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Thanks for reading Ottawa Playbook. I’m your host Nick Taylor-Vaisey. Today, we acknowledge near-name twin NICK TAYLOR‘s historic win at the Canadian Open in Toronto. We also await news on the government’s next point-person on foreign interference. Plus, ERIN O’TOOLE is prepping his final speech in the Commons. Finally, we attended the Press Gallery Dinner. Politicians forgot to tell funny jokes.

THREE THINGS WE'RE WATCHING

THE GREAT RESET — When in doubt, ask DOMINIC LEBLANC to clean up the mess.

The morning after DAVID JOHNSTON‘s shocking but not surprising resignation as “special rapporteur” into foreign interference in Canadian elections — dropped Friday at 5 p.m., natch — the intergovernmental affairs minister was in attack mode.

Three months after Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU appointed Johnston to Ottawa’s most thankless job, three weeks after the rapporteur’s initial report landed with a thud, and three days after Johnston stepped down, it’s not clear exactly how the government intends to investigate foreign interference.

We won’t have to wait long. The Liberals want a new action plan in a matter of days.

— Pass the buck: LeBlanc blamed the opposition for the mess. He also tried to call their bluff, though it’s not clear there was a bluff to be called.

The entire opposition had voted for an NDP motion that called for a public inquiry led by somebody who enjoyed unanimous support of the four biggest parties in the House. The motion would’ve tasked the procedure and House affairs committee with recommending a name.

LeBlanc short-circuited that process, asking the opposition to jointly recommend a name as soon as possible — though he still wouldn’t commit to a public inquiry.

LeBlanc also wants potential terms of reference, suggested timelines, and a plan to deal with sensitive intelligence in the public domain without compromising it. Meanwhile, LeBlanc is conducting hasty consultations with retired judges (of course) and experts in the national security space.

The minister’s Saturday message seemed to be: a public inquiry if necessary, but not necessarily a public inquiry. It all depends on the opposition, y’see.

— Fair point: “One of the challenges would be that many eminent Canadians will understandably hesitate to step forward,” LeBlanc told reporters Saturday.

The next day, he told MERCEDES STEPHENSON on Global’s The West Block that Johnston’s successor — be they a rapporteur or commissioner or something else — would be doomed without opposition buy-in.

— Oppo reaction: Asked at a Sunday news conference if his party would team up with the NDP and Bloc Québécois to offer a name, terms of reference and a timeline, PIERRE POILIEVRE was as decisive as he was concise.

“Yes, yes, yes and yes,” he told the reporter. (The fourth yes was for emphasis, presumably.)

Poilievre is reaching out to JAGMEET SINGH and YVES-FRANÇOIS BLANCHET early this week to talk it over. Is a little bit of silly season unanimity within reach?

SO LONG, FAREWELL — Keep an eye on the House chamber after question period. ERIN O’TOOLE is bidding the place adieu on his 3,851st day as an MP — 10 years, six months and 17 days since he first won a 2012 by-election in Durham, Ont.

O’Toole plans to resign his seat at the conclusion of the spring sitting. Today’s farewell offers the former Conservative leader a final opportunity to leave his mark in Hansard.

— A dose of prescience: It was big news last June when O’Toole first alleged that Chinese foreign interference played a role in the 2021 campaign. He never claimed the attempted skullduggery overturned the result. His reflections faded into the summer, until Global News and the Globe and Mail ignited a national debate on the topic last fall.

— Ups and downs: If O’Toole hears the traditional round of kind tributes paid to departing MPs of a certain stature, the warm and fuzzies are likely to draw on behind-the-scenes anecdotes and earnest respect. Don’t be surprised to hear something along the lines of: “We didn’t always agree, but we always valued our debates in this place.”

Gracious colleagues across the aisle may compliment O’Toole’s run as veterans affairs minister, recall his constructive support during NAFTA renegotiations, or commiserate with having to fight a campaign during Covid.

The vibe will be basically the opposite of the darkest days of O’Toole’s political career.

It was February 2022 when the ‘Freedom Convoy’ honked its way through downtown Ottawa and a raucous Conservative caucus bounced O’Toole as leader. (He reflected on that chapter of his career in an interview with Playbook a year after the ouster.)

