| | | | |  | | By Nick Taylor-Vaisey, Zi-Ann Lum and Kyle Duggan | | Presented by |  | | | Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Ottawa Playbook | Follow Politico Canada Thanks for reading Ottawa Playbook. Let's get into it. In today's edition: → Ottawa charts a controversial "transition" plan for British Columbia salmon farms. → Hello, solstice. Goodbye, parliamentarians. → Labor Minister SEAMUS O'REGAN on the art of a deal.
|  | For your radar | | FISH FARMS — Technically, it was Fisheries Minister DIANE LEBOUTHILLIER who announced news of the mega-compromise "transition" plan that could spell the end of open-net salmon farms on the coast of British Columbia. The roadmap was officially Lebouthillier's bailiwick. But she was not the only face of the decision in B.C. on Wednesday. Energy Minister JONATHAN WILKINSON held his own press conference in Vancouver. When he was fisheries minister back in 2019, the MP for North Vancouver first made the Liberals' campaign pledge to rid coastal waters of open-net pens when he was fisheries minister. Wilkinson's turn at the lectern was an "echo," in comms jargon, of Lebouthillier's long-promised decision. The former fisheries minister was flanked by a more recent former fisheries minister, JOYCE MURRAY, and Citizens’ Services Minister TERRY BEECH. — Fin spin: Lebouthillier's media advisory previewed a "path forward for salmon aquaculture" in B.C. Wilkinson's advisory was all about "wild Pacific salmon protection." The not-so-subtle messaging schism on the issue reflected a divide in the Liberal caucus, though everybody played nice on Wednesday. B.C. Liberal caucus chair TALEEB NOORMOHAMED and Richmond Centre MP WILSON MIAO joined Lebouthillier, whose Quebec riding includes the Gulf of St. Lawrence. → A quick refresher: An alliance of environmentalists, sportfishers, wilderness tourism operators and First Nations insist disease emanating from open-net pens harm wild salmon populations. The farmers, including those in coastal Indigenous communities, insist right back that technology minimizes negative impacts. — Promise made, promise kept, mostly: Lebouthillier granted five-year licence renewals to existing open-net pens, but banned them as of June 30, 2029. The minister committed to publishing a draft transition plan for the aquaculture industry this summer, with a final version to follow next year. She spoke to the role fish farms could still play in food security. She intends to grant nine-year licences to closed-containment systems — whether on land or in the water — that don't interact with wild salmon. → Election-sized caveat: Canadians will go to the polls before the end of 2025, and could vote at least once more before the ban takes effect. Conservatives have been cagey about their views, but fish farmers are keenly aware of shifting political winds in Ottawa. — Diversity is our strength: Every Liberal at a mic nodded to robust debate behind closed doors. Noormohamed described the caucus talks as "important and lively." Wilkinson told Playbook that the salmon file is the top priority of every B.C. Liberal MP, though he acknowledged maritimers in the caucus room see the issue differently. New Brunswick MP WAYNE LONG was vocally disappointed in his government. Cabinet wasn't a slam dunk, either. "You have different perspectives, and you have discussions and and at times you have arguments," Wilkinson said. "And at the end of the day, you make a decision, and that decision belongs to every member of Cabinet." — Sharp response: The news landed with a thud in the aquaculture sector and its suppliers, who argue that a five-year transition is too quick. First Nations leaders who support open-net farms held a fiery press conference. "Our rights have been dismissed in favor of a privileged Liberal urban riding political narrative," said Hereditary Chief Hasheukumiss of the Ahousaht Nation. Oof. — The other side of the debate: KILIAN STEHFEST, a marine conservation specialist for the David Suzuki Foundation, applauded Ottawa's move in a statement — but still cast a critical eye on the timelines. “It’s great to see the federal government commit to concrete deadlines, even though they do not meet the government’s original commitment to transition from open-net pens by 2025 or the urgency of the moment given the dire state of many wild salmon runs. — What's next: Lebouthillier's draft transition plan, which will inevitably invigorate a perennially polarized debate.
