| | | |  | | By Mike Blanchfield, Mickey Djuric and Nick Taylor-Vaisey |
Thanks for reading Ottawa Playbook. Let's get into it.
In today's edition: → How It Started vs. How It's Going. → The chair of Republicans Overseas Canada talks about hope. → A message for Canada from the commander of NORAD. |  | DRIVING THE DAY | | | 
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrives in Turkey for the G20 in November 2015. | AP | EXIT, WORLD STAGE LEFT — With just three days to go before the Liberal Party chooses its new leader, Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU appears to be reveling in a very noisy exit from the world stage. He’s not the shiny bobble he was when he burst onto the international scene in November 2015. But whether he has been calling DONALD TRUMP’s 25 percent tariffs “dumb” or blasting VLADIMIR PUTIN as a "lying, murderous dictator," Trudeau’s twilight as a well-traveled world leader — with 96 trips to 50 countries over nine-plus years — is unfolding with more of a bang than a whimper. His departure comes well ahead of this summer’s G7 leaders’ summit in Kananaskis, Alberta. The draft agenda for its host currently reads: TBD. — Back in the day: Your Playbook host was in the room to witness Trudeau’s explosive international debut on Nov. 15, 2015, as he sauntered into a morning gathering of business and labor leaders on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Antalya, Turkey. Trudeau was mobbed for selfies from an adoring throng. Grown men and women swooned. One curious onlooker in that crowd: MARK CARNEY, then head of the Bank of England. Carney is now frontrunner, ahead of CHRYSTIA FREELAND, to replace Trudeau as Liberal leader on Sunday. → APEC ‘hotties’: Four days later, Trudeau wrapped his first international trip at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders’ summit in the Philippine capital of Manila. He was greeted by a front-page tabloid photo of himself and then-Mexican President ENRIQUE PEÑA NIETO — Trudeau would come to call him “Ricky” — under the headline “APEC hotties.” Trudeau’s closing press conference was packed with adoring women. When he entered the prefabricated, roofless room of the international media centre, deafening shrieks erupted. His opening remarks were drowned out. He was mobbed by a crowd of women as he departed. The very wide eyeballs of his stone-faced RCMP security detail scanned the throng as they herded him out. → Actual facetime: Trudeau took his first face-to-face meetings with China’s XI JINPING, his American bro buddy BARACK OBAMA, and several other world leaders during that initial foreign trip. — Reality bites: Nine years later, Trudeau was inside Mar-a-Lago with DOMINIC LEBLANC. They dined with DONALD TRUMP and hoped to do something about those threatened tariffs. We know how that ended. The former “The Apprentice” reality TV star didn’t exactly fire Trudeau, but he demoted him to “Governor” and told the Canadians he wanted to make their country America’s 51st state. → Parting shots: Trudeau spent last Sunday attending the European solidarity summit for Ukraine, and later had a private audience with KING CHARLES III. Days before that, he was in Kyiv to show support on the third anniversary of the Russian invasion. Trudeau reinforced two constants in Canadian foreign policy: the primordial importance of the country’s strategic alliance and friendship with the United States, and the solidarity that has been forged with Ukraine. Canada’s Ukraine bond has transcended party lines: BRIAN MULRONEY’s Progressive Conservatives made Canada the first Western nation to recognize Ukraine’s independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Former Conservative Prime Minister STEPHEN HARPER was a steadfast supporter of Ukraine joining NATO (which failed to materialize). → Quotes of note: “Donald, in the over eight years you and I have worked together, we've done big things,” Trudeau said Tuesday in response to Trump's tariffs. “Now it's not in my habit to agree with The Wall Street Journal, but Donald, they point out that even though you're a very smart guy, this is a very dumb thing to do.” → And this: “We know who our friends are. We know who our opponents are, and there is no question that Vladimir Putin and his attack, not just on Ukraine, but on the rules-based international order, on the founding principles of the United Nations, is an opponent of Canada. I think the question that we all need to be watching closely is, what do the American people think?” | | PROZONE | |
FOR PRO SUBSCRIBERS — Trump’s trade war with Canada and Mexico was always going to test his tolerance for political risk, our colleagues write from Washington.
DOUG PALMER and ARI HAWKINS have more on the president’s decision to pause auto tariffs. MEGAN MESSERLY, DANIEL DESROCHERS and ARI HAWKINS report that the carve-out for automakers has left industries, market analysts and consumers confused and flustered as they try to figure out where he is going next. On that, MEREDITH LEE HILL and GRACE YARROW report: The Trump administration is mulling tariff exemptions for key agriculture products. Here’s our latest policy newsletter by SUE ALLAN and DOUG PALMER: Trudeau and Trump talk tariffs. In other news for Pro subscribers: — This Canadian forged the USMCA. Now he wants to save it. — Canada launches WTO case over Trump’s tariffs. — Business mulls suing over Trump tariffs but hopes they just go away. — Trump’s new tariffs could hit hard in Republican territory. — Trump’s trade war sparks broad backlash. | | HALLWAY CONVERSATION | |
TRUMP EXPLAINER — Playbook recently caught up with GEORGANNE BURKE at an event on Canada-U.S. relations. Burke is a long-time Trump supporter and chair of Republicans Overseas Canada, a role that saw her mobilizing GOP voters living in Canada.