— Vibe check: Most of the MPs who turned on him still sit all around him in the House. Playbook will be watching their facial expressions closely.

LAW AND ORDER — Foreign interference wasn’t top of mind Sunday for Tory leader PIERRE POILIEVRE. He gathered reporters for a West Block press conference with three friends of Kristen French, a murder victim of PAUL BERNARDO.

Poilievre railed against Bernardo’s recent transfer to a medium-security institution in Quebec from a maximum-security facility in Ontario. “He should rot in a maximum-security prison for the rest of his life,” said the Tory leader.

Asked for an opinion on the value of reintroducing the death penalty in Canada, Poilievre would only say the only way Bernardo should leave prison is “in a coffin.”

— Slamming the door shut: Poilievre complained that the Liberal government hasn’t ordered all dangerous offenders and multiple first-degree murderers to serve their entire sentences in maximum security. Conservative MP TONY BALDINELLI plans to table legislation this week that would do just that.

— A trend: In answer to a question at a Friday media availability in Toronto mostly about housing, Poilievre reiterated the same view. Expect him to repeat the same lines until Public Safety Minister MARCO MENDICINO has a substantive update on Bernardo’s file.

Know someone who would like Ottawa Playbook? Please direct them to this link . Five days a week, zero dollars.

TODAY'S HIGHLIGHTS

— Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU will deliver remarks at a Filipino Heritage Month reception at 5:50 p.m., and then attend a Laurier Club reception for Liberal donors this evening. He is scheduled to deliver remarks at 7:45 p.m.

— Deputy Prime Minister CHRYSTIA FREELAND has private meetings on her agenda; she will also attend QP.

9 a.m. Innovation Minister FRANÇOIS-PHILIPPE CHAMPAGNE will join Quebec Premier FRANÇOIS LEGAULT and Quebec Economy, Innovation and Energy Minister PIERRE FITZGIBBON for an announcement in Saguenay, Quebec.

Relatedly, Rio Tinto plans an announcement today about a “major investment that is part of the company’s vision for the future of its aluminium operations in Quebec.”

9:30 a.m. International Trade Minister MARY NG has an armchair discussion with RAVY POR at the International Economic Forum of the Americas’ annual conference in Montreal. Clean tech and the USMCA will be up for discussion.

12 p.m. NDP MPs CAROL HUGHES and LORI IDLOUT will join the Indigenous Police Chiefs of Ontario at a press conference to call on the government to negotiate a new contract with Indigenous officers.

TALK OF THE TOWN

BRINGING THE FUNNY — Thank god for the CP’s MARIE-DANIELLE SMITH, the National Post’s CATHERINE LEVESQUE and Le Journal de Montréal’s GUILLAUME ST-PIERRE.

The trio proved it’s possible to land a joke at the Press Gallery Dinner, the sloppy-ish annual opportunity for journalists and politicians to take the piss out of each other.

Smith and Levesque, the emcees, landed a long line of laughs on Saturday night. Gallery president St-Pierre unleashed some zingers. Bloc leader YVES-FRANÇOIS BLANCHET semi-filibustered the room with a rambly address. NDP leader JAGMEET SINGH at least tried to tell jokes.

Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU never got the memo.

— Didn’t bring the funny: The PM couldn’t make this year’s dinner thanks to a surprise trip to Ukraine where he announced a C$500-million boost in military aid.

Trudeau managed to tape a video address somewhere in between bilateral meetings and a parliamentary address. It was very earnest. He was joined by the kind of guy who makes you sit up and listen: VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY.

They said very kind things about press freedom, reiterating a message Trudeau delivered on the ground in Kyiv — and Zelenskyy thanked the semi-drunken room of journalists for everything they do for democracy.

Not a single joke was told.

For your radar

GARDEN PARTY SEASON — It’s that time of year when frazzled Hill-types escape the frenzy of end-of-sitting acrimony to toast each other’s devotion to democracy — and get a little buzzed on someone else’s dime.

— Party watch: Liberals gather at the Canadian War Museum tonight for a Laurier Club reception. On Tuesday, journalists gather on the grounds of Rideau Cottage for a party with many of the same people they mingled with at the Press Gallery Dinner. Quebec’s government office in Ottawa celebrates Fete Nationale the same night at the Macdonald Building.

