Talk budget to us

Presented by Google

Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Nick | Follow Politico Canada

Thanks for reading the Ottawa Playbook. I’m your host, Nick Taylor-Vaisey, with Joseph Gedeon. Today, we’re still flipping through CHRYSTIA FREELAND‘s budget book. Plus, MIKE LAKE makes a powerful statement in the House. And we keep tabs on GOP lawmakers who have beef with the Canadian border.

DRIVING THE DAY

THE INSIDERS — Playbook’s playbook: Find insiders. Alternatively, wait till insiders are on the outside, and then ask them how governing really works.

In that spirit, we co-convened a panel on the 2023 budget on Wednesday afternoon. The outside-insiders spent an hour taking questions via Zoom from Carleton University students and faculty.

We can’t divulge who said what, owing to the iron-clad Chatham House Rule that applies to sessions held under the guise of the Riddell Graduate Program in Political Management.

After all, we do want program director JENNIFER ROBSON to invite us back.

— Here’s what we can share: Unattributed insight.

→ As soon as the budget is tabled, it’s all about winning over stakeholders. Work the phones. Convert the advocates. Secure friendly statements. Win the day.

→ The Prime Minister’s Office might monitor how certain details of the budget speech are received to decide where to direct the PM and Cabinet during break weeks that follow the tabling — say, next week and the week after.

→ Budget leaks are strategic. They’re designed to get attention for items that might otherwise be lost in the wash of a release. Translation: There’s a method to the slow drip of leaks you read in the days leading up to Freeland’s speech.

→ The twinning of Highway 104 in Nova Scotia allows regional MPs to bring home victories for their constituents. Many budget measures are proposed by bureaucrats. An infrastructure project of this sort likely emerged from caucus — say, Atlantic caucus.

→ Coherence is hard. It’s a big budget doc.

Are you an insider with thoughts to share on how the sausage gets made? Hit us up here.

— Stay tuned: The Chatham House Rule doesn’t apply to every Playbook event. Keep watch for our next trivia date. We know you’re keen. (Especially you, #TeamVantage.)

UNDER THE RADAR — Wednesday’s Playbook asked what you were seeing in the nooks and crannies of Budget 2023. We’ve also been busy with our microscopes. Here’s a taste of what the big narratives — restraint, affordability, cleantech, and health care — didn’t capture.

— ‘Realigned’ funding: Two hundred and thirty-one pages into the budget doc, a line notes that Innovation, Science and Economic Development is “realigning” C$1.9 billion in Strategic Innovation Fund spending. “Realigning” means, in this case, shunting down the road past 2028. The reason: Project-specific delays that prevent the feds from paying out funds.

Playbook asked ISED which projects were delayed, and for how long. We’ll report back when we hear from the department.

— Equalization: We can think of a couple of premier’s offices that will take note of a proposal to “renew the Equalization and Territorial Formula Financing programs for a five-year period.” An eagle-eyed reader asks: “Will DANIELLE SMITH react? SCOTT MOE? They have called for major changes.”

Here’s how Alberta Premier Smith characterized the fed-prov status quo in a November speech to Albertans: “Through equalization and transfers, they funnel billions of your tax dollars away from you and into a black hole of federal bureaucracy and vote-buying arrangements in other parts of the country.” The they is, of course, Ottawa.

— Right to repair: Another attentive reader spotted a commitment on page 38 to enshrining a “right to repair” for consumers, who could get their vehicles, devices and appliances fixed instead of resorting to buying new products.

A pair of private members’ bills, WILSON MIAO‘s C-244 and JEREMY PATZER‘s C-294, are on the order paper. The Automotive Industries Association of Canada has also lobbied on the issue.

Writes our reader: “Sometimes it’s not about money, but rather changing a red light to a green light that opens the road ahead to innovation.”

TODAY'S HIGHLIGHTS

— Natural Resources Minister JONATHAN WILKINSON will attend the Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue 2023.

10:45 a.m. NDP leader JAGMEET SINGH will announce his post-budget tour and take questions from reporters.

11 a.m. (12 p.m. AT) The Mass Casualty Commission delivers its final report on the April 2020 mass casualty in Nova Scotia via webcast at masscasualtycommission.ca.