| | A message from Canadian Dental Association: Seniors 65+ are now eligible to apply to receive care under the Canadian Dental Care Plan. Starting June 2024, applications are open to children under the age of 19 and adults with a valid Disability Tax Credit certificate. Although millions of Canadians are starting to access care through the CDCP, some important misconceptions remain. If you or someone you care for is eligible for the CDCP, click here to know before you go. | | | | | Where the leaders are | |
— Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU is in Housing Minister SEAN FRASER's Central Nova backyard. Families Minister JENNA SUDDS will join the pair for meetings with local students and educators, as well as an announcement — at 2:15 p.m. local time — related to the government's promised national school food program.
Trudeau and Fraser will also "visit a local farm to discuss female entrepreneurship and supports given to local school food programs." — Deputy PM CHRYSTIA FREELAND will be in Vancouver, where she will visit a school and discuss the government’s investments in a national school food program. She will hold a media availability at 1:15 p.m. local time, joined by ministers HARJIT SAJJAN and TERRY BEECH. At 7 p.m., she will meet with local students in an event that is closed to media. — Green Leader ELIZABETH MAY will attend the Wabano Igniting the Spirit Gala 2024 from 5 to 9:30 p.m. at the Ottawa Conference and Event Centre in celebration of National Indigenous Peoples Day.
| | | DULY NOTED | | | 11 a.m. Public Safety Minister DOMINIC LEBLANC appears at the procedure and House affairs committee to take questions on documents requested by Commissioner Justice MARIE-JOSÉE HOGUE. 12:30 p.m. Labor Minister SEAMUS O'REGAN and Energy Minister JONATHAN WILKINSON will announce "a plan to modernize federal assessment and permitting to get clean growth projects built faster." 3:30 p.m. The House public accounts committee hears from Auditor General KAREN HOGAN and PAUL BOOTHE, chair of Sustainable Development Technology Canada.
| | DRIVING THE DAY | | CLOSING TIME — The Ottawa airport will welcome an exodus tonight and tomorrow morning. The parliamentary precinct is about to fall blissfully silent. Yes, it's adjournment time. MPs jetted from their chamber yesterday. Senators could've sat a few more days, but they're sick of the place. They plan to wrap up their work tonight. Hello, summer solstice. Goodbye, parliamentarians. — Royal Assent watch: Governor General MARY SIMON is set to add her signature to a pile of legislation before senators vacate the capital. That roster includes Bill C-50, the sustainable jobs bill; Bill C-58, which bans replacement workers from federally regulated sectors; and Bill C-59, which implements parts of Finance Minister CHRYSTIA FREELAND's 2023 Fall Economic Statement. → Clear skies for C-69: Senators expect to vote at third reading on the government's first budget bill of the year, paving the way for royal assent this evening alongside C-74 and C-75, supply bills that allow the government to actually spend federal dollars. → Rush job on C-70: The foreign interference bill flew through the Senate only a week after receiving first reading. Monday's second-reading debate got spicy, but the government had the votes in the Senate — including Conservatives. Add it to the royal assent queue. — Backup plan: Senators could sit Friday if they don't clear the legislative decks today.
