Politics This Morning: Liberals and NDP agree to path forward on housing and grocery bill

Good Monday morning, The House of Commons is back today after a week off, and is scheduled to sit until Dec. 15. The Senate will reconvene tomorrow. The House is scheduled to debate a lengthy government motion setting out a path forward for Bill C-56, the government’s bill to remove the GST on the construction of new rental housing and give the government and Canada's competition regulators more powers under the Competition Act. This was the first new government bill tabled when the House returned after the summer break, but it has been stuck at second reading since September. CTV News' RACHEL AIELLO reports that the Liberals have now secured NDP support to push the bill through the House, in exchange for a series of amendments that include heavier penalties for price-fixing and similar anti-competitive tactics by large corporations. These amendments reflect elements of a private member’s bill tabled in September by NDP Leader JAGMEET SINGH. According to the CTV News report, the Liberals have promised to support certain NDP amendments when they are introduced in committee. Finance Minister CHRYSTIA FREELAND is scheduled to present the Fall Economic Statement in the House of Commons at 4 p.m. Ottawa time tomorrow, and the Liberals are looking to demonstrate action on affordability concerns. Government extends appointments in Winnipeg lab investigation Former Supreme Court justice Ian Binnie, seen here in May 2018, is one of three former judges appointed as part of an examination of possible national security concerns at a sensitive federal laboratory. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade The federal government has extended the appointments of three senior judges who are working with MPs to examine the firing of two scientists from the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg, which suggests the committee still has a lot more work to do. An ad hoc committee of Liberal, Conservative, Bloc Québécois, and NDP MPs has been working since May to look into the firing of scientists XIANGGUO QIU and KEDING CHENG. The married couple were escorted out of Canada’s only Level 4 lab in July 2019 and fired by the Public Health Agency of Canada in January 2021. National security experts say the dismissals may have been related to concerns about espionage by the Chinese government. The federal government appointed former Federal Court of Appeal judge ELEANOR DAWSON and former Supreme Court of Canada justices IAN BINNIE and MARSHALL ROTHSTEIN on May 12 to act as arbiters to decide which information or documents the multi-party committee of MPs can release to the public without compromising national security. The three judges’ initial six-month appointments were due to expire on Nov. 12, but the cabinet has now issued three new orders in council extending these appointments to 18 months each, which means they will now expire on Nov. 12, 2024. Incidentally, Industry Minister FRANÇOIS-PHILIPPE CHAMPAGNE is scheduled to appear before the House Science Committee this afternoon to answer questions about partnerships between Canadian research institutions and entities connected to the Chinese government. What else is happening in committee? The House Public Safety and National Security Committee will meet this morning to elect a new chair. British Columbia Liberal MP RON MCKINNON informed committee members on Nov. 8 that he was stepping down as chair ahead of scheduled knee replacement surgery. The Senate National Security and Defence Committee will meet this afternoon to continue its study of Bill C-21, the government’s landmark firearms legislation. The committee will hear this afternoon from groups representing police and from the union for customs and immigration officers. The House Finance Committee—which travelled from Quebec to British Columbia last week holding pre-budget consultations—will meet this afternoon to debate Quebec Liberal MP RACHEL BENDAYAN’s Nov. 6 motion opposing Alberta Premier DANIELLE SMITH’s efforts to pull her province out of the Canada Pension Plan. SAMI KHOURY, head of the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security, and other cyber security experts will appear before the House Privacy Committee this afternoon to discuss the ways in which social media platforms may be involved in harvesting data or other personal information that is then shared with foreign governments. The committee questioned executives from TikTok on Oct. 18. What else is happening today? The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) will begin three weeks of hearings on its regulatory plan to modernize Canada's broadcasting framework. This set of hearings will examine “whether online streaming services should make an initial contribution to support Canadian and Indigenous content and, if so, where these should be directed to best benefit the broadcasting system,” according to a CRTC press release. Youth activists from across Canada will gather in Ottawa today for UNICEF Canada’s Youth Advocacy Summit. Canada’s chief public health officer THERESA TAM and First Nations child and family rights activist CINDY BLACKSTOCK will be among the speakers. Statistics Canada will release a dataset titled “Help from parents: The advantage of parental property ownership for their adult children in the Canadian housing market.” Foreign Affairs Minister MÉLANIE JOLY will welcome her Mongolian counterpart BATTSETSEG BATMUNKH to Ottawa today, as Canada marks 50 years of diplomatic relations with Mongolia. Trans rights activist Fae Johnstone will appear alongside NDP MPs today at a press conference on Parliament Hill. Photograph courtesy of Fae Johnstone NDP MPs RANDALL GARRISON, BLAKE DESJARLAIS, and LISA MARIE BARRON will hold a press conference on Parliament Hill at 11 a.m. Ottawa time to call on the Liberals to protect the rights and safety of trans people, including trans kids. The NDP MPs will be joined by trans rights activists FAE JOHNSTONE and CELESTE TRIANON. Employment Minister RANDY BOISSONNAULT and MATT JONES, Alberta's jobs minister, will be in Edmonton to announce new funding for Alberta through labour market agreements. The presidents of the Canadian Medical Association, the Canadian Nurses Association, and the Canadian Association of Physician Assistants will participate in a panel discussion titled "Charting a Bold Future for Canada's Health Workforce." The webinar, organized by Santis Health, will happen online at 12 p.m. Ottawa time. Environment Minister STEVEN GUILBEAULT will hold a press conference in Ottawa at 12:30 p.m. local time to announce measures to regulate the trade of wildlife items in Canada. The government recently used an order in council to limit the import and export of raw elephant ivory and raw rhinoceros horn, and to end personal exemptions for finished goods made of ivory. Mental Health and Addictions Minister YA’ARA SAKS will be in Vancouver today to deliver the lunchtime keynote speech at a conference organized by the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction. Saks will also visit the Richmond Caring Place Society to announce support for suicide prevention. In the news Pollster NIK NANOS says the Liberals’ unclear messaging on their carbon pricing system is not playing well with the electorate, especially in contrast with the Conservatives’ blunt and consistent calls to axe the carbon tax. MIKE LAPOINTE has this story. Does repeating specific phrases and political slogans ad nauseam actually work? Acadia University political science professor ALEX MARLAND tells NATHAN FUNG that the point at which “a politician is sick of saying something” is roughly the point at which voters start hearing it. kphilipupillai@hilltimes.com The Hill Times

Politics This Morning

Politics This Morning: Liberals and NDP agree to path forward on housing and grocery bill

Plus, the government extends the appointments of three judges who are examining documents related to the firing of two scientists from a high-level lab in Winnipeg.

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Politics This Morning

Politics This Morning: Liberals and NDP agree to path forward on housing and grocery bill

Plus, the government extends the appointments of three judges who are examining documents related to the firing of two scientists from a high-level lab in Winnipeg.

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