→ Alberta Premier DANIELLE SMITH is in the nation’s capital, where debate over her transgender policy plans is sure to follow.
→ Political posturing over the April carbon tax hike kicks off the week in the House.
→ One of the godfathers of AI beams into committee to share his views on Ottawa’s attempt to regulate the rapidly advancing technology.
THREE THINGS WE'RE WATCHING
TRANSGENDER RIGHTS FIGHT AT THE DOORSTEP — The federal Conservatives don’t want to step into the fight over Alberta’s controversial gender policies, but progressive politicians here are being hand delivered an opportunity to keep it in the news cycle.
Alberta Premier DANIELLE SMITH is in Ottawa today for a speaking event titled “Alberta’s advantage is also a Canadian advantage,” hosted by the Economic Club of Canada and moderated by Meta’s RACHEL CURRAN.
Smith drew fire after announcing intentions to usher in “parental rights” policies that would restrict access to gender-affirming treatments for youth and exclude transgender athletes from women’s sports, importing a hot U.S. political flashpoint north of the border.
— Swift backlash: Doctors’ groups have come out against the proposed policy and the Canadian Paediatric Society sent a letter to Smith Friday calling the move an intrusion by government that will “lead to significant negative health outcomes, including increased risk of suicide and self-harm” for young Albertans.
— Talking heads: Smith made an appearance on "The West Block" where she told DAVID AKIN it’s an “evolving conversation.” So too was Edmonton Liberal MP RANDY BOISSONNAULT, who said he has constituents who are “quite rightly terrified.”
— Ottawa office relaunches: As Playbook reported last week, Smith will also be in town for the opening of an Ottawa office for Alberta, to be headed by JAMES CARPENTER, amid trying times between the province and the federal government, CHRIS VARCOE reports in the Calgary Herald. A previous Alberta office here was shuttered in 2015 to save money.
— Meeting circuit: Smith is expected to meet with Natural Resources Minister JONATHAN WILKINSON, Labour Minister SEAMUS O’REGAN, Innovation Minister FRANÇOIS-PHILIPPE CHAMPAGNE and Public Safety Minister DOMINIC LEBLANC, Varcoe writes. Smith later heads off to Toronto and Washington.
Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU has not confirmed an in-person meeting with Smith. But on Friday he took the opportunity to slam her for advancing the “most anti-LGBT policies of anywhere in the country.”
The federal Conservatives have been told not to comment on the policies, as the Liberals seek to associate them with MAGA-style rhetoric and policies.
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.
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.
Dario Amodei, Yoshua Bengio, and Stuart Russell testify during a hearing before the Privacy, Technology, and the Law Subcommittee of Senate Judiciary Committee at Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on July 25, 2023 in Washington. | Alex Wong/Getty Images
— Brace for warnings: Bengio has spent much of the past year issuing warnings about the risks advances in AI systems pose, and last spring urged Ottawa to regulate faster against harms, such as chat systems passing for human that could douse gasoline over the disinformation dumpster fire raging on social media.
Last summer, Bengio warned a U.S. Senate committee about a “significant probability that superhuman AI is just a few years away, outpacing our ability to comprehend the various risks and establish sufficient guardrails, particularly against the more catastrophic scenarios."
— Performance test: A star witness like this casting the spotlight on the committee provides an opportunity for MPs to shine and show their savvy and understanding — or lack thereof.
Just think back to all the times various politicians couldn’t pronounce Huawei as they debated banning it from 5G networks.
— Related reading:OLIVIA OLANDER, MACKENZIE WILKES, KATY O'DONNELL, DANIEL PAYNE and RUTH READER have this feature for POLITICO: "How AI is quietly changing everyday life"
Where the leaders are
— Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU’s itinerary vaguely states he has “no public events scheduled” in the National Capital Region.
— On the latest episode of Good Talk, a spicy chat about CBC President CATHERINE TAIT, plus CHANTAL HÉBERT muses about the future of Quebec Premier FRANÇOIS LEGAULT.
