| | | |  | | By Mike Blanchfield, Nick Taylor-Vaisey and Doug Palmer | Presented by The Motion Picture Association – Canada | Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Ottawa Playbook | Follow Politico Canada Thanks for reading Ottawa Playbook. Let's get into it. In today's edition: → Playbook goes one-on-one with Public Safety Minister DAVID MCGUINTY. → Quebec Premier FRANÇOIS LEGAULT stops by POLITICO's office for a chat. → Harvard's student paper revisits the campus lives of CHRYSTIA FREELAND and MARK CARNEY. |  | PLAYBOOK ONE-ON-ONES | |
FOX NEWS RIDE ALONG — POLITICO sat down with Public Safety Minister DAVID MCGUINTY on a Wednesday that started at the 49th parallel and ended at a Canadian Global Affairs Institute confab in Ottawa.
McGuinty visited the Lansdowne, Ontario, border crossing to watch a Black Hawk helicopter in action — part of the government’s C$1.3 billion border security plan meant to mollify U.S. President DONALD TRUMP’s concerns over fentanyl and illegal migrants entering from Canada. — Ridealong with the minister: A Fox News crew pre-taped an interview with McGuinty that will air today. — McGuinty’s target audience: “We’re talking to everybody and anybody. We're talking to Americans. We're talking to Canadians who watch Fox News. We're talking to administration folks. We're talking to folks in business. We're talking to political leaders. We're talking, maybe, to the White House.” — Showing and telling: “When we're in a location, we invite the border states to come up, to break through into the American audience, to remind them of what they've got here,” he said. “People ask me about the ads being run by Ontario. I said, ‘What about them?’ They said, ‘Think it's helpful that a Conservative government is running ads on Fox News?’ My question is: Is it helping us? Probably. Then it's a good thing.” — Terrorist designation for drug cartels: McGuinty said the government will imminently list cartels in the Criminal Code for trafficking in fentanyl. “Criminal cartels exist throughout Canada, United States, certainly they're very, very prevalent in Mexico. So in our dialogue and our outreach with the States, in our dialogue and our outreach with Mexico, we're struggling under the weight of this. We're cognizant that there is some connectivity between all three countries, so we'll have a lot more to say.” — Blitzing with facts: “I find that going into a briefing with a high level of granularity is the best way to approach it,” he said. “When you can list 10, 15, 20, 30 concrete measures … over the last three months and the next week and the week after, and the week after, people are — they're kind of overwhelmed." — Who’s next: After a successful meeting with Trump border czar TOM HOMAN two weeks ago that ran two hours long, McGuinty is setting his sights on his counterpart at Homeland Security, KRISTI NOEM: “I'm hoping it's going to come very soon. Next week, I'll probably be around the country, but I'm waiting for that opportunity. I'll sit down and spend a couple of hours with her.” | | | | A message from The Motion Picture Association – Canada: Canadians love streaming, but Ottawa's new rules could mean higher prices, fewer choices, and less global reach for our film and TV industry. We need a better approach—one that protects affordability, promotes competition, and creates real opportunities for Canadian talent. Let's give consumers the freedom to watch what they want, without unnecessary costs and restrictions. Click here to learn more. | | | | | DRIVING THE DAY | | | 
Premier of Québec François Legault speaks to reporters, accompanied by other Council of the Federation members, at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington on Feb. 12. | AP Photo/Ben Curtis | GET TO THE TABLE — Quebec Premier FRANÇOIS LEGAULT doesn't want to wait a year to renegotiate North American free trade. "What I suggest to JUSTIN TRUDEAU and my partners from other provinces is to renegotiate the agreement between Canada and United States right now," Legault said during a Wednesday afternoon visit to POLITICO's office. The USMCA has a built-in provision that requires a review of the deal in 2026. But businesses require certainty to make investment decisions, he said: "We cannot live with this uncertainty, It's a poison to our economy." — Pipeline politics: Legault said he met with Alberta Premier DANIELLE SMITH earlier Wednesday to talk about pipelines and diversifying energy exports. New pipelines have been an unpopular proposition among Quebecers for years. Legault hinted at a sea change in public opinion. "We need social