How should Canadians mark Canada Day?
Editor's note: Pros Morning Canada will not publish July 1. Well return to your inbox Friday, July 2. Welcome to Corridors. I'm your host, Nick Taylor-Vaisey. In today's edition, serious reflection on how Canadians should mark their national holiday on Thursday. The Senate makes quick work of two Liberal priorities and deliberately slows progress on two others. Catherine McKenna leaves politics on her own terms, and the PM and POTUS make a friendly wager. DRIVING THE WEEK  A memorial is seen outside the residential school in Kamloops, British Columbia, Sunday, June, 13, 2021. | Jonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press via AP  HOW TO MARK A NATIONAL DAY  Canada Day feels different this year. Victoria and Fredericton, a pair of provincial capitals that typically throw celebrations replete with countless flags and a sea of revelers in red, have cancelled plans. The local official bash near you, already tamped down by Covid, might also have been paused this year. The discovery of nearly 1,000 unmarked graves at former residential school sites in the last month has struck a mournful tone across the nation. First Nations leaders have urged non-Indigenous Canadians to reflect on their country's painful history instead of glorifying it. Some polling suggests the horrifying revelations have made an impact. Ipsos found that 77 percent of the country supports a national day of remembrance for victims of residential schools. The Angus Reid Institute says twice as many Canadians  20 percent  list Indigenous issues as a top priority than this time last year. Postmedia reported that only 14 percent of Canadians want to see Canada Day abolished, and two-thirds actually want to see more of the Maple Leaf out in the world.  What really matters to Canadians: Corridors asked Darrell Bricker, the CEO of Ipsos Public Affairs, what he sees as day-to-day priorities as Canada Day approaches. Covid is still top of mind, he said. Economic anxiety is second. Bricker said respondents will consistently list Indigenous issues as a top-10 priority, but rarely in the top 3. "The past record suggests that these tend to become flashpoints," he said, citing the Idle No More protests in 2013 and railway protests last year that faded from frontpages and news broadcasts. He acknowledged this time could be different, observing that Canadians are likely to reckon with many more unmarked graves. "There might be a lot of people wearing orange shirts on Canada Day," said Bricker, referring to a movement to commemorate the impact of residential schools on children. "The real question is: Whats the next Canada Day going to look like?" Sol Mamakwa, Ontario NDP MPP for Kiiwetinoong, on Twitter: This year, Canada Day should be nothing more than a day of reflection. I will not celebrate the birth of a nation that destroyed our children. Instead, I will continue to mourn for our lost children and dig deep to find the strength to help build a path toward a better future. For all of us, this is a good time to reflect on the dark roots of Canada and to commit to doing better now and in the future. For all our childrens sake. Natan Obed, president of the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami: We need space and time to have a special place of mourning for children who lost their lives. On this particular Canada Day, I think we should think very solemnly about those children whose remains are being found, and what that actually means in the context of Canada. We should also think hard about our own children, and the children we love. And then imagine that there was no way for parents and families of those children to do anything to change their fate. They had no rights. They had no power. It was the church, the RCMP and the state that upheld what happened to those children. Having those conversations as part of this Canada Day will allow us to celebrate future Canada Days together, rather than a particular group of people thinking this is a celebration  on the backs of a loss of life and policies that are felt in our communities every single day. If there was another scenario where there was huge sadness caused by loss of life, and it happened around a major holiday, that holiday would be muted as well. It doesnt have to be so political. It just has to be about the human response to grief and loss, especially when its so tragic and needless. Teara Fraser, CEO of Iskwew Air: As a Mtis woman, I am both colonized and colonizer  living and breathing both a dominant and an Indigenous worldview, often, if not always, at the same time. This Canada Day is a day of reflection, of truth telling. Canada is built on the genocide of Indigenous peoples. This Canada Day, and every day, we need to stand fiercely for the lives of stolen children. This Canada Day, and every day, we need to stand fiercely for the land, the land that has been holding these precious children. This Canada Day, and every day, we need to acknowledge, to be still, to grieve, to heal, to honor. This Canada Day, and every day, we need to ask ourselves what we plan to do to dismantle the systems that allow for the continued genocide of Indigenous peoples. This Canada Day, and every day, we need to decolonize  shining light on the dominant social, political, economic, and judicial structures and systems that have overshadowed Indigenous ways of knowing and being. This Canada Day, and every day, we need to step into action with the TRCs 94 Calls to Action and the Reclaiming Power and Place 231 Calls to Justice. This Canada Day, and every day, we need to amplify and honor Indigenous voices, worldviews and wisdoms. This Canada Day we can begin a journey of collective restoration. Imagine what is possible. Lets begin. What We're Watching  SOBER SECOND THOUGHT  The Red Chamber adjourned until the fall without passing a pair of Liberal legislative priorities. Every senator who spoke to Bill C-10, the effort to rewrite the Broadcasting Act and regulate streaming giants, said the proposal needs close scrutiny at committee. Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault urged senators on Monday to "work diligently" to pass C-10 before their summer break. Not a single one saw things his way. The bill is now the transport and communication committee's problem to solve. There's no plan for that group to meet any time soon. An election call before Parliament meets again would scupper C-10, which would die on the order paper along with all other unresolved business. One of the bill's most vocal critics, law prof Michael Geist, dissects the debate.  The Senate's last Act: Senators did push through C-30, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland's budget bill that extends Covid benefits, and C-12, the net-zero emissions framework. Both will get the royal assent treatment. On Monday, the chamber sent C-6, the Liberal attempt to ban conversion therapy, to committee for further study. The bill only cleared the Commons last week, giving the other chamber very little time to actually debate it. Like C-10, C-6 will have to wait until the Senate reconvenes. Welcome to legislative purgatory, which won't prevent the Liberals from campaigning on both bills if they end up on the campaign trail. ON HER OWN TERMS  Catherine McKenna isn't running for a third term in Ottawa Centre. The infrastructure minister whose signature achievement in government was setting a national carbon price cleared the way for new blood in her riding. Eight years in office, she said, was enough. Now she'll devote herself fully to fighting climate change in other ways  and spend more time with her kids, too. McKenna's swan song was partially drowned out by a torrent of interest in her potential successor. That'd be Mark Carney, who she says "is a good friend of mine, and I think he can make a big difference.  Infrastructure Minister Catherine McKenna speaks. | Riccardo Savi/Getty Images  SO LONG, BIG APPLE  Catherine Loubier, Quebecs delegate general to New York, announced that in early August she will leave her post on the 26th floor at One Rockefeller Plaza Center. When it comes to whats next, she says stay tuned. For now, she tells Andy shes going to be a free agent  but she expects shell end up contributing to Quebecs prosperity one way or another. No, the door is closed, says Loubier, who handled the transition for Quebec Premier Franois Legaults government and worked as a senior adviser to former prime minister Stephen Harper. The door is not closed for the rest of my life, but theres no immediate plans or midterm plans.  Mission accomplished: Loubier says shes proud of several accomplishments from her time in New York, which started in February 2019. They include working to make inroads for Quebec hydropower, acting as first responders to counter protectionism threats like tariffs and Buy America, helping boost exports and opening doors for foreign direct investment into the province. A FRIENDLY WAGER  Justin Trudeau and Joe Biden agreed, via Twitter, to bet on the outcome of the Stanley Cup final. Trudeau is an avowed fan of the Montreal Canadiens, and Biden was game to take the side of the Tampa Bay Lightning. The confusing wrinkle here is they don't appear to be actually wagering anything yet. The PMO told Nick there are no specifics to report.  One-way trade: Gambling isn't new to the PM/POTUS relationship. In 2014, then-PM Harper and then-prez Barack Obama put a case of beer on the line for both the men's and women's Olympic finals. (Harper collected 48 cold ones.) In 2010, Harper won the same bet. (Another 48 showed up at 24 Sussex in the hands of the U.S. ambassador.)  Quip of the day: Brian Higgins, a New York congressman who's aggressively pushing for a border reopening crashed the party: "I have an idea. Everyone wins if we reopen the border." THE MORE WE KNOW  Thank god for Rob Morrison, the Conservative MP for Kootenay-Columbia, B.C. If he hadn't formally demanded to know how much Statistics Canada spent to come up with playlists meant to showcase Canadian artists to citizens while they filled out this year's census, we'd never have learned the feds ponied up $59.94 (plus taxes) for a six-month subscription to a premium Spotify account. The playlists' labor costs added up to $770.40.  The less we'll find out: When the House adjourned for the summer, dozens of written questions on the order paper  an alternative to the oral theater of question period that requires departments to provide legit responses within 45 sitting days  sat abandoned. Tory MP Blake Richards tops the list with a query for a list of meetings between Canadian and American officials on the Line 5 pipeline. Bloc MP Xavier Barsalou-Duval wants to know how many bureaucrats work on the prime minister's website. Another Tory, Scott Reid, penned a 647-word question that probes for details about Canada's secretive vaccine contracts. An election would doom these enquiries to the parliamentary dustbin. For now. Who's Up, Who's Down  Whos up: Lt.-Gen. Frances Allen  For the first time ever, Canada's vice-chief of the defence staff is a woman. Lt.