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Thanks for reading Ottawa Playbook. I’m your host, Maura Forrest, with Zi-Ann Lum. Today, we bring you all the things you should be paying attention to that aren’t election interference. PIERRE POILIEVRE makes his pitch to the common people. And no more magazines or flowers on government flights.

IN OTHER NEWS — The House of Commons is back for a single week before March break, and it’s a safe bet that Question Period will be dominated by talk of foreign interference, as pressure mounts on Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU to do… well, something. (More on that below.)

But there’s a lot else on the agenda, so without further ado, here’s a quick rundown of all the things happening this week that aren’t related to foreign interference, including one or two you probably haven’t been paying attention to, but maybe should be.

GOOGLE AT COMMITTEE (SORT OF) — One of the four Google executives summoned last week by the House of Commons heritage committee will appear today.

That means the other three will not, including CEO SUNDAR PICHAI. The committee voted last week to summon the four execs to answer questions about Google’s decision to block some Canadians from accessing news through Google’s search engine.

The Globe and Mail’s MARIE WOOLF also reported Friday that Google had yet to cough up internal and external communications about the decision, despite an order to deliver them by end of day Thursday. Liberal committee member ANTHONY HOUSEFATHER was not pleased.

Google Canada’s country manager SABRINA GEREMIA and public policy manager JASON KEE will appear today to speak about Google’s response to Bill C-18, which would force tech giants to pay news organizations for posting or linking to their work.

— In related news: The Canadian Association of Journalists and the Unifor Media Council have both sent out emails to journalists in the last week asking if they’d been blocked by Google, and suggesting the ban may have “disproportionately” impacted media workers.

SPECIAL GUEST — European Commission President URSULA VON DER LEYEN arrives in Canada today for a three-day visit that will include an address to Parliament on Tuesday evening.

Earlier on Tuesday, she and Trudeau will travel to Kingston, Ont., to visit the Canadian Forces Base. They’ll also stop by a clean-tech company to “highlight their collaboration on critical minerals,” per the PMO.

MCKINSEY PROBE — Remember that other controversy that was a pretty big deal before it was eclipsed by all the talk of foreign interference? It’s still happening!

Public Safety Minister MARCO MENDICINO will be at the government operations committee today to answer questions about all the federal contracts awarded to McKinsey & Company.

HITTING PAUSE? — The Bank of Canada will announce its latest interest rate decision Wednesday, and there’s a good chance this will be the first time in a year that it won’t announce a hike.

For more on this, the CBC’s PETER ARMSTRONG breaks down all the reasons “the days of relentless rate hikes may be about to draw to a close.”

PRICE CHECK — Grocery store executives, including Loblaw’s GALEN WESTON, will appear before the House of Commons agriculture committee Wednesday to answer questions about food price inflation.

Expect to hear more about the C$37 chicken.

PRIVACY LAW — The government will move forward this week with a bill to update Canada’s privacy laws that’s been quietly gathering dust for months, the National Post’s ANJA KARADEGLIA reports.

Bill C-27 would update privacy laws governing the private sector to give Canadians more control over their personal data. The move comes as federal and provincial governments have banned the use of Chinese-owned TikTok on official devices over concerns about data collection.

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ELECTION MEDDLING — More calls for the Liberals to do something (anything, really) about the foreign interference controversy flowed in over the weekend, after Trudeau once again shot down questions about a public inquiry on Friday.

For the Toronto Star, ALTHIA RAJ said Trudeau should launch an inquiry or send the issue to the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP). “The longer he waits, the more he looks like he has something to hide — and the likelier it is that it will be Prime Minister PIERRE POILIEVRE who gets to define the terms of that review,” she wrote.

MORRIS ROSENBERG, who wrote a report released last week about attempted election interference in 2021, told CTV’s VASSY KAPELOS that a public inquiry is “an option that I think needs to be on the table.”

And the Globe and Mail’s ANDREW COYNE argues we don’t need a public inquiry into foreign interference in Canadian elections: “What we need a public inquiry to look into is domestic complicity in foreign interference.”

