The NDP can keep the Liberals in power for as long as they like Did someone forward you this newsletter? Sign up here to get it delivered weekday mornings. The big news of the weekend: NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh confirmed his party will support the Liberal government's throne speech, as long as CERB-like benefits and expanded sick leave are implemented. Because these seemed like things the Liberals kinda wanted to do anyway, the agreement came together fairly quickly. Singh even told HuffPost Canada's politics podcast he could see the NDP supporting a Liberal government for the next three years , as long as the Dippers keep getting what they want. The Tories, meanwhile, are prepping for an inevitable election, whenever that is: on Sunday, they finalized the rules for their 217 unheld riding elections. After all, spring isn't too far away. But while Canadians avoided a fall election, Americans only intensified theirs. The New York Times published a bombshell investigation into the infamous tax returns of President Donald Trump; turns out he paid $750 in federal income taxes the year he won the election. Plus, last weekend's passing of Ruth Bader Ginsberg opened up a spot on the U.S. Supreme Court that Trump hopes will be filled by Amy Coney Barrett, a relatively young conservative judge with a history of pro-life rulings who some say has been "groomed for this moment ." A brief Canadian connection sprung up Saturday after a Catholic group Coney Barrett is connected to, called People of Praise, was mistaken for another group, People of Hope, which allegedly inspired Margaret Atwood when writing The Handmaid's Tale. To be clear, the Hopers are fundamentalists who arrange teenage marriages and call women "handmaids"; the Praisers, while strictly patriarchal, do not. For Maclean's, Marie-Danielle Smith interviewed former Canadian Supreme Court justice Claire L’Heureux-Dubé, now 93, about her friendship with the late RBG. Read the full interview here, which is filled with fond stories and insight into the lives of judges. The thing I had with Ginsburg—we were both dissenters. I dissented in Canada v. Mossap (a case that dismissed a gay man’s right to recognize his partner as immediate family) and 10 years later the court upheld gay marriage. That’s what I told Ginsburg, that I thought her dissents would become the law. In my case, my dissents mostly became the law in 10 years, 20 years. She said she was hoping for that, but she didn’t believe that would happen. Security measures. After a man followed both Jagmeet Singh and Radio-Canada reporter Daniel Thibeault around Parliament Hill last week, threatening to perform a citizen's arrest on both of them, the Parliamentary Protective Service announced they have "increased its presence and visibility around the precinct." What does that mean, exactly? The PPS won't say. Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson said the event "deeply concerned" him, and will be raised at a Police Services board meeting today. Will any concrete action come from all this? Will this self-appointed citizen patrolman finally make an actual arrest? Who knows! Tax haven. Buried in last week's throne speech was a single quiet line about the government creating a free, automatic tax-filing system to help those who don't file taxes receive government benefits. It's not legally required to file taxes if you don't owe the government any money—a full 12 per cent of working-age adults don't file—but that also means people are missing out on government programs they qualify for, like the Canada Child Benefit. But worry not, lovers of SimpleTax; this isn't a government-subsidized competitor company, as it really only performs straightforward returns. Make it count. If the federal government is serious about investing in infrastructure as an economic stimulus, it would do well to heed the words of Christopher Ragan, the director of the Max Bell School of Public Policy. Ragan writes in Maclean's that infrastructure projects should not be treated as a short-term economic stimulus, but as long-term investments. Think medical centres, port facilities and expanded electricity grids, as opposed to a spending spree to make the government look good. Read his full essay here. One such project that would fit the bill: the Atlantic Loop, a joint effort to get hydroelectricity from Quebec and Labrador to the rest of the coal-reliant Atlantic provinces. Trudeau mentioned the project in his throne speech, and a senior Liberal source tells CBC News it's the government's "top regional priority". Comparing apples to... slightly more bruised apples. New COVID-19 modelling from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation in Washington State predicts Canada's coronavirus deaths could spike from just over 9,000 (where we are today) to 16,000 by the end of the year. However, it notes that by implementing strict social-distance policies, we could bring that number down closer to 12,000. But critics point out that Canada, in fact, is not the United States. Dionne Aleman, an associate professor at the University of Toronto who specializes in these sorts of models, tells CTV News the American model doesn't account for our country's striking regional differences, nor the fact that vulnerable Canadians are currently taking greater precautions than are vulnerable Americans. The making of a ghost town. Lovers of silly geographic borders should be familiar with Point Roberts, the sliver of American peninsula just south of Vancouver, which shares its only land border with Canada. The town economy relies on thousands of Canadian tourists and during its peak season—visitors who are now, thanks to the border closure, barred from entering, even if they wanted to. More than 80 per cent of its businesses have shuttered, and most residents have fled to find work elsewhere. According to Brian Calder , director of the Point Roberts Chamber of Commerce, "If there is a light at the end of the tunnel, it's like a coal train coming at you. It ain't pretty at all." —Michael Fraiman | 
