Liberals still believe in 2015 magic

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Thanks for reading Ottawa Playbook. Let’s get into it.

In today’s edition:

→ The Liberals attempt a victory lap with their middle-class messaging.

→ A mic drop moment in the speaker’s dining room.

→ A closer look at the quartet of recent de-listings from Canada’s sanctions regime.

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland takes questions from Hill journalists before sharing her Fall Economic Statement in the House. | Justin Tang, The Canadian Press

DON’T LOOK BACK IN ANGER — CHRYSTIA FREELAND wants Canadians to look forward; the Conservatives want to keep talking about the carbon tax.

The Fall Economic Statement is out and the deputy prime minister will join caucus in Ottawa today before wheeling out on a mini-budget roadshow.

— Inside the lockup: Deputy Finance Minister CHRIS FORBES held court. Unlike his predecessor MICHAEL SABIA, who liked to command the space, Forbes opted for low-key, one-on-one and small group discussions about the fall fiscal blueprint.

A lock-up, for the uninitiated, is a rite where journalists trade phone signals, WiFi and personal space for time to speed read documents before they are released to the public.

— Spot the difference: The government has dropped its towering rhetoric — on the Covid-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, Buy America and runaway inflation — though Freeland hasn’t turned off the taps.

— What’s (still) hot: Lots of talk of the middle class (how 2015) and the housing crisis (and the people working hard to join it). The Liberals are planning to bolster Housing Minister SEAN FRASER’s position by passing legislation to mint a new government department for housing, infrastructure and communities.

— In the House: Conservative Leader PIERRE POILIEVRE was missing from his seat when Freeland stood to deliver her speech and copies of the FES were handed out to MPs.

Tory MP TOM KMIEC flipped straight to the fiscal charts; PAT KELLY did the same, circling figures as he went through the tables; seatmate TONY BALDINELLI flipped through the pages as a break from attending to the stack of holiday cards on his desk.

Liberal MP MARK GERRETSEN took in Freeland’s speech from the speaker’s gallery, where he opted to chat with a visitor.

“Canada is not, and has never been, broken,” Freeland said.

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— Picking fights: The Liberals are going after the short-term rental market to boost housing supply with more long-term rentals. Freeland namechecked Airbnb and Vrbo as culprits. That “broken” swipe was a jab at another bogeyman: Poilievre.

— Campaign ghosts: Freeland’s kicker was sewn from a trinity of Liberal election slogans. She nodded to the “hope and hard work” of a generation of Canadians, one with a strident desire “to keep Canada moving forward” under the belief “better is always possible.” A mention of the work required in “these next two years — and beyond” was the latest tea leaf for anyone trying to read the government’s thinking on campaign timing.

— Outside the camera’s frame: Poilievre slipped into his seat roughly 20 minutes after Freeland started speaking. Hearing the words “hope and hard work” moved him to hug himself in a mocking embrace.

When it was time for the Tory leader to ask a question of Freeland, he ignored the FES: “Exactly how much will it cost the average family when this government goes ahead with its plan to quadruple the carbon tax, how much?” he asked.

— With files from: Just as she did last year, Freeland pointed to the Transcontinental Railway as a massive symbol of a national project that made the country rich. It was a reference intended to inspire, stripped of context or any mention of the more than 17,000 Chinese laborers who helped build that “foundational investment.”

— Who gets to build: Employment Minister RANDY BOISSONNAULT told reporters on FES Day morning that there’s “no justification” for the 1,600 South Korean workers who could be brought to southern Ontario to work at the new LG Energy Solutions battery plant.

South Korean Ambassador WOONGSOON LIM floated the figure during a visit with Windsor Police last week. The police service posted the figure on X. Innovation Minister FRANÇOIS-PHILIPPE CHAMPAGNE tried to contextualize it alongside Boissonnault, saying that when starting a new EV battery industry, there are expectations that “from time to time people would come to do transfer of knowledge — it’s not unique.”

