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Thanks for reading the Ottawa Playbook. I'm your host, Nick Taylor-Vaisey, with Zi-Ann Lum. We're in the Windy City for the Great Lakes Economic Forum, where the word of the morning was sobering. Also, we list every single Canadian caught up in the most recent round of Russian sanctions. Quipped GERRY BUTTS: "Well, there goes Christmas in Vladivostok."
Chicago, the host city of the Great Lakes Economic Forum | Nick Taylor-Vaisey/POLITICO
'BIGGER, BOLDER PARTNERSHIP' — One of Canada's most persistent boosters south of the border, former ambo BRUCE HEYMAN, tested a new idea on the Great Lakes Economic Forum set in Chicago: a treaty that would "broaden, further define and codify" the cross-border economic relationship.
Heyman first made this pitch in the op-ed pages of the Chicago Tribune earlier this month. Watch his full speech.
What would the treaty cover? Enhancing supply chains and preclearance for goods, expanding the Nexus program for trusted travelers, building a safe continental perimeter, ratcheting up trade in fossil fuels and sustainable fuels and critical minerals, and eliminating labor bottlenecks.
— Predictable spending: Heyman added the importance of enshrining infrastructure investments — for example, Defense Minister ANITA ANAND's recent commitment to NORAD — in a formal agreement. "The immediate effect would be greater predictability for investors and workers on both sides of the border and a heightened sense of security and safety for all," he said.
— The rationale: Heyman recalled one of the first conversations he had with a staffer when he walked into his office at the American embassy in Ottawa in 2014. He asked the head of public affairs what the irritants were with the Canadians. "Sir, we have no challenges," said then-head of public affairs KAY MAYFIELD. "There are only opportunities."
SOBERING ANALYSIS —That was the vibe as the GLEF got underway at the Doubletree in downtown Chicago. MARK FISHER, president and CEO of the Council of the Great Lakes Region, set the tone as he welcomed about 200 delegates to the two-day conference.
— The stakes: "Industries and the nature of work are changing at a rapid pace. Our region and planet are warming at an alarming pace because of our carbon intensive economies. Our infrastructure is old at a time when public demand for better cities, services and sustainability are increasing," said Fisher.
"Globalization and trusted supply lines are fraying and faltering. Too many people in the region feel left out and left behind. Too many go without food, a good education and health care. Finally, nature in places is at a breaking point.”
BORDER WOES — Sure, airports are jammed. But look at all those travelers. It's vacation season! Canada Day is almost here! The Fourth of July is around the corner! The U.S. Transportation Security Authority said 2,462,097 travelers passed through airport security checkpoints Sunday — the most since 2019.
But don't boast about those numbers to the people who operate international land crossings. Two of them, plus the head of a cross-border trade alliance, guided a GLEF audience through a litany of challenges on the (literal) ground.
— The problem: Simply put, non-commercial traffic hasn't come back since governments shuttered the land border at the outset of the pandemic. PETER PETAINEN, the bridge director of the crossing between the two Sault Ste. Maries in Ontario and Michigan, said it all adds up to C$360 million in lost economic activity since the start of the pandemic.
WARREN ASKEW, the COO of the Federal Bridge Corporation that owns the Canadian side of four Ontario crossings, said the "sale and chicken" traffic — people who cross to take advantage of discounts or pick up gas and groceries — is far below pre-pandemic levels.
— The impediments: Petainen said unvaccinated travelers won’t be part of the equation for the next several years, so any projections should count them out.
The session's third panelist, Can-Am Border Trade Alliance president PAT WHALEN, harped on the ArriveCan app — a required download for anyone who crosses into Canada. Most Americans who don't live near the border have never heard of the app, he said. And even those who are familiar with the entry requirements often don't make the trip.
"We used to go to Niagara Falls for lunch," said Whalen, who lives and works on the American side of the natural wonder. "We'd never do that anymore." The amount of Canadian car traffic is so low on the American side that just last week, Whalen said he actually noticed an Ontario license plate. Usually, half the plates in town are Canadian.
— The risks: Tolls are the sole reliable revenue source for bridge operators, said Petainen. Commercial traffic has kept them afloat, but they're barely sustainable. The pandemic forced the Sault bridge to cut staff — but that's a hard-to-replace skilled workforce. And if crossings don't rebound, there'll be pennies left for maintenance: even painting lines on the roadway.
Askew joked that airline misery forced him to drive to the Chicago conference from Detroit. But he was grimly optimistic that chaos above could lead to more paying customers below.
NEXT UP — This morning, POLITICO's ZI-ANN LUM moderates a panel on forging a future without plastic waste and litter. GAVIN BADE leads a session on electrifying Great Lakes transportation. DEBRA KAHN moderates a group on sustainable farming and food production. And both Zi-Ann and Debra join a panel on the POLITICO/Morning Consult Global Sustainability Poll.
DEADLY WARNING — A Russian missile strike on a busy shopping mall in Kremenchuk on Monday “is one of the most defiant terrorist attacks in European history,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said last night.
“Before the air alarm there were about a thousand people” inside the mall. “Fortunately, as far as we know at this time, many people managed to get out.” Reports say the air strike killed 18 people and wounded dozens more.
— G-7 reacts: “We stand united with Ukraine in mourning the innocent victims of this brutal attack,” the leaders of the seven most industrialized nations said in a statement issued late last night. “Indiscriminate attacks on innocent civilians constitute a war crime. Russian President [Vladimir] Putin and those responsible will be held to account.” (h/t POLITICO's Brussels Playbook)
Earlier on Monday, Zelenskyy briefed G-7 leaders on the renewed Russian offensive against Ukraine. More from POLITICO’s David Herszenhorn.
PUTIN'S BAD BOOKS — Another 43 Canadians have cracked a Russian sanctions list. We're just going to list them all.
If nothing else, Moscow's latest measures offered a chance to brag on social media.
— Liberals: Party president SUZANNE COWAN, national director AZAM ISHMAEL, former Bank of Canada governor and perennially rumored future leadership candidate MARK CARNEY, VP MIRA AHMAD.
— The PMO: Deputy chief of staff MARJORIE MICHEL, policy director JOHN BRODHEAD, strategic adviser ANDRÉE-LYNE HALLÉ, special assistant JAMES ARMBRUSTER. Also VANDANA KATTAR, the PMO's former director of outreach and planning who's now at TD Bank.
— The DPMO: D-Comm ALEX LAWRENCE, advisers DAVID HURL and MILES HOPPER, deputy director of policy BUD SAMBASIVAM, senior policy advisers MARY-ROSE BROWN and MAAZ YASIN, policy adviser MATTHEW HALL, press secretary ADRIENNE VAUPSHAS.
— Other MINOs: OLGA RADCHENKO, policy director to Immigration Minister SEAN FRASER; PAUL MOEN, chief of staff to Labor Minister SEAMUS O'REGAN; JASON EASTON, chief of staff to Trade Minister MARY NG; Ng's policy director, JILLIAN WHITE; CHANTAL GAGNON, deputy chief of staff to Foreign Minister MÉLANIE JOLY; EMELYANA TITARENKO, comms and issues manager to Health Minister JEAN-YVES DUCLOS; LARYSA LUBKA-LEWYCKYJ, policy adviser to Public Safety Minister MARCO MENDICINO; ELLEN KUSCHNIK, parliamentary affairs director to Indigenous Services Minister PATTY HAJDU; CONNOR MOEN, advisor to Hajdu.
Said Moen: "Honestly, my greatest achievement to date."
— Bureaucrats: Natural Resources DM JOHN HANNAFORD, Finance DM special adviser STEVE VERHEUL,
— The operatives: Eurasia Group vice-chair and former PMO whisperer GERRY BUTTS, Poilievre campaign maestro JENNI BYRNE, Poilievre campaign hand JEFF BALLINGALL, Brown campaign executive chair FRED DELOREY.
— The academics:JATIN NATHWANI from the University of Waterloo, AHMED AL-RAWI from Simon Fraser University, ANN FITZ-GERALD from the Balsillie School of International Affairs.
— The think-tankers:CHARLES BURTON from the Macdonald-Laurier Institute,
— The UCC rep: DEVON SEREDA GOLDIE, president of the Ukrainian-Canadian Congress Victoria branch.
— The mayor: Calgary's JYOTI GONDEK.
— The lobbyist: Roshel Smart Armored Vehicles VP ANTON SESTRITSYN.
— The journalist: Globe and Mail columnist LAWRENCE MARTIN.
— The conductor: KERI-LYNN WILSON of the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra.
— The humanitarian:CHRISTIAN BORYS, the founder of the Saint Javelin humanitarian fundraising group.
— The association guy: Former defense minister DAVID COLLENETTE, chair of the Canadian NATO Association.
KEEP 'EM COMING — Playbook asked Green MP MIKE MORRICE, a rookie parliamentarian who survived his first House silly season, what he'll be pulling off his bookshelf as he spends the warm months back in Kitchener Centre.
— Brain food: "Teardown" by DAVE MESLIN
— Guilty pleasure: "Station Eleven" by EMILY ST. JOHN MANDEL
— Bonus guilty pleasure (not a book): "Ted Lasso"
— #IYKYK:The real origin story of "Be curious, not judgmental"
READER PICK — Playbook heard from ROB DEKKER, a two-time provincial Progressive Conservative candidate in Ottawa Centre who's now firmly ensconced as a policy adviser to Tory House leader JOHN BRASSARD.
— Top o' the heap: "The Lost Prime Ministers: Macdonald's successors Abbott, Thompson, Bowell and Tupper" by MICHAEL HILL.
— The pitch: "This is a politically thrilling account of four prime ministers in the five years that follow the death of Sir John A Macdonald and the election of Laurier as prime minister.
"'The Lost Prime Ministers' is a good read about the Liberal-Conservative Party efforts to find a willing leader (and prime minister). One can only compare the years after SIR JOHN A to the recent leadership contests of the Conservative Party of Canada."
Stay tuned for more VIP summertime bookshelf selections. Send us your reading suggestions! We'll share them in the Playbook newsletter.
— The prime minister's events are all local time (first in Germany, then Madrid).
10 a.m. PM Trudeau holds a bilat with Italian PM MARIO DRAGHI.
10:30 a.m. He attends a G-7 working session: "Shaping International Cooperation: Multilateral and Digital Order/G-20"
12:15 p.m. He hosts a media availability.
8:15 p.m. He participates in the official NATO Leaders’ arrivals.
8:20 p.m. He'll participate in the NATO family photo.
8:30 p.m. He'll attend a dinner hosted by FELIPE VI, the King of Spain.
10 a.m. Transport Minister OMAR ALGHABRA, Families Minister KARINA GOULD, Hamilton East–Stoney Creek MP CHAD COLLINS, Hamilton-Oshawa Port Authority president IAN HAMILTON will make an announcement on the future of the Burlington Canal Piers.
10 a.m. Women and Gender Equality Minister MARCI IEN will make an announcement in Toronto "supporting sexual and reproductive health services for LGBTQ2 communities across Canada."
10 a.m. (Mountain) Tory MP MICHAEL COOPER hosts a news conference in Edmonton with Mike and Dianne Ilesic, the parents of Brian Ilesic, who was murdered by Travis Baumgartner at the University of Alberta in 2012. They will be discussing the recent Bissonnette Supreme Court decision.
11:30 a.m. The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions holds a technical briefing to "discuss its expectations regarding real estate secured lending products."
12:45 p.m. Health Minister JEAN-YVES DUCLOS and Nunavut Health Minister JOHN MAIN are in Iqaluit for a long-term care funding announcement.
1:30 p.m. (Central) PrairiesCan Minister DAN VANDAL and Saskatchewan Premier SCOTT MOE will hold a press conference after touring the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization's (VIDO) new manufacturing facility at the University of Saskatchewan.
TELL US WHAT YOU KNOW — What are you hearing that you need Playbook to know? Send it all our way.
RUFF NUMBERS — Fertilizer is a slow-burning issue feeding into farmers’ heartaches and business concerns.
— The issue: When Canada withdrew Russia’s Most-Favored-Nation status on March 2, a 35 percent tariff was slapped on all imports from the country including fertilizer. Prices skyrocketed and scarcity doubled and tripled some prices — more inflation to pinch from growers’ bottom lines.
— Why it’s a problem: A recent agriculture committee report summed it up succinctly. “Russia is Ontario’s second-largest fertilizer supplier and Quebec’s largest.”
Cue Conservative MP ALEX RUFF. The Ontario MP asked the government for more information in a May 4 order paper question. How many individual farms have been impacted? Did Ottawa consult with farmers before introducing sanctions on Russian agricultural products?
The official responses from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and finance didn’t provide clear answers, but did give some data on shipments.
— What we know: “There have been a total of 19 individual importations of fertilizer in the months of March and April,” read a sessional paper response tabled last week.
“Nine of these shipments were in transit at the time the order came into effect, and therefore not subject to the general tariff of 35 percent. Ten shipments are subject to the general tariff of 35 percent.”
— CTV reports: Ottawa convoy organizer TAMARA LICH arrested in Alberta for alleged breach of bail conditions.
— PAUL WELLS edges into speculation about JUSTIN TRUDEAU's future.
— The Globe offers another take: “While the centralization of power in Westminster prime ministerships always reflects the personal character and desire of the person in the office, in our case today, the person in the office does not want to dominate his government,” RICHARD FRENCH writes. “[Trudeau] wants the Prime Minister’s Office to dominate it for him and is quite content to be its creature.”
— The Hub’s latest podcast interview is a must-listen with Conservative MP ADAM CHAMBERS. The MP takes questions about his private members’ bill on money laundering, and then conversation moves on to consider what’s ahead for the federal political parties.
— POLITICO’s RYAN HEATH writes on the “coziest club on the global summit circuit.”
— Former Morneau adviser AMITPAL SINGHtakes lessons from Alberta's Ralph Bucks and Canada's CERB.
Birthdays: HBD to Minister of Families, Children and Social Development KARINA GOULD. Also celebrating today: Former Governor General DAVID JOHNSTON, former MPs LEONA AGLUKKAQ and PEGGY NASH, broadcaster LESLIE ROBERTS and Tesla Motors CEO ELON MUSK.
Movers and shakers:JEFF COLLINS is taking on a new role as a governance policy analyst at the Department of National Defence.
Spotted: The CRA, forking over C$870,100 for advertising … MELISSA LANTSMAN, posing with her interns in the House chamber … DOUG FORD and JOHN TORY, plotting in Toronto. "When different levels of government work together, there’s nothing we can’t do," wrote the premier. (Flashback to Ford forcing change on the city in 2018.)
Also, baseball socks in Chicago.
Media mentions:JONATHAN MONTPETIT has a new gig at the CBC: “Covering social movements and democracy in Canada — the politics that happens outside of legislatures.”Here’s his first story on the beat.
Farewells:LES BLATCHFORD, father of POLITICO Canada’s ANDY BLATCHFORD, died suddenly on June 19 at home shortly after a Father’s Day gathering with family. Les never worked as a professional writer — but he had writing in his blood.
In recent days, Andy learned for the first time of a sonnet a 16-year-old Les had published in his school yearbook. Here’s a snippet:
When day is drawn to its brilliant end, And God's best star sinks slowly in the west, When heaven bids her blue-black shroud to descend — 'Tis then that earth receives her well earned rest.
Here’s a longer tribute to Les.
If you’re a POLITICO Pro subscriber, don’t miss our latest policy newsletter:Willkommen to Canada.
In news for POLITICO Pro subscribers: — Control freaks: G-7 leaders push to cap oil prices. — An alliance, if you can keep it: NATO meets in shadow of Russia-Ukraine war. — France wants cap on oil prices worldwide — not just Russia. — Biden raises duties on $2.3B worth of Russian goods. — Top Biden officials press insurers on contraceptive coverage.
Monday’s answer: There are 16,242 public EV chargers across Canada, according to the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association.
Props to BRAM ABRAMSON, ROBERT MCDOUGALL, JOHN DILLON, BOB GORDON and STACEY NORONHA.
Tuesday’s question: Who said, “When I ran for the leadership of the NDP after the death of Jack Layton, several people told me the NDP had tried women leaders and ‘they didn’t work out.’ I wanted to remind them that many male leaders in all parties hadn’t worked out.”
Send your answers to [email protected] litico.com
CORRECTION: Monday's Playbook mistakenly conflated communities in Nunavut.
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