11:45 a.m. YULIYA KOVALIV, Ukraine’s ambassador to Canada, headlines a Canadian Club of Ottawa luncheon at the Château Laurier with EU Ambassador MELITA GABRIČ and Finnish Ambassador Roy Eriksson. The topic is a weighty one: the future of Europe.

7 p.m. ELIZABETH MAY delivers a talk at Carleton University titled, “The time for action is now: a time capsule from 1999.”

8:30 p.m. (5:30 p.m. PT) Freeland attends a Laurier Club fundraiser in Vancouver.

For your radar

AUTISM AWARENESS — When most politicos were distracted by the federal budget on Tuesday, Tory MP MIKE LAKE was helping to shepherd Bill S-203 through the House.

The bill would force the government to table a federal framework on autism within 18 months of royal assent. Conservative Sen. LEO HOUSAKOS introduced it in the Senate. Lake sponsored it in the House, seconded by Liberal MP MICHAEL COTEAU. It received unanimous consent Tuesday.

On Wednesday, Lake delivered a tribute to his son, JADEN. The six-term Alberta MP makes a similar speech each year. Here was Lake’s message:

“April 2nd is World Autism Awareness Day and a quarter century since my son, Jaden, was diagnosed.

“Over the years, I’ve focused a lot of my public words on Jaden’s strengths. This isn’t because he doesn’t need help, but rather because — all too often — all people see is the help he needs. To be clear, as incredible as Jaden is, he needs a lot of help.

“He has considerable strengths in the concrete world but they’re inhibited by his struggles in the abstract world. He doesn’t understand danger, so he literally needs help to survive every single day.

“In other ways, his differences are healthier than our societal ‘normal.’ He’s obsessed with pictures, not because of how many ‘likes’ they get on Instagram, but because of how much he loves the people, pets, or places in them.

“He’s honest with his expressions — giggling, yawning, crying, or ‘tongue-out’ intense — rarely feeling pressure to be something he isn’t. He’s unwaveringly loyal — trusting, forgiving, and trusting again, seemingly without hesitation.

“Yes, Jaden needs help. But for those who give him that help, invariably they receive much, much more in return.”

Next stop: royal assent.

BORDER BATTLE — Republican lawmakers complaining about a porous border into the U.S. are now pointing in Canada’s direction for alleged complicit behavior, and may turn that concern into legislation.

“It seems that Canada wants to participate in Mexico’s invasion of the United States,” far-right Republican firebrand Rep. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE said against Canada’s immigration policy.

Hoo-boy.

Greene and some of her GOP colleagues took aim at their northern neighbor during a lively Homeland Security subcommittee hearing on “Biden’s Growing Border Crisis” on Tuesday, where concerns about human and drug trafficking as well as a decrease in CBP agents took center stage.

One big concern honed in on Canadian federal policy dating to 2016 that allows Mexican citizens entry into Canada without a visa.

“Looking at these numbers, looking at the trends, it would appear that a number of Mexican Nationals are exploiting that loophole,” former immigration judge ANDREW ARTHUR told the Housemembers.

— Legislation incoming? A spokesperson for Rep. MIKE KELLY (R-Penn.), who co-chairs the brand-new Northern Border Security Caucus, told Playbook “there is certainly ambition from Rep. Kelly and other Members to explore meaningful legislation that will combat the surge in illegal human and drug trafficking that’s happening at the Northern border.”

“We are working with some members of the caucus and other leaders on this issue to strengthen and secure all of America’s borders,” the spokesperson added.

— Reality check: A bill likely wouldn’t amount to much of anything. There are 28 House Republicans in the caucus, and any sort of legislation that targets Canadian border policy is unlikely to appeal to the vast majority of the House. Even if a measure were to somehow advance past the House and clear a Democratic-majority Senate, it is extremely unlikely President JOE BIDEN would sign it into law.

— Don’t forget: During last week’s visit to Canada, Biden and Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU announced changes to how the Safe Third Country Agreement between Canada and the United States is applied. Canada would ultimately commit to taking in 15,000 migrants from the Western hemisphere to lessen the load on the southern U.S. border.