-Gen. Frances Allen was named the second-most senior military leader at a ceremony earlier this week. Allen will help lead the military through a transformation she called "complex, elaborate, and nuanced." Another adjective for the job ahead: dizzying. The brass are facing a mess of misconduct investigations that exemplify a toxic culture that starts at the top. Allen's 38-year career last saw her posted as Canada's rep at NATO in Brussels. (Fun fact: She once served a stint in the Diefenbunker.) Whos down: The Catholic Church  As Indigenous people in Canada mourned the discovery of unmarked graves on the site of a residential school in Kamloops run by the Catholic church, the Pope tweeted his "closeness to the Canadian people" and encouraged his followers "to turn away from the colonial model." The Catholic order that ran dozens of the schools has committed to releasing documents they'd withheld for decades. They also apologized for their role. But the Pope hasn't. The church's conduct has some veteran politicos musing about the end of separate schools in Ontario. YOU TELL US  Corridors is a new weekly newsletter for MPs, lobbyists, executives, activists and any readers who are interested in whats going on around Parliament Hill. Every Wednesday we will look at the people pulling the levers of power in Ottawa and the questions that are influencing decisions on Parliament Hill and in the provinces. Join the conversation! You can email us at [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]. The Reading Room  Julian Brave NoiseCat writes in National Observer about one Indigenous girls brave response to residential schools. Mark Norman and Andrew Leslie, a pair of retired military leaders who know something about the political spotlight in Ottawa, co-write an op-ed for National Newswatch.. In the Toronto Star, journalist Joanna Chiu writes about her disturbingly common encounters with anti-Asian hate while she's doing her job  including threats to her physical safety. Arno Kopecky writes in The Narwhal about the day this week when record-setting scorchers helped climate change upend Covid as the national emergency of the moment. In POLITICO Magazine, Meridith McGraw traces a bizarre 24 hours on the trail with former president Donald Trump that gave hints at the earthquake ahead. Pro Zone   Canada accelerates 100 percent net-zero emission vehicle sales target to 2035   Against PMPRB delays, Hajdu invites pharma input on drug prices   Four signs that point to a July 21 easing of U.S.-Canada border restrictions   A tough slog: White House struggles to increase vaccination rates as Delta variant surges   U.K. study supports use of mixed doses of coronavirus vaccines Trudeau: 'Canadians are horrified and ashamed  ON THE NOTICE PAPER  Spotted: Rachael Harder got hitched earlier this month  and has the epic photoshoot outside the Banff Springs Hotel to prove it. Her husband, Victor Thomas, previously went down on one knee on a frozen Lake Louise.  Montreal mayoral hopeful Denis Coderre wearing sartorially edgy Canadiens gear before Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals.  Foreign Minister Marc Garneau on a train to G20 meetings in Italy with his Mexican counterpart, Marcelo Ebrard.  Canadas Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam and Procurement Minister Anita Anand double-dosed with a Pfizer-Moderna combo  Dr. Tam also picked up an honorary degree from Simon Fraser University this week. Canadas top doctor Theresa Tam received an honorary degree from Simon Fraser University this week. | Twitter/Theresa Tam  Birthdays: Alice Wong, a four-term Tory MP who served as Stephen Harper's minister of state for seniors, is 73 today.  Marc Gold, the government's rep in the Senate, is 71.  NDP MP Scott Duvall, a former steel worker who isn't running again, turns 65 tomorrow.  It's 42 candles on July 1 for Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, the Bloc Qubcois MP whose dad is a political giant.  Sen. Jane Cordy celebrates 71 years on Friday.  The same day, Liberal MP Linda Lapointe is 61.  Saturday marks 60 years from Adam Vaughan, the veteran Liberal MP in downtown Toronto.  The late Deepak Obhrai, a beloved Tory in the Harper years, would have been 71 on Sunday.  Bloc MP Alain Therrien is 55 years old next Tuesday. Media mentions: Laura Dhillon Kane is now the news editor in the Canadian Press's Ottawa bureau (she had been serving in an acting role). Please note: The bureau is hiring.  News Media Canada, the biggest lobby group for Canada's newspapers, named Paul Deegan as president and CEO. He once served as deputy executive director of the National Economic Council in Bill Clinton's White House. In a moving thread on Twitter Tuesday evening, Cynthia Mulligan explained that she is taking the summer off. "I'm not living with cancer, it's just hitching a ride on my amazing life," the CityNews journalist tweeted. She was previously treated for breast cancer in 2010. Power moves: In case you missed it, Paul Rochon took on a gig as executive adviser to Deloitte Canada, where he'll offer strategic advice on infrastructure, the energy transition and digital identity. The former deputy minister of finance left the department in December after leading its grueling pandemic response. Farewells: Rabbi Reuven Bulka, a popular figure in Ottawa's Jewish community who was known as "Canada's rabbi," died Sunday at 77. Former prime minister Stephen Harper marked Bulka's passing: "His lifelong mission and message of respectful compassion toward one another will remain with me, and will be a defining pillar of his legacy." Send us your social notes: [email protected]  TRIVIA QUESTION  Last week first: On June 23, 1896, Sir Wilfrid Laurier came to power with a majority government despite losing the popular vote. Laurier's Liberals won 118 seats, besting the 88 in which Charles Tupper's Conservatives came out on top. Tupper, the shortest-serving PM in Canadian history, refused to resign until two weeks later. Kudos to Arthur Drache, the fastest to hit reply with the correct answer, as well as Michael Reed and Daniel Lis. Extra points to Kalin McCluskey for aptly describing Tupper as "gloriously mutton chopped." This weeks question: Canada's Chancellery of Honours at Rideau Hall recently announced a Canadian author was awarded the Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in May. Name that author. Send your answer to [email protected]  With thanks this week to editor Sue Allan, Zi-Ann Lum and Andy Blatchford. Follow Us