The Liberals are starting to get restless – members of caucus are feeling put out that they haven’t actually had a formal caucus meeting yet post-election, and many of them are champing at the bit to have a closed-door drag out session about what went wrong in the election, and why their own leadership seemed unprepared for it when they called the blood thing in the first place. And telling the Hill Times that they want to know why the party leadership is taking their “sweet-ass time” to call this meeting was the icing on this particular cake.

I’m having a hard time fathoming why it’s taking Trudeau and company so long to get their collective acts together post-election. They made a whole song and dance about how urgently they needed to act while on the campaign trail, only for them to turn around and take said sweet-ass time in both finalising the Cabinet shuffle (and no, the recounts do not account for how long the delay is) as well as their decision to further delay summoning Parliament – and even his planned international travel does not excuse this. They could have had Cabinet sworn in before the Governor General went on her state visit to Germany, and could have summoned Parliament this week, in advance of Trudeau’s planned travel. That would have given them actual time to get committees up and running, and legislation in the system – particularly around the changes to the pandemic benefits – as soon as possible, as opposed to the current trajectory of a three-week sitting that will accomplish very little before they head back to their ridings for the Christmas break.

Additionally, not having a proper caucus meeting by now has reached the point of disrespecting their own MPs. They have things they want to say after the campaign trail, and they should be able to say it – that’s how this system works. It’s a very bad signal that they are being kept away from the leadership like this, because even aside from it betraying all of Trudeau’s talking points about being open and accountable within his own party, that kind of thing will start to fester if it’s not taken seriously. I’m not sure that’s a situation Trudeau wants to go out on in his final tour-de-force as leader.

Good reads:

• Here is the CBC’s bit of Cabinet speculation, for what it’s worth; opposition MPs, meanwhile, made demands about who they wanted out of Cabinet.
• The Globe has their speculation/leaks, and news that Trudeau has added two new deputy chiefs of staff in the PMO. CTV’s speculation and leaks are here.
• Once the shuffle is over, Trudeau will be headed to the Netherlands, Italy and Scotland for G20 meetings, followed by the COP26 summit.
• Trudeau also spent part of the weekend making a pitch for an ASEAN trade agreement, citing the current supply chain bottlenecks as a reason for it.
• Jonathan Wilkinson joined his German counterpart in lamenting that the developed world is $100 billion short of its climate finance goals thanks to the private sector.
• The government has clarified on their website that the special resettlement programme for Afghan refugees applies to those who already fled the country.
• The federal privacy commissioner says he was not consulted on the government’s proposed online harms legislation.
• The Federal Court has ruled that the attestation for the Canada Summer Jobs grants to prevent pro-life groups from getting funding was constitutional.
• In six cases so far, Canadian courts have upheld the mandatory roadside breath testing laws, which experts thought to be of dubious constitutionality.
• Her Excellency Mary May Simon received the symbolic first poppy of the season from the Royal Canadian Legion, as the fundraising programme turns 100.
• Outgoing minister Deb Schulte reflects on her defeat and her battle with cancer.
• The Conservatives are getting increasingly restless, and Wednesday’s caucus meeting is promising to be fractious over the vaccine issue.
• There are questions about expense submissions Kevin Vuong made when he was a Liberal candidate, but he says he will return any money from those claims.
• Kady O’Malley’s Process Nerd column lays out the few options for how the privilege fight over a vaccine mandate for the House of Commons will playout.
• Heather Scoffield worries about the failure of the private sector to mobilise climate financing for the developing world as they had promised to do, and need to do.

Odds and ends:

For the CBA’s National Magazine, I look at the balancing act between vaccine certificates and civil liberties, and how to unwind them as we move forward.

My Loonie Politics Quick Take talks about the potential privilege fight over the a vaccine mandate for the House of Commons.

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