Roundup: Brace for blanket coverage

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Today is the big day, and it’ll be wall-to-wall coverage of Justin Trudeau’s big meeting with Donald Trump, and we won’t be able to talk about anything else I’m sure. So here we go. At Trudeau’s meeting with Donald Trump he will apparently be seeking assurances on pre-clearance issues, while they will also be having a working lunch where the topic will be women executives. No, really. And the tone now is apparently going to be business instead of “love-in” (though I’m not sure anybody has had a love-in with Trump).

https://twitter.com/inklesspw/status/830982445495365633

The Conservatives are “pausing their hostility” with Trudeau in advance of the meeting, apparently showing solidarity in advance of it (though you wouldn’t have known it from QP last week). Here we have some advice from a former Canadian ambassador to Washington, while Anne Kingston wonders which version of Trudeau will be at the meeting. Marc Garneau, who chairs the Canada-US cabinet committee, says that today’s visit won’t focus on our countries’ differences. And Tristin Hopper offers some slightly tongue-in-cheek advice for the meeting.

And then there’s the historical context. Here’s a look at how previous PMs have dealt with unpopular presidents, and the lessons taken from Trump’s meetings with Theresa May and Shinzo Abe. Maclean’s has a photo reminder of meetings going back to the seventies.

Good reads:

  • There are some big questions about the additional powers that US agents on Canadian soil would be given under pre-clearance legislation.
  • The government is looking at eliminating mandatory minimum sentences on all but the most serious of crimes, saying they are causing part of the backlog.
  • Here’s a look at the ways some provinces are looking to deal with their court caseloads after Supreme Court’s decision around reasonable time limits.
  • There has been a noticeable increase in asylum seekers crossing into Canada from the US in the wake of the Trumpocalypse, which the RCMP is looking to stem.
  • The Canadian Forces’ Chaplain General has appointed an Indigenous adviser to help meet the needs of Indigenous members.
  • Former Quebec cabinet minister Yolande James will indeed be running for the nomination to replace Stéphane Dion.
  • Peter Julian is now officially an NDP leadership candidate, for realsies now.
  • Guy Caron is stepping back from his critic duties to contemplate a leadership bid.
  • Here’s a long interview with Deepak Obhrai about his history and his fight to change a culture of racism within his own party.

Odds and ends:

Here’s a look at the plans to build a citadel fortress on what is now Parliament Hill.

Here’s another look at 24 Sussex and its original Gothic Revival splendour (which I really hope that they restore).