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Thanks for reading Ottawa Playbook.

In today’s edition:

→ Canadian leaders are condemning Hamas after a deadly weekend in Israel.

→ New Democrats prepare for a policy convention with pharmacare on the mind.

→ The latest bruising Alberta v. Ottawa fight will be decided on Friday.

THE MIDDLE EAST — It takes a lot for PIERRE POILIEVRE and MARC MILLER to agree. Poilievre instinctively opposes almost every idea proposed by a Liberal. Miller, the immigration minister, calls the Conservative leader a snake oil salesman.

Turns out the political foes united against a pro-Palestinian rally in Montreal on Sunday, where flag-waving demonstrators appeared to be celebrating Hamas’ deadly attacks on Israeli neighborhoods, including killings and hostage-takings, a day earlier.

→ Poilievre: “There is no place for the glorification of terror in Canada (or anywhere else). Hamas’ murder and rape of innocent Israeli civilians is despicable. Conservatives condemn the displays of hatred and justifications of cruelty that have followed the terrorist attacks against Israel.”

→ Miller: “Disgusted and ashamed to see these scenes glorifying death and terror, in Montreal, the city I love and the city I represent. Hamas is a terrorist organization and nobody should glorify their bloody cowardly violence.”

— What’s next: From the threat of a regional war to China’s strange diplomacy, there’s no end to the dilemmas ahead, POLITICO’s NAHAL TOOSI writes.

— Related reading: POLITICO’s ALEX BURNS spoke with MATT DUSS, executive vice president of the Center for International Policy. “It’s just staggering: the amount of killing, the hostage-taking,” he said. “There are messages that I’m getting from my Israeli friends, my Palestinian friends — grief, fear for where all this leads.”

More from POLITICO on the ground: ‘I heard only gunshots, screams and Arabic’: Last call from Israel festival attack

— The dominant view: Canada’s political establishment overwhelmingly supported Israel. In a statement, Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU “unequivocally condemned Hamas’ terrorist attacks against Israel and expressed Canada’s full support for Israel’s right to defend itself.”

The flag on the Peace Tower flew at half mast over the weekend. An image of Israel’s flag lit up the tower after nightfall. Niagara Falls and Montreal’s Champlain Bridge were lit in blue. Almost every provincial premier condemned Hamas. Only Newfoundland and Labrador’s ANDREW FUREY hadn’t posted a statement online.

The Israeli flag flew on poles next to major city halls. Mayors who denounced Hamas included Vancouver’s KEN SIM, Calgary’s JYOTI GONDEK, Winnipeg’s SCOTT GILLINGHAM, Vaughan’s STEVEN DEL DUCA, Montreal’s VALÉRIE PLANTE and Ottawa’s MARK SUTCLIFFE.

— Words matter: Toronto Mayor OLIVIA CHOW called a pro-Palestinian rally at the city’s Nathan Phillips Square “unsanctioned” and “deplorable.” Chow also “unequivocally” condemned Hamas’ attacks following earlier statements on social media — since deleted — that were slammed by both pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian voices online as one-sided.

Edmonton Mayor AMARJEET SOHI took heat online for a nuanced statement: “When events unfold across the globe, they can have a deep impact on people who live in our city. The attacks taking place in Israel and Gaza targeting innocent civilians are horrific. I know that many Edmontonians have friends and family in these areas, and I am extending my support and empathy to them. We stand with you and share in your hope for a just and lasting peace in the region.”

— More views: Filmmaker and political activist AVI LEWIS posted on X that he was “struggling to express my feelings about the war in Israel/Palestine,” he wrote, amplifying a statement from the Independent Jewish Voices advocacy group.

IJV’s proposal: “Canada must call for a ceasefire, condemn Israeli apartheid and work towards a peaceful resolution that upholds the rights to life and freedom of both Palestinians and Israelis.”

— On the horn: Trudeau spent the weekend talking to regional leaders, including Israeli PM BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, United Arab Emirates President MOHAMED BIN ZAYED AL NAHYAN and KING ABDULLAH II of Jordan.

— The view from Canada’s embassy: Conservative politicians pounced on Canadian Press reports that Ottawa’s mission in Tel Aviv was closed for Thanksgiving weekend. Frantic travelers who hoped to escape the hostilities complained of being bounced between an emergency hotline and the embassy’s main line, with the promise of a returned phone call only this morning.