Liberal staffers who aren’t Quebecers take their turn to party on Thursday night (which explains some of the RSVP activity for Playbook Trivia at the Met that evening). The Quebecer staffers gather next week, on June 20.

IMPRESS US — Playbook took stock of a big crop of pre-QP member’s statements last week. The 60-second slots are colloquially known as S.O. 31s, and MPs use them to highlight a constituent of some note, a pet issue dear to their hearts, or the pure evil of a party across the aisle. They range from milquetoast to malicious.

Here’s a sampling.

— JOËL LIGHTBOUND spoke as MP for Louis-Hébert “and not as a representative of the Canadian government, if there was any doubt” — urging the Canadian government to side with Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and others calling for charges to be dropped against JULIAN ASSANGE.

— TOM KMIEC called on the Iranian regime to free journalist NILOOFAR HAMEDI.

— PAM DAMOFF invited Canadians to join her during Indigenous History Month in the reading of North-West Is Our Mother, by Jean Teillet.

— SONIA SIDHU brought a message from Equal Voice: “End gender-based heckling and personal attacks in the chamber.”

— BRIAN MASSE called out the Toronto Blue Jays and “locker-room hate,” with an appeal in the Commons for an independent national public inquiry into abuse in sports in Canada. “The Liberals and the Blue Jays need to get off their Bass and do the right thing,” he said.

— ADAM CHAMBERS recited an ode to the butter tart: “Canada’s delicacy.”

Two weeks before summer. Silly season is at its height. Decorum has reached its nadir. If you hear a quirky or uplifting S.O. 31 that deserves some hype, drop us a line.

MEDIA ROOM

— ARTHUR WHITE-CRUMMEY of CBC News previews new federal fuel regulations.

— CTV News reports via U.S. National Security Council spokesperson JOHN KIRBY: There are no plans to re-evaluate the makeup of AUKUS to include Canada.

— KATHRYN MAY notes at the top of the latest edition of The Functionary: “A shakeup at the top of the public service is a big deal — stoking further speculation that the government may be setting the stage for a big reset.”

— What the PMO doesn’t want you to read: Canada’s efforts to compete with Biden’s onslaught of energy-transition funding seem misdirected, from ERIC REGULY in the Globe.

— The Globe and Mail’s project on Canada’s broken freedom of information system includes a how-to video via ROBYN DOOLITTLE on filing your own request.

— From our colleagues in Washington: What’s next in the Trump indictment

— Political scientist LISA YOUNG offers her “hot take” on DANIELLE SMITH’s new Cabinet. In case you missed it, here’s Smith on Real Talk with RYAN JESPERSEN.

— NDP MP PETER JULIAN joins The Hill Times Hot Room pod to discuss crunch time in Ottawa.

— BRANDI MORIN reports for ricochet media from northern Alberta: On the ground with Indigenous communities fleeing a climate inferno.

PROZONE

For POLITICO Pro subscribers, our latest policy newsletter from ZI-ANN LUM and SUE ALLAN: Blue skies, but not nothing but.

In other news for Pro subscribers:
— “Five Eyes” plus Japan, agree on anti-economic coercion stance.
— House FAA bill would clarify space accident investigation oversight.
— Dems seize on wildfires to pound GOP’s climate opposition.
— Biden world restructures itself around selling Bidenomics.
— Alzheimer’s drug gains endorsement of FDA expert advisers.

PLAYBOOKERS

Birthdays: HBD to former MPs DAVE MACKENZIE and CATHY MCLEOD. Summa Strategies consultant SOPHIE NORMAND also celebrates, as does U.K.-based former politico ANDREW MACDOUGALL.

Belated greetings to SUSAN DELACOURT.

Spotted: Sitting hours in the House, extended. … MICHELLE DOUGLAS, at the Canadian High Commission in London to speak about the LGBT Purge.

Liberal MP ANDY FILLMORE in Boston with a trophy for oyster shucking: “Competition was stiff” … Sen. DAVID WELLS at NATO HQ with JAMES APPATHURAI, NATO’s deputy secretary general.

