The House: Trump and Trudeau face off over trade at the G7
Canada's finance minister says there's still hope Ottawa can use a facts-based argument to convince the U.S. to repeal tariffs of steel and aluminum.
Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on imports of the two Canadian metals. In response, the federal government later announced it would hit back with tariffs of their own, coming into effect July 1.
Bill Morneau had meetings Friday at the G7 summit in Charlevoix with Larry Kudlow, the Director of the National Economic Council and a key advisor to Donald Trump.
He described the talks as friendly, but there was no resolution to the trade feud over tariffs.
"I think there's a good level of understanding of where we're at," he told The House.
Though facts seemed to have little impact on Trump's trade decisions up to this point — with the president admitting he made numbers up in a meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — Morneau was optimistic facts could counter the growing protectionist narrative from the U.S.
"I think the next step is linking that trade can be a benefit," he said, though he admitted that's a hard message to land with the U.S. administration.
"Tariffs are basically a tax on citizens, it's not helpful."
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. President Donald Trump also discussed accelerating NAFTA talks during a bilateral meeting at the G7 summit on Friday.
"The prime minister and the president had a very positive, productive meeting and it lasted longer than originally scheduled," a senior government official, speaking on background, told reporters assembled at the G7 summit Friday.
"They did discuss NAFTA at length and they discussed the future of NAFTA, and I would say they also talked about accelerating the talks."
But two sources with direct knowledge of the situation told CBC News that Canada has heard this kind of positive rhetoric from Trump before — without seeing results at the NAFTA negotiating table.
One source described Friday's meeting as a "frank" airing of grievances in a "non-emotional setting," adding that Trump appeared surprised that Canada had responded so vehemently to the U.S. tariffs.
National plastic pollution strategy coming, just not yet
Canada's environment and climate change minister says she's working on a national strategy to tackle plastic pollution, but it's not expected imminently.
Catherine McKenna told The House that plastic in the ocean is a "huge challenge," which is why the Liberal government decided to make it part of Canada's G7 agenda.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wants the other leaders to sign on to a zero-waste plastics charter, setting international deadlines for eliminating plastic waste and committing to helping the developing world meet similar deadlines.
McKenna added the federal government is committed to implement a Canadian action plan at home, even if it's not ready yet.
"We know that we can be doing a lot better in terms of the plastics that we produce," she told host Chris Hall.
While places like Vancouver and the U.K. have agreed to phase out single-use plastic straws, there's no similar country-wide plan in Canada.
McKenna partially attributed that to the fact more consultations have to be done across the country.
"We need to be working with provinces and territories, but also with municipalities," she said.
The minister also said the science behind pollution needs to be investigated further, and businesses need to also up production of recyclable and biodegradable products.
Navigating the impending relationship between Justin Trudeau and Doug Ford
The battle for Ontario drew to a close Thursday night, with Doug Ford's PCs clinching a majority government.
But just because the campaign has ended doesn't mean the impacts of the election have.
Premier-designate Ford has been outspoken in his rejection of the federal plan to put a price on carbon. He also appears to have very different priorities from Justin Trudeau's Liberals in Ottawa.
So just how will that dynamic play out?
It's not likely to give a big boost to the federal Conservatives because there's a key piece missing, Summa Strategies' Robin MacLachlan told The House.
"Justin Trudeau is not Kathleen Wynne and the Liberals federally are not detested the way that the Ontario Liberals were," he said.
Though it remains to be seen how well the incoming premier and sitting prime minister get along, each could provide interesting opportunities for the other.
Chad Rogers from Crestview Strategy, said he thinks Ford could provide Trudeau with two options: portray him as a foil, or work with him. Either way, it will be hard to avoid dealing with the country's largest economy.
"Doug Ford is growing what it is to be a Conservative in Ontario."
While it may be a tough dynamic to navigate for both leaders, it's not likely to begin with a firestorm.
"[Trudeau's] approach with the premiers has being bring people under one big tent," Amanda Alvaro, co-creator of Pomp and Circumstance, explained.
She added it's unlikely the prime minister would pit himself against the new premier right out of the gate.
Senators still see areas for improvement in pot legislation
Three senators say even though the cannabis legalization bill has left their chamber, they see areas where more work is still needed.
Bill C-45, the government's main legislation, passed a final vote in the Senate on Thursday night.
It will now head back to the House of Commons, where MPs will decide whether to accept or reject the virtually unprecedented 46 amendments the Red Chamber made.
Those amendments included some fairly significant changes to proposed rules on home growing, advertising and parents sharing pot with their children.
"I have no idea what the reaction will be," Sen. Tony Dean, the independent senator who sponsored the bill, told The House.
In Question Period on Friday, both the health and justice ministers thanked the Senate for their amendments and said they would be carefully considered moving forward.
Despite question marks over the government's full response, Dean said the Senate did their job.
Conservative Sen. Denise Batters, though not completely happy with the bill, agreed the chamber tried to handle the legislation the best way possible.
"We are the body of sober second thought, we try to make pieces of legislation better."
The amendments were thorough, but some senators are still struggling to accept that certain suggestions didn't make the final cut — like a minimum age limit, according to Batters, whose party has been staunchly opposed to legalization since the beginning.
"I remain very concerned about the mental health impacts on our youth," she said.
Another controversial point in the bill was consultations with Indigenous communities. A few weeks before the final vote, the Senate's Aboriginal Peoples Committee recommended legalization be held off for up to one year while further talks were done in at-risk communities.
However, those fears seemed to be mitigated by a letter from the justice and health ministers, sent Wednesday to Indigenous Senators. The ministers vowed the government would continue to work with Indigenous communities, even after the bill is passed.
I remain very concerned about the mental health impacts on our youth.- Sen. Denise Batters
Indigenous senators, like Mary Jane McCallum, say that will be key.
"We cannot continue to look at criminalization as a way out," she told host Chris Hall. "It's not a way out for Indigenous people."
She added that throughout the process she had to carefully weigh the troubling lack of consultations against the need for decriminalization.
The bill may have left the chamber, but all three Senators agreed that the work isn't over yet.
There's no roadmap for taking a drug from prohibition to legalization because it's never been done before. That, in itself, could present a huge challenge.
"We cannot go through it smoothly, but I believe Canadians will step up to the plate," McCallum said.