Politics This Morning: Life in plastic, it’s not fantastic

Good Wednesday morning, Today, Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU will be speaking with Chile's new president-elect, 35-year-old GABRIEL BORIC, and Germany's new chancellor, OLAF SCHOLZ. At noon, Trudeau and a team of ministers and officials—including Health Minister JEAN-YVES DUCLOS, Employment Minister CARLA QUALTROUGH, Deputy Prime Minister CHRYSTIA FREELAND, and Chief Public Health Officer THERESA TAM and her deputy, HOWARD NJOO, will be making a public address about COVID-19 to Canadians, then taking questions from the press. At 11:30 a.m., Agriculture Minister MARIE-CLAUDE BIBEAU is making a virtual announcement about new funding to relieve “food insecurity” across Canada. She’ll be joined on the teleconference by representatives of food banks and related organizations, whom we imagine will be receiving some of the dough. Otherwise, it’s expected to be another slow day in political Ottawa today—unless you’re really into plastics. Environment Minister STEVEN GUILBEAULT released a draft of the long-promised regulations to ban single-use plastics yesterday. The draft is open for public comment. You can bet that Big Plastic will be preparing its comments today, if it hasn’t already. The Food Packaging Institute, a U.S.-based lobby group that claims to represent 90 per cent of food packaging suppliers in North America, is registered to lobby on the issue, as is the Chemistry Industry Association of Canada, and a number of other companies and associations. Environmental groups are already letting it be known that the proposed plastic ban could be better. Environmental Defence said in a press release yesterday that the ban should come into effect next year, not in 2024 as is currently planned, and that it should include plastic drink cup lids. The Sierra Club Canada Foundation—which has been encouraging supporters to send form emails to Guilbeault, reminding him to get on with the ban—raised the same concerns in a press release of its own. Then-environment minister JONATHAN WILKINSON announced the forthcoming ban in October 2020, and said at the time it would be “finalized” by 2021. The government is perhaps stretching the limits of the term “finalized,” but by tabling draft regulations, it has certainly taken a step forward. Guilbeault also announced yesterday that Canada’s oil and gas sector is on track to meet its methane reduction target—a drop of 40-45 per cent from 2012 levels by 2025. Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas. If that’s true, it will allow him to check an item off the to-do list in the mandate letter sent to him by PM Trudeau. In Parliament Today, PTM is putting a spotlight on another piece of legislation that will be waiting for MPs when they return to Ottawa—virtually or in person—at the end of January. Bill C-9, an Act to amend the Judges Act, is currently at second reading in the House of Commons. Sponsored by Justice Minister DAVID LAMETTI, the bill proposes to overhaul the way complaints about misconduct by judges are handled by the Canadian Judicial Council, an oversight body for the country’s superior court judges that is led by the chief justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, currently RICHARD WAGNER. Currently, the Judicial Council hears and investigates any complaints against federally appointed judges, decides whether the judge in question should keep his or her job, and makes a recommendation to the federal justice minister accordingly. The council can decide that a judge is unfit if they have “failed in the due execution of” their office; are guilty of “misconduct,” which is not defined; have run into a conflict of interest; or are simply too old or “infirm.” Justice Minister David Lametti introduced Bill C-9 into in the House on Dec. 16. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade C-9 would wipe away those rules, and replace them with a similar set that includes the same four grounds for termination, along with new language to clear up what sort of offences are worthy of giving a judge the boot: namely, any that would undermine the “public confidence in the impartiality, integrity or independence of the judge or of their office to such an extent that it would render the judge incapable of executing the functions of judicial office.” These processes also apply to officers of Parliament, including watchdogs, by the way. C-9 would also allow the council to designate a “screening officer” to catch and dismiss complaints that don’t fit those criteria. They won't be allowed to screen out sexual harassment or discrimination complaints. Finally, it would allow the creation of review panels—comprised of one member of the council, a regular judge, and a “layperson”— that would look at complaints verified by the screening officer. If a panel decides that a complaint is serious enough to potentially get a judge fired, it would pass it up to the broader council. If not, the council can decide to give the judge a warning or reprimand—publicly, or privately—or order that he or she take