Movers and shakers: CLAUDETTE COMMANDA, officially installed as the University of Ottawa’s first Indigenous chancellor. Read her remarks. Spotted: CINDY BLACKSTOCK, celebrating her friend.

Media mentions: The CBC’s KATE SCROGGINS is back in the Vancouver newsroom.

In memoriam: Here is the CBC News obituary for former justice LOUIS LEBEL. He was appointed to the Supreme Court in 2000 and served there for 14 years.

“I am among those who have marveled at his skill in marrying civil and common law to strengthen Canada’s unique bijural jurisprudence,” Chief Justice RICHARD WAGNER said in a statement.

Got a document to share? A birthday coming up? Send it all our way.

On the Hill


— Find the latest House committee meetings here.

— Keep track of Senate committees here.

11 a.m. The House public accounts committee continues its study of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation and will hear from ANITA BIGUZS, GRAHAM FLACK, DANIEL JEAN, JOHN KNUBLEY and MORRIS ROSENBERG.

11 a.m. The House committee on fisheries and oceans will spend its first hour with officials from the foreign affairs department who focus on U.S. transboundary affairs.

11 a.m. The joint committee for the scrutiny of regulations meets to review statutory instruments.

3:30 p.m. The House operations and estimates committee will discuss committee business off the top before moving in camera to talk about its report on expenses related to the governor general’s secretary.

3:30 p.m. The House justice committee meets to study Bill S-224 and to take Bill C-295 though clause-by-clause consideration.

3:30 p.m. The House committee on veterans affairs continues its study of the experiences of women veterans.

4 p.m. Liberal MP SHERRY ROMANADO will be a witness on the first panel of the Senate national security committee’s study of Bill C-224.

4 p.m. The Senate official languages committee meets to study Bill C-13 and to take it through clause-by-clause consideration in the panel’s second half.

5 p.m. Chief Public Health Officer THERESA TAM will deliver a keynote speech to open the Resilient Institutions conference at the Chateau Laurier.

5 p.m. The Senate human rights committee has Bill C-41 on its agenda, with Public Safety Minister MARCO MENDICINO and department officials from four departments including Global Affairs Canada and public safety.

6:30 p.m. Tory MP SCOT DAVIDSON will be at the House committee on agriculture and agri-food to discuss Bill C-280.

Behind closed doors: The House committee on Indigenous and northern affairs will be discussing a report on Arctic sovereignty. The House committee on Canada-China relations will be discussing committee business; the House environment committee has clean tech and fossil fuel subsidies on its report review list.

WE GET MAIL

WAITING FOR ACTION — Playbook received a robust response to this week’s Silly Season 101 lesson in parliamentary games: A Canadian observer of politics who just wants everyone in the House of Commons to get on with it.

“I’m one of many, I’m sure, who have delayed seriously expensive dental work over affording it. And that makes down-the-road spending even worse, not to mention quality of life issues that drove the need in the first place.

“Silly season, while many are waiting for promises to be kept. How does one possibly justify not keeping promises, from a majority coalition that jointly could make it happen, while spending non-value-added money that could at least begin some progress.

“BTW, I’m sure many of the opposition’s elderly, conservative constituents would be happy to pressure their reps, possibly in the upcoming by-elections.

“Just a thought from someone waiting for promised politics again. And a system, traditionally effective or not, that condones silly over serious; I’m afraid with the current opposition leadership, it will only get sillier.”

— RICK BECK, Oshawa, Ont.

TRIVIA

Friday’s answer: It was Green Party Leader ELIZABETH MAY who said of BILL CLINTON, “My mom just adored him.”

Props to JOANNA PLATER, JOHN DILLON, ROBERT MCDOUGALL, BILL PRISTANSKI, GEORGE SCHOENHOFER and KEVIN BOSCH.

Monday’s question: Today at the Africville Museum, Halifax MP ANDY FILLMORE will commemorate a “pioneer of scientific boxing.” Name this champion, the first Black boxer and first Canadian to win a world title.

Send your answer to [email protected]

Playbook wouldn’t happen without: Luiza Ch. Savage, Sue Allan and David Cohen.

Want to grab the attention of movers and shakers on Parliament Hill? Want your brand in front of a key audience of Ottawa influencers? Playbook can help. Contact Jesse Shapiro to find out how: [email protected].