Politics Briefing: Trudeau talks trade at Commonwealth

Good morning,

Every other year, Britain and the 52 other countries that make up the Commonwealth, many of which are former colonies, gather for a summit. Meetings have been taking place the whole week but today marks a pivotal day because the heads of government gather for a leaders meeting. While the summit has been seen as a relic of British colonialism, this year it’s been thrust back into the spotlight because of the dual impact of a more isolationist United States and Brexit. Also, given that member countries represent 2.4-billion people and almost US$10-trillion in GDP, the collective heft of the organization is difficult to overlook.

What’s on the agenda during the two-day leaders’ meeting? Trade is the headliner, but countries are expected to discuss a new charter on ocean governance, tackle the issue of cybersecurity and create new guidelines on observing elections. Human rights, including the rights of LGBTQ peoples, will have a diminished platform. In 37 member countries same-sex relationships are criminal offences, and in some of those countries they are punishable by death. Also on the docket will be the issue of who leads the Commonwealth after the Queen. She made it known this morning that she wants her son Prince Charles to lead next.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who has pushed LGBTQ rights previously among Commonwealth nations, is already in London. He met with Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain, Malcolm Turnbull of Australia and Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand yesterday. Canad and the three other countries are part of the Five Eyes group (the U.S. is the other member). Five Eyes shares close intelligence ties and the four leaders condemned Russia’s cyberattacks and its role in the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal.

This is the daily Politics Briefing newsletter, written by Chris Hannay Ottawa, Mayaz Alam i n Toronto 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 federal Liberals begin their national convention in Halifax today. Beginning to plan for the next election will be top of the agenda. David Axelrod, one of Barack Obama’s chief campaign architects and a keynote speaker at the convention, is urging the Liberals to drop the gloves in their re-election fight.

The Supreme Court is poised to make a ruling today on taking beer across provincial borders, which might end up having a big effect on interprovincial trade.

Chinese Ambassador Lu Shaye says it is “immoral” to stand in the way of Chinese investment in Canada. “Some people in Canada regard Chinese-state owned enterprises as monsters,” Mr. Lu said at an event in Ottawa. “These people attempt to weaken the competitiveness of Chinese enterprises by defamation. These approaches are immoral and will be in vain.”

Canadian Catholic bishops opened the door to having the Pope come to Canada and apologize for the church’s role in residential schools. A parliamentary motion to call for the religious leader to apologize failed to get unanimous consent yesterday because of a handful of Conservative MPs.

The Liberals will not interfere in a dispute between the National Gallery of Canada and two Quebec museums over the ownership of a painting, but the Heritage Minister did urge the institutions to work together.

The federal government says it will introduce legislation to assert its authority to push through the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion over the objections of British Columbia. Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr says he thinks Ottawa’s jurisdiction to approve inter-provincial pipelines is clear, but he says the government will use legislation to “enhance” that, though he didn’t offer specifics. The promise comes as B.C. plans to launch a constitutional reference case to determine whether it has the power to control the flow of oil through the province. Meanwhile, Mr. Trudeau was met by anti-pipeline protesters in London. This week’s threats are just the latest development in a messy legal and political battle that has stretched on for years. To catch up on what has happened and what’s next, read our Trans Mountain primer.

Liberal backbenchers are calling for the decriminalization of all illicit drugs, but the Trudeau government is ruling out such a policy. A so-called priority resolution put forward by the national Liberal caucus for debate at the convention calls on the government to treat illegal drug use as a public health issue, not a criminal issue.

The House of Commons health committee says Canada should adopt a single-payer pharmacare insurance plan.

Charities say they are worried the government won’t go through with its promises.

Maxime Bernier has pulled publication of a book that contained a passage critical of Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer.

The son of a Canadian-Iranian professor who died under mysterious circumstances in Tehran is concerned for the safety of his mother, who is still in the country.

Raul Castro, the 86-year-old brother of Fidel Castro and Cuba’s leader for the past 10 years, will step down today. Miguel Diaz-Canel, a prominent figure within the Communist Party, has been proposed as Mr. Castro’s replacement. Mr. Diaz-Canel, 57, will be the first non-Castro leader since Cuba’s revolution in 1959. He was chosen by the country’s rubber-stamp parliament and is the current first vice president.

Cuba is also saying that Canada’s withdrawal of diplomat families is unjustified. Canada and the U.S. say that some of their diplomats have suffered from a mysterious illness since late 2016. On Monday, Canada decided to make Cuba an “unaccompanied post” due to “ongoing uncertainty.”

U.S. President Donald Trump came out in support of the meeting between CIA Director Mike Pompeo and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. He also said that plans for a summit between the U.S. and North Korea are progressing well and that he expects it to take place in the coming weeks. Mr. Pompeo is also Mr. Trump’s nominee to be the next Secretary of State.

Britain’s House of Lords handed Ms. May a defeat on the Brexit file, challenging her refusal to stay in a customs union with the European Union once Britain leaves. Lords from all parties supported an amendment to the EU withdrawal bill, voting 348 to 225 to require ministers to report what efforts had been made to secure a customs union by the end of October.

And Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called a snap election for June 24. Elections were not due until November 2019 and he says the elections are required because of the war in Syria and economic challenges.

Campbell Clark (The Globe and Mail) on Trans Mountain: “It’s inter-provincial mayhem. But it’s not a constitutional crisis. The questions at play now are not about who has jurisdiction, but who looks like they are taking a loud, tough stand for their side. This latest spate of tit-for-tat threats can’t do much but make a bunch of lawyers rich.”

Konrad Yakabuski (The Globe and Mail) on our approach with Russia: “Canada’s approach toward Russia and its strongman President Vladimir Putin has come full circle since the 2015 election. We’ve blown cold and warm and cold again, with governmental and ministerial changes in Ottawa underscoring how personalities and domestic politics, not longer-term strategic objectives, dictate our foreign policy.” (for subscribers)

Lewis MacKenzie (The Globe and Mail) on Mali: “Before Canada deploys to Mali, let’s be told what the actual objective is. If it’s to support the so-called stalled peace process, that’s not good enough. If it was to be the protection of a small geographical populated area under threat, than fine, deploy Canadian boots on the ground to do so. If it’s to win some UN brownie points with a modest, low-risk contribution for future consideration when it comes time to seek a non-voting seat on the Security Council, than stay home. Soldiers aren’t political pawns – at least they shouldn’t be. ”

David Parkinson (The Globe and Mail) on the Bank of Canada: “Perhaps the most interesting development in the central bank’s update was its revelation that Canada’s output gap – the space between the amount of goods and services the economy is actually producing and the amount it’s capable of producing when running full-out – actually opened up a bit in the past quarter. That implies an economy with a little bit of slack on its hands, which generally means it has more room to grow before we have to seriously start worrying about overheating and inflation – the two things the Bank of Canada generally worries most about.” (for subscribers)

Linda Nazareth (The Globe and Mail) on co-working and the new economy: “As we hurtle towards the gig economy, we will have to constantly revisit the physical and social structures that go along with it. Co-working spaces, although still in their infancy, may end up being at least a partial solution to a set of new problems that threaten to rise alongside the new efficiencies. ”

Benjamin Dachis (The Globe and Mail) on regional transit in Ontario: “There’s a clear need to move toward consolidating some parts of the disparate transit operators across the Toronto region into a single entity.“

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