Burke is also a dual citizen of the United States and Canada, and has worked for Canadian Conservatives, including former B.C. MP ROB CLARKE. Our conversation took place last week in Ottawa, and has been edited for length and clarity. What are you up to these days? I’m quite involved, actually, in the Republican Party. I did run a call center for the campaign with Americans and Canadians coming into the swing states on behalf of the campaign, which was quite successful. I'm happy to see he was elected, and I'm feeling very hopeful. What gives you hope? What gives me hope is that [Trump] is a very optimistic person. I know there are people that look at what he's doing as very controversial. He's turning things upside down. But the truth is, there are changes that have needed to be made a long time ago, and there's a lot that has to be done. He's been planning this. He's a planner. And he is doing that through ELON MUSK. I actually think that Musk is doing a spectacular job with a lot of headwinds against him. People are concerned Trump is siding with Putin, and he's called Zelenskyy a dictator. What are we to make of that? You have to put aside probably 60 percent of the words that he says and watch what he does. He has basically said traditional diplomacy has not worked to stop this war. So he's actually said: We're gonna do some work with your mining and resources and stuff like that. And what that's going to do is it's going to put an American footprint in Ukraine without troops. No troops. Do you think that Russia is gonna go and attack Ukraine with Americans operating and working there? Ain't gonna happen in a million years. What about that 51st state thing? From an American: No thanks, not a good idea. Canada is a country. It should remain a country. There's cultural differences that would be impossible to bridge. That doesn't mean that you can't work together. We were just talking about the connection with the Arctic. Canada actually has a leg up on what you do with the Arctic, and it could offer it to the United States. What do you think about this Canadian nationalism we’re seeing? The anger, the booing at the hockey games? It's very distressing from both the Canadian side of me and the American side of me. Canadians don't usually act like that. When I came here, I said, “Wow, Canadians are such nice people.” Now, what I've discovered is maybe they're not even polite, because that was not polite. | | For your radar | | | 
“Throughout history, Canadian and American forces have fought side by side to defeat tyranny and advance the cause of freedom, and now we maintain that tradition in the shared defense of our homelands,” Gen. Gregory Guillot said Wednesday. | AP | FROM NORAD WITH LOVE — Attendees at Wednesday’s Conference of Defence Associations Institute confab at the Château Laurier might have thought they were back in 2024 after listening to U.S. Gen. GREGORY GUILLOT celebrate the stellar military cooperation between his country and the Canadian Armed Forces. Or maybe they were asking themselves: Does DONALD TRUMP know he’s doing this? — Still friends? Sob! Guillot is the dual commander of NORAD — the joint Canada-U.S. aerospace command that was created to defend the continent from Russian missile attacks — and the U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM). Wearing a chestful of medals the size of a small iPad, Guillot quipped early on that he was determined to stay “on script” before providing a little history. Trump’s name was conspicuously avoided. → Quotes of note: “The United States and Canada share the longest land border on Earth, but our connection goes far beyond geography. Shared history, values and interests inseparably link our two nations. Since 1940, when the Permanent Joint Board on Defense was established, the United States and Canada have worked together to ensure the defense of North America, and today, this partnership remains a critical pillar in ensuring global security,” he said. “Throughout history, Canadian and American forces have fought side by side to defeat tyranny and advance the cause of freedom, and now we maintain that tradition in the shared defense of our homelands.” — Made in the USA (and Canada): Guillot said there is a role for Canada in Trump’s “Golden Dome” national missile defense system. → History: Canada opted out of the U.S. ballistic missile defense system 20 years ago, but the U.S. went ahead with it anyway. BMD is sometimes described as a bullet-to-bullet system in which an incoming missile attack on North America is shot down or repelled by interceptor rockets. In his Tuesday speech to Congress, as reported for POLITICO Pro subscribers, Trump touted his “Golden Dome,” which he directed in a January executive order. Formerly known as the “Iron Dome for America,” the program would be “all made in the USA,” the president said. — More Canada, please: “I'll tell you that Canada is very involved with us in talking primarily about the sensor domain awareness dome that needs to feed the rest of Golden Dome,” Guillot said Wednesday. “And I'm hopeful that in the future, that we'll be able to partner on many of those different systems that would make that layered approach.” Guillot said the approach would encompass “a sensor dome that goes from sea bed to space” to detect an incoming attack. “So that's the first and most important layer, I think, because no matter how good our interceptors are, you can't defeat what you can't see.” — LOL: Towards the end of Guillot's armchair discussion with Canada’s former defense chief, retired Gen. TOM LAWSON, Guillot dared to draw a laugh. He recalled that when he assumed his command in February 2024, it marked “what the people in my command called the start of the Golden Age.” Pausing, he added: “Just kidding.”
| | Where the leaders are | |
— Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU will visit a local child care centre in the National Capital Region at 9 a.m. He'll make an announcement alongside Families Minister JENNA SUDDS. Later, Trudeau will deliver remarks at the National Forum on Combatting Antisemitism. He'll be joined there by Official Languages Minister RACHEL BENDAYAN, Justice Minister ARIF VIRANI and Public Safety Minister DAVID MCGUINTY.
