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politics briefing newsletter

Good morning,

The cruelty continues. The White House says it will not end the practice of taking children away from families crossing the U.S.-Mexico border improperly without getting the other things it wants from Congress: such as cutting down on legal immigration and building a border wall. And as the policy of separating vulnerable families is used as a bargaining chip with lawmakers, Attorney-General Jeff Sessions also says he hopes it will discourage families from crossing the border in the first place – a suggestion that appalls the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. “The thought that any state would seek to deter parents by inflicting such abuse on children is unconscionable,” Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein said.

This is the daily Politics Briefing newsletter, written by Chris Hannay in Ottawa and James Keller in Vancouver. If you’re reading this on the web or someone forwarded this email newsletter to you, you can sign up for Politics Briefing and all Globe newsletters here. Have any feedback? Let us know – what you think.

TODAY’S HEADLINES

The Liberals have stolen two seats from the Conservatives in by-elections since 2015, and it was only a matter of time until the Tories got one back. Hockey coach Richard Martel won Chicoutimi-Le Fjord for the Conservatives last night with more than half the vote, a result that leader Andrew Scheer will trumpet as a resurgence for his party in the province. The by-election campaign wasn’t without its controversies, though: Conservative leadership had to distance itself from a local organizer who was trying to drum up support in an anti-immigration group.

Back in Ottawa, Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen says the federal government’s recent efforts to discourage would-be asylum seekers from crossing into Canada between official border posts are working. Mr. Hussen pointed to a 27-per-cent decrease in border crossers from 2,560 in April to 1,869 in May.

Canada and Mexico are bracing for American tariffs on auto imports.

The Trump administration is also preparing tariffs on another $200-billion worth of goods from China, in what they say is a bid to retaliate against China’s retaliation of the U.S.’s original surprise tariffs.

Ottawa is declining to publicly respond to warnings from members of a U.S congressional committees that Chinese smartphone maker Huawei is a national security threat. Huawei has turned Canada into a key research centre for next-generation mobile technology. Minister Navdeep Bains and Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale were asked about the American in Question Period, but neither addressed the issue directly.

The cannabis legalization legislation is back in the Senate, and could have its final vote today.

The federal government is launching consultations to create a national data strategy to ensure personal information collected online is protected.

Canada’s spy agency is purging some of the personal data it’s collected over the years.

Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion has cleared Finance Minister Bill Morneau of any wrongdoing related to an alleged conflict-of-interest in the goverment’s pension legislation.

Mr. Morneau’s riding in downtown Toronto has one of the highest child poverty rates in the country, according to a new report that tracks rates across all 338 federal ridings. The anti-poverty advocacy group behind the report, Campaign 2000, hopes these findings will compel the government to finalize a poverty-reduction strategy and increase funding for anti-poverty programs.

A new tax on high-value homes in B.C. has pitted homeowners whose properties are worth more than $3-million against the NDP government in what has become an increasingly emotional debate about housing. The government says homeowners can afford the tax because many stand to make millions in profit when they eventually sell, but opponents are decrying it as an unfair tax grab that won’t fix the housing crisis.

A B.C. court case that will examine how much control the provincial government has over the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion will hear from 20 interveners, including First Nations, business groups and the governments of Alberta and Saskatchewan.

And a judge has approved a historic compensation deal for members of the military and public service who faced discrimination on the job because of their sexuality.

John Ibbitson (The Globe and Mail) on the by-election in Quebec: “So even as all national party leaders rallied behind Mr. Trudeau in his confrontation with Mr. Trump over tariffs, the voters in Chicoutimi dumped the Liberals for the Tories. And the trade dispute matters there more than almost anywhere. The region has four aluminum smelters, representing a third of Canada’s aluminium production. The local economy could suffer severely, if the Americans’ new 10 per cent tariff on aluminium imports starts to bite.”

Chantal Hébert (Toronto Star) on the provincial Liberals: “The Liberals’s best re-election cards should have been a booming economy, operating at full employment, and the delivery — just in time for the campaign — of a provincial budget surplus. But these are aces that CAQ Leader François Legault’s business credentials, combined with his experience with economic portfolios as a former senior PQ cabinet minister, have so far trumped.”

Gordon Pape (The Globe and Mail) on the Canada-U.S. trade war: “He [the Prime Minister] has to stand up to U.S. President Donald Trump for the sake of his own image, self-esteem and political survival. But doing so, even in a mild way (“We won’t be pushed around”), enrages the thin-skinned President to the point that he threatens that Canadians will pay dearly for Mr. Trudeau’s comments.“

Margaret Wente (The Globe and Mail) on Trinity Western University: “The decision is also yet another giant step in the marginalization of conservative Christians, who are becoming an ever more endangered species in public life.”

Elaine Craig (The Globe and Mail) on law societies and diversity: “Law societies are obligated to regulate in the public interest and maintaining equal access to, and diversity within, the legal profession is strongly in the public interest. A legal profession that is diverse is more competent, more responsive to the needs of the public and worthier of the public’s trust and confidence.”

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