acceptability for a pipeline going through Quebec, because in Quebec, 99 percent of our electricity is renewable energy coming from Hydro-Québec, and the population is really pro-environment. But it can change with what is happening with Mr. Trump," Legault said. "What I said is we need social acceptability. We didn’t have it the last time we had a project but it may change in the future because people are very unhappy about Mr. Trump and they see that if we want to get this oil and gas out of Canada, you have to go through Quebec to export to Europe." — Battles of yore: When Legault was head of Air Transat, he once shut Trump down. In 1989, Trump launched a regional airline service between Boston and New York named Trump Shuttle. Air Transat's airline designator code — the two-character shorthand recognized worldwide — was "TS." Trump wanted to buy it. "I said, 'No f--kin’ way,' Legault recalled Wednesday. (Trump's airline was instead given the code TB.) — Anecdote of the year: When the pair reconnected in Paris last year at the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral, Legault asked Trump if the story rang a bell. “Yeah, I remember,” Trump is said to have replied. "I asked him, 'Do you remember my answer?' He said, 'No.' I said, I told you 'No f--kin’ way.’ He told me, 'You’re my type of guy.'" GET IN LINE — When Canada's premiers showed up at the White House on Wednesday for a meeting with senior officials, they followed the same rules as any other regular visitor. They cleared security outside the building. — Meeting mates: The preems met with JIM BLAIR, deputy chief of staff for legislative affairs, and SERGIO GOR, director of presidential personnel. British Columbia's DAVID EBY told reporters the premiers left three messages for DONALD TRUMP with Blair and Gor, including that Canada "would never be the 51st state." Blair posted a clarification: "Pleasant meeting with the Premiers. To be clear, we never agreed that Canada would not be the 51st state. We only agreed to share Premier Eby’s comments. Further, we said the best way to understand President Trump’s position is to take what he says at face value."
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Canada's premiers and territorial leaders were in Washington on Wednesday. | AP | — How they got there: The premiers entered the White House alongside their lobbyist. Checkmate GR's CHES MCDOWELL, hired by the Council of the Federation to open doors for the premiers, is a North Carolina-based hunting buddy of DONALD TRUMP JR. who accompanied the president's son on a falconry trip with RFK JR. last fall. McDowell was the premiers' escort thanks to Yukon Premier RANJ PILLAI, who broke bread with Trump Jr. during a weekend visit last December to a North Carolina hunting lodge. Following that trip, Pillai put McDowell's name forward. — Just the messenger: Canada's top envoy in Washington, KIRSTEN HILLMAN, told reporters that lawmakers on Capitol Hill are getting the message that Canadians are angry. “We didn't need to really, you know, pound the table on that. We could refer to it lightly because it's well understood,” Hillman said. — Also in D.C.: Finance Minister DOMINIC LEBLANC and Hillman met with the Commerce Secretary-designate HOWARD LUTNICK on Wednesday. “They were very clear that Canada very much has their attention, and they want to work with us to structure an economic deal that's in the interest of both countries,” LeBlanc said. “That, to me, was also a very positive takeaway.” | | | | A message from The Motion Picture Association – Canada:  
| | | | | Where the leaders are | |
— Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU will chair a Cabinet meeting.
— Conservative Leader PIERRE POILIEVRE headlines an afternoon fundraiser at Toronto's Spirit of York Distillery. — Bloc Québécois Leader YVES-FRANÇOIS BLANCHET is in Chicoutimi and Jonquière, Quebec. Blanchet will meet with PAULYNE CADIEUX of the Trans-Al Network and FRANÇOIS RACINE of Alu Québec. Later, he'll meet with DAVID DUFOUR and ARMAND MACKENZIE of First Phosphate, as well as Rio Tinto's JEAN QUENNEVILLE. Blanchet caps the day at the nomination meeting for MARC ST-HILAIRE in Chicoutimi-Le Fjord. — NDP Leader JAGMEET SINGH will speak to reporters in Toronto about the end of the "GST holiday" on Saturday — and the NDP's plan "to lower costs for Canadians." — Green Leader ELIZABETH MAY will attend the Let The Herring Live Forum in Saanichton, B.C. | | DULY NOTED | |
COURT DATE — The federal court is scheduled to hear a legal challenge over the next two days on the prime minister's decision to prorogue Parliament.
