Good morning,
New Brunswick Liberal Leader Brian Gallant wants to succeed where the last few premiers of his province have failed: He wants to get re-elected.
Voters in the Maritime province head to the polls next week to decide whether to re-elect Mr. Gallant’s Liberals or to follow the last few elections and alternate to a Progressive Conservative government, this one led by former finance minister Blaine Higgs.
The campaigns of both leading parties have been upbeat, though there are reasons to be concerned about the province’s economy. The population is shrinking as births fall and residents move away, employment is dropping and provincial debt continues to climb.
Read more from Jessica Leeder, The Globe’s Atlantic Canada reporter.
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TODAY’S HEADLINES
Quebec held its first-ever televised English-language election debate last night. Provincial parties have resisted conducting debates in English for years, so as not to appear soft on protecting the French language.
North American free-trade agreement talks continue. Ontario Premier Doug Ford is going to Washington tomorrow, and Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland will be back in the U.S. capital sometime this week, though it’s not clear when.
More than 100 legal and human-rights experts are calling on the Liberal government to refer to Myanmar’s violent treatment of Rohingya Muslims a genocide.
Toronto-area MP Leona Alleslev has departed the Liberal back benches for a seat on the front benches of the Official Opposition. Ms. Alleslev told reporters yesterday that she was crossing the floor and joining the Conservatives because she had lost faith in the Liberals. “My attempts to raise my concerns with this government were met with silence and, as I said in the House, the government must be challenged openly and for me to publicly criticize the government as a Liberal would undermine the government and according to my code of conduct, be dishonourable,” she said.
In the first Question Period back from the summer break, opposition MPs criticized the Liberals for what they said was a continuation of so-called “cash for access” fundraisers. The questions were prompted by a Globe investigation that found the Liberals have frequently violated their own fundraising rules when it comes to lobbyists.
At an event with Maclean’s, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said some politicians exploit fear for short-term political gain. “We’re seeing that success erode some of the public trust in institutions, which then creates a cycle of those institutions becoming less trustworthy,” he said.
And clothing retailer Simons has apologized for selling a bra named after former Supreme Court Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin without her permission. “It was a lack of judgment on our part, on my part,” Peter Simons said.
The Globe and Mail editorial board on lobbyists at Liberal fundraisers: “The Liberals note that lobbyists who attend ‘donor appreciation’ events must sign a form saying they will not do any lobbying. This doesn’t solve the problem: The mere presence of these paid political operators at events designed to show appreciation for the largesse of attendees puts ministers in a conflict of interest.”
John Ibbitson (The Globe and Mail) on Parliament’s new sitting: “A little more than a year out from the next election, it is becoming clear that the state of the economy will dominate the campaign. If you think Indigenous issues or the threat of global warming or the state of the health-care system should be the top priority, you’re going to be disappointed.”
Colby Cosh (National Post) on the People’s Party of Canada: “Promising to run 338 candidates is a good way of maximizing the harm to the [Conservatives], if this is just a plan for samurai revenge. A leader like [Maxime] Bernier, who is thoughtful about ideology and does enjoy recognition from coast to coast, would be a good central building block for a libertarian-ish or classical liberal political party, if you want such a party. ... Why couldn’t Bernier start out by using the first part of his 13 months to find 20 or 30 really good [candidates], and run only those?”
Allison Hanes (Montreal Gazette) on the Quebec election debate: “Anglophones are more than a linguistic minority living within Quebec who can be reassured with promises of English-language public services. They are also cultural and religious minorities, as well as immigrants and refugees in some cases, who happen to share a common tongue. And for those reasons, the debate over immigration — and the reasons for the CAQ’s focus on it — remains unsettling to many.”
Frank Ching (The Globe and Mail) on China and Taiwan: “There is no excuse for China’s bullying tactics in blackmailing governments and companies to endorse its position on Taiwan. China will no doubt argue that what it is doing is laying the groundwork for eventual peaceful unification with Taiwan. However, it has not been averse to using force.”
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Chris Hannay