Related reading from CBC News’ JANYCE MCGREGOR: South Koreans are eligible to work at NextStar EV factory under Harper-era free trade deal.

Playbook dug through the Fall Economic Statement in search of numbers that might fuel your water-cooler conversation this morning:

C$3 trillion: Canada’s projected gross domestic product in 2024-25.

C$1,184,332: Total federal debt in September 2023, according to the most recent edition of the Department of Finance’s Fiscal Monitor.

C$46.5 billion: Estimated public debt charges in 2024-25 (1.8 percent of GDP).

C$4.5 billion: Foregone revenue between 2023-24 and 2028-29 after the government took the federal sales tax off the construction of purpose-built rental housing.

C$255 million: The net fiscal impact in 2023-24 of a carbon levy exemption for taxpayers who use home heating oil.

OTTAWA TO BRUSSELS — A big message was delivered in a small ceremony in the speaker’s West Block dining room Tuesday to honor EU-Canada young journalist fellows. Laureates get sent on a trip, paid for by the European Union delegation to Canada — a week-long boot camp, including tours of EU institutions in Brussels and their wonkish inner workings.

Journalist CLAIRE PORTER ROBBINS, an EU-Canada fellow, stood at the front of the room and advised that as someone who has lived and worked in Gaza and Israel, she couldn’t accept the award without first making a statement.

“I can’t accept this award in a room full of people who are passionate and have power and advocate for human rights without stating my personal devastation and my disgust that neither the EU or Canada have called for a cease-fire in the face of such unending carnage,” she said. “Through the hesitancy and many other actions, they have given carte blanche to Israel for unimaginable war crimes in Gaza and across the occupied territories.”

House Speaker GREG FERGUS stood in the back and European Union Ambassador MELITA GABRIČ stood off to the side. They listened as Robbins’ voice broke as she began to say the names of at least 53 journalists who have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war since Oct. 7. The small crowded room mostly clapped.

Fellow laureate LAURIE TROTTIER helped read the remaining names from a list compiled by the Committee to Protect Journalists shortly before a service of deviled eggs, lamb chops and veggie spring rolls flowed into the room.

Related reading from POLITICO’s ALEX WARD: Israel and Hamas both announce hostage deal.

A message from Amazon:

— Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU is in Ottawa with a 7 a.m. call time to join the G20 Leaders’ Summit. He heads to the Liberals’ 10 a.m. caucus meeting before question period.

— Deputy Prime Minister CHRYSTIA FREELAND is in Ottawa with the caucus meeting as the only item on her public itinerary.

— NDP Leader JAGMEET SINGH in Ottawa with a 9 a.m. caucus meeting and question period on his schedule.

11:45 a.m. (12:45 p.m. AT) Bank of Canada Governor TIFF MACKLEM will deliver remarks at the Saint John Region Chamber of Commerce. A media availability will follow at 1 p.m. (2 p.m. AT).

4:15 p.m. The humanitarian situation in Gaza will be the day’s discussion topic at the Senate foreign affairs committee. Witnesses include Global Affairs Canada International Development Deputy Minister CHRISTOPHER MACLENNAN and ANN FLANAGAN WHALEN, the department’s director general of North Africa, Israel, West Bank and Gaza.

4:30 p.m. CSIS Director DAVID VIGNEAULT and Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Deputy Minister SHAWN TUPPER will be at the House science committee to take questions about the use of federal funds in partnerships with entities linked to the Chinese government.

6 p.m. Conservative Leader PIERRE POILIEVRE will return to the Greater Toronto Area to Brampton’s Queen’s Manor Event Centre to be the guest of honor at a reception.

Canada has blasted out more than 2,700 sanctions in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova since 2014 aimed at pressuring the Russian regime. | Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images

FROM SANCTIONED TO SANCTIFIED — Canada has silently walked back sanctions against four elite individuals added under Canada’s Russian targets — the latest removals from a steady stream of people challenging Foreign Minister MÉLANIE JOLY in court over their listings.