— Backstory: The case was initiated by two Nova Scotia men who want the court to nullify Governor General MARY SIMON’s decision to accept the PM’s advice to shutter Parliament until March 24. — Rebuttal: Lawyers for the government point out that prorogation “is recognized in Canada’s Constitution, forms an integral part of our system of responsible and accountable government, and is a power that has been exercised since Confederation.” | | | | A message from The Motion Picture Association – Canada: Canadians love to stream TV shows and movies, and want the benefits of lots of choice, healthy competition and affordable prices. But Ottawa's new streaming regulations and taxes and could drive up prices, make it harder for people to find and choose the content they want to watch, and limit opportunity for Canadian film and TV workers to make content that will be seen around the world. There's a better way - give consumers more freedom to choose what they want to watch, promote more competition, and more opportunities for Canadian workers. Click here to learn more. | | | | | TALK OF THE TOWN | |
YANKEES IN TOWN — As Ottawa braced for a sledgehammer of a winter storm, the Canadian Global Affairs Institute welcomed some American friends to a sunny, glass-walled downtown office Wednesday for a day-long conference dominated by Trump angst.
Washington consultant KEVIN NEALER, a former member of the Obama administration’s Intelligence Advisory Board, offered an apology. “The political vocabulary being deployed down here now is ahistorical. It's ignorant and it's just destructive of trust. Nothing in my toolbox … [including] as a foreign service officer, included diminishing or humiliating an ally as a way to advance U.S. interests." — A midterm reckoning: KATE KALUTKIEWICZ, a member of the Trump 1.0 trade team, urged Canadians in Washington to keep in mind U.S. midterms in less than two years — "the most important thing to think about" in conversations with lawmakers. Trump's ambition could be chastened if inflation isn’t tamed and costs remain high for American consumers. The Labor Department reported Wednesday that inflation climbed more than expected last month. — An inconvenient truth: CHRIS SANDS, director of the Washington-based Wilson Center’s Canada Institute, offered an uncomfortable reminder. “One of the great American insights, and I think it revolutionized our approach to Canada, was that the way to draw Canada away from the British Empire was to reinforce the idea of Canadian sovereignty over their own territory,” he said. “The best thing you can do is to stand on your own two feet and say, ‘I'm sorry, no, I don't agree to this. This is what I expect from you. I'll do my part. I'll meet my obligations, but you have to meet yours.’” → But: “I'm going to say this gently. I think from the American side, the feeling is that Canada's had its sovereignty on the cheap." — Advice for Canadians: Don’t be shy about sharing your feelings, Nealer said. “I feel a little like a fraudster has gotten my ATM and is just diminishing the capital that we've invested,” he said. “I hope that [Canadians are] delivering a message of tough love and not mincing words about what Canada's interests are down here.” | | | | We’ve re-imagined and expanded our Inside Congress newsletter to give you unmatched reporting on Capitol Hill politics and policy -- and we'll get it to your inbox even earlier. Subscribe today. | | | | | | | TRUMPQUAKE | |
RADIO SILENCE — It might be a while before the bureaucrats at Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) Canada hear from their American counterparts.
