Honestly, we're running low on CERB puns Did someone forward you this newsletter? Sign up here to get it delivered weekday mornings. Out of CERB-ice: When federal bureaucrats were rushing emergency aid out the door, they didn't spend a lot of time discouraging Canadians from applying for the $2,000-a-month CERB. In those days, lo those only several weeks ago, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urged the country to act in good faith. This week, the Globe and Mail got its hands on a draft bill—days before it was tabled in the Commons—that revealed plans to root out fraud among the masses. The bill reportedly includes prison time for offenders who tried to trick the system. Yesterday, Jagmeet Singh's NDP, which saw the bill over the weekend, said it would oppose legislation that disproportionately punishes people who were hit hardest by the pandemic. When Trudeau announced some of the bill's details in his daily press conference, he made no mention of fraud—which the government has consistently downplayed after a National Post report on up to 200,000 potentially fraudulent claims. And he said the taxman won't hound taxpayers who made "honest mistakes." The Conservatives, who have accused the Liberals of "ignoring" alleged fraud, might have a hard time opposing the bill—though they may laugh all the way to royal assent. We'll find out today when the House talks it all over. The rising popularity of Doug Ford: A new Mainstreet poll, commissioned by Phillipe J. Fournier's 338Canada, has good news for Ontario's premier. Ford's Progressive Conservatives sit at 42 per cent, up nine points over the firm's last poll in March. The Liberals are 14 points back, and the official opposition NDP is five points further. The premier's own approval rating is +14—half of respondents approve of him, while just over one-third disapprove. Fournier's analysis comes with a mega-caveat: Several prominent incumbent leaders in Canada have seen their numbers rise since the pandemic began. Justin Trudeau, François Legault and John Horgan, to name a few, have all improved their standings of late, and we can now add Doug Ford to this list. How long these positive numbers will last is another question, however, especially if the pandemic regains ground during the summer and into the fall. A smaller Liberal caucus: The governing party is down an MP after CBC News and Global News revealed that Marwan Tabbara, who represents Guelph, Ont., was arrested in April and was charged with two counts of assault, one count of "break and enter and commit an indictable offence" and one count of criminal harassment. Yesterday, the PM said he only learned of Tabbara's, er, secret last Friday. Tabbara has said he's seeking counselling for anxiety and depression. Courtzoom drama: The Supreme Court marked a milestone yesterday with its first-ever fully virtual hearing. Marvel at yet another venerable institution resorting to split-screen Zoom calls. Let history show that Owners, Strata Plan LMS 3905 v. Crystal Square Parking Corporation, a contract dispute in Burnaby, B.C., will live forever for at least this one reason. What's another $5.9 billion? The Parliamentary Budget Office added an estimated cost of the federal emergency student benefit to its long list of pandemic spending costings. The PBO's best guess is that 1.1 million students will receive that money. A rare partnership: Anyone who's watched Canada's most recent flurry of shipbuilding can likely identify Irving, Seaspan and Davie as big shipyards that fight over the right to build big ships. Now, Seaspan is teaming up with the much smaller Heddle Shipyards to bid on a multi-billion dollar polar icebreaker contract. Heddle is an outspoken critic of a federal decision to allow Davie to build several smaller icebreakers. The yard now operated by Heddle, near the Welland Canal's first lock, once built another icebreaker— CCGS Des Groseilliers , which will map the Arctic seabed this summer—back in 1982. Eight years ago, the yard refitted HMCS Athabaskan, then a 39-year-old destroyer in its last years on the water. Flags of the world: See if you can recognize the flag—just ignore that link's URL—of the country whose president got on a call with Justin Trudeau yesterday. The banner's light blue field is split by a black stripe trimmed with twin white stripes. Next clue: the country lies in sub-Saharan Africa. Final clue: Canada's imports in 2018 totalled a mere $600,000, mostly diamonds and textiles . If you guessed Botswana, you must work at Global Affairs. Mokgweetsi Masisi is the latest world leader to hear from Trudeau as the PM courts support for Canada's UN Security Council bid. A spokesperson confirmed to Maclean's that the big vote is set for a week today: June 17. —Nick Taylor-Vaisey | 