The latest to be deleted from the list are former bankers LEV KHASIS, 57, and NATALYAALYMOVA, 44, whose case Playbook detailed earlier this month; and billionaires ALEKSANDRA MELNICHENKO, 46, and OLEG BOYKO, 59.

They follow the delisting last month of former Gazprom employee IGOR SHATALOV, which Playbook also tracked closely.

The quartet of de-listings were published (cryptically) the same day Joly announced the latest batch of sanctions, aimed at those involved in a “Kremlin-backed orchestration of disinformation and war propaganda.” There was not a news release for the delistings.

→ Meet the Melnichenkos: A Serbian pop singer and former model, Aleksandra Melnichenko’s court filing says Canada listed her alongside 121 other individuals described as “elites and close associates” of the Russian regime, including members of Russia’s parliament and Cabinet, but she argues Ottawa “failed” to provide evidence she belongs alongside those names.

Melnichenko argues she has “never held Russian citizenship, and she has no connections to Russia whatsoever,” but was listed because Canada leveled sanctions against her husband, Russian billionaire and superyacht owner (and former superyacht owner) ANDREY MELNICHENKO, who founded the fertilizer company, EuroChem and the coal company, SUEK. It said she does not own the companies but benefits from a discretionary trust.The Canadian Press covered the story back in April, after the Melnichenkos filed their cases separately appealing their listings. Andrey remains on the list.

She was listed in other jurisdictions as well, including the EU and Switzerland, something her case argues led to “difficulties for the companies’ operations worldwide, increasing the ongoing food and energy crisis.”

→ Meet Khasis: Khasis is a U.S.-based former board member of Sberbank and had successfully challenged his sanctioning in the U.K.

According to the Miami Herald, Khasis now lives in a $3.4 million Miami condo. He has fought Canada’s move to “erroneously” sanction him, claiming he quit his job in banking days before Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.

Canada sanctioned him on Feb. 24, 2022, which he argues was an “error” and the UK followed Ottawa’s lead and sanctioned him as well.

Lobbyist registry records show Khasis hired McCarthy Tétrault to protest him being “erroneously designated.” The firm also sought a “temporary visa so that client can visit family residing in Canada.”

→ Meet Boyko: A billionaire who heads up private equity firm Finstar Financial Group, Bokyo was sanctioned by Canada in April 2022.

According to Forbes, Boyko was a credit card pioneer in Russia in the 1990s and later invested in casinos and gambling until Moscow banned it. He shifted his investments to the EU. He has also invested in film projects, including Sin City II and Summer Crossing.

Boyko’s initial court filing against Joly contains no biographical information. The document said he sent the minister “extensive submissions” in December 2022 protesting his sanctioning, received only an email auto-reply, and was then ghosted for 248 days — even though the minister is supposed to render a decision within 90.

— GAC chimes in: After more than a week of hashing out a response to Playbook’s questions, Global Affairs spokesperson MARILYNE GUÈVREMONT said these delistings “included individuals who, for example, do not meet the nationality and residency criteria” for Canada’s Russia sanctions and that such delistings are necessary to keep Canada’s sanctions regime “fair and transparent.”

But she added that the “delisting of an individual is not necessarily an indicator of their lack of support for the VLADIMIR PUTIN regime, their objection to Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine or that they have not benefited from the oligarch system.”

Canada has blasted out more than 2,700 sanctions in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova since 2014 aimed at pressuring the Russian regime.

— SAM ALTMAN is set to return as OpenAI’s CEO, POLITICO’s ZOYA SHEFTALOVICH reports.

— Just posted from The Financial Times in Washington: “U.S. thwarted plot to kill Sikh separatist on American soil.”

— Globe and Mail’s STEVE CHASE reports on Conservatives voting against government legislation to implement the Canada-Ukraine free-trade agreement over carbon tax politics.

