Good Sunday Morning - December 8

Good Sunday Morning!

It was an interesting week, to put it mildly! It is rare for the Prime Minister to convene a meeting with all Opposition Party leaders. The last time I can recall was in February 2022, right before the decision was made to invoke the Emergencies Act. For that meeting, as in a few other cases, we met by conference call. On Monday afternoon, we got word the PM wanted to meet all party leaders in person on Tuesday at 1pm in the Cabinet Room in West Block. Over the years I had been in the Cabinet Room in Centre Block, but had never seen the Cabinet Room in our “temporary” housing in West Block. Just like all of new shrunken, less ornate facilities, the Cabinet space in West Block is more than adequate, with a big oval table and rolling office chairs at each spot. Nothing prepossessing about it.

We were ushered in with each leader and his Chief of Staff, (no need to say his “or her”) chief, as ever I am the only woman leader in the room. Jagmeet and his chief Jonathn Gauvin, were more or less directly opposite my Chief of Staff, best described as my right arm, Debra Eindiguer and me, a bit to the left (from Debra and my vantage point), but clearly not on any political spectrum, sat Pierre Poilievre and his chief Ian Todd (who also served under Stockwell Day.)

At the end of the oval, as we awaited the PM, Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet and his chief Mathias Boulianne took up their positions.
We all knew the purpose of the meeting would be to discuss whatever Trudeau’s dinner last Friday night with Donald Trump and some of his presumed incoming Cabinet might usefully be shared. That sudden trip to Palm Beach so reminded me of that old line — that Brian Mulroney had gotten down to Washington as fast as his hands and knees could carry him. It was not Washington but Florida and a surprise day-before dinner invitation that beckoned.

I have a congenital and absurd flaw in always wanting to create a friendly social atmosphere, usually through small talk. No doubt my mother’s influence or having read Emily Post at an impressionable point in my life. As party leaders sat uncomfortably around the table waiting for our host, I engaged with Pierre Poilievre asking him if I had ever told him the story of my two degrees of separation from Mar-a-Lago. Of course, I knew I had not. So I did. One of the most important people in my childhood was my godfather, my mom’s best friend, actor Cliff Robertson. When I was 12, Cliff married Dina Merrill. So Uncle Cliff became “Deenie and Cliff”. Visits to their place on Long Island were my first and only beach and ocean swimming until we moved to Cape Breton in 1974. My peacenik activist mom was the opposite of Deenie, famously one of the best-dressed women in the world. Once Deenie exclaimed, “Stephanie how did you ever find pumps the same shade as that lilac suit?” My mum was proud to explain, “I mixed the paint myself!” Deenie had lots of stories about her mom, Post cereal heiress Marjorie Merriwether Post, for whom Mar-a-Lago was named. I cannot recall which of her husbands built it for her. But there you go. Weirdness and odd connections. Pierre said he had read about Mar-a-Lago and MMP in Art of the Deal, another book I have missed. By the time that story wrapped up, Justin Trudeau joined us and Chrystia Freeland squidged in between me and the PM, with Dominic Leblanc arriving late, fresh from being grilled at the Security Committee. Trudeau’s Chief of Staff Katie Telford took a corner table with two other PMO staff and we got down to business.

Trudeau was still wearing his Swiftie friendship bracelets. Of those on the PM team in the room, only Chrystia Freeland had not been on the Florida jaunt. Hard to imagine, but it sounded like they had a lively and friendly conversation. The dinner meeting lasted three hours. Trudeau explained that Trump seemed genuinely angry about what he thought was a porous border allowing in fentanyl and hordes of migrants. I asked if we had stats on how many illegal handguns and drugs come in the other direction. Trudeau said they had shown Trump the facts about the infinitesimal amount of drugs or illegals coming to the US through Canada. Dominic added that Trump had seemed surprised at the death toll of fentanyl in Canadian cities, and how hard our law enforcement agencies and CBSA are trying to stop it at our borders. Trudeau mentioned that a lie about Canada, once embedded in the US psyche, remains lodged there. He mentioned how many Americans still believe the 9-11 terrorists came into the US via Canada. Not true. Proven, over and over again, to be untrue.

Pierre Poilievre asked if the PM believed that Trump’s motivation in threatening 25% tariffs was really about the border. Both the PM and Leblanc were firm in their belief that was a real concern. Trudeau asked us — from whatever opposition space we occupied — to avoid feeding the Trump narrative. Trudeau mentioned his gratitude that the premiers were pulling together and that he would keep them up to date. The mood in the room was generally supportive. Singh and Blanchet mentioned things they could do to help. Then Pierre Poilievre launched into what seemed a canned speech for a different audience. That the carbon tax had broken our economy. The “everything is broken speech”.

Moments later, for the waiting cameras, lined up down the corridor from the Cabinet Room, Poilievre was again calling the border “broken”. By Question Period the latest Conservative party rhyming chant was unveiled — “Border Disorder.!”

