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The federal Liberals are looking to push more of the billions they plan to spend on infrastructure in the next decade directly into flood mitigation, hoping to avoid repeats of disasters in Quebec and Ontario this month.

Infrastructure Minister Amarjeet Sohi said the idea the Liberals will promote to provinces, territories and cities is to agree to spend the money over and above the $2 billion already set aside to help local governments defend against natural disasters like fire and flooding.

The move could potentially save the government hundreds of millions annually in disaster relief payments, which are expected to rise over the coming years.

In a report last year, the parliamentary budget officer estimated that payments through the disaster financial assistance arrangements could increase to more than $900 million a year over the next five years, including $673 million a year for flooding. Both costs are well above past averages paid out from the fund.

Through funding agreements with provinces and territories, Sohi said the government wants to negotiate language around dedicating resources towards flood mitigation and other disasters.

Its a concern and we definitely want to have those conversations with provinces and territories.

The push for more disaster funding will be part of what Sohi calls a green lens that local, provincial and territorial governments will use on proposed infrastructure projects before they can be approved for federal funding.

Sohi said the lens puts the focus on reducing greenhouse gas emissions during and after construction, as well as mitigating the impact of severe weather to reduce the cost of disasters on communities.

Not only the human cost and the pain, the anxiety that it causes and the disruption of life for people, but also the economic cost to clean up afterward and the impact on the overall economy. This is part of our broader infrastructure plan.

Sohi made the comments during a roundtable interview this week with The Canadian Press.

The green lens will be part of the second phase of the Liberals infrastructure plan, which is to dole out $81.2 billion on new, large-scale projects in cities and provinces over the next 10 years.

The money will flow only after provinces and territories sign funding agreements with the federal government, which will take months to conclude because of the size and scope of the plan.

The Liberals are banking on the infrastructure spending to prod economic growth to help boost federal finances that have been plunged into years of deficits partly because of the infrastructure plan.

Federal officials have been wrestling with how to frame the requirements in the upcoming funding agreements to make sure the money spurs more projects, known as incrementality in federal parlance, and not have provinces and cities replace planned spending with federal dollars.

Internal government documents show that municipalities in Ontario in particular have pushed the government to recognize their long-term capital plans as meeting the federal requirement for incrementality.

A January briefing note to Sohi ahead of a meeting with the Association of Municipalities of Ontario recommended the minister reiterate the governments position that federal funding should not have the unintended negative consequences of displacing investment by the provinces or municipalities over time.

The Canadian Press obtained a copy of the document under the Access to Information Act.

Sohi said the Liberals may provide some flexibility in the funding to allow for refurbishment projects, rather than new builds.

Under Phase 2, the long-term plan, we will be supporting more new infrastructure. There will be some flexibility to rehabilitate the existing infrastructure, but these will be new plans or plans that they (cities) have in place, but there is no funding attached to it. These will be the new projects that we will fund.

Originally posted here:
Liberals want to put infrastructure cash into flood mitigation: Sohi - The Globe and Mail

OTTAWA Federal Conservatives will seek today to find out why a request for $3.8 million a year to help families with autism is being ignored by the Liberals.

The Tories are set to use time set aside for opposition motions to call on the government to come through with moneyfor the Canadian Autism Partnership.

The funding would be used for a more co-ordinated approach to research, early detection, diagnosis and treatment for the estimated 1 in 68 Canadian kids with the neurological disorder.

The Liberals had received a pitch for the cash $19 million over five years ahead of this year's budget, but turned it down much to the disappointment of autism advocates and affected families.

Among them is Conservative MP Mike Lake, whose son has autism, and who has raised the issue in the Commons repeatedly over the years.

In the House of Commons Wednesday, he pressed the Liberals anew but Health Minister Jane Philpott said the government already supports autism research.

"One of the best ways that the federal government can support advancements in autism spectrum disorders is to support research and we have done so in a significant way," she said.

The day the Tories are using to pressure the Liberals on the subject is called an "opposition motion" in official Parliamentary parlance. The motions are often used to push the government to come around to the Opposition's point of view.

But it's not the only pressure Lake and others are applying.

Their campaign is also been helped by an advocacy group called Global Citizen, which uses social media to try and convince governments to act on social issues.

The group put out a call to action on the autism partnership and thousands of tweets have followed, directed at both Philpott and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Among those lending their name to the cause are Hockey Night in Canada's Elliotte Freidmen andhockey star Hayley Wickenheiser.

While the Conservative motion will be debated today, it not expected to be voted on until the Commons returns from a one-week break on May 29.

The Canadian Press

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Conservatives merge old, new tactics to pressure Liberals over autism funding - rdnewsnow.com

Talk of impeaching Donald Trump began only a couple of months after he declared his candidacy for president in 2015. Former Obama speechwriter Jon Lovett, in a dispatch from the future for The Atlantic, wrote that theres no need to belabor the details of how the next four years unfolded: the budget crisis, President Trumps impeachment, Vice President Cruzs inauguration, the second budget crisis. But the subject didnt truly gain steam until Trump won the Republican nomination and then the general electionwith Mike Pence, rather than Cruz, as his running mate.

