIEVRE's pushback against the budget bill and the June antics within the Commons. Also, Canada's wildfires continue to rage and we bring you the figures for government spending on carbon offsets.

SITUATION NORMAL — Liberal Whip STEVEN MACKINNON suggested Conservative MP CHERYL GALLANT was being instructed to drag her heels on a vote when he asked who was pulling her "puppet strings."

Conservative MP BRAD VIS accused Liberal MP PETER FONSECA of calling him a "rat."

NDP MP PETER JULIAN demanded a "full investigation into the circus we saw this evening with Conservatives, only, being unable to master the technical abilities" of the voting app.

So, it was a typical Wednesday evening in June in the House of Commons.

Long after those eruptions faded into the background, Conservative Leader PIERRE POILIEVRE took the spotlight, firing on all cylinders and talking into the night about the dangers of the government's "inflationary trainwreck" budget.

His greatest-hits speech spanned a range of the usual topics. And it included some history lessons on Japanese and U.S. monetary policy choices of the past; the famous economists Milton Friedman and Friedrich Hayek; and even some stories about Henry VIII and the ancient Greek tyrant Dionysius.

RALLY THE TROOPS — POILIEVRE won his earned media attention earlier in the day when he delivered a rah-rah, pep-rally-esque motivator for the rank-and-file in advance of the late-night budget debate.

And this came not long after the Bank of Canada unexpectedly hiked its key rate to its highest point since 2001.

"So, Justin. How do you expect people to pay their bills now?" Polievre said, in what seemed like a response to Trudeau's callout from the Liberal convention a month ago.

"Justin Trudeau: You and your spending, your out of control debt and taxation are leading us headline into a full scale financial crisis. And I will not let you do it."

— The focus: How much will mortgages go up?

Forest fires and other issues didn't earn a mention in Poilievre's prelude to his budget-blocker speech. That, on a day when that's all Canada and the U.S. were talking about.

Not that he can hold the budget up much longer, with control of the chamber sitting in the hands of the Liberals and NDP and time allocation passed.

— Mr. Popular: Former Liberal Finance Minister John Manley's mentions in Parliament are quickly ticking up thanks to the Conservatives echoing his inflation metaphor: "This is a bit like driving your car with one foot on the gas and the other on the brake generally."

— The response: Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland told reporters Wednesday the light at the end of the tunnel is near and that inflation could fall to 3 percent this summer: "We are very close to the end of this difficult time, and to a return to low, stable inflation."

— What's next: The central bank does not appear to be done just yet.

It warned Wednesday that "concerns have increased that CPI inflation could get stuck materially above the 2 percent target."Economists are speculating whether another rate hike could be in store for July or September.

People take photos of the sun as smoke from the wildfires in Canada cause hazy conditions in New York City. | Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images

RAGING FIRES — Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU called it "the worst wildfire season we’ve ever had, right across the country."

Some 20,000 people remain evacuated from their homes. More than 200 blazes are out of control. Face masks are back in fashion in cities and air quality ratings are off-the-charts bad.

And Americans noticed, since their sky went orange in places like New York and millions fell under air quality alerts.

— On-the-money quotes: From ABC: New York "looked like the Zombie apocalypse." From AP: "I can taste the air." From NBC: It's "Blade Runner 2049."

— More help offered: U.S. President Joe Biden spoke with Trudeau and offered "additional support to respond to the devastating and historic wildfires burning in Canada," according to a White House readout sent late Wednesday.

It said Biden has "directed his team to deploy all available federal firefighting assets that can rapidly assist in suppressing fires impacting Canadian and American communities."

— Everyone's talking about it: Finance Minister CHRYSTIA FREELAND got a text Wednesday from Spanish Economy Minister NADIA CALVIÑO, who is making a trip to New York and is no stranger to grappling with wildfires in her own country.

It went to the effect: "I just saw the forest fires in Canada. What a disaster. I’m so sorry."

Freeland brought that up to a Senate committee Wednesday to make the point that "this is really now an international crisis, what is happening in our forests."

White House press spokesperson KARINE JEAN-PIERRE said more than 600 U.S. firefighters and equipment, like water-bombers, have been deployed to Canada.

"It is yet another alarming example of the ways in which the climate crisis is disturbing our lives and our communities," she said.

— Didn't miss a beat: Politicians in the U.S. and Canada are leveraging it to highlight the dangers of climate change. And score political points, of course.

Green Party MP ELIZABETH MAY said in Question Period that lawmakers’ "eyes are burning" in the chamber, and that the forest fires have pierced the "Ottawa parliamentary bubble."

May and GPC Leader MIKE MORRICE will hold a presser today to "condemn the lack of climate action" by the government.

"Our country is literally on fire and the current Liberal government thinks that business as usual is fine," NDP Leader JAGMEET SINGH said. "We have a Conservative Party that is in full-denial mode."