— The numbers: U.S. border patrol apprehensions, or temporary detainments, at the Canadian border so far number 2,856 in 2023, and are on pace to pass 8,500 by year end for the first time since 2004 according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data. But numbers have generally gone down since then, dropping below 5,000 every year since 2012.

— The counter: LAURA DAWSON, executive director of the Futures Borders Coalition and one of the expert witnesses at the hearing, said it felt more like political theater meant to discredit Biden.

“When numbers go up or go down, they are not necessarily indicators of better or worse enforcement,” Dawson told Playbook. “They are indicators of crises in the world and its challenges.”

MEDIA ROOM

— ANNIE HYLTON writes about a First Nations in rural Saskatchewan and its search for unmarked graves at a former residential school site. It’s the May cover story in The Walrus.

— A new POLITICO investigation reveals how TikTok amassed a network of operatives that connect the company to power centers across the world. Read the full story online here.

— In a leaked phone call, Alberta Premier DANIELLE SMITH said she had been having “almost weekly” communication with justice department officials about pandemic-related prosecutions, CBC News reports.

— Former Tory leader ERIN O’TOOLE writes up a budget reaction that, in a parallel universe, could serve as the party’s official response to CHRYSTIA FREELAND‘s plan.

— Scotiabank’s DEREK HOLT fires off the talker of the day among the economist set, finding nary a kind word for Freeland: “Good heavens the 1970s are calling us folks.”

— Never mind Succession. The penultimate episode of The No Good, Terribly Kind, Wonderful Lives and Tragic Deaths of Barry and Honey Sherman is here.

PLAYBOOKERS

Birthdays: CÉLINE DION was born on this day in 1968.

Do you have a birthday coming up? Does a colleague? Send us the dates and we’ll tell the world.

Spotted: Economic Development Minister FILOMENA TASSI, officially disclosing a friendship with recently appointed Hamilton-Oshawa Port Authority director NANCY DI GREGORIO (for recusal purposes).

Cocktail circuit: Carleton University’s political management program is hosting its first Riddell Reception since the onset of the pandemic at the Rideau Club. Start time is 6 p.m. The Curse of Politics is convening a live panel at 7:30 p.m. (Note: Invitation-only)

Movers and shakers: Five finalists have been announced for the 2023 Shaughnessy Cohen Award for Political Writing: JOSH O’KANE, author of Sideways: The City Google Couldn’t Buy; Norma Dunning for Kinauvit?: What’s Your Name? The Eskimo Disc System and a Daughter’s Search for her Grandmother; ANDREW STOBO SNIDERMAN and DOUGLAS SANDERSON (Amo Binashii) for Valley of the Birdtail: An Indian Reserve, a White Town, and the Road to Reconciliation; DALE EISLER for From Left to Right: Saskatchewan’s Political and Economic Transformation; and CHRIS TURNER for How to Be a Climate Optimist: Blueprints for a Better World. The jurors: TERRI E. GIVENS, NIK NANOS and JACQUES POITRAS.

— The big reveal: May 10 at the Politics and the Pen gala in Ottawa.

Capital Sports Development Inc., which wants to build an NHL arena on Ottawa’s LeBreton Flats, tapped Crestview consultant STEFANO HOLLANDS to talk to the federal government about its proposed “world-class mixed-use development.”

Media mentions: Wednesday was MOIRA WYTON‘s last day at The Tyee. Next stop for Wyton is CBC News.

PROZONE

If you’re a subscriber, don’t miss our latest policy newsletter from MAURA FORREST: The day after.

In other Pro headlines:
— Tread lightly on EV credits, lawmakers urge.
— Don’t panic about the panic, says top bank regulator.
— FDA approves first over-the-counter naloxone.
— Dallas Fed: Oil industry growth stalls amid banking worries.
— Read Pentagon comptroller’s letter on budget wish lists.

On the Hill

→ Find the latest House committees here

→ Keep track of Senate committees here

9 a.m. The parliamentary budget officer will post a new report titled “A Distributional Analysis of the Federal Fuel Charge under the 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan.”

