The PM’s podcast push

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

In today’s edition:

→ Playbook breaks down the PM’s recent bevy of nontraditional interview choices.

→ Three things we’re watching this week.

→ With about six months until the U.S. election, former diplomats weigh in on where Canada should be.

DRIVING THE DAY


POD SAVE THE PM? — JUSTIN TRUDEAU may not have the favorability he did in 2015, but he’s managed to revive that era’s vibes in one way.

His recent long-form media blitz has put the spotlight on podcasts like they’re still some kind of interesting new creature in the media landscape — in 2024, no less, when everyone and their dog has one.

— Starting clock: The Star’s SUSAN DELACOURT first dished on the blitz last week, saying it’s intended to connect him with different audiences, including with some U.S.-based pods, and “talk beyond the general news-of-the-day scrums in Ottawa.”

— Medium is the message: Trudeau was asked about one of her columns on “The Big Story” podcast: “What is it about either this medium or the communication strategy in general that you’re hoping to use to make your message resonate with Canadians?”

Trudeau replied his “favorite kind of interview was sitting down and talking for 15, 20 minutes with a radio host, and just having a real conversation.”

“Podcasts represent the kind of thoughtful conversation that most Canadians end up having in their daily lives with their friends, their co-workers, their family, about big issues.”

“One of the real challenges in politics these days is the polarization, the soundbite-ization, the snippets on internet or YouTube or Tik Tok or wherever that end up carrying an entire political debate.”

→ Translation: It’s a lot less weird to take ten minutes to explain something in a friendly sit down than at a news conference, where the answer is ultimately chopped up into a 10-second clip.

And he performs well in a casual environment, without the breathy, gold-plated sentences featured in his speeches or any anxious the-house-is-burning-down looks he might wear at televised news conferences.

— NBD: A PMO source speaking on background characterized the series of pod appearances as not nearly as dramatic as it seems.

The PM’s done podcasts before. He was on CBC’s “Front Burner” last year and just in March he was on “The GIST of It” podcast talking about women’s sports.

— Timing matters: The podcast push comes with the PM slumped in the polls. It follows the government struggling with the messaging on its capital gains hike, with the recent budget moving the needle in the wrong direction. Pollster SHACHI KURL described it as a sad-clown moment for the PM.

At press conferences these days, the questions are tough and tricky.

At a Friday announcement, The Logic’s MURAD HEMMADI pressed him on the prospect of the tax hike causing doctors and tech companies to leave the country. In the four-minute exchange, the PM ducked it with a lengthy boilerplate answer about tax fairness.

— Sounds familiar: Recall that former PM STEPHEN HARPER spent time chatting up U.S. media while dismissing Canadian outlets, which changed the focus and framing of stories and interviews, and blew over the heads of the pesky, hard-nosed press gallery.

— Ooof: On “The Big Story” pod, to which Trudeau’s team had reached out to set up the interview, the PM was asked to grade his own homework on climate policy on the assertion Canada missed its Paris targets.

He swatted that one away: “Which targets have we missed?”

“I think we’ve missed a couple of Paris Accord targets,” the host replied. “Have we not?”

“No, we haven’t,” Trudeau said.

“You got me on that one,” the host said.

— Hint, hint: A fall report warned Canada is on track to blow its 2030 targets. Canada missed the 2020 Copenhagen target,though not by much.

The Trudeau interviews all varied in substance and content, but climate change was a major theme, as CP points out in its dissection of four he appeared on recently. Those in it for the blood sport of politics or tough accountability interviews can give the appearances a pass. The interesting exchanges charted far off the daily news agenda.

Here are four things that jumped out from his “Freakonomics Radio” appearance:

→ Teacher for life: Asked what he’d be doing now if he never got into politics and what he might want to do after, he said he’d still be a teacher.

“When I leave politics, I will look to teach again in one way, shape or form,” he said. “Whether it’s reflecting on the intersection of technology and democracy and trying to shape the world that way. I’m ultimately a social activist who’s going to look to how I can have a positive impact on the world.”

→ Pot un-enthusiast: Trudeau is known internationally for legalizing recreational cannabis. Asked if he consumes it himself, the answer was a not really: “I’ve tried it, but it’s never been my thing. I’m much more of a beer and bourbon kind of guy, even then not too much.”

→ The way he thinks about his job now: “I did hear you say in a recent interview, ‘I think about quitting every day. It’s a crazy job I’m doing,’ so I want to get a temperature check,” the host said.

Trudeau replied, “Actually what I said in French was, “C’est un job de malade,” which means, “It’s a job for crazy people.”