— “How does Justin Trudeau manage to keep the smile on his face?” former Liberal Cabinet minister SHEILA COPPS asks at the start of her latest column in The Hill Times.

— At the top of TIME’s Top 100 photos of 2023: Vancouver photojournalist DARRYL DYCK’s photo of the McDougall Creek wildfire in West Kelowna in August.

— The Logic’s MURAD HEMMADI takes on this question in a special report: Can Canada and its AI startup champions capitalize?

— From POLITICO’s ELINE SCHAART in Europe: How to watch the Dutch elections like a pro.

— Migrant advocate CHRIS RAMSAROOP writes for CBC News: What I see today in Canada is the exact system of plantation labor that has ravaged the Caribbean.

— AI pioneer GEOFFREY HINTON spoke with The New Yorker’s DAVID REMNICK about why his brainchild scares him.

Our latest policy newsletter for Pro subscribers from NICK TAYLOR-VAISEY and SUE ALLAN: What you need to know about Freeland’s FES.

In other news for Pro readers:

— Canada lays out ‘aggressive’ timelines on clean tech tax credits.

— MPs urge Canada to appoint “softwood lumber emissary.”

— After Xi meeting, Biden faces decision on Trump tariffs.

— European Parliament approves Net-Zero Industry Act — a key pillar of a push for carbon neutrality by 2050.

— How the U.S. violates its own trade laws to buy seafood from China.

A message from Amazon:

Did you know more than 41,000 Canadian selling partners sell in the Amazon Canada store, including many small businesses?

In 2021, Amazon’s Canadian selling partners sold more than 100 million products (more than 200 products every minute).

It takes a lot to run a small business. Canadian entrepreneurs thriving in Amazon’s store include women, families, and artisans. Learn their stories, and discover how Amazon is inventing on their behalf with powerful and cost-effective tools and services to support their business growth.

Birthdays: A very merry birthday to Conservative MP MICHAEL CHONG, who shares the day with ex-MPs GEOFF REGAN, ROBERT-FALCON OUELLETTE and JACQUES SAADA.

HBD to TEJAH-MAE DAVIS at Blackbird Strategies.

Birthdays, gatherings, social notices for this community: Send them our way.

Spotted: MARIE-DANIELLE SMITH and CATHERINE LEVESQUE among the names on the list of personal wireless hotspots that popped up amid the 4 p.m. embargo-lift chaos at the FES lockup, as the WiFi at the Diefenbaker building buckled under the weight of dozens of journalists trying to connect at once.

Toronto Star’s MARK RAMZY’s vending machine roulette turning out badly after the cafeteria at the budget lockup ran out of food before lunch.

PLAID, the pattern of choice for department of finance bureaucrats in the lockup press conference. h/t STEPHANIE LEVITZ.

THE ONE TOILET, available for locked up journalists (unless they asked an escort for a stroll down the hall to a larger john).

GREG FERGUS, MIKE LAKE, and JAIME BATTISTE at the FCM reception at the NAC.

Former prime minister JEAN CHRÉTIEN hanging out with Liberal MP BEN CARR in Ottawa.

Movers and shakers: Cabmin LAWRENCE MACAULAY is celebrating the 35th anniversary of his first election to the House.

Media mentions: STUART THOMSON has moved from the Hub to become the parliamentary bureau chief at the National Post.

Send Playbookers tips to [email protected].

— It’s caucus day on the Hill.

— Last call: It will be the deadline day for applications for standing and funding to the foreign interference commission conducting the public inquiry into interference in federal electoral processes and democratic institutions.

9:30 a.m. Innovation Minister FRANÇOIS-PHILIPPE CHAMPAGNE will be in Longueuil, Quebec, to announce “new assignments for Canadian astronauts.”

11 a.m. (10 a.m. AT) The Transportation Safety Board of Canada will host a news conference to discuss its investigation into the April 2021 fatal fishing vessel capsizing of Tyhawk in Nova Scotia.