Tory deputy leader MELISSA LANTSMAN claimed “more than one hundred” Canadians had turned to her constituency office in suburban Toronto for help: “The Prime Minister must immediately commit more people and resources to ensure that Canadians who are seeking help to get home receive the assistance that they deserve from their government.”

Ottawa denied the embassy was closed, insisting its staff at a 24/7 response center and on the ground in Israel had responded to hundreds of requests for assistance. Sen. PETER BOEHM, a former diplomat, was incredulous at claims the feds took a long weekend off.

— Next questions: Expect more questions on embassy staffing, including written questions on the order paper that require a response within months, and access-to-information requests that could take much longer to resolve.

— A missing signature: A Monday evening statement from every G-7 nation except Canada and Japan — the “Quint group,” comprising the U.S. and four biggest western European nations — reiterated their collective support for Israel and condemnation of Hamas. It’s not uncommon for those nations to exclude Canada.

The question of the night back home: Why was Canada missing from the signatories? Or was there nothing to see here? The Prime Minister’s Office insists the Canadian side has been engaging with G-7 partners in the Middle East.

CONVENTION TIME — The old joke about political conventions is that Conservatives get drunk, Liberals get laid, and New Democrats talk policy.

Sure, controversial Conservative policy makes all the headlines, woeful Liberals drink these days like there’s no tomorrow, and not every New Democrat memorizes policy resolutions.

But nobody debates policy with the ferocity of a lineup of wonkish NDPers.

Liberals had their biennial confab in May. The Tories met in September. This weekend, New Dems will fill the Sheraton Hotel in Hamilton, Ont. — a city on every major party’s target list.

— Power meets principle: Pharmacare is shaping up as a red line for the NDP this autumn. Many of the negotiations that power the party’s confidence-and-supply agreement with the Liberals stay behind closed doors. But DON DAVIES outed the Liberals’ first draft of promised pharmacare legislation as insufficiently universal.

Party activists are angling to hash out the thickness of the NDP’s line in the sand this weekend. A proposed emergency resolution that could be debated Sunday wants to maximize the party’s leverage on the issue.

The message: Universal drug coverage or bust.

“We must loudly tell our party that we support them in the fight for pharmacare, even if that means risking an election,” the activists insist.

The party’s brain trust appears to be in violent agreement, telling iPolitics that leader JAGMEET SINGH agrees with Davies’ critique — and that it expects the Liberals to play ball.

— Power versus principle: It’s the forever debate when the grassroots meets the establishment at NDP conventions. On one side, idealists. On the other, pragmatists.

The party’s socialist caucus always tries to make noise.

The left wing of the left wing opposes Canada’s contributions to the war in Ukraine, wants to scrap the governing deal with the Liberals, and wants police forces disbanded and defunded. The caucus rarely gets its way but is never far from a mic on the debate floor.

— The full lineup is out today: The 2023 convention website came alive this morning with a lineup of speakers.

On the docket: Toronto Mayor OLIVIA CHOW, B.C. Premier DAVID EBY, Hamilton Mayor ANDREA HORWATH, Ontario NDP Leader MARIT STILES, Canadian Labour Congress president BEA BRUSKE, German Social Democratic politician THORSTEN KLUTE, Alliance du personnel professionnel et technique de la santé et des services sociaux president ROBERT COMEAU, Saskatchewan NDP MLA JENNIFER BOWES, Edmonton school trustee TRISHA ESTABROOKS, Alberta NDP MLA JANIS IRWIN, Gatineau city councilor TIFFANY-LEE NORRIS PARENT, Sooke Mayor MAJA TAIT, Ontario NDP MPP MONIQUE TAYLOR, Indigenous and workers’ rights advocate JOANNE WEBB, and Thunder Bay-Rainy River federal candidate YUK-SEM WON.

Expect the full list of policy resolutions today.

COURT SHOWDOWN — It’s Alberta v. Canada Week, and the Liberals’ signature impact assessment law is on trial.

The Supreme Court will rule this Friday morning on the constitutionality of the Impact Assessment Act, once known as Bill C-69 and permanently branded the “No More Pipelines Act” by conservative detractors in Ottawa and Edmonton.

— The backstory: The Alberta government, then led by premier JASON KENNEY, was convinced that provinces are solely responsible for impact assessments fully within their own borders. The law assigned certain projects to federal jurisdiction.