Meanwhile, FRED DELOREY, the Conservatives’ 2021 national campaign manager, reiterated the concerns about a public inquiry he first aired last week, instead calling for NSICOP to investigate the claims. “A public inquiry is not the best way to address the issue of election interference,” he wrote for the Toronto Star. “No meaningful solutions will come from it.”

Days since Trudeau first said 'no' to a public inquiry: 10

— Related: NDP Leader JAGMEET SINGH told The Roy Green Show on Saturday he’s not “ruling out” making a public inquiry a condition of the NDP’s confidence-and-supply agreement with the Liberals. In other words, he might. Or he might not.

OUT WITH THE OLD — The Ontario Liberals are adopting a one-member, one-vote system to elect their next leader, a change their federal counterparts made before JUSTIN TRUDEAU took the helm in 2013.

The Liberals are evidently hoping the new system, which will replace the delegated conventions of yesteryear, will inject new life into a party in desperate need of renewal. Liberal MPs NATE ERSKINE-SMITH and YASIR NAQVI both told the National Post’s RYAN TUMILTY ahead of the decision that they wanted to see the rules changed before deciding whether to seek the party’s top job.

— The big question: Now that we know how the leadership vote will take place, thoughts are turning to when. According to the Toronto Star’s ROB FERGUSON, the contenders who have already made up their minds to run want a new leader elected by the end of the year. But there are other possible big-name candidates who may need more time.

— Get moving: Erskine-Smith told the Star his interest in the job “would wane if the leadership vote is delayed beyond early 2024.” Naqvi, a former Ontario Cabinet minister, said the party doesn’t have much time to do the hard work of rebuilding before the next election, set for 2026.

MPP Dr. ADIL SHAMJI also told the Star there’s no time to lose.

— Hold on: Those who want more high-profile contenders in the race may be tempted to step on the brakes. Mississauga Mayor BONNIE CROMBIE and former federal Cabinet minister NAVDEEP BAINS may be interested, but “need longer time lines,” the Star reports.

— Taking the reins: Party members chose KATHRYN MCGARRY as their new president Sunday. McGarry was the mayor of Cambridge from 2018 to 2022, and served as a Cabinet minister under former Ontario premier KATHLEEN WYNNE.

10 a.m. Treasury Board President MONA FORTIER will be at the University of Ottawa to announce funding for a new research hub to accelerate Canada’s vaccine and therapeutics production.

10:30 a.m. The OECD’s acting chief economist, ÁLVARO PEREIRA, will be at the Rideau Club in Ottawa to present the organization’s biennial report on the Canadian economy, with a focus on the challenges of Canada’s net-zero transition.

11 a.m. Conservative Leader PIERRE POILIEVRE will hold a press conference in West Block regarding the government’s expansion of medical assistance in dying to people suffering solely from mental illness.

12 p.m. Deputy Prime Minister CHRYSTIA FREELAND will be at the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) conference in Toronto to hold a roundtable discussion on the government’s critical minerals strategy as part of pre-budget consultations.

12:15 p.m. NDP Leader JAGMEET SINGH will speak to reporters in West Block ahead of the vote on his party’s opposition day motion on public health care.

1 p.m. Natural Resources Minister JONATHAN WILKINSON will deliver remarks at the Canada Investment Forum at PDAC 2023. He and Innovation Minister FRANÇOIS-PHILIPPE CHAMPAGNE will participate in a fireside chat at 1:45 p.m.

2:25 p.m. Singh will speak at the Canadian Federation of Agriculture AGM.

COMMON TOUCH — They say practice makes perfect, and PIERRE POILIEVRE is clearly taking that to heart.

A clip from a large rally the Conservative leader held in the Hammer circulated widely online over the weekend, and it’s worth a watch. It’s the end of a 30-minute speech, and Poilievre is done talking about policy, and even about JUSTIN TRUDEAU. In his last couple of minutes, he wants to talk about “common people.”

“Often, these common people are called ordinary people, but they are not ordinary, my friends,” he says. “They are extraordinary.”

He pivots from the “common people” to the House of Commons, which he said features green upholstery because “the first commoners met in the fields of England” and “wrestled power away from the aristocracy and the Crown.”

— A quick aside: (We checked, and there’s actually no consensus as to why the House of Commons in the U.K. — on which ours is modeled — uses green as a principal color. The reference to commoners is one hypothesis. It could also be that green fabric was cheap and readily available. But anyway.)

— Back to the speech: Members of Parliament must remember that “we are servants and not masters,” Poilievre concludes. “It is the common people who are masters in this land.” Then he wraps up with the DIEFENBAKER quote that he’s known by heart for years, to thunderous applause.

— Takeaway: It’s two and a half minutes in which Poilievre says very little, but says it in a way that’s hard to look away from. We’ll give the last word here to the Macdonald-Laurier Institute’s AARON WUDRICK, who reacted thus: “I suspect the people who crafted Trudeau's ‘hope and hard work’ narrative in 2015 will have a thorough appreciation of how powerful this kind of message can be.”

AUSTERE AIR — Not only have drink garnishes been abolished from government planes, but newspapers, magazines and flowers have also been given the heave-ho to cut costs.

National Defense and Global Affairs Canada have shared their new rules for meals, snacks and drinks in written responses submitted to the House government operations committee related to its probe of Governor General MARY SIMON’s C$100,000 catering bill.

— Let it be known: If you fly Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), the “same standard meals will be selected for all passengers” picked from the caterer’s pre-set menu. And if everyone wants chicken, tough luck for last-round eaters. “Overage will be limited to 20%, informed by dietary restrictions, as applicable,” according to the defense department.

That’s the meal rule. There’s a snack rule, too.

— Honor thy hospitality rider: “Snacks will be minimal and sourced in Trenton, Canada for the entire trip,” reads the document provided to the committee. “If additional snacks are required, they will be sourced from local grocery stores.”

— New drink rule, cheers: Passengers will quench their mid-air thirst with a reduced selection of non-alcoholic drinks explicitly sourced from Canada.

— Canada’s spy agency believes climate change “presents a complex, long-term threat to Canada’s safety, security and prosperity outcomes,” JIM BRONSKILL reports for the Canadian Press.

— Over the weekend, more than 100 countries reached agreement on a United Nations treaty to protect the high seas. POLITICO’s JONES HAYDEN has details on what is being touted as “a massive success for multilateralism.”

— With CHANTAL HÉBERT away in Iceland, SUSAN DELACOURT joined The Bridge pod, where she offered a feisty take on government communications.

— Montreal’s McGill and Concordia universities have banned TikTok from university mobile devices, the Logic’s MARTIN PATRIQUIN reports.

— CHRISTIAN PAAS-LANG examines how redrawing riding lines to add five seats in the House will reshape the battlefield. For more on this, catch MP MICHAEL COTEAU on the Hot Room pod.

— The CBC’s ALEXANDER PANETTA takes a closer look at Republicans’ recent claims about a surge in migration from Canada and finds some… issues.

For POLITICO Pro subscribers: 10 things to watch.

Other headlines for Pro readers:

— Trudeau rejects calls for public inquiry into Chinese election interference.

— Manchin signals he won't support Biden nominee, citing climate policy.

— EU wants agreement with U.S. on electric vehicle concerns by von der Leyen visit.

— Elon Musk reopened Twitter for political ad business. But is it too late?

— Top 5 takeaways from POLITICO Pro's crypto briefing.

Birthdays: HBD to Conservative MP KAREN VECCHIO, former B.C. deputy premier JOY MACPHAIL, Senator MARTY KLYNE and retired senator LORNA MARSDEN.

Spotted: KERRY-LYNNE FINDLAY and MELISSA LANTSMAN at the Leafs game … The Wilson Center’s CHRIS SANDS, reading Where to From Here by BILL MORNEAU. 

BOB RAE, HARJIT SAJJAN and ISABELLE MARTIN at the Fifth UN Conference on the Least Developed Countries in Doha, Qatar.

Nunavut MP LORI IDLOUT, skidooing from Chesterfield Inlet to Rankin Inlet.

