Welcome to Ottawa Playbook. Let’s get into it.

In today’s edition:

→ On housing, it’s “lack of entry” that’s on Liberals’ minds.

→ Remember pharmacare? Health Minister MARK HOLLAND teases legislation “very soon.”

CHARLOTTETOWN CHESSBOARD — Federal politicians really want young people’s attention.

Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU’s three-day Cabinet retreat begins this afternoon in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, and the evening will end with a working dinner to delve into the financial realities of Canada’s economic situation.

“If there are two core priorities for this Cabinet retreat, I would say it is housing affordability and it is the welfare of young Canadians — and the opportunities for young Canadians,” a senior government official tells Playbook about details they weren’t allowed to discuss publicly.

Liberals are on the hunt for ideas to encourage a “healthier housing ecosystem.” They’ve seized on the specific issue of “lack of entry.”

— Political impetus: Liberal supporters don’t think the party is paying enough attention to the cost of housing, an obvious mid-mandate challenge on their plate.

Morale is another prickly problem for Team Trudeau, as reported by the Toronto Star’s ALEX BALLINGALL, flicking to tensions between the Prime Minister’s Office and caucus.

The retreat’s core priorities nod to Conservative Leader PIERRE POILIEVRE’s success at driving narratives on the issue. The prime minister’s office has responded with a July Cabinet shuffle, sold to Canadians as proof they’re taking economic issues seriously.

There’s time in the agenda to address general priorities such as national security, economic growth, affordability, public safety and climate. But this summer retreat is intended to focus minds on housing affordability and how youth are faring in Canada — topics Cabinet ministers are expected to get into group discussions about.

— Mid-mandate check in: The retreat’s structure also reflects an effort by Liberals to stem slipping support among young voters, a demographic that helped propel Trudeau to victory in 2015 and, for whom housing affordability has become a source of anxiety.

— Behind closed doors: Day 2 of the retreat will have panels on housing, youth and issues facing young Canadians, the official said. Generation Squeeze’s PAUL KERSHAW has been invited to speak. So has PLACE Centre at the Smart Prosperity Institute founding director MIKE MOFFATT and Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness’ TIM RICHTER.

— Data point reminder: Millennials became the largest voting bloc in the 2019 election. That same year marked enfranchisement for Generation Z (born after 1997), a demographic that, according to Elections Canada, “is more ethnoculturally diverse than previous generations.”

The prime minister did not give his 38 Cabinet ministers (including 7 rookies) homework ahead of this week’s retreat, according to the official.

Trudeau’s cadre of ministers have instead been assigned an evergreen, portfolio-agnostic, philosophical prompt to ask themselves daily: “What am I doing to help fulfill the promise of Canada?”

— Cross-party virtue signaling: Poilievre and his deputy leader MELISSA LANTSMAN have also stood in the House of Commons to extoll “the promise of Canada,” a non-partisan concept that promotes the virtue that hard work pays off.

It’s a rhetorical argument that’s great for political sloganeering, but has sketchy merits in our contemporary world. Ask any gig economy worker if more work correlates with increased job security.

— Wednesday, today: Don’t expect Trudeau and his Cabinet to present new, sparkling policy ideas to Canadians when the retreat ends.

A press conference with the prime minister (likely with the traditional human backdrop of Cabinet ministers) is scheduled for Wednesday morning. Afterward, ministers will get back to work in closed-door discussions about how to take in the data presented to them over the two days and debate ideas to refine them.

Those discussions, the official said, will “bear fruit in policy in the coming weeks and months.”

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THE COMING HEALTH AGENDA — When the House returns in the fall, pharmacare is going to be high on the to-do list for MPs.

In a Friday fireside chat at the Canadian Medical Association conference in Ottawa with IRPP President JENNIFER DITCHBURN, Health Minister MARK HOLLAND said the Liberal government is “committed to introducing legislation in the fall — very soon.”

“We’re having a great conversation with both [NDP MPs] DON DAVIES and PETER JULIAN,” he said during the afternoon panel. “I’m looking forward to having a conversation in the very near term with my counterparts in the Bloc and in the Conservatives.”

— Coming up soon: Holland said there’s strong demand to see details and action plans for the C$46.2 billion bilateral health agreements announced in February, namely how the money will be used within the system and what metrics will be used to track improvements. “We’re going to be rolling a lot of those out over the next 60 days,” he said. He also said there will be a “lot of announcements” related to the government’s dental care programming coming up.

— Sense of frustration: Recent polling from Angus Reid for the CMA found Canadians are dissatisfied with provincial and federal governments on health care system performance, and that they think throwing money at the core problems won’t fix them.