Kenney referred the law to the Court of Appeal of Alberta, which found last May that C-69 was, in fact, unconstitutional. The justices weren’t unanimous, but they weren’t far off. Only SHEILA GRECKOL concluded the feds weren’t overstepping their bounds.

— If the province wins: Premier DANIELLE SMITH would claim a massive victory over a national government she accuses of overreach. PIERRE POILIEVRE will restock his question period arsenal. Funds will be raised all ‘round.

— A stake in the ruling: A long list of interveners on both sides will speed-read the ruling for insta-reaction and pore over the details for its nitty-gritty consequences.

→ The provinces: Attorneys general of Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Manitoba, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and Newfoundland and Labrador; Hydro-Québec.

→ Indigenous groups: Indian Resource Council, File Hills Qu’Appelle Tribal Council and Pasqua First Nation, Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, Ecojustice Canada Society, Woodland Cree First Nation, Mikisew Cree First Nation, First Nations Major Projects Coalition, and Lummi Nation.

→ NGOs: World Wildlife Fund Canada, Nature Canada and West Coast Environmental Law Association, Canadian Taxpayers Federation, Canadian Constitution Foundation, Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, Environmental Defence, Advocates for the Rule of Law, Oceans North Conservation Society, Canadian Environmental Law Association, Centre québécois du droit de l’environnement, and Miningwatch Canada.

→ Business groups: Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, Business Council of Alberta, Independent Contractors and Businesses Association, Alberta Enterprise Group, and Explorers and Producers Association of Canada.

FUNDRAISER WATCH — A break week in the House of Commons typically frees up a handful of Cabinet ministers to glad-hand with donors across Canada. Tory Leader Poilievre is hitting the road, too.

— Wednesday: Poilievre rallies supporters at a warehouse in Oliver, British Columbia, just north of the Canada-U.S. border in South Okanagan–West Kootenay. NDP MP RICHARD CANNINGS represents that riding, though he’s not running again and 338Canada currently projects a “likely CPC gain.”

— Thursday: BEN CARR, the brand new Liberal MP for Winnipeg South Centre, hosts Indigenous Services Minister PATTY HAJDU and Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister GARY ANANDASANGAREE for a fundraiser at Bailey’s Restaurant & Lounge. Proceeds go to the party’s Indigenous Electoral Endowment Fund — a 25-year-old initiative that recruits and supports First Nations, Métis and Inuit candidates.

Poilievre heads to downtown Vancouver for an evening event in the Terminal City Club Tower.

— Friday the 13th: Foreign Minister MÉLANIE JOLY headlines her sixth fundraiser of the year, tied for most in Cabinet with Treasury Board President ANITA ANAND and Housing Minister SEAN FRASER. Joly will visit Heritage Minister PASCALE ST-ONGE‘s riding for an evening at Galerie Blanka in Knowlton, Quebec.

Poilievre remains in Vancouver for a ballroom rally at the Pinnacle Hotel Harbourfront.

Bloc Québécois Leader YVES-FRANÇOIS BLANCHET hosts a fundraiser at Côte des Saints Distillery in Mirabel. Minimum donation: C$400.

— Also on the calendar: Poilievre is in Toronto on Oct. 18 for an evening fundraiser at the same address as CG Wealth Management, which self-describes as “a highly personalized wealth management firm that enables advisers to independently help high-net-worth families and individuals address the complex challenges of managing significant wealth.”

Innovation Minister FRANÇOIS-PHILIPPE CHAMPAGNE will be in the Toronto suburbs on Oct. 26. Newmarket–Aurora MP LEAH TAYLOR ROY hosts the minister for “cocktails, conversations, and canapés” at Magna Golf Club. The event comes with a pair of honorary event chairs: former Cabmin JEAN AUGUSTINE and former Newmarket mayor TOM TAYLOR. Noted on the club’s website: “the use of mobile devices is discouraged.”

Parliament does not sit this week; business is expected to return Oct. 16.

— Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU starts the day in the National Capital Region before flying to Yellowknife for private meetings.

— Deputy PM CHRYSTIA FREELAND is in Toronto for private meetings.

8 a.m. (9 a.m. AT) The House finance committee is on the road this week. Today it holds an “open mic” on budgetary priorities in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.

11:30 a.m. An Empire Club of Canada event begins in Toronto. The keynote speaker, Employment Minister RANDY BOISSONNAULT, will speak on Canada’s workforce in a changing world.

6 p.m. Former Tory leadership candidate JEAN CHAREST headlines a Montreal fundraiser in the same building that houses Power Corporation offices.