9 a.m. GARY MAR, Canada West Foundation president and CEO, is a first-round witness at the Senate energy committee’s meeting studying climate change and the country’s oil and gas industry.

9 a.m. The Senate internal economy, budgets and administration committee meets to discuss “financial and administrative matters.”

9 a.m. The Senate agriculture committee meets to continue their study of soil health in Canada.

9 a.m. The Senate fisheries committee meets to discuss the government’s response to a report tabled last summer.

11 a.m. National Revenue Minister DIANE LEBOUTHILLIER joins the House finance committee, along with a whopping 15 department officials from the CRA and finance, to take questions about main estimates.

11 a.m. Agriculture Minister MARIE-CLAUDE BIBEAU, STÉPHANE BERGERON, CLAUDE DEBELLEFEUILLE, JEAN-DENIS GARON, LUC BERTHOLD and LOUIS PLAMONDON will be at the House procedure and house affairs committee to talk about the Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission’s Quebec report.

11 a.m. The House foreign affairs committee meets to continue its study of Bill C-281 with Université de Montréal Emeritus Professor DANIEL TURP and Hong Kong Watch’s KATHERINE LEUNG.

11 a.m. Chief Medical Advisor SUPRIYA SHARMA will be at the House health committee as MPs continue to take Bill C-252 through clause-by-clause consideration.

11 a.m. JIM BALSILLIE, chair of the Council of Canadian Innovators, is a witness at the House science committee’s study of support for the commercialization of intellectual property.

11:30 a.m. The Senate banking committee meets to study business investment in Canada.

11:30 a.m. Sen. SALMA ATAULLAHJAN will be a witness at the Senate foreign affairs committee. Senators are studying her Senate public bill, Bill S-225.

11:30 a.m. The Senate social affairs committee meets to continue its study of Bill C-22.

11:30 a.m. The Senate legal and constitutional affairs committee meets to discuss Bill C-9 with witnesses from the Indigenous Bar Association and Roundtable of Legal Diversity Associations.

3:30 p.m. Canada Soccer Chief Financial Officer SEAN HEFFERNAN is a witness at the House heritage committee’s meeting studying safe sport in Canada.

3:30 p.m. Cybersecurity experts from the Communications Security Establishment, Auditor General’s Office, Public Works, Shared Services Canada and Treasury Board will be at the House public accounts committee to discuss a watchdog report about personal information in the cloud.

3:30 p.m. The House international trade committee will meet to take Bill C-282 through clause-by-clause consideration.

3:30 p.m. The House fisheries committee meets to study ecosystem and management of pinniped populations.

3:30 p.m. The House status of women committee meets for their fourth meeting studying human trafficking of women, girls and gender diverse people.

6:30 p.m. The House human resources committee meets to study Bill C-35.

6:30 p.m. The House veterans affairs committee meets to study the experience of women veterans.

— Behind closed doors: The House transport committee meets to go over a draft report of its study on the impact of commercial shipping on shoreline erosion; the House environment committee meets to discuss its fossil fuel subsidies and Bill S-5 reports;

TRIVIA

Wednesday’s answer: On March 29, 1999, WAYNE GRETZKY scored his last NHL goal
.
Props to LILY MESH, DAVID FRASER, AMY BOUGHNER, ROB LEFORTE, ROBERT MCDOUGALL, STEPHEN KAROL, LAURA JARVIS, DOUG RICE, ALLAN FABRYKANT, WILLIAM PRISTANSKI, GERMAINE MALABRE, NANCI WAUGH, BARRE CAMPBELL, MATTHEW DUBÉ, BOOTS TAYLOR-VAISEY, R. ROMANIN, JOHN DILLON, CHRIS MCCLUSKEY, BRENNAN GOREHAM, BOB GORDON, DAN MCCARTHY and PATRICK DION.

Today’s question: “Today, it seems as if the pandemic is already forgotten, but we still have a long way to go to truly recover. Therefore, March 11 must become a day to commemorate the pandemic.” Name the sitting senator behind this drive.

Send your answer to [email protected]

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: [email protected]

Playbook wouldn’t happen: Without Luiza Ch. Savage and Sue Allan.