The impeachment fantasywhich was confined to Democrats, journalists, and anti-Trump conservatives like New York Times columnist David Brooksspawned a new genre of concern trolling on the left: that Mike Pence would be a worse president. With Trump now an increasingly scandalized president, and impeachment being discussed openly by elected Democrats and even some Republicans, the aforementioned liberals have returned to warn that kicking Trump out of the White House would not be an improvement over our current situationthat, in fact, a President Pence would be a bigger disaster for the progressive project than Trump has been.

If Trump were impeached and convicted, Vice President Mike Pence, a right-wing, evangelical ideologue, would be a much more reliable and competent rubber stamp for the conservative policy agenda, wrote Jeff Alson at In These Times. Megan Carpentier, writing at Dame, argued that Pence may not tweet like a Ritalin-addicted teenager with an impulse-control problem, a deep sense of entitlement, and something to prove, and he probably has the good sense not to yell at other world leaders and constantly publicly praise the most murderous ones ... but in terms of actual, actionable policy decisions, the idea that Mike Pence would somehow be preferable to the man who is enacting every policy Mike Pence would himself enact is, and always was, the product of a fevered imagination.

But Cliston Brown, a columnist at the Observer (which is owned by the family of Jared Kushner, Trumps son-in-law and a senior adviser), offered the most apocalyptic take on a Pence presidency. While Pence clearly has more self-control and self-awareness than Trump, thats exactly what makes him more dangerous. He has all the same ideas and goals as Trumpand, as an added bonus, a religious-right agenda thats even worseand a much better chance of actually implementing them, Brown wrote. Trumps presidency will continue to be a smoldering ruin, allowing Democrats to retake the House in 2018 and the White House in 2020 and putting the party in a position to control the country for a decade. By contrast, Brown argued, President Pence would win broad approval, cementing Republican control of government until 2024 at which point the Republicans could have a 7-2 Supreme Court majority that would cast a reactionary shadow for the next half-century.

Excerpt from:
Don't Fear President Pence, Liberals. Welcome Him. - New Republic

To the editor: President Trump saying to FBI Director James Comey, I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go. He is a good guy, is the cause of all the hysteria? (Comey memo says Trump asked him to drop FBI investigation of Michael Flynn, May 16)

It sounds like something I would say about a likable coworker who found himself or herself in trouble.

Trumps use of the word hope would indicate that it was not an order but rather an expression of concern. The president obviously understood that it was up to Comey to determine whether or not the investigation into former National Security Advisor Michael Flynns contact with Russian officials should continue.

As Flynn is still under investigation, we can assume that no great injustice has occurred. People need to get a grip.

Nathan Post, Santa Barbara

..

To the editor: So here we go again. We have elected a president who has no idea of how to go about the job, and we are aghast when he demonstrates it.

Enough of our electorate, a minority strategically located in certain states, participated in a knee-jerk decision to bring in an outsider, and we are now in a dangerous mess. Our members of Congress are ill-equipped and disinclined to do anything about it. In a Groundhog Day existence, they wake up each day either looking for blood or looking the other way, depending on their party affiliation.

Dont expect anything to change, because our dangerously deficient leader is far too narcissistic to seek competent help, assuming he even knows where to look for it.

Alan Abajian, Alta Loma

..

To the editor: Despite his administrations descent into incompetence, Trump continues to enjoy the support of most people who voted for him. Its almost as if they take pride in remaining deluded.

Still, I predict that Trumps credulous base inevitably will succumb to what might be termed the Nixon distancing syndrome.

In 1972, President Nixon won reelection by 18 million votes, the largest ever margin of victory. Yet after Nixon resigned in disgrace two years later, voters who would admit to having backed him were difficult to find.

Once Trump leaves office, it may be even harder to find someone who voted for him.

Gene Martinez, Orcutt, Calif.

..

To the editor: Sometime last week, my stomach quit churning with worry about what the Trump presidency means for the country and the world.

Now Im queasy contemplating what Mike Pence can accomplish as president with the Republican Congress.

Carole Cooper, Manhattan Beach

..

To the editor: Thank God for the free press. Its taken on the job that the other branches of government should be doing: protecting the Republic.

Nato Flores, Los Angeles

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook

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Get a grip, liberals the Comey memo does not show Trump committed obstruction of justice - Los Angeles Times

Good morning,

The biggest announcement out of Ottawa today is expected to be the Liberals unveiling of their plan for a national carbon-pricing scheme. The draft will be out around noon (local Ottawa time), with legislation in the fall following plenty of consultation from industry and environmentalists. The Liberal proposal will be the default option across the country when/if its enacted, with provinces given the option to come up with their own policies if they can prove there would be comparable emissions reduction. Sources tell The Globe to expect a federal plan that is similar to the one created by the Alberta NDP, which has won support from some oil companies.