some other remedial action, such as attending counselling. That’s probably more than you’ll ever want to know about the administrative machinations of dealing with badly behaved judges. The bill duplicates another bill introduced into the Senate, S-3, which itself is a copy of another Senate bill introduced by the government in the last Parliament. From the archives The now-late John Turner, who was prime minister of Canada in 1984, pictured at the National Archives in Ottawa, in December 2008, flanked by a photograph of former prime minister Wilfrid Laurier. The Hill Times photograph by Jake Wright In case you missed it Mendicino lowers pardon fee: Public Safety Minister MARCO MENDICINO announced yesterday that the government is going to cut the cost of applying for a pardon (officially known as a “record suspension”) from $657.77 to just $50. A pardon essentially removes a person’s criminal offence from criminal record check databases, making it easier for that person to get a job, in some cases. Cutting the cost of applying for a pardon will make it easier for people with low incomes to get one. “Obtaining a record suspension helps to remove the stigma of a criminal record so that people can access housing, employment, education, and volunteer opportunities, which are key to their safe and successful reintegration as productive members of society,” said Mendicino’s press release. Softwood lumber saga continues: With our lives thrown into turmoil by a global pandemic, it’s nice to know there are some things you can count on during even the most trying times: like, for example, a petty Canada-U.S. squabble over softwood lumber. Trade Minister MARY NG announced yesterday that Canada is challenging a move by the U.S. in November to hike tariffs on Canadian lumber exports. This marked the latest chapter in a dispute that goes back to the early 1980s. In short: Canadian provinces charge relatively cheap fees to logging companies that strip away parts of the forest on Crown land, and send it to the U.S. for use in housing construction. U.S. logging companies, which mostly pay higher fees to log on private land, complain to the U.S. government that Canada’s cheap fees amount to an unfair subsidization, and the U.S. government slaps tariffs on Canadian imports. Canada usually appeals to dispute resolution bodies—such as the WTO or panels established under the free trade agreement—and usually wins, eventually forcing the U.S. to drop the tariffs … for a while, then the process repeats itself. Ambassador to China met with future employer on the job: Canada’s outgoing ambassador to China, DOMINIC BARTON, met with executives from an Australian mining giant two months ago, before he announced that he was stepping down from his diplomatic post to take on a top job at the same company, The Globe and Mail reported yesterday. Barton will leave his post at the end of this year, and plans to step into the role of chair of Rio Tinto in May. According to The Globe, Rio Tinto does half of its business in China. Rio Tinto told The Globe that its Oct. 8 meeting with Barton had nothing to do with the job offer he would later accept to serve as chair of that company. “This meeting with Dominic Barton was in his capacity as ambassador,” spokesperson MATTHEW KLAR told The Globe. You can read the details yourself, here. In The Hill Times On Hilltimes.com, ABBAS RANA has a story on the post-election campaign review ordered by Conservative Leader ERIN O’TOOLE. LAURA RYCKEWAERT is bringing us up to speed on staffing changes in Languages Minister Ginette Petitpas-Taylor’s office. Reporter NEIL MOSS has the scoop on a mounting to-do list for the House of Commons Trade Committee. For subscribers to Hill Times Research, TESSIE SANCI has a new quick and easy guide to lobbying the government on health files during the pandemic. Over at The Wire Report, JENNA COCULLO has the latest on a B.C. court’s decision about a defamation case brought against Twitter. The Hill Times’ holiday schedule A friendly reminder to our readers that our newspaper and some of our regular newsletters will be taking a Christmas holiday. No dashing through the snow to pick up your copy of The Hill Times over the holidays. Print issues are on hold until Jan. 10, 2022. Photograph courtesy of Pixabay There is no print issue of The Hill Times today, and there won’t be one again until Monday, Jan. 10, 2022, but we will continue to file fresh news and opinion online. The last Politics This Morning of this year will be delivered to your inbox on the morning of Dec. 23, and the first PTM of 2022 will arrive on Jan. 5. Today's Headlines will be suspended on Dec. 27 and Jan.3. Our Weekend Point of View and Foreign Policy newsletters will continue through the holidays. Send your news tips and softwood lumber dispute traditions to pmazereeuw@hilltimes.com.

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Politics This Morning: Life in plastic, it’s not fantastic

Plus, PM Trudeau and a team of heavy-hitters is making a public announcement at noon.

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