Now *that* was a news day

Liberals avoid a nightmare scenario

Did someone forward you this newsletter? Sign up here to get it delivered weekday mornings.

The first big news of the day dropped at 9:45 a.m. in Ottawa. The Supreme Court sided with the Liberals and declared the federal carbon tax is constitutional. A handy summary of the case cut through the 405-page decision. Global warming "causes harm beyond provincial boundaries" and is a matter of national concern. They also declared the carbon price isn't actually a tax, and emphasized that "all of the parties agree that global climate change is real"—and "poses a grave threat to the future of humanity."

Three Supremes registered their dissent. Justice Russell Brown wrote the federal law "rejects the Constitution and re-writes the rules of Confederation," and could be "opening the door to federal intrusion...into all areas of provincial jurisdiction." He warned the scheme "is bound to lead to serious tensions in the federation." Read the full decision here.

The NDP "welcomed" the ruling, but complained that Liberals are still missing emissions targets. The Greens called the ruling an "important step in the right direction," but said carbon pricing isn't a complete plan. Tory leader Erin O'Toole re-upped his promise to repeal what he called a carbon tax , evidently unswayed by the court's semantic correction. "We will protect the environment and fight climate change. But we won’t be doing that by making the poorest Canadians pay," O'Toole told reporters. That plan remains forthcoming.

Liberals were busy doing victory laps. Catherine McKenna, the environment minister when the Liberals established the pricing scheme, recorded a cheery video from the steps of the court itself. Jonathan Wilkinson, the current minister, hailed the decision as a "win" for families that receive annual rebates.

The reality of carbon prices sinks in: Doug Ford's government is merely "disappointed" with the ruling, but Jason Markusoff writes in Maclean's that carbon pricing is much more of a "politically existential battle" for Jason Kenney in Alberta or Moe in Saskatchewan.

In his response to the loss, Kenney spent much time quoting liberally from the dissenting opinions and the successful (and now-quashed) challenge at the Court of Appeal about the threats of further federal intrusions in provincial jurisdiction; Moe rattled off a list of reasons a carbon tax is “simply wrong.” But both admitted Ottawa won, and they’ll now figure out how to evade Ottawa’s system and bring in their own provincial levy systems inspired by other provinces.

Thumbs up: When federal departments were whipping up emergency response programs in record time last year, they might have been dreading the day when the auditor general's office passed judgment on their rapid-fire policymaking. Yesterday, Karen Hogan tabled her latest audits. And she mostly praised the speed and efficiency with which Ottawa produced and distributed the CERB and federal wage subsidy. The auditors did note the CRA sent $500 million in CERB payments to recipients who were already applying for EI support. They also predicted the taxman would have to undertake "costly comprehensive audits" to claw back wage subsidy funds from ineligible recipients.

Thumbs down: Hogan reserved her harshest judgment for her two other audits. She found the Public Health Agency of Canada "was not adequately prepared to respond to a pandemic"—a conclusion that will sound familiar to anyone who's read the Globe and Mail's reporting on this file. PHAC had planned a comprehensive pandemic test exercise in 2020 with provinces and territories—but that never happened . The agency also hadn't finalized data-sharing plans with other agencies across Canada before the pandemic hit, and failed to adequately track quarantining travellers who'd returned to Canada.

Hogan's final audit attempted to follow the money on the Liberal infrastructure plan. And she actually couldn't. Infrastructure Canada "was unable to provide meaningful public reporting on the plan’s overall progress toward its expected results," wrote the auditors. They also found that funds "were not being spent as quickly as planned," and "no one was tracking the effect of the reallocation of unspent funds."

One consequence of a wild news day: Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland tabled a new bill that would send $4 billion in new health transfers to provinces, and it barely made headlines. Bill C-25 would also bulk up provincial immunization budgets by $1 billion.

The Tories tabled a motion to haul senior Liberal staffers in front of the Commons ethics committee. They're targeting Rick Theis, the PM's director of policy; Amitpal Singh, Freeland's policy advisor; Ben Chin, the PM's senior advisor; and Zita Astravas, the chief of staff to Public Safety Minister Bill Blair who once worked for Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan. Tories want to question the first three aides on the WE Charity scandal, and Astravas on the government's handling of sexual misconduct allegations made against Jonathan Vance. Pablo Rodriguez, the Government House Leader, called the motion an "abuse of power"—and will advise the staffers not to testify.

The Commons status of women committee dropped a report on the pandemic's effect on women. MPs made 21 recommendations on improving women’s health and labour force participation, addressing paid and unpaid care work, and reducing trafficking and violence against women. Tories rejected seven recommendations, and the NDP made three of its own.

Health Minister Patty Hajdu tabled the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board's 2019 annual report in the Commons. The PMPRB, which has regulated drug prices for over 30 years, found that drug costs in Canada were fourth-highest in the OECD. The agency also found that R&D spending among Innovative Medicines Canada (IMC) members averaged about 3.9 per cent of sales in 2019—down from 4.3 per cent in 2018. They reportedly spent a combined $652.6 million on R&D, down 9.7 per cent from 2018. IMC fired back, claiming the PMPRB was "misleading" Canadians . The lobby group said its members spent $2 billion on R&D worth 8.8 per cent of sales.

About a decade ago, a hazardous assessment study at Canada's embassy in Beijing revealed that ceiling tiles on the property "contained high levels of asbestos," which sparked "high concern" for the safety of the people who walk underneath those tiles. Now, the feds are looking for someone to replace about 600 sq.-m. of ceilings with aluminum soffit in several buildings, including staff quarters.

—Nick Taylor-Vaisey

Politics News & Analysis