Trudeau claimed Poilievre "still questions whether [climate change] exists while Canada is burning."

Poilievre asked if Trudeau has "really sunken to the low of exploiting these fires for political gain to distract from his inflationary and high interest rate policies?"

POLITICO's Nick Taylor-Vaisey rounds up the Canadian numbers on the fires.

Dr. Rahul Gupta, Director, Office of National Drug Control Policy, speaks at POLITICO's 2nd annual Health Care Summit on June 7, 2023. | Rod Laskey for POLITICO

‘LET’S FIGURE IT OUT’ — Biden drug czar RAHUL GUPTA says health leaders from the U.S. and Mexico were taking note about Canada's response to the opioid crisis while sharing best practices this week during a two-day gathering at the White House.

"They’re expanding treatment, of course," Gupta, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, said Wednesday at POLITICO's Health Care Summit. "They’re also looking at monitoring and evaluating their substitution therapies, you can call it, or safe injection sites … those kinds of things."

Minister of Mental Health and Addictions and Associate Minister of Health CAROLYN BENNETT traveled to Washington to participate in the Trilateral North American Drug Dialogue Public Health Summit.

The confab of policy makers from the U.S., Canada and Mexico is the latest step in joint action against opioids that was announced in January at the North American Leaders’ Summit.

"The whole idea is, ‘Let's figure it out,’" Gupta said of the White House meeting. "North America can be a leader in some of this."

He stressed the importance of focusing on addressing the opioid crisis, saying: "There is no other area where it's a matter of life and death."

The prime minister attends the Pride flag-raising ceremony on Parliament Hill at 9 a.m., alongside Gender Equality Minister MARCI IEN.

At 7:30 p.m. in Toronto, Trudeau meets with youth at the Canadian Jewish Political Affairs Committee ACTION party before delivering remarks to the Rainbow Railroad Freedom Party at 9:30 p.m.

Deputy Prime Minister CHRYSTIA FREELAND is in Toronto where she will meet industry leaders for a roundtable discussion on artificial intelligence. It will be closed to media.

9 a.m. Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth MARCI IEN will raise the Pride flag on Parliament Hill. NDP Leader JAGMEET SINGH will be among the officials in attendance.

10:15 a.m. Singh and NDP MP DON DAVIES will hold a media availability in West Block on pharmacare.

5:30 p.m. Outside the Canada Border Services Agency on Airport Road, Singh will meet with students threatened with deportation.

7 p.m. Singh will speak at the UBCIC virtual Chiefs Council.

CHARGE IT — The federal government has spent at least C$213,778.75 on carbon offsets since January 2016, according to documents recently tabled in the House of Commons.

Global Affairs Canada (GAC) was the top spender with two years of carbon offset purchases — a total of C$61,106 in 2018 and 2019.

These purchases were related to Canada's presidency of the G-7, GAC said in a sessional paper response to a question from Conservative MP WARREN STEINLEY.

— Carbon disclosure: On March 30, 2019, GAC paid C$52,968 to Offsetters Clean Technology Inc. against 8,634 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions. The Vancouver-based company has since rebranded and is known as Ostrom Climate.

— What about other years? GAC offered a partial disclosure, citing its contributions to the Greening Government Fund. More acronyms: a.k.a. GGF for short.

"The GGF uses a carbon offset model to provide funding to projects which reduce GHG emissions by federal government departments and agencies," the department said.

— Further reading: One of the GGF projects backed by GAC was a carpooling app for its employees to encourage "green commuting habits." The department pledged C$62,000 in 2021 to get its employees around Ottawa to use ecoCommute.

— Spotted in the ecoCommute app FAQ section: An answer to a highly relatable "What if I have to work late?" question.

Don't carpool, was the advice, since GAC ride shares are intended to be flexible and convenient. "On those days when it is not convenient, you can commute to work in another manner. Take the bus or your bike, walk, work from home, or bring your own car."

— There are prizes: Apparently, if you log 150 sustainable trips, the top reward is a 30-minute group chat with a GAC executive, an opportunity billed as "your chance to share your thoughts." The offer is only available to the first three employees who claim it.

The group chat comes with snacks. Really. For sustainable transportation champions only.

— BOB FIFE and STEVEN CHASE report in the Globe that a new Nanos poll finds 60 percent of Canadians support a formal public inquiry into foreign interference.

— "If there were any doubts MPs are more concerned with scoring partisan points than they are about addressing the country's vulnerability to foreign interference, they were laid to rest this week," the Star's ALTHIA RAJ writes. "But [David] Johnston did himself no favours either."

— The Globe's BILL CURRY has this piece on Indigenous leaders pitching a loan-guarantee plan for resource projects.