This is the daily Politics Briefing newsletter, written by Chris Hannay in Ottawa. If you're reading this on the web or someone forwarded this email newsletter to you, you can sign up for Politics Briefing and all Globe newsletters here. Let us know what you think.

CANADIAN HEADLINES

The Liberals are pledging their support for a Magnitsky-style bill that targets Russian human rights abusers with sanctions. The legislation is modelled on a law passed in the U.S. in 2012 and named after an anti-Putin campaigner who was murdered in 2009. The Russian Embassy is denouncing the policy as unfriendly.

Opposition parties are up in arms over the appointment of Madeleine Meilleur as Official Languages Commissioner. The Conservatives and NDP say they werent consulted for the appointment, which, as an Officer of Parliament, is expected to operate independently of the government. Ms. Meilleur was a long-time Ontario Liberal politician and cabinet minister.

And just when you thought youd seen the last of Kevin OLeary: he could play a role in a Maxime-Bernier-led Conservative party, the pair say.

Lesley Bikos (Globe and Mail) on the culture of policing: While some in the public may see these reports as earth-shattering revelations about the workplace culture of Canadian police forces, their content should not surprise many of the officers who serve. The culture of policing was originally built on white, traditionally masculine, conservative norms, and is based on hyper-masculinity, loyalty and, above all, silence.

ric Grenier (CBC) on Conservative leadership rules: The party gives equal weight to each of Canada's 338 ridings regardless of how many members that riding has. Each riding will be worth 100 points, distributed proportionately according to each candidate's share of the vote. This will make members in some parts of the country far more valuable than others.

Chantal Hbert (Toronto Star) on NDP leadership contender Jagmeet Singhs appeal in Quebec: Based on the niqab episode of the 2015 election, there are those who would readily answer that going into the 2019 campaign in Quebec under a leader whose religious identity is a distinguishing feature could be a recipe for disaster. But that may amount to selling Quebecers short.

B.C. UPDATE by James Keller

As the B.C. Green Party prepares for negotiations with the Liberals and NDP for its support in a possible minority legislature, Leader Andrew Weaver has launched a bitter attack on the Liberal government. Mr. Weaver has gone out of his way since last week's election to say he's open to working with both parties, but yesterday he held a news conference in which he pointed out large gaps with the Liberals, notably on energy projects such as the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion and the Site C hydroelectric dam. And he also noted that on those issues, his party has far more in common with the NDP. Mr. Weaver's negotiating team includes Brian Mulroney's former chief of staff Norman Spector, who just last week said he believed the Greens would end up supporting the NDP.

SECUREDROP

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INTERNATIONAL HEADLINES

The White House is expected to send a letter to Congress today that will kick off the process for North American free-trade negotiations. Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland is headed to Mexico next week.

The U.S. Justice Department has appointed a special counsel to look into the web of allegations that Russia interfered with last years election and some of the Donald Trump campaign team could have been complicit. (The New York Times reports that the Trump team knew about Michael Flynns legal troubles for weeks before he was brought into the White House.) The special counsel is Robert Mueller, a former director of the FBI who served under both George W. Bush and Barack Obama. The Washington Post explains just what a special counsel can and cant do. Mr. Trump, apparently, took the news calmly.

Impeachment is still unlikely for Mr. Trump, but even some Republicans are starting to imagine a President Mike Pence.

And: No politician in history and I say this with great surety has been treated worse or more unfairly, Mr. Trump told Coast Guard graduates yesterday. There are a few politicians who might disagree.

Lawrence Martin (Globe and Mail) on the possible existence of taped conversation with Comey: It may, in fact, be the only way to prevent the onset of an obstruction of justice investigation against him and the threat of possible impeachment. Of course, Mr. Trump, knowing what is on the tapes, may not want them divulged. And if he fights their release, its a dead giveaway of his guilt. What a fix to be in.

Ben Shapiro (National Review) on Trumps political strategy: There is no 8-D underwater quantum chess. There is only Trump. And as the so-called law of the lid states in business, the upper limit of a presidents competence can never be superseded by that of his subordinates. And Trumps competence is tied directly to his character defects.

Anthony Furey (Toronto Sun) on Trumps troubles: The truth is, there is no urgency right now. When youre dealing with, say, a potential government shutdown over a looming spending deal (exactly what happened last month) then sure theres a rush to get all the moving parts to fit together. A touch of mania would be defensible. Not in this case though. This is a slower moving story, with more journalism required and likely committee hearings.

Globe and Mail editorial board on the stakes: But regardless of the outcomes of any investigations, its unlikely that they would lead to Mr. Trumps impeachment.

John Moody (Fox News) on whether Trump will serve all four years: Trump is slowly accomplishing his mission. If he plans to walk away from Washington once he feels he has fulfilled his promise to the American people, he should say so. Both his supporters and his growing list of opponents would probably respect his candor, and might work together to give him what he wants, so he will go away.

Follow Chris Hannay on Twitter: @channay

Original post:
Politics Briefing newsletter: Liberals to unveil carbon-pricing plan - The Globe and Mail