“Two-thirds of Canadians (66 percent) think there are structural problems within health care that surmount a lack of funding,” the report said.

The report also suggests more are interested in exploring privatization: “Three-in-ten Canadians (31 percent) say that more private care would improve health care, while 44 percent say it would worsen the situation. Notably, the percentage of Canadians who are “unsure” how they feel about this has increased seven points since last year, with a subsequent drop in those holding a negative view.”

— The spin: “As tough as those numbers are that we saw from Angus Reid,” Holland said, “and as much as we have to acknowledge that that’s where people are and what they see, there’s great room and space for optimism. And in the next 60 days, I want to start to have people feel that.”

— Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU is in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. There’s a morning photo-op on his schedule with the province’s premier, Dennis King. He has a 10 a.m. (11 a.m. AT) child care announcement followed by a media availability.

After lunch, Trudeau and King have a 12 p.m. (1 p.m. AT) meeting before the prime minister is due at the Cabinet retreat at 4:30 p.m.

— Conservative Leader PIERRE POILIEVRE postponed a planned “Bring It Home” rally today on Vancouver Island at the Campbell River Sportsplex in Campbell River, British Columbia, citing the province’s severe wildfires.

ETHICS FILES — Deputy Prime Minister CHRYSTIA FREELAND recused herself from discussions earlier this month to avoid the perception of conflict of interest linked to a job opening in the department of finance.

The reason, according to a filing posted last week by the ethics commissioner’s office, was to “avoid any appearance of preferential treatment or any opportunity to further the private interest of a family friend.”

Freeland recused herself on Aug. 3 from any discussion related to the hiring process.

A department official told Playbook the process to fill the public service job is ongoing as of Friday.

— The first question that Maclean’s H.G. WATSON asked Yellowknife Mayor REBECCA ALTY in a recent Q&A: How are you holding up?

— Wildfires in British Columbia hit the province with worsening air quality, CBC News has maps tracking where the fires are burning.

— Top of POLITICO this hour: Biden faces calls to declare climate emergency as he heads to Maui.

— C.D. Howe Institute senior fellow and former federal lobbyist LAWRENCE HERMAN takes to the Globe and Mail’s op-ed pages to declare Bloc MP LUC THÉRIAULT’s supply management bill “a terrible piece of legislation.”

— View from abroad: The Telegraph published an op-ed from writer DANIEL JOHNSON about “Canada’s swelling disillusionment with Justin Trudeau.”

— The Business Council of Canada’s GOLDY HYDER has concerns about the government’s handling of debt, according to a letter obtained by the Globe’s MARIEKE WALSH that has no mention of housing.

— ICYMI: The Washington Post published an op-ed by former Canadian Supreme Court justice ROSALIE SILBERMAN ABELLA about the perils of today’s “mean-spirited moral free-for-all” era. “We need the rule of justice, not just the rule of law.”

For POLITICO Pro subscribers, our latest policy newsletter: Watching the winds in Yellowknife.

In other news for Pro subscribers:

— 3 states missed the IRA deadline for solar money.

— AI cannot hold copyright, U.S. federal judge rules.

— Ad giant plans to use people’s data to knee-cap bill regulating data.

— Biden administration decision threatens solar imports from Southeast Asia.

— It’s hot. You’re traveling. Here’s what could go wrong.

Birthdays: HBD to CTV National News chief anchor OMAR SACHEDINA.

Got a document to share? A birthday coming up? Send it all our way.

Spotted: JAMIL JIVANI has won the federal Conservative candidacy in Durham.

Former Governor General ADRIENNE CLARKSON and husband JOHN RALSTON SAUL in Panama with Canada’s ambassador to the country, KIM URSU … Deputy Prime Minister CHRYSTIA FREELAND ended her week in Alberta by shaking hands with Premier DANIELLE SMITH.

Health Minister MARK HOLLAND at the CMA confab at the Shaw Centre Friday sporting a dark suit and bravely rocking bright red Chucks with sky blue laces, paired with rainbow-patterned socks.

Movers and shakers: Senior Trade Commissioner MICHELLE GARTLAND is returning to Ottawa from Brussels.

Media mentions: DANIEL VIOLA has left his post as senior editor at The Walrus.

Friday’s answer: In 1869, WILLIAM HAMILTON got the first Canadian patent for the “Eureka Fluid Meter,” a machine that could measure the flow of fluids.

Props to RODDY MCFALL, GERMAINE MALABRE and ROBERT MCDOUGALL.

Monday’s question: Downtown Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island has little bronze statues of Eckhart the mouse, inspired by which book by Island author DAVID WEALE?

Send your answer to [email protected]

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