DRIP, DRIP, DRIP — Conservative MP ADAM CHAMBERS flagged March 9 as the start of “Budget Leak” season.
“Started early this year,” he noted in a tweet after CHRYSTIA FREELAND detailed a 2 percent increase to the alcohol excise tax. The former staffer to then-finance minister JIM FLAHERTY knows a thing or two about strategically leaked details. — He’s onto something. On March 4, Freeland’s office shared news that April 16 will be Budget Day. — Drip, drip, drip: Don't be surprised if the minister and a cadre of her Cabinet colleagues start spilling budget measures — not so much leaks as straight-up announcements designed to own a news cycle or two. Freeland is going to need all the help she can get selling the government's plan on a skeptical public. Why wait for a post-budget roadshow when you can spend two constituency weeks between now and the big day showcasing the highlights? — What we know: This is likely to go down as a housing budget. Bloomberg's BRIAN PLATT talked to experts who have served up some ideas. MICKEY DJURIC of The Canadian Press suggests a framework for a national school food program is on Freeland’s desk. Tell us: What shiny objects do you expect to hear about in the coming days? Are you CHRYSTIA FREELAND and want us to know? You know how to reach us . TESTIMONY TIME — The Hogue commission is revving up this week. MARIE-JOSÉE HOGUE's public inquiry into foreign interference in federal elections will drop a high-profile witness list early this week that includes Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU. — Same bat time: Hearings start Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. in the Winifred Bambrick Room at Library and Archives HQ on Wellington Street. — On deck: The commission expects to hear from 40 people. Hogue wants to give Canadians "a better understanding of the foreign interference threats our electoral system may have faced in the 2019 and 2021 elections, the protective mechanisms that were in place, and the potential impact, if any, on the integrity of the elections." The witness list will include "members of diaspora communities, current and former elected officials, political party representatives, Elections Canada and the Office of the Commissioner of Canada Elections, current and former senior government officials, Cabinet ministers and the prime minister." — Get organized: The Rouleau commission that sorted out pandemic-era convoys and border blockades published thousands of documents, including reams of emails, text messages and handwritten notes (which elicited snarky comments on penmanship). Expect plenty of careful disclosure over the next two weeks as commission counsel and a phalanx of intervenors probe for details on attempted election interference. WINNIPEG LAB DOCS — Conservatives are forcing break-week attention on recently declassified documents that explain why a pair of scientists — XIANGGUO QIU and her husband KEDING CHENG — were escorted from Canada's top-secret microbiology laboratory in 2019 and fired in 2021. The docs, sought for years by the opposition, claimed Qiu posed a realistic and credible threat to Canada’s economic security. The Globe recently reported Qiu is now in China, "conducting research with Chinese military scientists and other virology researchers, including at the Wuhan Institute of Virology." The special committee on Canada-China relations meets at 8:45 a.m. on Tuesday to talk it all over. — CPC pressure: The Tories have so far failed to call committee meetings dedicated to the lab docs. Liberals and New Democrats voted down a study at the House ethics committee. Tory MP STEPHEN ELLIS managed to badger Health Minister MARK HOLLAND at the health committee. But his colleague, MICHAEL CHONG, wants more. — A new study: Chong will present a motion tomorrow that calls on the Canada-China committee to meet twice every sitting week on the lab docs and the "broader concerns they represent in relation to Canada's national security, as well as the obstacles encountered in obtaining these documents." Chong's motion threatens to summon senior officials from Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada. → Proposed witnesses: STEPHEN LUCAS, deputy minister of Health; DONALD SHEPPARD, VP of PHAC's infectious diseases branch; GUILLAUME POLIQUIN, VP of PHAC's National Microbiology Laboratory; HEATHER JEFFREY, PHAC president; DAVID VIGNEAULT, director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service; NATHALIE DROUIN, national security and intelligence adviser to the prime minister. Chong also wants to hear from Holland and Public Safety Minister DOMINIC LEBLANC. On Wednesday, the Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference in Federal Electoral Processes and Democratic Institutions will resume its public hearings. | 