— Conservative Leader PIERRE POILIEVRE headlines a party fundraiser at a private residence in Toronto's Yorkville neighborhood. — Bloc Québécois Leader YVES-FRANÇOIS BLANCHET has not released his itinerary. — NDP Leader JAGMEET SINGH is holding a press conference in Montreal to discuss protecting Quebec jobs from U.S. tariffs. He will be joined by NDP MP ALEXANDRE BOULERICE, and NIMÂ MACHOUF, NDP candidate for Laurier—Sainte-Marie. — Green Leader Co-Leader ELIZABETH MAY will attend the weekly Sidney Rotary Club meeting in the morning. May will also speak at Goward House in Victoria. Co-Leader JONATHAN PEDNEAULT has private meetings in Montreal. | | DULY NOTED | |
— Alberta Premier DANIELLE SMITH is travelling to Houston, Texas, next week in an effort to get tariffs lifted. She plans to attend CERAWeek.
| | MEDIA ROOM | |
— DORCAS MARFO of CTV News reports that Canada’s first ministers have pledged to remove internal trade barriers amid U.S. tariff pressures.
— STEPHANIE TAYLOR of the National Post reports that potash could replace oil exports as Canada's next card to play in a U.S. trade war. — “The whole structure of North American continental air and space defence could come under dissolution,” DAVID FRUM warns in conversation with SEAN SPEER on The Hub. “People see the Americans as actively dangerous.” — Our colleagues in London write: “As the EU’s 27 leaders gather in Brussels on Thursday, they know the entire post-1945 security architecture ― one that depends on being buttressed by the United States ― could crumble any day.” — JOHN BRANCH and VJOSA ISAI of the NYT weigh in on “The Great One.” In case you missed it, Brampton Mayor PATRICK BROWN wrote this in the Sun of WAYNE GRETZKY: “He is not defined by politics; he is simply a global citizen who has transcended the game of hockey and built relationships with leaders around the world.” Oh, and here’s one more take in Maclean’s. | | PLAYBOOKERS | |
Birthdays: HBD to Conservative MP KAREN VECCHIO, former B.C. Deputy Premier JOY MACPHAIL, Sen. MARTY KLYNE and former Sen. LORNA MARSDEN.
The City of Toronto also celebrates today. HBD +1 to ANAIDA POILIEVRE and to THE GLOBE AND MAIL newspaper, which celebrated its 181st birthday on Wednesday! Celebrate your day with the Playbook community. Send us the details. We’ll let everyone know. Spotted: The return of JOE CANADA. Ontario Premier DOUG FORD, asking people to stop texting him late at night — “All I hear is the buzzing.” Flair Airlines, offering seat sales to anywhere but the U.S. Jack Daniel's maker Brown-Forman's CEO LAWSON WHITING, drowning his sorrows over Canada pulling U.S. alcohol off shelves saying it’s “worse than a tariff.” Noted: Canada's first ministers released a statement on eliminating internal trade barriers. Among their priorities: "Most First Ministers also committed to allowing direct-to-consumer alcohol sales for Canadian products." Movers and shakers: SARAH QUIGLEY has been appointed consul general in Denver, replacing SYLVAIN FABI. Liberals recently acclaimed four federal candidates: DENISE COULONVAL in Beauport–Limoilou, KENT KEENAN in Middlesex–London, DAVID GOODWIN in Elgin–St. Thomas–London South and DAVID BECKHAM in Saanich-Gulf Islands. CHRISTOPHE CINQMARS-VIAU, a former senior policy adviser to CHRYSTIA FREELAND, is returning to Torys on March 17: "I’ll provide advice on nascent issues in the financial services sector, on political law and will offer GR advice for transactions and files of significant public policy import to clients." | | TRIVIA | |
Wednesday’s answer: “Hockey Night In Canada” is CBC’s longest-running sports program, which began on CBC Radio in 1931 and later became a TV show in 1952, earning it a Guiness World Record.
Props to GANGA WIGNARAJAH, JENN KEAY, MARCEL MARCOTTE, LAURA JARVIS, DAVID MCLENNAN, DARRYL DAMUDE, PATRICK DION, BILL WATSON, GINA-MCDOUGALL-WILSON, MALCOLM MCKAY, MAIA EASTMAN, DARELL PACK, RAY DEL BIANCO, RANDY ALLAN, ROBERT MCDOUGALL, GARY COLLINS, Today’s question: On what date was the federal voting age lowered to 18 from 21? Send your answer to ottawaplaybook@politico.com Writing tomorrow's Playbook: MICKEY DJURIC and SUE ALLAN. 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 | | | |