| | | | A message from Canadian Dental Association:   | | | | | ALSO FOR YOUR RADAR | | MYSTERY SOLVED — CHRYSTIA FREELAND flew to Washington on Monday to have dinner with U.S. Treasury Secretary JANET YELLEN. It was a minor teeth-pulling exercise to extract details on the DPM’s quick trip to Washington, described in her public itinerary as a “working dinner with members of the U.S. Administration focused on Canada-U.S. economic co-operation.” — Also at the table: Canadian Ambassador KIRSTEN HILLMAN. STOLTENBUDDIES — NATO Secretary General JENS STOLTENBERG swung by the Sir John A. Macdonald Building for a speech and fireside chat, ahead of his dinner with PMJT. The military alliance’s honcho said meeting with allied world leaders is important in the lead-up to the NATO summit in Washington that runs July 9 to 11. The one-day stop — sandwiched by high-level talks in Washington, of course — did not set off fireworks over Canada’s failure to ratchet up defense spending to 2 percent of GDP. But Stoltenberg talked about it. — Back of the pack: Stoltenberg praised Canada as a “highly valued” ally and, speaking with reporters, offered that Canada’s defense spend was at a “very low level” when it first made the 2 percent pledge in 2014. “So, compared to some other allies, you have a longer way to go.” — Waiting on a plan: Still, Stoltenberg expects Canada, and the seven other allies that failed to reach the agreed upon spending floor this year, to produce a plan to meet its commitment. He did not set a timeline for that expectation. — Canada connection: In an armchair talk moderated by LISA LAFLAMME, Stoltenberg said his mother studied at McGill University and married a Canadian. That’s how he ended up meeting LEONARD COHEN, a friend of his father’s, around 2010, when Stoltenberg was PM of Norway and Cohen visited Oslo for a concert. — Spotted: Former PM JOE CLARK, Ambassador DAVID COHEN, DAVID ANGELL, Liberal MP JULIE DZEROWICZ, DAVID PERRY, COLIN ROBERTSON, HEATHER SCOFFIELD, ROBERT ASSELIN.
| | HALLWAY CONVERSATION | | STRIKE WATCH — WestJet mechanics have returned to the bargaining table, averting a strike that could've started as early as tonight and threatened early summer travel schedules. Labor Minister SEAMUS O'REGAN had to be sensing déjà vu. Playbook caught up with the minister in Toronto last week, just after he delivered a Canadian Club speech on the care economy. We inquired about the state of labor relations. O'Regan makes a habit of keeping tabs on fractious bargaining tables. He recalled the hard bargaining between WestJet pilots and their bosses in May 2023. During the talks, the minister spent nights in a string of Toronto airport hotels — including one of the Sheratons, though "not the fancy one attached to the terminal." That negotiation is where our conversation starts. The interview transcript has been edited for length and clarity. What have unions and employers learned from each other over a series of tough negotiations in the post-pandemic era? One of the lessons in WestJet was it was the first time those two sides had reached an agreement at a bargaining table. They'd only ever gotten an agreement that was imposed on them in some way, shape or form or back-to-work legislation. And so the animosities were just brewing, and our guys were telling me, "I've rarely seen a more acrimonious table." By the time I got in there, their arms were around one another. They cracked open another bottle of champagne. Both sides, but especially the pilots, were saying to me, "We didn't know this feeling." This feeling of reaching an agreement with somebody who you've been at loggerheads for weeks, months, maybe years, and then you both take that leap together. It's a huge moment, because you're suddenly going back and hopefully they'll catch you — and they do. How have both sides adapted their approach to bargaining? It is worth noting that not one political party in the House of Commons asked for back-to-work legislation during those two weeks in B.C. ports. Not one. By that I mean Conservatives, and that'll tell you something, right? I keep repeating that, because I want all parties to understand that. Labor does hold sway right now. If you understand the market, it's simple supply and demand. There are fewer of them, and we need more. When they come to the table and ask for more, negotiate more — and I think there's a growing acceptance that if you want to retain good employees, you pay more. That's just a demographic reality that has become a political reality