11:30 a.m. The Senate national security committee will meet to continue its study of Bill C-21.

1 p.m. The Canadian Chamber of Commerce hosts its Artificial Intelligence Executive Summit at the Rideau Club in Ottawa.

2 p.m. Young farmers and agriculture leaders will hold a rally on Parliament Hill to advocate for Canada’s food sovereignty.

4:15 p.m. The humanitarian situation in Gaza will be the day’s discussion topic at the Senate foreign affairs committee.

4:15 p.m. Sen. ROSA GALVEZ will be a witness at the Senate banking committee to speak on the public bill she’s sponsoring, Bill S-243, that seeks to require “certain financial and other federally regulated entities to mitigate and adapt to the impact of climate change.”

4:15 p.m. The Senate legal and Constitutional affairs committee will meet to discuss the report on the Statutes Repeal Act for 2023.

4:30 p.m. CSIS Director DAVID VIGNEAULT and Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Deputy Minister SHAWN TUPPER will be at the House science committee.

4:30 p.m. MIT Sloan Management Review Editorial Director DAVID KIRON will be at the House human resources committee as part of MPs’ study on the implications of AI on workers.

5:45 p.m. McGill University will host a reception with Cabmin MARC MILLER and Sen. ROSA GALVEZ in celebration of McGill’s Day on the Hill, Sir John A. Macdonald Building, Room 200. Please RSVP.

6 p.m. Conservative Leader PIERRE POILIEVRE will return to the Greater Toronto Area to Brampton’s Queen’s Manor Event Centre to be the guest of honor at a reception.

6:45 p.m. The Senate Indigenous peoples committee will continue its study on the Canadian human rights framework.

6:45 p.m. Canadian North Interim President and CEO SHELLY DE CARIA and West Kitikmeot Gold CEO BRENDAN BELL are on board as witnesses at the Senate transportation and communications committee’s study on the impacts of climate change on critical infrastructure.

6:45 p.m. The Senate national finance committee will hear from UBC economics professor DAVID GREEN as part of its study on Bill S-233, Sen. KIM PATE’s public bill proposing a national framework for a guaranteed livable basic income.

7:30 p.m. The House transport committee will meet to take Bill C-33 through clause-by-clause consideration.

Behind closed doors: The House foreign affairs committee will review a draft report of its study on Canada’s sanctions regime; House liaison committee’s subcommittee on budgets will meet to talk about “budget submissions”; the House official languages committee will meet; the House health committee will meet to review two draft reports; the Senate audit and oversight committee have a meeting in their books; and the Senate social affairs committee will have a chat about “future business.”

ATTENTION WASHINGTON POLI-NERDS: Join us for Playbook Trivia on Monday, Dec. 4 at Astro Beer Hall. Doors open at 7 p.m. First question at 7:30.

Registration is open. Space is limited. RSVP via this Google Form.

Tuesday’s answer: “The story of the No. 2 Construction Battalion is one of resilience, determination and strength in the face of adversity,” Defense Minister BILL BLAIR said last week. Read more on the largest Black unit in Canadian history.

Props to YAROSLAV BARAN, AMY CASTLE, BRANDON RUSSELL, EW VANSICKLE, CAMERON RYAN, ROBERT MCDOUGALL, ROB LEFORTE and BOB GORDON.

Today’s question: Sixty years ago today, U.S. President JOHN F. KENNEDY was assassinated while riding in a motorcade in Dallas.

Who represented Canada at his state funeral on Nov. 25, 1963?

Answers to [email protected]

Want to grab the attention of movers and shakers on Parliament Hill? Want your brand in front of a key audience of Ottawa influencers? Run a Playbook ad campaign. Contact Jesse Shapiro to find out how: [email protected].

Playbook wouldn’t happen without: POLITICO Canada editor Sue Allan, Luiza Ch. Savage and Emma Anderson.