“There is an intensity to this, and when you’re doing any job like this, you have to check in regularly on the family sacrifices — on do you still have the energy and the drive to do it? There are always days and moments in which you go, ‘Oh my God, you know, haven’t I done this enough? Haven’t I given enough? I can do something else now.’ But the stakes are so high, and the moment is so real.”

→ Why he reads a lot of fiction: “Because story is the only thing that matters. How we tell the stories of our lives, how we tell the story of the world we’re in, the narrative of our lives, and the arc of those stories is still how we think. … The idea of story as the vehicle for existence is at the center of everything I have. And when I need to step away from the mounds of briefing notes and nonfiction that I’m forced with my work, I need to dive into story.”

At least one of these answers wouldn’t fly with traditional media in Canada right now. It’s not exactly a great time for him to carry on about reading “mounds of briefing notes” without some qualifiers.

— Related reading: CBC’s AARON WHERRY mulls politicians turning to longer-form content away from the daily 5-second clip factory that is Parliament Hill.

THREE THINGS WE'RE WATCHING

CARNEY INVITED TO CIRCUS — The federal Conservatives have made it a point to repeatedly taunt the PM by invoking the name of widely rumored leadership aspirant MARK CARNEY. They’re going to try to haul him to Parliament this week to do it in person.

The Opposition plans to move a motion Tuesday to invite him to appear at the House finance committee, according to an unsigned Conservative press release that says he should welcome the invite since it’s “clear that Carney is positioning for Trudeau’s job” and wants “as much media attention as possible.”

Carney told the National Post’s CATHERINE LÉVESQUE he hadn’t received the invitation yet for the “performative” event and said he’s not interested in “playing games.”

He will be at the Senate banking committee on May 8, however.

Carney’s name has been dropped 41 times in QP this Parliament, according to a Hansard search.

A PEEK AT PARTY $$$ — Federal party first-quarter returns drop this week, giving an indication of the health of their election war chests and fundraising prowess.

The returns are due by the end of the month.

It’s no secret the Conservatives are blowing the governing party out of the water — out raising them by more than double last year — and setting records under PIERRE POILIEVRE.

FIRST INQUIRY REPORT — The deadline for the public inquiry into foreign interference’s interim report is quickly approaching.

Commissioner MARIE-JOSÉE HOGUE has until Friday to release her first real stocktake, following the first stage of hearings coming to a close on April 10 with the PM’s testimony. Public hearings are expected to resume in the fall.

The deadline for the interim report has already been pushed back by two months, but the commission has said it doesn’t expect that to delay the release of the final report, due by the end of the year.

DULY NOTED


11:30 a.m. Nunavut Premier P.J. AKEEAGOK will deliver a keynote at a Canadian Club of Ottawa event at the Château Laurier and participate in a panel discussion about Canada’s northern and Arctic strengths.

6:30 p.m. The PM’s national security and intelligence adviser NATHALIE DROUIN and Canadian Security Intelligence Service Director DAVID VIGNEAULT will be at the special committee on Canada-China relations.

2024 WATCH

CLOCK IS TICKING — We’re nearly at the six-month countdown to the U.S. election nobody there really wants given the antipathy to both main candidates.

Canadians still vaguely traumatized from the shock and awe of DONALD TRUMP’s first White House may wince at the prospect of a repeat, whichever administration takes hold. Also recall the struggle grappling with the Inflation Reduction Act measures brought about by JOE BIDEN.

Countries around the world are preparing for the prospect of change, hiring lobbyists and Trump whisperers.

Ask a former diplomat if Canada is prepared for the next admin with a protectionist political climate down south, and they’ll tell you the same thing: Can we really ever be?

— Chessboard pieces: Former diplomat and U.S. watcher, COLIN ROBERTSON of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, told Playbook that Ministers FRANÇOIS-PHILIPPE CHAMPAGNE and MARY NG, spearheading the federal government’s Team Canada efforts, are “doing very good work in the field.”

“Champagne in particular seems to be down to the States almost weekly, so he’s going into places where a minister should be going into, and Ng is doing her bit as well,” he said.

“It’s the relationships at the end of the day that saved us with Trump” the last time he was president, Robertson said.

— Late start: Former diplomat LOUISE BLAIS of the Pendleton Group tells Playbook Canada “never should have let our foot off that gas” in its advocacy efforts with Americans and “should always have kept those relationships warm on both sides of the aisle.”

“Trying now, late in the game ahead of an election six months ahead, I think our ability is diminished at this point a little bit and we have let that protectionist … sentiment really settle in.”

— Voices MIA: She said “strong conservative voices” in Canada could be engaging with Republicans in the U.S. “I’m not detecting that happening. I’m seeing the government going, whether it’s the ambassador, or whether it’s Cabinet ministers that are coming down.”

