Politics Insider for July 7: Canada has a brand new man on the UN, the Rideau Corridor intruder faces a protracted checklist of prices and Trudeau skips a visit to D.C.
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Canada has a brand new man on the United Nations. On the heels of an embarrassingly unsuccessful bid for a brief seat on the safety council, Marc-André Blanchard—extensively praised for his work campaigning for the coveted seat—is out. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will substitute Blanchard with Bob Rae, one in every of Canada’s longest-tenured politicians.
Rae left politics after his provincial NDP authorities’s defeat in 1995, and earlier than working once more in 2008—for the Liberals he had as soon as mocked as a proud New Democrat—he was appointed by Ottawa to research the Air India Bombing and Queen’s Park to make suggestions on post-secondary training. After his return to Parliament, Rae served a few stints as Liberal overseas affairs critic. Extra just lately, Rae has served as an advisor on the refugee crisis in Myanmar and, simply this previous March, started a stint as particular envoy on humanitarian and refugee points.
He isn’t the primary Rae to land this gig: Bob’s dad, Saul, served within the function from 1972 till 1976. A number of years later, a younger, newly elected Bob examined his mettle in fraught Commons debates concerning the Center East—debates that endure as divisive on the UN to this present day. (On Feb. 23, 1979, Rae motioned to sanction companies that complied with a boycott of Israel championed by sure Arab nations on the time.)
Meet Bob Rae’s new UN colleagues: Paul Wells surveys the panorama of Rae’s fellow ambassadors, and notes they’re all usually youthful than the brand new man—and plenty of checklist a time period as deputy to former ambassadors of their diplomatic résumés.
It’s attainable to admire Bob Rae’s contribution to Canadian public life and, on the identical time, to note that different international locations usually ship individuals with way more diplomatic expertise, and way more United Nations expertise, than he has. Individuals who have labored way more intently with their nation’s leaders than Rae has really labored with Trudeau.
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One man, 4 weapons, 22 prices: Early within the the morning on the day after Canada Day, Manitoban navy reservist Corey Hurren was arrested after allegedly breaching secondary gates at Rideau Corridor. Yesterday, reporter Justin Ling was first to publish . The final cost claims Hurren uttered a risk towards the Prime Minister’s security—which, as Ling observes, the Mounties’ earlier line on the armed intruder’s intentions. A National Post headline stated the costs make the “assault appear to be an assassination try.” For , that recalled former Privy Council clerk Michael Wernick’s warning final 12 months about the potential of political discourse drifting toward violence.
What’s in a capital letter? Yesterday, Statistics Canada printed a new study on the financial affect of COVID-19 amongst seen minority teams. The information launch capitalized white—a call which may seem, at first look, to be intentional. Many main media shops now capitalize Black, however there’s no obvious shift on capitalizing white. The Columbia Journalism Assessment decided against it final month, a few days after The Atlantic printed a long essay on the topic. StatsCan tells Maclean’s there may be no “implicit which means” to the W. Each class is capitalized, they are saying, as outlined by the federal Employment Fairness Act.
Acquainted foes: China and Saudi Arabia, two of Canada’s most persistent diplomatic bugaboos, have new beef with Canada. China is warning of serious consequences within the wake of Canada’s determination to droop its extradition treaty with Hong Kong and warn Canadians who journey to the island metropolis that they could face arbitrary arrest. The Saudis have requested that Canada extradite a former intelligence official, Saad Aljbari. The Globe and Mail reports that Canada, which has no extradition treaty with Saudi Arabia, has refused to take action. However, sources inform the Globe, the feds haven’t gone out of their manner to assist Aljabri or his household.
Trudeau decided against making a visit to Washington to fulfill together with his two New NAFTA companions, Donald Trump and Andrés Manuel López Obrador. The PM did yesterday get on the telephone with AMLO—and “wished” for the Mexican president a “profitable assembly” with Trump. No phrase on whether or not or not he provided handshake recommendation (which, based mostly on that famous 2017 grip-n-grin, may fund a pleasant little post-PM consultancy all on it personal). The AMLO name wasn’t on the PM’s daily itinerary, which eager observers will observe is commonly fairly gentle on element. However the PMO tells Maclean’s they “do” their “damndest” to make these every day agendas as detailed as attainable. “We’re not out ,” says one staffer.
A distinct type of surplus: The Canadian Centre for Coverage Alternate options flipped the narrative on federal pandemic spending. Certain, varied emergency help packages are producing historic deficits. However each greenback added to a federal backside line soaked in purple ink probably helps a Canadian avoid a dollar’s worth of debt. The true query, writes CCPA economist David Macdonald, is who advantages? “Deficits or surpluses in any sector by no means occur in a vacuum,” he stated. “One other sector of the Canadian economic system needs to be on the opposite aspect.”
Seven years since Lac-Mégantic: Trudeau marked one other “sombre anniversary” of the rail disaster that killed 47 of the Quebec city’s residents in 2013. The PM stated the federal government has “made progress” on a brand new rail bypass, and is “nonetheless dedicated” to seeing it by. But it surely’ll be another three years earlier than trains are taking the brand new detour—a decade after the unmitigated catastrophe.