Our E&E colleague DANIEL CUSICK reported Wednesday on an apparent partial gag order received by fisheries employees at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The instruction: Don't speak to foreign nationals, including international colleagues. The order was later revised to allow staff to reply to emails from international counterparts who didn't know about the communication ban. — The big picture: The specter of massive downsizing hangs over the climate and weather experts at the NOAA — job cuts "threatening to disrupt a wide range of economic sectors that rely on federal weather data, from agriculture and transportation to real estate and even insurance," writes POLITICO's SCOTT WALDMAN. — The Canadian angle: Playbook asked DFO for any anticipated impacts that silent treatment could have on Canadian projects. The department didn't get into specifics, but celebrated the "longstanding and collaborative relationship" with the NOAA. → "As an organization committed to evidence-based decision-making and collaborative approaches to ensuring the safety, security, and conservation of our oceans, we greatly value our international partnerships. Safeguarding our waters and ocean resources for future generations requires an approach that often goes beyond borders.” | | | | A new era in Washington calls for sharper insights. Get faster policy scoops, more congressional coverage, and a re-imagined newsletter under the leadership of Jack Blanchard. Subscribe to our Playbook Newsletter today. | | | | | | | LEADERSHIP RACE | |
COLLEGE MATERIAL — Harvard's Crimson newspaper dug into MARK CARNEY and CHRYSTIA FREELAND's years in the Ivy League. Bits and bites from the campus paper deep dive:
→ Carney is still listed on the school's Board of Overseers. → Carney joined the A.D. Club, one of the campus's male-only "final clubs" — social spaces described by the Crimson as "the last stop for a Harvard man — the top of the pyramid." → Freeland protested the male-only Fly Club's rule that women could only enter parties via a side door. She attempted, without success, to lead a group of friends through the front door. → Carney was the Harvard hockey team's third-string goalie — behind a pair of All-Americans. His only game action came partway through a showdown with rival Colgate, when he stopped every shot he faced. "We like to call it the shutout,” PETER CHIARELLI, a teammate and future NHL executive, joked to the Crimson. → Carney had limited luck with women. “I mean, it’s funny,” said blockmate SETH GOLDMAN. “We were both not super successful in terms of developing girlfriends.” → Freeland was an abortion rights advocate at Harvard, and once accompanied a friend to the procedure. | | MEDIA ROOM | | — New Democrats have been told to expect an early election, the Globe was first to report. — From CBC News: Trump complains about Canada — but new data shows spike in U.S. drugs and guns coming north — Trump and Putin stun Europe with a peace plan for Ukraine, POLITICO reports from Brussels. — POLITICO reports: Canada’s defense minister calls 51st state taunts ‘offensive.’ — A headline from The Logic that could actually get DONALD TRUMP's attention: "A trade war would destroy the Big Mac." — The Globe’s FRÉDÉRIK-XAVIER D. PLANTE reported from the Saguenay — Canada’s aluminum valley — where he says anxiety is palpable. — JD VANCE enters the world stage. Our colleagues ask, “Can he speak for Trump?” | | PROZONE | |
For POLITICO Pro subscribers, our latest policy newsletter by SUE ALLAN: Canada’s premiers take on D.C.
In other news for Pro readers: — Trump says he and Putin will negotiate to end the war in Ukraine. — Why the health care industry is letting RFK Jr. cruise to confirmation. — Senate Finance Committee approves Greer for USTR. — Climate reports vanish from federal science program website. — Canada’s defense minister calls 51st state taunts ‘offensive.’ | | PLAYBOOKERS | |
Birthdays: HBD to PAUL MOEN, chief of staff to Employment and Labor Minister STEVEN MACKINNON. Greetings also to former MP CORNELIU CHISU.
Got a document to share? A birthday coming up? Send it all our way . | | TRIVIA | |
Wednesday’s answer: Former Finance Minister JOE OLIVER wore the black New Balance sneakers with blue trim when he unveiled his 2015 budget.
Props to MARCEL MARCOTTE, MARK AGNEW, PATRICK DION, JOHN MERRIMAN, CHRIS RANDS, RAY DEL BIANCO, BOB GORDON, KATHLEEN HACHEY, LAURA JARVIS, YAROSLAV BARAN, ALYSON FAIR, BILL WATSON, JOANNA PLATER, ELLA D'SILVA, GANGA WIGNARAJAH, MALCOLM MCKAY, JENN KEAY and ROBERT MCDOUGALL. Today’s question: A two-parter about the House of Commons. How many seats are currently vacant? And how many require by-elections before the next general election? Send your answer to ottawaplaybook@politico.com Writing tomorrow's Playbook: MICKEY DJURIC. Playbook wouldn’t happen without: POLITICO Canada editor Sue Allan, editor Willa Plank and Luiza Ch. Savage. Advertise in our Playbook. 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 | | | |
