Run Carney run

A prime seat

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As she announced her retirement from politics on Monday, Infrastructure Minister Catherine McKenna said she has encouraged Mark Carney to run, Global reports. “I’ve been telling him for years he should get into politics,” she said. “Mark Carney’s a good friend of mine. I think he could make a big difference.”

McKenna's announcement had insiders wondering if it's all part of a Liberal plan to get Carney a winnable seat, to play a role in the campaign everyone is expecting, and then in a future Trudeau government. The former governor of both the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England came out as Liberal at a party convention in April, saying "I'll do whatever I can to support the Liberal party in our efforts to build a better future for Canadians."

McKenna was the target of an unusual amount of hate—online and off—while serving as environment minister, when she became the public face of the carbon tax, the most significant measure against climate change in Canadian history.

In 2019, her Ottawa office was spray-painted and last year a man berated staff at her office. She had to have a security detail. None of that should prevent women from running, she said Monday. “I have had my share of attacks, but that’s just noise,” she said. "This should not be a message about not going into politics."

Canada Day split: As Erin O'Toole is positioning itself as the defender of Canada Day in the face of calls to cancel or scale back celebrations, Alberta MP Michelle Rempel Garner expressed a different view, the Canadian Press reports.

On social media, Rempel Garner said it's time to listen to Indigenous people, and "political cost be damned."

"We should be proud and grateful for the good that exists in our nation. But we cannot use that celebration as an excuse to continue to blind ourselves to a truth we have never adequately confronted, or allow it to exacerbate the pain of injustice; we must listen to Indigenous voices and act," she said on Facebook.

$1 billion? More than 100 Indigenous communities are asking for financial help from Ottawa to search for unmarked graves, which could push the total cost of such searches past $1 billion, according to the Globe.

The federal government has promised just $27 million, but that seems unlikely to be enough to help all the communities seeking help.

Autopilot blamed: An autopilot issue is being blamed in the deadly crash of a Cyclone helicopter off the coast of Greece last year, the Canadian Press reports.

A built-in autopilot took control of the aircraft and sent it into the Ionian Sea, killing all six personnel on board on April 29, 2020.

Criminal arson: B.C. Chief Clarence Louie is calling out whoever has been burning down churches on First Nations after four Catholic churches burnt down in six days, Global reports.

“I wouldn’t call it suspicious, I’d call it what it is, it’s a criminal act, it’s vandalism. It’s arson,” he said. “Obviously, it’s the same group of people. Why did they do it under the cover of darkness? Because it’s a criminal act and they are criminal.”

Louie said First Nations people are angry after the discovery of unmarked graves on the sites of former residential schools, but said it's wrong to burn down churches: “It’s misplaced ignorance, stupidity, a ... criminal act by young people.”

Listening to the hesitant: Writing in Maclean's, Wendly Glauser explores vaccine hesitancy, potentially a dangerous barrier to Canada reaching herd immunity. Compared to countries around the globe, Canada has above-average rates of confidence in vaccines, but there are reasons to worry about the hesitant. Advocates say that listening to the hesitant is an important part of getting buy-in.

Brain drain: The federal Finance department is seeing a wave of senior officials head for the exit, the Globe reports. Observers note that after the pandemic put intense pressure on them, they may be leaving because they're exhausted, but it still represents a loss of institutional memory at a time when someone is going to have to do heavy lifting to lay the groundwork for the post-pandemic financial policy.

Bad day for COVID scofflaws: A Calgary-based street preacher, his brother and a café owner were found guilty of contempt Monday for what a judge called "deliberate and wilful" breaches of judicial orders requiring them to follow COVID-19 public health rules, CBC reports.

And in Toronto, an Ontario judge declined to hear a constitutional challenge of pandemic enforcement mounted by a high-profile scofflaw who refused to close his barbecue restaurant, the National Post reports.

—Stephen Maher

Politics News & Analysis