that is increasingly becoming an economic and labor reality. | | MEDIA ROOM | | — The Hill Times brought the alliteration to this headline: Telford untouchable at the top of the 21st Terrific 25 Staffers list, as Conservatives sweep Most Knowledgeable and Best Spin. | | PLAYBOOKERS | | Birthdays: HBD to Thunder Bay Mayor KEN BOSHCOFF, Canadian Labour Congress organizer MAT WHYNOTT, former Alberta MLA RICK STRANKMAN and ROMEO TELLO of the Canadian Medical Association. HBD + 1 to CHRIS BALL, senior strategic adviser to Toronto Mayor OLIVIA CHOW, and Newcom Media financial reporter JONATHAN GOT. Send birthdays to ottawaplaybook@politico.com. Spotted: Economist TREVOR TOMBE, correcting an error in a widely shared X post on capital gains from Tory MP RYAN WILLIAMS, who appeared to rely solely on a ChatGPT response to a question about G7 cap gains inclusion rates. Williams deleted the tweet. — On the final day of QP: Conservative MP LAILA GOODRIDGE, sporting an Oilers jersey in the House … Procurement Minister and economist JEAN-YVES DUCLOS, laughing at PIERRE POILIEVRE’s claim the middle class doesn’t exist anymore … Green Party Leader ELIZABETH MAY, walking through the middle of the Liberal benches to give TERRY DUGUID a hug … Tory MP TODD DOHERTY, yelling at NDP Leader JAGMEET SINGH of PM Trudeau: “Why do you keep propping him up?” … NDP MP MATTHEW GREEN, heckling Poilievre to “read a book” on socialism after the Conservative leader attempted “socialist bafflegab” as a catchphrase. Small Business Minister RECHIE VALDEZ, marking Filipino Heritage Month with some karaoke. Noted: 10,787 voters cast ballots during advance polls in Toronto-St. Paul’s. Movers and shakers: Former Hill journalist LINDSAY CAMPBELL is now director at Texture Communications. General Motors posted a May 7 meeting about military procurement with a long list of federal officials, including Public Services and Procurement DM ARIANNE REZA; IAN FOUCHER, chief of staff to Industry Minister FRANÇOIS-PHILIPPE CHAMPAGNE; PMO strategic adviser on special projects JASON EASTON; HARRY ORBACH-MILLER, PMO senior coordinator of policy and Cabinet affairs; JASPINDER KOMAL, assistant deputy minister at National Defence; and MARY-ROSE BROWN, policy director to Procurement Minister JEAN-YVES DUCLOS. From the ethics files: Immigration Minister MARC MILLER recently recused himself from "any discussion or decision relating to the appointment process of a Citizen Judge to avoid any opportunity to further the private interest of a family friend." PM JUSTIN TRUDEAU disclosed to the ethics commissioner four gifts given to him when he co-chaired a meeting at the self-governing Indigenous organizations permanent bilateral mechanism meeting in Gatineau. — Among the gifts: a soapstone carving of salmon mounted on a wolf’s head by BESSIE KUDLALUK KUNELCH; Inuit Amauti; a wood paddle carving by DURAN HENRY; and a wooden carving of fish. Media mentions: The laureates of the 2024 EU-Canada Young Journalist Fellowship are CATHERINE MORRISON, MICHAEL JOHN LO and PATRICK BUTLER.
| | A message from Canadian Dental Association: Dental Patients: Know Before You Go
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For more information. | | | | | PROZONE | | Don’t miss our latest policy newsletter for Pro subscribers from KYLE DUGGAN, NICK TAYLOR-VAISEY and SUE ALLAN: Farewell to silly season. In other headlines for Pros: — California reaches $15M settlement with Snapchat over alleged sex discrimination. — Congress passes bipartisan nuclear bill in a bid to revive the struggling sector. — Judge rejects Exxon lawsuit over shareholder climate activism. — The anti-China pressure hits DC trade groups.
| | TRIVIA | | Wednesday’s answer: Canada celebrates Emancipation Day on Aug. 1. Props to BENEDICTA ARTHUR, DARRYL DAMUDE, JOHN ECKER, TRACY SALMON, JOANNA PLATER, ROBERT MCDOUGALL, CHELSEA BERRY, LISA KIRBIE, GERMAINE MALABRE, GORDON RANDALL, ROSS LECLAIR and MARCEL MARCOTTE. Today’s question: On this day in history, HUGH COSSART BAKER JR. launched Canada's first commercial telephone service, inspired by ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL's nascent technology. Who was prime minister at the time? Send your answer to ottawaplaybook@politico.com Writing tomorrow's Playbook: KYLE DUGGAN 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. | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Ottawa Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our political and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |
