Politics This Morning: Feds have made ‘important progress’ on Truth and Reconciliation Commission commitments, says Trudeau; Canada reaches second early-dose vaccine agreement

Good Wednesday morning, Five years after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission released its report on the damaging legacy of Canada’s residential school system, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the Liberal government has made “important progress” on the TRC’s call to action and suggested some delays are understandable in the face of criticism progress has been too slow. The federal government has started or completed 80 per cent of the calls where Ottawa has sole or partial responsibility. There are 94 total recommendations. “We have moved forward but we're not done yet,” he said during the presser Tuesday, which also marked the five-year anniversary of the TRC report. The TRC commissioners have raised concerns about the “slow and uneven” pace of implementing its calls, according to APTN, calling for a renewed sense of urgency. Asked about their concerns, Mr. Trudeau said he “shared” their impatience, and seemed to place the answer around federal pacing with the need to consult properly with Indigenous people. “As much as Ottawa might want to put forward the answers and move forward very quickly, it can’t be that way. We need to do this in partnership hand-in-hand with Indigenous communities who need to determine their future and their path, and we have to be there to support, to resource and to accompany them,” he said. “And that always takes a little bit longer.” What took centuries to break and destroy “will take more than five years to fix, but the work we’ve done as a government is more than any other government in the past and we’re just getting started,” said Mr. Trudeau, who highlighted a recent announcement of $542-million in funding to reform child and family services and reduce the number of Indigenous children in care. He also noted the government recently tabled a bill to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Calling residential schools one of the ‘‘darkest chapters" in Canada's history that has "left a tragic legacy that continues to this day,” Mr. Trudeau thanked the commissioners for their work, including outgoing Senator Murray Sinclair, who have “changed Canada for the better.” Conservative Party Leader Erin O’Toole, meanwhile, told a group of Ryerson conservative students that residential schools were created to “try and provide education,” and became “horrible,” per Global News. And, ever more news on the vaccine front! Yesterday, Mr. Trudeau was on hand to say it first: Canada has reached a second agreement for early doses of the COVID-19 vaccines—this one with U.S. biotech firm Moderna—to get up to 168,000 doses before the end of December, pending Health Canada approval. That, combined with the promised 249,000 Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines means the country could see up to 417,000 by year-end, per The Hill Times report. The first Pfizer shots arrived Sunday, almost a week after regulatory approval, with 30,000 doses coming in the initial batch. Next week's shipment will more than quadruple to 200,000 next week, announced Mr. Trudeau. Distribution sites will also bump up from 14 available now to 70 next week to receive the fragile Pfizer vaccine, which must be kept in subzero temperatures. That makes the Moderna vaccine the best candidate to ship to northern and remote communities, said Mr. Trudeau, who said planning is underway to send them north to the territories, which haven’t been able to store the Pfizer shots. At the presser Mr. Trudeau brushed aside questions from the Globe and Mail about Canada’s ambassador to China, Dominic Barton, who was the government’s economic adviser during his near 10-year tenure as global managing partner of the consulting firm McKinsey & Co. Mr. Trudeau called him an “extraordinary Canadian” but didn’t say whether he was aware of controversial practices by McKinsey to boost OxyContin sales amid an escalating opioid crisis, as reported by the New York Times, or whether Mr. Barton had a part in them. McKinsey has since offered a rare apology. Typically reporters are given a second follow up question on these calls, but it was on to the next question after his non-answer. Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland will join Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during a year-end roundtable with The Canadian Press this afternoon. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade At 2 p.m., he and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland will take part in a year-end roundtable with The Canadian Press and La Press. Mr. Trudeau has year-end interviews with three other media outlets today. The Canada Revenue Agency says there are new rules to make more Canadians eligible for a tax deduction if they worked from home. It’s likely to apply to millions of Canadians who spent more than 50 per cent of their work hours at their household over at least four consecutive weeks, per CBC News. In scheduled events, at 9 a.m., Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux will post three new legislative costing notes. Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains is on deck ta 10 a.m. to make a “major” announcement touching on Canada's future in space exploration. He’ll be joined virtually by Canadian Space Agency president Lisa Campbell and CSA astronauts Jeremy Hansen, Joshua Kutryk, David Saint-Jacques and Jenni Sidey-Gibbons. This Global News report speculates whether astronauts are headed to the moon with NASA’s new Artemis program. Natural Resources Minister Seamus O’Regan and Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson are up at 11:30 a.m. to make an announcement about hydrogen and Canada’s energy future. Small Business Minister Mary Ng, meanwhile, is giving a keynote address entitled "How Can We Play Our Cards Right in this New Globalization of Economies?" as part of the Conference of Montreal hosted by the International Economic Forum of the Americas. Conservative Party Leader Erin O’Toole is also making an appearance online, taking part in a couple of meet and greets. In Ottawa at 9:15 a.m. NDP MP Charlie Angus, his party’s ethics critic, will hold a press conference to argue that former Finance Minister Bill Morneau broke Conflict of Interest laws in his dealings with WE Charity. In a letter last month Mr. Angus asked Federal Ethics Commissioner Mario Dio to consider new questions about the relationship between Mr. Morneau and WE Charity. That came not long after Mr. Dion’s October decision to drop his investigation into Mr. Morneau and his family’s WE-related trips, where the former MP subsequently repaid $41,000. Over in the Senate, meetings are online for the Ethics Committee, Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Committee, and Foreign Affairs Committee, which is doing a clause-by-clause consideration on Bill S-2, An Act to amend the Chemical Weapons Convention Implementation Act. The Chamber, meanwhile, is expected to sit for its last day before the holidays. In other events, at noon Donald Savoie, one of Canada’s leading experts on public administration, is talking about his latest book, Democracy in Canada: The Disintegration of Our Institutions. He’ll talk about his book, his career, and his prognosis for Canada’s institutions as we move forward in an uncertain world. The Hill Times CORRECTION: This article was updated on Dec. 16 to reflect Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's schedule. It partially referenced Mr. Trudeau's itinerary for another day.

Politics This Morning

Politics This Morning: Feds have made ‘important progress’ on Truth and Reconciliation Commission commitments, says Trudeau; Canada reaches second early-dose vaccine agreement

Plus, the Canada Revenue Agency announced new rules that make millions of Canadians eligible for a new tax deduction if they worked from home for a month straight.

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Politics This Morning

Politics This Morning: Feds have made ‘important progress’ on Truth and Reconciliation Commission commitments, says Trudeau; Canada reaches second early-dose vaccine agreement

Plus, the Canada Revenue Agency announced new rules that make millions of Canadians eligible for a new tax deduction if they worked from home for a month straight.

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