AA+ isn't a grade you want to post on the nation's fridge Did someone forward you this newsletter? Sign up here to get it delivered weekday mornings. Fitch, the ratings agency, downgraded Canada's coveted AAA rating. Fitch slapped the new AA+ rating on Canada because of ballooning deficits that have disrupted plans—including in provincial capitals—to stabilize debt-to-GDP ratios. Fitch gives credit where it's due: low interest rates mean the debt is manageable, the economy will rebound and debt will stabilize after the crisis passes. Finance Minister Bill Morneau repeated a pledge to be fiscally responsible and told every Canadian what they really want to hear: Canada's doing better than most G7 countries (Germany and the U.S. are still AAA, but France and the U.K. are AA-, Japan is A and Italy is BBB-). It turns out Allan Rock and Louise Arbour were just the opening act. Yesterday, CBC News obtained a stunning letter from big-name former parliamentarians and diplomats calling on Canada to release Meng Wanzhou. The co-signers span the political spectrum. The NDP's Ed Broadbent added his name, as did two former foreign ministers—Liberal Lloyd Axworthy and Conservative Lawrence Cannon. Derek Burney and Michael Kergin, two former ambassadors to the U.S. under Conservative and Liberal prime ministers, signed on. So did Robert Fowler, a former diplomat who survived a kidnapping. Jay Hill is a familiar name in the halls of Parliament. Hill, a Reform-turned-Canadian Alliance-turned-Conservative MP who rode a wave of western resentment to Ottawa in 1993, is the interim leader of a federal Wexit party bent on hiving off the four western provinces from the rest of Canada. CTV's Don Martin quickly made an astute point: Hill was an MP for 17 years, serving stints as whip and then government House leader. Canada is paying his pension. Jim Karygiannis, a Toronto city councillor for the last six years and an MP for 26 years before that, has been removed from office for a second time. Karygiannis has represented most of the same communities in northern Scarborough for 32 years. Last November, he lost his job on city council for election spending infractions before being reinstated by a judge three weeks later. Yesterday, the Court of Appeal overruled the lower court's decision, arguing the judge had no right to reinstate. All along, Karygiannis's camp claimed the infractions were "inadvertent" errors. The panel of judges wasn't convinced. The brand new auditor general, Karen Hogan, will soon have bad news for the government. That might sound cynical, but this newsletter correspondent defies readers to find an example of a federal audit that didn't have a long list of infractions and tough recommendations. Hogan will table her spring report on July 8, the very same day the Liberals deliver their "fiscal snapshot." She'll look at Canada's deportation process, student financial assistance and supplying the military. The Canadian Commercial Corporation, Standards Council of Canada and National Gallery of Canada will also be under her microscope. Give us your wired masses, yearning to breathe free: In Donald Trump's executive order to ban new H-B1 visas that attract highly skilled immigrants, Scott Gilmore sees opportunity. Offer every single one of those talented people residence in Canada—even if they still remotely work for the American companies that want to hire them. We could call this an IWFC: an International Work From Canada visa and offer it to more than just H-1B candidates. If someone has a high paying job in Paris that they can do on their laptop from Montreal, why wouldn’t we want them to do so? It is a new world, and we need to look at it from a new angle. As the global workforce shifts to tele-commuting, the idea of living in Whistler while managing a marketing team in San Jose is not only possible, it is logical. Immigration to Canada has plummeted during the coronavirus pandemic. That includes asylum-seekers who cross in between official points of entry. A Canada-U.S. agreement whipped up in March forces both countries to turn asylum-seekers around at irregular crossings. The effect of that temporary rule change is stark. In March, the RCMP apprehended 930 irregular crossers in Quebec. In April, that number dropped down to one—and only rose to 17 in May. Diplomatic immunity: Back in February, when Canada was lobbying African nations hard for UN security council votes, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau flew to the African Union summit—the first Canadian PM to make the trip. The vote's over and Canada lost, but a notation in the latest Canada Gazette hints at the closer ties forged over the past few months. Previously, senior African Union officials "did not enjoy the privileges and immunities necessary for them to participate in high-level meetings held in Canada." Now, in the spirit of renewed multilateralism, they do. As the nation's capital has coped with the pandemic, Ottawa Public Health has walked into its share of PR snafus (remember the fleeting tut-tutting at physically distanced driveway drinks?). But they've got it down pat now. Yesterday, the city's advice on mask-wearing, admittedly not the most fashionable look, took a swipe at Toronto Maple Leafs fans. Everybody loves the Raptors, right? —Nick Taylor-Vaisey | 