— Municipal is the new federal, former mayor JIM WATSONwrites for Policy with a nod to former federal and provincial politicians — AMARJEET SOHI, DENNIS CODERRE, ANDREA HORWATH, STEVEN DEL DUCA, OLIVIA CHOW, PATRICK BROWN, MIKE SAVAGE — now toiling at the municipal level.
A message from The Coalition For Canadian Research:
In contrast, Canada’s funding for research and support for researchers is stagnating, hindering our ability to generate new insights and attract highly qualified individuals. In the face of pressing challenges like climate change, a strained health care system and rising costs of living, investing in research will be central to Canada’s future success.
Now, more than ever, we stand at a pivotal moment where decisive action is essential. Canada must match the ambition of our peers to compete on the global stage and foster highly-qualified talent in Canada. We have the people and ideas we need to keep forging ahead as a global leader in research. But we must act NOW or risk falling behind.
CF-18 fighter jets, flying over a wide swath of Ottawa on Sunday. The Department of National Defence says they were enroute from Toronto to Moncton "for routine training," but diverted to Ottawa due to bad weather in the Maritimes. They'll return to CFB Bagotville today.
Movers and shakers: Former B.C. labor minister IAIN BLACK is seeking the federal Conservative nomination in Coquitlam-Port Coquitlam, and former finance min MIKE DE JONG also intends to run for the party in the next election, the Globe’s IAN BAILEY writes.
MARIE LEMAY has been reappointed as president and CEO of the Royal Canadian Mint for a five-year term.
ALEXANDER WOOD has joined the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy as a senior fellow.
BRIAN HIGGINS, Buffalo's man in the U.S. House of Representatives, officially resigned from Congress on Friday. Higgins, a vocal opponent of the Liberals’ underused housing tax, issued a statement on his last day that reflected on his career: “I went to Congress nineteen years ago on a mission, not to change the world but to change my community.”
Farewells: MP VANCE BADAWEY paid tribute in the House on Friday to “one-in-a-generation change-maker” BOB LAMBE, who has just retired from the Great Lakes Fishery Commission.
In memoriam: MP CHARLES SOUSA took time in the Chamber to honor the life of community leader BOYD UPPER. “Throughout his long and illustrious career, Boyd was involved in Canadian politics, contributing to key elements of national unity. In the early 60s, Lester B. Pearson enlisted him to help plan the basis for universal public health.” Upper’s obituary is here.
MP JAKE STEWART devoted his latest SO31 to NOËL KINSELLA, the 42nd Speaker of the Senate, who died in December. “New Brunswick has lost one of its greatest sons,” the MP for Miramichi-Grand Lake told the House. “He was a champion of human rights and principled public policy, a staunch adherent to parliamentary procedure and the rule of law and a man whose quiet dignity spoke volumes.”
11 a.m. The House national defense committee will meet to continue its study on the lack of housing availability for veterans and their families.
11 a.m. Canada Border Services Agency Executive Director MICHEL LAFLEUR will be at the House government operations committee to take questions about the ArriveCAN app.
11 a.m. The House committee on Indigenous and northern affairs meets to take Bill C-53 through clause-by-clause consideration.
3:30 p.m. Labor and Seniors Minister SEAMUS O’REGAN and Citizens’ Services Minister TERRY BEECH will be at the House human resources committee to take questions on supplementary estimates.
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TRIVIA
Friday’s answer: In 1994, the road through North Buxton, Ontario, was renamed after ABRAHAM SHADD, the first Black man in Canada to be elected to a municipal government.
Props to PAUL NIXEY, MARCEL MARCOTTE, DARRYL DAMUDE, DENISE SIELE, BOB GORDON, LAURA JARVIS, JOHN ECKER, JIM CAMPBELL, DAVE EPP and ROBERT MCDOUGALL.
Today’s question: Whose 2018 run for Toronto City Council was the subject of a documentary that won the Donald Brittain Award.
Playbook wouldn’t happen without: POLITICO Canada editor Sue Allan, editor Willa Plank and Luiza Ch. Savage.
Want to grab the attention of movers and shakers on Parliament Hill? Want your brand in front of a key audience of Ottawa influencers? Playbook can help. Contact Jesse Shapiro to find out how: jshapiro@politico.com.