— Top marks: But she praised efforts by provinces, noting a recent trip by Manitoba Premier WAB KINEW.

She said Ontario appears to be leading the pack through its long-running push for economic development.

“They’re traveling well outside the Beltway. They understand that really the relationship with the Americans happens at the state level and at the local level. [Economic Development Minister] VIC FEDELI has been on the road non-stop from what I’m able to see, and he’s really spending the time — he’s not jetting in and jetting out.”

Are you part of Canada’s U.S.-outreach efforts this election year? We’re all ears .

MEDIA ROOM

— CP reporter SARAH SMELLIE asked every province if it agrees with the federal housing advocate that shelter is a human right. Most did not directly reply. Quebec mistakenly sent a reply intended for another colleague: “Do I ghost her again? Otherwise, a general response that doesn’t answer, to say housing is a priority for our government?”

— PressProgress’ LUKE LEBRUN has this piece on the strangeness of the Ottawa Book Festival and its far-right speakers, fake employees and confused sponsors — a read that gets funnier as it goes on.

— From JEFFREY JONES, EMMA GRANEY, WENDY STUECK and BRENT JANG: Canada’s C$34 billion Trans Mountain pipeline expansion: Now comes the hard part.

— “You have to give Conservatives credit for transforming the most boring subject on earth into a compelling election issue,” ARNO KOPECKY of The Walrus writes of carbon pricing. “They’ve drawn attention away from the glaring void where a Conservative climate policy should be while turning roughly half the electorate against a policy most barely comprehend.”

— Noted in The Economist: Carbon emissions are dropping — fast — in Europe.

— EDWARD GREENSPON, JANICE GROSS STEIN and DREW FAGAN write in the weekend Globe: “Canada needs to have a plan for the U.S., no matter who becomes president.”

— Finally from POLITICO: Watch the top 7 jokes COLIN JOST made about DONALD TRUMP at White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

PROZONE


For POLITICO Pro subscribers, our latest policy newsletter from ZI-ANN LUM: Countdown to an awkward face-off.

In other news for Pro readers:

— Canada-South Korea trade confronts green paradox.

— UN launches panel to improve critical minerals cooperation.

— On tap for COP29: Fights over climate finance.

— UK watchdog: Labour will need ‘Herculean effort’ to hit green goals.

— WTO appoints new facilitator for formalized dispute settlement talks.

PLAYBOOKERS

Birthdays: HBD to Sen. SALMA ATAULLAHJAN, former Conservative Cabinet minister ROB NICHOLSON, CHEO CEO ALEX MUNTER and Saskatchewan’s CAM BROTEN.

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

Spotted: Spotted at the POLITICO Garden Brunch hosted by the Albritton Journalism Institute and POLITICO: FRANÇOIS-PHILIPPE CHAMPAGNE, ANNE-MARIE GAUDET, Ambassador KIRSTEN HILLMAN, KATIE TELFORD, BRIAN CLOW and IAN FOUCHER.

Former PM JOE CLARK on Vancouver Island.

NDP MP CHARLIE ANGUS, throwing shade at the National Post. … MP TAYLOR BACHRACH on the Bulkley River, “just before the rain caught us.”

Movers and shakers: Former CBC host SHELAGH ROGERS named the next chancellor of Queen’s University.

From the PM’s latest public service shuffle:

SONY PERRON, president of the Economic Development Agency of Canada for Quebec Regions, will get a second title, taking on the role of deputy minister for economic development.

Employment and Social Development Associate Deputy Minister ANDREW BROWN moves to Heritage at the same rank level. CRA deputy commish BRIGITTE DIOGO is being moved to Transport as associate deputy minister., while Justice Associate Deputy Minister JEAN-FRANÇOIS FORTIN replaces Diogo at CRA and Public Safety Assistant Deputy Minister SAMANTHA MAISLIN DICKSON steps into Fortin’s role at Justice. All changes effective May 6.

Media mentions: The Toronto Star has appointed JORDAN HIMELFARB to the role of opinion editor, and he will oversee the Star’s editorial board. BRUCE CAMPION-SMITH is poised to leave the Star in May after a 36-year career with the paper.

The National Newspaper Awards were handed out Friday night. MAX FAWCETT won the Mary Ann Shadd Cary Award for Columns; ROBERT FIFE and STEVEN CHASE of the Globe and Mail won the John Wesley Dafoe Award for Politics. A team from SING TAO, a Chinese-language publication, won the Special Topic Award — the first journalists in the 75-year history of the NNAs honored for work done in a language other than French or English. DARRYL GREER of The Canadian Press won the NNA for investigative journalism.