I did a fair bit of media as well: https://www.cbc.ca/player/
https://www.cbc.ca/player/

All in all a week for showing the different approaches to protecting Canada’s interests. For me, I put the planet first. Trump is a threat in every direction. Somehow we have to protect the most vulnerable, prepare for an election and do so by telling the truth.

We are now counting down the days to the likely adjournment of Parliament December 17. Hoping to stop the endless privilege debate filibuster by the Conservatives, and get work done before an inevitable 2025 election. My money is still on n election towards late summer of 2025. But no one has a working crystal ball!

Two nice and heartwarming tales to wrap this up. My daughter’s godfather was Farley Mowat and his wife Claire is one of our favourite people. Like Farley, Claire has never had anything to do with computers or email. We always send letters by Canada Post. Cate asked, with the Canada Post strike, if I had any way to get Claire her Christmas card with hard copy photos of Lily enclosed. I promised I could and took the ready to post card from Cate. On Monday I gave it to a friend, the Conservative MP for that riding, Phil Lawrence, and asked if he could hand-deliver it to Claire in Port Hope. He was actually thrilled. I had no idea he was a Farley fan, for surely Farley would never have voted Conservative ever. But I am assured Phil dropped it off yesterday. What Phil and I share is a love of Via Rail and a commitment to get better rail travel in Canada.

My other great moment this week was speaking to the North Saanich Residents Association meeting Thursday night. The speaker before me was the North Saanich By-law Officer (Sorry never got Dan’s last name!). He was asked the oddest by-law complaint he ever had to handle. He had the best story. When the file landed on his desk, it was a two-year-old complaint about a rooster that woke the neighbourhood at 5:30 AM – as roosters do. Turned out the rooster was a family pet, described as the children’s “support rooster”. Dan did a lot of research to find a solution, asking the family with the support rooster to try modifications of the rooster hutch. Darkness curtains to ensure no light crept in and a curtain opener on a timer, set for 8am! Wonderful! It worked! Children kept their support rooster and neighbours could sleep until 8 am. If only we had a by-law officer for Parliament!

I cling to such moments. Anything to cheer me up! Mostly all I have to do is look at a new picture of baby Lily!

Sending love and light!
Elizabeth

Please have a look at petitions I am supporting in the P.S. And please consider sending a donation as large as you can manage before the close of 2024: greenparty.ca!

1. Sign and commit to ratifying the TPNW;
2. Send a delegation to attend the Third Meeting of States Parties for the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons that will take place in New York from March 3 to 7, 2025;
3. Hold public consultations on disarmament, arms control and non-proliferation; and
4. Propose a parliamentary study on NATO’s nuclear deterrence and Canada’s obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
History

Open for signature
October 8, 2024, at 4:10 p.m. (EDT)
Closed for signature
January 6, 2025, at 4:10 p.m. (EDT)

https://www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-5129

And this more local one!
Whereas:
• Coastal areas are critical wildlife habitat used by birds for migration stopovers, overwintering, breeding, foraging and roosting;
• The Greater Victoria area is on the Pacific Flyway, a major flyway for migratory birds from Alaska to Patagonia;
• This coastal area supports many taxa including waterfowl, loons, grebes, gulls, shorebirds, raptors and passerines: some species are nationally threatened (Marbled Murrelets) and nationally vulnerable (Great Blue Herons);
• Migratory birds face increasing pressures and significant, widespread population declines due to climate change, pollution and habitat loss;
• Canadian shorebird populations have declined 42% since 1980 (Birds Canada/ECCC, 2024);
• Migratory Bird Sanctuaries (MBS) are established under the five-nation Migratory Bird Convention Act to protect migratory birds and their nests, and studies confirm that migratory birds use habitat within all three MBS in the region both year-round and seasonally;
• Greater Victoria hosts three MBS under federal authority: Victoria Harbour, Shoal Harbour, Esquimalt Lagoon;
• A significant gap exists between the Victoria Harbour and the Shoal Harbour MBS;
• This entire shoreline falls within the traditional territories of the WSÁNEC and Lekwungen Nations, who seek to strengthen their Indigenous marine stewardship rights and responsibilities through guardian programs; and
• The internationally-designated Sidney Channel Important Bird Area recognizes the importance of MBS in maintaining global bird populations.
We, the undersigned, residents of Canada, call upon the Government of Canada to establish a new Salish Sea Migratory Bird Sanctuary connecting the Victoria Harbour and Shoal Harbour MBS, to protect the millions of migratory birds and other wildlife and habitat along this shoreline.
History

Open for signature
October 28, 2024, at 9:19 a.m. (EDT)
Closed for signature
December 27, 2024, at 9:19 a.m. (EDT)
https://www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-5182
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