CARBON TAX SCRAP — Tensions over the carbon tax and support for Ukraine will spill out of today’s political programming, and seem set to be a theme later this week as well. After QP, MPs will vote on an Opposition motion to cancel the April carbon tax hike, which will jump to $C80 per tonne from C$65. The carbon tax battle was the first of PIERRE POILIEVRE’s four priorities he listed for the current sitting and this might only be the first Oppo measure in store against hiking the tax. Tuesday and Thursday are allotted Opposition days. Conservative motions on notice oppose further increasing in the carbon tax in July, call for balancing the budget, and demand strengthening the criminal code to address the surge in car thefts. — Ukraine fight nears: The Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement bill is at third reading and the Liberals are looking to pass it sooner rather than later. Late last year, Trade Minister MARY NG moved to have the bill pass, but Conservative trade critic KYLE SEEBACK put forward an amendment to send it back to committee so it can be stripped of “all references to carbon pricing and carbon leakage.” A vote on that amendment is scheduled after QP. — Recurring theme: Poilievre has opposed the bill on the grounds of a carbon tax clause, and accused the PM of “using Ukraine as a political tool.” He and Trudeau squared off last week trying to one-up each other over support for Ukraine, and over which party turned their back on it the most. The Liberals accused the Conservatives of folding on their support for the country when most of the caucus voted against the bill at second reading, but CPC MPs have underscored in debate that they unequivocally support the country. — Ears perked: One data point that perked up Liberal antennas over the issue last fall: a poll by Pallas Data for 338Canada, suggesting the highest level of discontent with Canada’s support to Ukraine was among Conservatives, at roughly half opposing it. — Electoral reform, redux: Debate on an NDP motion on electoral reform also kicks off today, reviving an issue the Trudeau government campaigned on in 2015 and then deep-sixed over a complicated math formula. LISA MARIE BARRON’s motion M-86 is on the House agenda, which calls on the government to create a citizens’ assembly on electoral reform. The government wouldn’t be bound to act on it should the motion pass, but it would notch a small win for team orange. Twenty MPs have formally shown support for the idea through joint seconding, including the Green Party’s MIKE MORRICE, Liberals JENICA ATWIN and MICHAEL COTEAU, NDP MPs TAYLOR BACHRACH and HEATHER MCPHERSON, and Conservative MP BEN LOBB. — Recall: Expanding the ability to vote is one of the measures spelled out in the Liberal-NDP supply-and-confidence agreement that’s propping up the government, and a bill is being hammered out behind the scenes. — Also on tap this week: The Liberal government is aiming to send the Fall Economic Statement implementation legislation off to committee. On Wednesday, debate starts on Bill C‑62, which will delay the expansion of medical assistance in dying to include people suffering solely from mental illnesses. It kicks the can down the road until after the next election. AI LEGEND PITCHES TO POLITICOS — One of the godfathers of AI testifies to the Commons industry committee studying Bill C-27, the Liberal government’s sweeping privacy and AI legislation. YOSHUA BENGIO, now scientific director at Mila, the Quebec AI Institute, is a computer scientist who won the Turing Award with GEOFFREY HINTON and YANN LECUN in 2018, making him an academic rock star on AI. Bengio is co-chair of Innovation Minister Champagne’s AI council.
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