The Michener-Deacon Fellowship has been awarded to ÈVE LÉVESQUE and MARIE-CHRISTINE NOËL, who will investigate food security in Canada for L’Actualité. The Michener-L. Richard O’Hagan Fellowship goes to JEAN-HUGUES ROY and NAËL SHIAB to create a free online course on data journalism.

JACOB SEREBRIN is leaving The Canadian Press to rejoin the Montreal Gazette.

TAMARA KHANDAKER has joined the producing team behind Al Jazeera’s “The Take.”

ON THE HILL


→ Find House committees here.

→ Keep track of Senate committees here.

8:30 a.m. Statistics Canada will release a new report on the number and salaries of full-time teaching staff at Canadian universities for 2023-2024.

9 a.m. Infection Prevention and Control Canada will hold a press conference in West Block to call for urgent investment needs to improve the country’s pandemic preparedness.

11 a.m. Fisheries Minister DIANE LEBOUTHILLIER is in Ottawa with plans to make a virtual announcement to promote the budget’s funding to repair and maintain small craft harbors.

11 a.m. The House national defense committee will hold its second meeting to discuss “space defense.”

11 a.m. The House justice committee will meet to take NDP MP PETER JULIAN’s Bill C-273 through clause-by-clause consideration.

11 a.m. The joint committee for the scrutiny of regulations will meet to review statutory instruments.

11 a.m. The House government operations and estimates committee will pick up on its study on federal consulting contracts awarded to McKinsey & Company; Procurement Ombudsman ALEXANDER JEGLIC is on the witness roster.

11 a.m. Auditor General KAREN HOGAN will be at the House Indigenous and northern affairs committee to discuss her report on housing in First Nations communities.

11 a.m. The House veterans affairs committee will meet to continue its study on civilian life transition.

11 a.m. Bill C-27 will be up for continued study at the House industry committee.

11:30 a.m. The Economic Club of Canada hosts an event at Ottawa’s Delta hotel about energy, investment and decarbonization featuring a keynote speech by CAPP President and CEO LISA BAITON and panel moderated by Compass Rose Group’s THEO ARGITIS.

3:30 p.m. Diversity, Inclusion and Persons with Disabilities Minister KAMAL KHERA will be at the first half of the House human resources committee’s study on Supplementary Estimates (C). Labor Minister SEAMUS O’REGAN will tap in for the second half to take MPs’ questions.

3:30 p.m. Representatives from the Canadian Automobile Association, Insurance Corporation of British Columbia and Halifax Port Authority President and CEO ALLAN GRAY will be at the House public safety committee to discuss Canada’s growing car theft problem.

3:30 p.m. The House foreign affairs committee will meet where Canada’s approach to Africa is being studied.

3:30 p.m. The House health committee will continue its study on Canada’s opioid epidemic and toxic drug crisis.

4 p.m. Employment Minister RANDY BOISSONNAULT heads across the river to make a budget-related housing announcement at the Hilton Lac-Leamy in Gatineau.

4 p.m. The ongoing conflict in the Middle East is up for discussion at the Senate national security committee where senators will hear from a stacked list of witnesses including from Global Affairs Canada director of Gulf states relations NEIL BRENNAN, and the department’s Israel, West Bank and Gaza director KARIM MORCOS, JANICE STEIN, BESSMA MOMANI, THOMAS JUNEAU and the Brookings Institution’s Center for Middle East Policy director NATAN SACHS.

5 p.m. The Senate official languages committee will meet to study minority-language health services.

5:30 p.m. The multiple sclerosis community is doing a three-day blitz in Ottawa for MS awareness month, holding a reception for parliamentarians in the speaker’s dining room, hosted by CAROL HUGHES.

Behind closed doors: The House official languages committee has “committee” business on its agenda; the House natural resources committee will meet to review its draft report on “Canada’s clean energy plans in the context of North American energy transformation.”

We’re tracking every major political event of 2024 on a mega-calendar. Send us events and download the calendar yourself for Google and other clients .

TRIVIA


Friday’s answer: “If one could imagine a snow storm of particles of fire instead of snow, it would give some idea of the intensity.” E.B. EDDY was referring to the Ottawa-Hull fire of 1900.

Props to JENN KEAY, ALEX COOL-FERGUS, MARCEL MARCOTTE, DOUG RICE, DARREN MAJOR, BOB GORDON, SCOTT LOHNES, LAURA JARVIS, MATT DELISLE, GORDON RANDALL, JIM CAMPBELL, PATRICK ST-JACQUES, ALASTAIR MULLIN, NATI PRESSMAN, CAMERON RYAN and ROBERT MCDOUGALL.

Today’s question: Who constructed the building that is the temporary home to the Canadian Senate?

Send your answer to [email protected]

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

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