Politics This Morning: Road to somewhere

Good Friday morning, In today’s Politics This Morning: Anti-MAID-for-mental-illness groups will hold a presser near the Hill. Diplomats head to the NAC. Vandal and Kinew announce cash for the Hudson Bay Railway. And we're not little children And we know what we want And the future is certain Give us time to work it out. While the talking heads get fired up about the upcoming byelection and porno passports, Canada’s transportation ministers are huddling in Montreal for a federal-provincial-territorial summit. Yesterday, the group met with representatives of the national Indigenous organizations to get their take on the country’s transport needs, then held a preliminary meeting. Today, they’re scheduled to spend much of the day talking and negotiating. The federal government will be represented by Transport Minister PABLO RODRIGUEZ, but it’s not a stretch to imagine that Environment Minister STEVEN GUILBEAULT’s much-discussed remarks about cutting off funding for new road construction will play a role in shaping the talks in Montreal today. Indeed, a spokesperson for Quebec Transport Minister GENEVIÈVE GUILBAULT told Politics This Morning yesterday that she wants to talk about Ottawa’s “disengagement” on funding roads. The Quebec minister also wants to discuss the “absence of a program for financing public transportation,” according to her spokesperson. Northwest Territories' Deputy Premier CAROLINE WAWZONEK is co-hosting the summit. She told Politics This Morning that she wanted to discuss "the experience of being a jurisdiction the size of the NWT with limited transportation redundancy, but also on the front lines of extreme climate events such as floods and wildfires." "Any regulations made to govern southern markets should be looked at from the perspective of safety and applicability in the north, remote and rural regions of Canada before a single brush paints us all," she said yesterday. Wawzonek also said she hoped the government would continue to send support when natural disasters strike. Alberta Transport Minister DEVIN DREESHEN said he has three items on his to-do list in Montreal. First, Alberta’s beef with the federal National Trade Corridors Fund. Dreeshen said that his government has applied for federal cash to fund nine projects in Alberta, including highways that connect to other provinces. He told Politics This Morning that the feds had rejected several of those applications, though his office later clarified that, in fact, the federal government had not taken a decision on any of Alberta's applications thus far. The National Trade Corridors Fund began with a pot of $4.6-billion for infrastructure projects of various types in 2017. So far, it has approved spending on 130 projects to the tune of $3.7-billion, according to Transport Canada. Several of those projects are located in Alberta, but the applicants were entities other than the provincial government. Second on Dreeshen’s list is a push for the feds to spend more on improving roads on First Nations reserves, which broadly speaking fall under federal jurisdiction. Third, Dreeshen’s government wants the feds to change Canada’s labour law to give the federal cabinet the power to order striking port workers back to work via an order-in-council—quick and easy, procedurally speaking—rather than having to pass back-to-work legislation through Parliament, as is currently required. It’s an ambitious ask for a union-friendly government in a minority Parliament. Byelection looms Advance voting for the byelection in Durham, Ont., begins today. Former Conservative leader and MP ERIN O’TOOLE vacated the riding when he resigned last year. The byelection will take place on March 4, but voters in the GTA-adjacent riding can cast advance ballots Feb. 23 through Feb. 26 JAMIL JIVANI will contest the riding for the Conservatives. ROBERT ROCK is running for the Liberals. CHRIS BORGIA is on the ballot for the NDP, while KEVIN MACKENZIE will represent the Greens. What’s the cabinet up to? Edmonton, 9:30 a.m. local time: Employment Minister RANDY BOISSONNAULT will announce funding in support of "Black-led, Black-focused, and Black-serving organizations" for Black History Month. Halifax, 10:30 a.m. local time: Diversity Minister KAMAL KHERA and Gender Equality Minister MARCI IEN will also announce funding for Black-led organizations. Gender Equality Minister Marci Ien. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade St. John’s, N.L., 11 a.m. local time: Labour Minister SEAMUS O’REGAN and Rural Economic Development Minister GUDIE HUTCHINGS will announce cash for “climate action” at a community centre, then take questions from the press. Churchill, Man., 11 a.m. local time: Northern Affairs Minister DAN VANDAL and Premier WAB KINEW will announce cash for the maintenance and operation of the Hudson Bay Railway. Whitehorse, 1:15 p.m. local time: Indigenous Services Minister PATTY HAJDU and Liard First Nation Chief STEPHEN CHARLIE will announce something related to housing for three First Nations communities in the territory. Vancouver, 7 p.m. local time: Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister GARY ANANDASANGAREE and Kitselas First Nation Chief GLENN BENNETT will meet to “celebrate” the signing of a “co-develop consultation protocol,” then take questions from the press. In Parliament Parliament remains adjourned until next week. No committees are scheduled to meet today. In the news Members of the House Agriculture Committee have found common ground in the face of grocery chain giants that aren’t keen on Ottawa’s grocery code of conduct. IAN CAMPBELL has that story. What else is happening today? A collection of advocacy groups will hold a press conference at the National Press Theatre in downtown Ottawa today at 9 a.m. The group, led by Inclusion Canada, plans to call on MPs to amend the government’s assisted dying bill so that it indefinitely delays the extension of medically assisted dying to those suffering from mental illness. At 9:30 a.m., Ukrainian Ambassador YULIA KOVALIV will kick off a seminar on the war in Ukraine at the Rideau Club in Ottawa. The Canadian Global Affairs Institute is hosting. Speakers will include Canadian Major-General GREGORY SMITH, and former Ukrainian defence minister ANDRIY ZAGORODNIUK, among others. You can find the details here. Ukrainian Ambassador Yulia Kovaliv. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade At 10 a.m., Bloc Québécois Leader YVES-FRANÇOIS BLANCHET will meet with students at Laval University. The Canadian Study of Parliament Group is holding a five-hour seminar today on “reconciliation and legislatures” in the Wellington Building in downtown Ottawa. The seminar begins at 11 a.m. You can find the details here. Some of the players in Ottawa’s diplomatic community will head to the National Arts Centre this evening. The High Commission of Saint Kitts and Nevis is hosting a reception there to welcome its new high commissioner to Canada, SAMUEL BERRIDGE. The reception starts at 6 p.m. StatsCan corner This morning, Statistics Canada will release new data on “real-time local business conditions,” travel between Canada and other countries, and more. You can find the info here beginning at 8:30 a.m. In case you missed it Yesterday, Parliamentary Budget Officer YVES GIROUX posted a report on the supplementary estimates (C), which detail $8.9-billion in new spending this year for which the government is seeking Parliament’s approval. Much of the cash is going towards new gear for Ukraine or the Canadian Armed Forces, and big chunks are also going toward public servant salary increases, and debt interest payments. You can read the report here. Send your news tips to pmazereeuw@hilltimes.com. The Hill Times Corrections: A previous version of this column incorrectly stated that Canada's transport ministers would hold a press conference today. Politics This Morning regrets the error. An earlier version of this column also quoted Devin Dreeshan as having said that the federal government had rejected some of Alberta's applications to the National Trade Corridors Fund. His office later said that none of the applications had yet been approved or rejected. A previous version of this column also incorrectly stated that the Durham byelection would take place on Feb. 23. In fact, Feb. 23 is an advance voting day. Politics This Morning regrets the error.

Politics This Morning

Politics This Morning: Road to somewhere

Plus, voting gets underway for the Durham byelection.

Discover Domaine du Vieux-Port: a waterside community in the heart of Gatineau

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Politics This Morning

Politics This Morning: Road to somewhere

Plus, voting gets underway for the Durham byelection.

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