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Politics This Morning: AFN chiefs meet for special assembly on federal legislation; Trudeau to hold cabinet meeting; Poilievre to hold presser; Freeland at Senate committee
AFN National Chief Perry Bellegarde, pictured in this file photograph, will be speaking this morning at the AFN’s special chiefs assembly on federal legislation at the Hotel Lac Leamy in Gatineau, Que.The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade
BY KATE MALLOY
Good Tuesday morning,
It’s a busy day, so you might want to buckle up.
The Assembly of First Nations is holding a two-day special chiefs assembly on federal legislation at the Hilton Lac Leamy Hotel in Gatineau, Que., and today will be reviewing the First Nations languages legislation; the proposed federal recognition and implementation of Indigenous Rights Framework; private member’s bill C-262, Moving Beyond the Indian Act; modern treaties; Bill S-3, Amendment to the Indian Act; and the First National Financial Transparency Act.
Each day begins at 6:30 a.m. (EST) with a pipe ceremony and ends at 4:30 p.m. This morning, between 8:45 a.m. and 10:30 a.m., Chief Kirby Whiteduck, AFN National Chief Perry Bellegarde, Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett, and Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly will be speaking. Between 1 p.m. and 2:30 p.m., there will be dialogue sessions on the federal bills and proposed federal legislation. Between 2:45 p.m. and 4:30 p.m., Conservative leader Andrew Scheer, Green Party leader Elizabeth May, and NDP leader Jagmeet Singh will be speaking
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The Parliamentary Budget Officer Jean-Denis Frechette will post a new report on the government’s spending plans and main estimates for 2018-19. The report will be posted at 9 a.m. (EST) on the PBO’s website.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will hold a cabinet meeting at 9:30 a.m. (EST) on the Hill and will attend Question Period at 2 p.m. At 4 p.m. (EST), the prime minister will participate in a roundtable discussion at the Château Laurier Hotel with Federal Regulated Employers-Transportation Communications (FETCO) as part of its AGM.
At 9:30 a.m. (EST), Senator Doug Black will be questioned by members of the Senate’s Transportation and Communications Committee on his public bill, Bill S-245, the Trans Mountain Pipeline Act, which is currently at committee stage. Sen. Black will be at the committee in Room 2 in the Victoria Building, 140 Wellington St.
Also at 9:30 a.m. (EST), Berta Zuniga Cáceres and Conservative MPs Bruce Stanton and Alex Nuttall will hold a press conference in the Charles Lynch Room (130-S Centre Block) to highlight the case of Edwin Espinal and 21 other political prisoners in Honduras.
The Commons foyer is a busy place today.
Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre, his party’s finance critic, will hold a media availability on Tuesday at 9:30 (EST) in the Commons foyer to discuss the Opposition Day motion ordering the federal government to release all documents indicating the actual cost of the federal carbon tax proposed in the 2018 budget. MPs will also be talking about the issue in the House today.
Conservative MPs Michael Cooper, Michelle Rempel, and Pierre Paul-Hus will hold a press conference in the Commons foyer at 10 a.m. to discuss judicial vacancies across Canada.
The seven Groupe parlementaire québécois MPs, who quit the Bloc Québécois about two months ago because they don’t like the party’s leader Martine Ouellet, will hold a presser in the Commons for at 10:30 a.m. (EST). There are only three Bloc MPs left in the caucus. Hundreds of members of the Bloc Québécois, meanwhile, met on Sunday in Drummondville to discuss the party’s future. According to a La Presse Canadienne report, Ms. Ouellet and the Bloc’s national office want to hold a vote of confidence on June 1 and June 2 and a referendum on the party’s mission to promote Quebec independence. Ms. Ouellet has refused to step down and has said she will stay on if she receives 50 per cent plus one in a confidence vote. Some 42 riding have rejected her proposal and want to hold the confidence vote on May 15 and the Bloc’s youth wing wants to rename the party in an effort to rally more sovereigntists.
Conservative MPs Kelly Block, Luc Berthold, and John Barlow will hold a media availability at 1 p.m. (EST) also in the House foyer to discuss the Senate’s amendments to the Transportation Modernization Act, Bill C-49.
The House is scheduled to vote on NDP MPs Charlie Angus‘ and Romeo Saganash‘s historic motion asking Pope Francis to apologize for the Catholic Church’s role in the Indian residential schools, which were run from the 1840s until 1996. Some 150,000 First Nations, Métis, and Inuit children were removed their families and forced to attend the schools where 32,000 children were sexually assaulted and 6,000 died. The motion, part of a Call to Action 58 of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, also calls on the Catholic Church to release documents requested by survivors and to “resume best efforts” to raise funds agreed to as part of the residential schools settlement agreement for the survivors.
In the House, MPs will also debate Bill C-48, the Oil Tanker Moratorium Act, which is at report stage, and Bill C-281, the National Local Food Day Act, which is at second reading.
Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett will attend the Senate’s Question Period at 3:30 p.m. (EST).
At 4:15 p.m., Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland will appear before the Senate Foreign Affairs and International Trade Committee to discuss Bill C-45, the Cannabis Act and how it relates to Canada’s international obligations. The meeting will be held in Room 2 in the Victoria Building, 140 Wellington St.
At 6 p.m., Gov.-Gen. Julie Payette will present a series of Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) awards at Rideau Hall, 1 Sussex Dr.
At 6:45 p.m., Canadian Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly will host a reception in the Sir John A. Macdonald Building to celebrate the beginning of Asian Heritage Month.
Have a wonderful day.
The Hill Times
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