TikTok, sponsoring the opening reception of the Broadbent Institute’s 2023 Progress Summit on Wednesday, for C$20,000.

NATHANIEL ERSKINE-SMITH, being introduced at his hospitality suite during the Ontario Liberal AGM by MPs PAM DAMOFF and JULIE DABRUSIN.

JOHN IVISON, battling his white whale.

Movers and shakers: Harper-era policy director SHUVALOY MAJUMDAR has won the Conservative nomination in Calgary Heritage. Columnist LICIA CORBELLA recently claimed he “should be a shoo-in as Foreign Affairs minister in a PIERRE POILIEVRE government.”

DANIELLE DONADIO has joined Sussex as VP, Communications.

Media mentions: EMMA TRANTER starts with CBC Nunavut today. … MADELINE SMITH has left the Edmonton Journal for CBC Edmonton.

CHRISTY SOMOS has resigned from CTV News, citing burnout.

In memoriam: Canadian Press newscaster GERI SMITH has died. “She's one of the best newscasters I ever came across," a former supervisor said. She was 60.

The RCMP on Saturday offered condolences to Commissioner BRENDA LUCKI on the recent passing of her husband, RAY GAUTHIER.

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

— Find the latest House committee meetings here.

— Keep track of Senate committees here.

11 a.m. The House heritage committee will hear from Google Canada’s SABRINA GEREMIA and JASON KEE regarding the company’s decision to block news access to some Canadians in response to Bill C-18.

11 a.m. The House public accounts committee plays host to three deputy ministers from national defense, environment and transport to discuss the auditor general’s report on Arctic waters surveillance.

11 a.m. The House environment committee meets to take Bill S-5 through clause-by-clause consideration.

11 a.m.The joint committee for the scrutiny of regulations convenes for its first meeting of 2023 to discuss its review of statutory instruments.

3:30 p.m. Public Safety Minister MARCO MENDICINO is due at the House government operations committee, as well as Canada Border Services Agency president ERIN O’GORMAN, to take questions about federal consulting contracts awarded to McKinsey. The second half of the committee is dedicated to closed-door discussions about travel expenses from the Governor General's secretary’s office since 2014.

3:30 p.m. Indigenous Services Minister PATTY HAJDU and the department’s deputy minister GINA WILSON will be at the House Indigenous and northern affairs committee for MPs’ third meeting studying how to improve graduation rates and successful outcomes for students.

3:30 p.m. Justice Minister DAVID LAMETTI is in the hot seat at the House justice and human rights committee to take questions about Canada’s bail system.

3:30 p.m. Conservative MP DAN MAZIER will be at the House industry committee to take questions about his private member’s bill, Bill C-288, before the committee moves on to take Bill C-244 through clause-by-clause consideration.

4 p.m. The Senate human rights committee meets to continue its study of Islamophobia in Canada.

6:30 p.m. Food price inflation is on the menu at the House agriculture committee. The Dairy Processors Association of Canada, Maple Leaf Foods executive MICHAEL MCCAIN and Competition Bureau and Statistics Canada officials are on the witness list.

— Behind closed doors: The Senate official languages committee meets; the House international trade committee has the review of its ArriveCAN and Inflation Reduction Act reports on its docket; the House status of women committee meets to discuss its study of the mental health of young women and girls; the House fisheries committee meets to go over draft reports summarizing MPs’ studies on North Atlantic right whales and the impacts of the climate crisis; “committee business” is on the agenda for the House veterans affairs committee; the House citizenship and immigration committee meets for its fifth closed-door meeting to discuss its report on conditions faced by asylum seekers; the special Canada-China committee meets to discuss a draft report of its Canada-China relations study.

Friday’s answer: It was PIERRE POILIEVRE who tweeted that he “spoke almost 100,000 words over four days” during the SNC-Lavalin affair in 2019.

Props to WAYNE EASTER, SHAUGHN MCARTHUR and ROBERT MCDOUGALL.

Today’s question: Name the sitting senator who has won both a fiction and non-fiction Governor General’s Literary Award.

Send your answer to [email protected]

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