— APTN's DANIELLE PARADIS talked to residents of Fort Chipewyan who have been displaced by forest fires. "It is traumatizing when you are given three hours to pack a bag," one elder said. "You walk around your house and say … what am I going to take."

— CBC reports Indigenous advocates say it's "unacceptable" that, four years on, many of the calls for justice from the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls have yet to be addressed.

— ALEX PANETTA reports Canada has received its first UFO briefing from the U.S., classified, of course.

Birthdays: Canadian economist DAVID DODGE is 80 today.

Spotted: In the Commons gallery, B.C.'s Municipal Affairs Minister ANNE KANG and Saskatchewan's Government Relations Minister DON MCMORRIS.

MP ARIF VIRANI, welcoming 10 kids from Parkdale Junior and Senior Public School to the House. "The hope is that they might learn, that they might be impressed or even inspired, inspired by seeing that Canada's Parliament in 2023 looks just like they do, a diverse assemblage of people of different races, different backgrounds, different cultures and different religions," he told MPs.

In the gallery in Westminster: GENE SIMMONS, in his trademark sunglasses, watching as politicians traded barbs about a Covid inquiry. "It was the clash of wills but respectful — the right honorable so and so, it was fascinating," the KISS frontman later said. h/t POLITICO's London Playbook.

Conservative insider JENNI BYRNE duking it out (and bringing the receipts) on Twitter with PPC Leader MAXIME BERNIER.

Movers and shakers: The National Post's JOHN IVISON, soon bound for sunny Costa Rica, has a going away party at the Met June 20.

HARRIET SOLLOWAY has been nominated to become the next public sector integrity commissioner.

At Carleton's 2023 spring convocation, honorary degrees to JANICE CHARETTE, clerk of the Privy Council and secretary to the Cabinet until she retires June 24; former diplomat VIKAS SWARUP and BARBARA DUMONT-HILL, former Elder adviser to the department of justice team working with the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

If you’re a subscriber, don't miss our latest policy newsletter by NICK TAYLOR-VAISEY and ZI-ANN LUM: Macklem's next move.

In other Pro headlines:

— Use AI to regulate AI, Google executive says.

— Bipartisan duo release bill that could inch U.S. toward carbon border tariffs.

— An oil state hired the biggest PR firms to buff its climate image. It didn't help.

— Von der Leyen cooks up ‘huge shift’ on economic security. Free traders might not like it.

— COP28 boss under pressure to convince skeptics at Bonn climate talks.

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9 a.m. The Senate committee on agriculture and forestry continues to study soil health in Canada.

9 a.m. RHONA DELFRARI, chief sustainability officer of Cenovus Energy, will be in front of the Senate committee on energy.

11 a.m. VINCENT RIGBY, visiting professor at McGill's Max Bell School of Public Policy, will appear at the House procedure committee to discuss a question of privilege related to the intimidation campaign against MP Michael Chong.

11 a.m. Former finance minister BILL MORNEAU will videoconference in for an hour with the House transport committee to discuss the role of McKinsey & Company in the Canada Infrastructure Bank.

11 a.m. The House foreign affairs committee will discuss Canada's sanctions regime.

11:30 a.m. Foreign Affairs Minister MÉLANIE JOLY will be at the Senate foreign affairs committee to talk about the foreign service.

11:30 a.m. The Senate legal affairs committee will discuss Bill S-12.

11:30 a.m. The Senate committee on social affairs has a meeting on the books.

3:30 p.m. EDWARD JOHNSON, chair of the board of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, will be at the House committee on public accounts.

3:30 p.m. The House international trade committee will look at the underused housing tax.

3:30 p.m. The House heritage committee continues its study on safe sport in Canada.

3:30 p.m. Rep. DEBBIE DINGELL (D-Mich.) will appear at the House fisheries and oceans committee by video to discuss the allocation of resources to the Great Lakes Fishery Commission.

Behind closed doors: The House health committee will spend its first hour focused on its draft report on children's health; in its second hour, it will discuss draft instructions for a report on breast implants. The House environment committee will split its meeting time between a report on fossil fuel subsidies and another on clean technologies. The House finance committee will discuss business. The House veterans affairs committee will look at case managers and rehabilitation contracts. The House committee on the status of women will discuss committee work and a draft report. The Senate committee on banking and finance will also be discussing a draft report.

Wednesday's answer: Sen. MARGO GREENWOOD wrote in her doctoral thesis:

"A wise friend once told me that Indigenous ways of knowing and being in the world are not just for Indigenous peoples …" The Indigenous scholar and academic was named to the Senate in November 2022.

Props to KRISTA OUTHWAITE, GEORGE SCHOENHOFER and ANDRÉ BRISEBOIS.

Today's question: In 2009, the House of Commons unanimously voted to adopt June as National Aboriginal History Month. The name was changed to National Indigenous History Month in 2017.

Name the MP who introduced the motion.

Send your answer to [email protected]

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