— “Will they write political speeches? That’s more than likely. Some of them are already hard at it,” MARGARET ATWOOD writes in The Walrus about AI chatbots. “But will they ever be able to come up with new catchphrases, such as ‘I did nothing wrong’ and ‘I alone can fix it’? Oh. Sorry. Not so new.”

— ABBAS RANA of The Hill Times asked pollsters to predict the ballot question in the next federal election.

— CHRISTIAN PAAS-LANG considers how a redraft of federal riding boundaries will influence the electoral landscape.

— “Often, I find that political leaders are not explicitly lying in any way. Things are phrased in a much more aspirational way, phrased in a vague way, signaling what values they hold rather than hanging hats on specific numbers,” economist TREVOR TOMBE tells The Hub’s STUART THOMSON during a conversation on the housing debate. “That’s tricky for an empiricist to even engage with because often, if it’s done well, it’s hard to really pin down exactly what’s being said.”

— The Globe reports that ANAIDA POILIEVRE is poised to step up her fundraising role for the Conservatives.

— APTN Investigates reporter KENNETH JACKSON revisits the 2015 disappearance of two Mohawk fisherman on the Bay of Quinte to expose gaps in the case that police ruled an accident.

In our latest policy newsletter for POLITICO Pro subscribers, KYLE DUGGAN and ZI-ANN LUM reported:

→ The Commons industry committee has quietly published a letter penned by Innovation Minister FRANÇOIS-PHILIPPE CHAMPAGNE outlining planned changes to Bill C-27, a major privacy overhaul that also includes an AI section.

→ Google has publicly revealed its feedback to the government on the regulations for the Online News Act, warning Ottawa has failed to provide the clarity the company was searching for.

→ Canada is declaring a win in the long-running spat over softwood lumber with the United States. However, a close read of the latest ruling reveals it’s not that clear-cut — and the review is not complete.

In other news for POLITICO Pro subscribers:

— G7 countries agree on guidelines for artificial intelligence.

— What happened to the TikTok ban?

— Offshore wind is at a ‘crossroads.’ Here are 5 things to know.

— Trade ‘fragmentation’ threatens clean energy shift, IMF warns in report.

— EU climate chiefs back ambitious target: 90 percent emissions cut by 2040.

8:30 a.m. Statistics Canada releases its July energy report.

9:30 a.m. The Supreme Court of Canada holds a media briefing on its fall session.

Birthdays: HBD to TRISH SIBAL, senior policy adviser to Transport Minister PABLO RODRIGUEZ. Also celebrating today: former Unifor president JERRY DIAS, journo BOB MCKEOWN, California Gov. GAVIN NEWSOM.

Send us birthdays: [email protected]

Spotted: The Backbench Pod crew in Whitehorse.

Former NDP Leader ED BROADBENT, noting on Rosemary Barton Live that leader JAGMEET SINGH should have forged a supply-and-confidence deal with the Liberals that extended only to 2024 — a shorter term that could have helped the NDP get credit for the policy wins.

Canada’s man in New York City, TOM CLARK, disclosing a free ticket to a Leafs/Rangers game last April. DAVID HOPKINSON, the president and COO of Madison Square Garden Sports, offered the “courtesy invitation.”

Ottawa Mayor MARK SUTCLIFFE, reducing density at a high-profile urban housing development at Lansdowne Park — not the direction a certain federal minister with housing money to dispense has been encouraging at the municipal level.

Movers and shakers: Watay Power posted an Oct. 5 meeting with BEN CHIN, senior adviser to the prime minister; PAUL HALUCHA, deputy secretary to Cabinet for clean growth; and JAY KHOSLA, assistant deputy minister at the Privy Council for the Atlantic Loop and internal trade. Watay is building a C$1.9 billion transmission line in northern Ontario that will connect remote First Nations communities to the province’s power grid.

The Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport Authority recently posted a pair of September meetings with Transport DM ARUN THANGARAJ.

Friday’s answer: In 1957, VINCENT MASSEY issued a proclamation that established the second Monday in October “a day of general Thanksgiving.”

Props to QASIR DAR, GERMAINE MALABRE, CHARLES SMITH, CAMERON RYAN and ROBERT MCDOUGALL.

Have a trivia question that will stump Playbook readers? Send it our way.

Today’s question: On what date did Canada’s Parliament Buildings first officially open?

Answers to [email protected] .

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