Back to Business | Your Look Ahead from Summa Strategies

• Today, Parliament returns to elect a Speaker of the House. Members of Parliament vote for the Speaker through a preferential secret ballot. Five MPs are running for Speaker of the House, including incumbent Speaker Anthony Rota. Rota is not guaranteed re-election as the incumbent, as the opposition holds the balance of power in a minority Parliament. In the 43rd Parliament, the Conservatives ousted incumbent speaker Geoff Regan in a power-play – meaning on Monday, anything could happen. 
• On Tuesday the Speech from the Throne will be read in the Senate at 1pm by the Governor General. In the Speech from the Throne, The Right Honourable Mary May Simon will outline the government’s legislative priorities and officially start the 44th session of Parliament. The Speech from the Throne will be debated in the House of Commons for a maximum of six days, where opposition members can propose amendments. The Throne Speech will then face a confidence vote from the Members of Parliament.
• As Parliament ramps up for the 44th session, Canadian political parties have left breadcrumbs pointing to their legislative priorities. As with the previous minority government, the Liberals will need to work with opposition parties to pass their agenda. Here’s an overview of what both the government, and opposition parties, have stated they want quick action on now that the House is back.

Liberal Party of Canada 

• Within the first 100 days in office, the Liberals have committed to amend the Canada Labour Code to provide 10 days of paid sick leave for all federally regulated workplaces and to meet with the provinces and territories to develop a national action plan to legislate sick leave across Canada.
• Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has made several COVID-19 commitments, including reimbursing the provinces for vaccination passport spending, creating an internationally recognized vaccine passport system for Canadian travellers, and implementing legislation to ensure anyone who harasses or intimidates healthcare workers will have criminal charges laid against them.
• The Liberals have also committed to reintroducing legislation to reform the Broadcasting Act within the first 100 days in office, targeting foreign digital platforms to share a portion of their revenues with Canadian news outlets.
• Prime Minister Trudeau also plans to re-introduce legislation to amend the Criminal Code to ban conversion therapy in Canada and reform mandatory minimum sentencing in Canada. 
• Other priorities for the Liberal government include expanding employment insurance, moving forward with affordable housing, and taking action to fight climate change. 
• The Liberal government will not be able to pursue these priorities on their own in a minority government. giving the NDP and Bloc notable legislative leverage. 

Conservative Party of Canada 

• The Conservatives have outlined several priorities for the 44th session of Parliament. These priorities include strengthening Canada’s relationship with the United States, combating inflation, and meaningfully addressing the high cost of living for Canadians. 
• Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole has also voiced his party’s opposition to the Liberal’s planned reform of the Broadcasting Act, citing concerns with internet privacy and freedom of speech. 
• Any momentum that O’Toole had to press the Trudeau government heading into the new session has been blunted by internal-party politics. Several members of his caucus have been outspoken about their opposition to vaccine mandates, and a Conservative Senator was removed from caucus after launching a public petition calling for a review of O’Toole’s leadership. Meanwhile, several CPC members have planned to form a ‘Civil Liberties Caucus,’ focused on advocating for unvaccinated workers at risk of losing their jobs. 

New Democratic Party 

• NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has outlined several key legislative priorities for the upcoming session, including expanding paid sick leave across Canada, fighting climate change, and creating jobs for workers who transition out of the natural resource sector.
• Reconciliation remains a top priority for the NDP. The party is focused on halting the ongoing legal battles against Indigenous children seeking support or compensation. 
• The NDP has been clear that there is no Liberal-NDP agreement on the table and they will work with the Liberals on a case-by-case basis to pass progressive legislation in the House of Commons.

Bloc Québécois

• Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet has outlined several priorities, including increasing federal health transfers to provinces and ending ageist discrimination against seniors through pension plans. 
• Blanchet has also noted that one of the most pressing concerns for the next session of Parliament is to create real climate change action while ensuring Alberta’s economy transitions away from fossil fuels.

• The Bloc leader also called for reform to the Official Languages Act, believing Quebec should have sole linguistic control within its own sovereign territory.
• These priorities will play a key role in the upcoming Parliament, as the Liberal Party will need support from either the NDP or the Bloc Québécois to pass any legislation in their minority government.

ICYMI

• On Friday, the Government of Canada announced that fully-vaccinated Canadians who travel to the U.S. for less than 72 hours will no longer need a molecular test for COVID-19 in order to return home (beginning November 30th). 
• On Wednesday, November 17, the B.C. government declared a provincial state of emergency, to facilitate a provincewide response to the severe infrastructural damage caused by extreme flooding and landslides. The federal government will be helping to support emergency response and recovery efforts, by mobilizing federal personnel and resources, including the Canadian Armed Forces. Since then, 500 Canadian Armed Forces members have landed in B.C. to help with emergency operations in the Fraser Valley area with 4000 ready to be deployed if necessary. 
• Last week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau travelled to Washington D.C. for the North American Leaders Summit to meet with US President Joe Biden and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. Trudeau took a ‘Team Canada’ approach to these meetings, bringing Ministers Joly, Freeland, Ng, and Mendicino to D.C. for the meeting.
• The North American Leaders Summit comes at a significant time for Canada-US relations, as Trudeau pushes back against protectionist elements of Biden’s Build Back Better agenda. Conversations around proposed U.S. incentives for electric vehicle production loomed large over discussions, given Canada’s own auto-manufacturing interests.
• Last week, Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole kicked Saskatchewan Senator Denise Batters out of the Conservative caucus for launching a petition calling for an expedited review of O’Toole’s leadership. This is the first significant challenge O’Toole has faced to his leadership since the election.
• Health Canada has approved the first COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5-11.  Pfizer-BioNTech’s pediatric COVID-19 vaccine will be administered to children in two doses that are ⅓ of the size of adult doses. 
• The Green Party of Canada has also started the process of selecting an interim leader after accepting Annaime Paul’s resignation early last week. 

Provincial Updates

#BCpoli

• Severe flooding and mudslides in British Columbia have prompted the evacuation of residents. Rob Fleming, the province’s Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure, called the ‘unprecedented’ weather event ‘the worst weather storm in a century.’
• The Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services has released 143 recommendations for next year’s provincial budget. The report is based on consultations conducted by the committee throughout the summer.

#ONpoli

• Ontario Premier Doug Ford is facing increased calls to make a childcare deal with the federal government. Ontario is one of two provinces that have yet to make a deal with Ottawa, but both parties remain optimistic that a deal will be reached. 
• Ontario is sending five rapid-COVID-19 tests home with every school child over the winter break in an effort to stop the spread of COVID-19 in schools. Participation in the program is voluntary and students with a positive antigen test will then be required to take a confirmatory PCR COVID-19 test.

#ABpoli

• Alberta Premier Jason Kenny faces challenges to his United Conservative Party leadership. More than a quarter of United Conservative Party constituency association presidents signed a letter calling for an early leadership review within the next three months — sooner than the scheduled leadership review in April.
• Last week, Alberta and Ottawa reached a $3.8-billion, five-year funding agreement to create a national childcare program in Alberta. This agreement will create 42,500 new, regulated early-learning and child care spaces over the next five years, and bring the average cost of childcare down to an average of $10 a day by 2026. 

#ATLpoli

Earlier this month, hackers stole both patient and employee personal information in a cyberattack on Newfoundland’s healthcare system. Patient data from Eastern Health and Labrador-Grenfell Health was breached through the province’s Meditech system.