Merry voting day to Saskatchewan and (some people in) Toronto Did someone forward you this newsletter? Sign up here to get it delivered weekday mornings. The big weekend news came out of British Columbia, where NDP Premier John Horgan's early election gamble paid off. Following a relatively scandal-free tenure and strong COVID response, Horgan's government was rewarded with a majority. Marie-Danielle Smith covered the victory for Maclean's, offering five key takeaways: Even if voters are annoyed—or infuriated—by the prospect of voting during a national and international crisis, they don’t seem to be punishing their leaders for it. So, although we grant that federal politics is a different ball game, don’t doubt that Liberals in Ottawa have noticed the trend. It does go some way to explaining why Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was willing to stick his neck out and risk an election last week over the parameters of a committee he didn’t like. Despite all signs pointing to an NDP majority, hundreds of thousands of mail-in ballots had yet to be counted as of Saturday night. (You can see the complete live results here.) Those still-uncounted ballots offered a glimmer of hope, for whatever reason, to B.C. Liberal Leader Andrew Wilkinson, who by many accounts dragged his party into the purgatory in which they now find themselves mired. He did not exactly concede the election on Saturday night, though his resignation must be inevitable. This sore-loser reaction has been noted in contrast to other BC Liberals, who, onlookers noticed, accepted defeat with more traditional grace. It's always Election Day somewhere. Enough about the weekend election—how about one happening right now? Saskatchewanians are heading to the polls today to choose between the ruling Saskatchewan Party and the opposition NDP. Because a few of his candidates are self-isolating for 14 days, Premier Scott Moe hit the trails on their behalf this weekend to pitch his party in the final hours of the race, while NDP Leader Ryan Meili toured province's rural constituencies in hopes of picking up a few new seats. Nobody is expecting Moe to lose (what provincial government isn't getting a majority out of this pandemic?), but based on the sparse polling available, his party may well shed a few seats to the NDP. But wait, even more elections! Toronto will host two byelections today, in traditionally Liberal strongholds of Toronto Centre and York Centre. The newly minted federal Green leader Annamie Paul is running in Toronto Centre against CTV anchor-turned-Liberal candidate Marci Ien, who this weekend raked in endorsements from Toronto Raptors president Masai Ujiri, former Toronto mayor and retired Senator Art Eggleton and a slew of community leaders. Ya’ara Saks , the Liberal candidate in York Centre, also garnered a bunch of local endorsements, including Eggleton (again), who was the Liberal MP there from 1993 to 2004. Of course, who knows how much people really care about endorsements? If new Liberals fill the seats of popular old Liberals, no one will be surprised. House affairs. A few bills are back in the House of Commons. The biggest is the Liberals' proposed ban on conversion therapy, which begins its second reading today. The NDP and Bloc will support it, while Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole will make it a free vote for his caucus, fulfilling a promise he made to socially conservative supporters during his leadership campaign. A bevy of belated backbencher bills will also kick off this week, starting with one by Conservative MP Len Webber, who is proposing a national organ and tissue donor registry to be organized by the Canada Revenue Agency. Elsewhere on the Hill, the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans will meet this afternoon to discuss a solution to the ongoing conflict between Mi'kmaq and commercial fishers in Nova Scotia. In a couple of back-to-back meetings, they're hearing from two Indigenous chiefs and two representatives from commercial fishing organizations. In a massive deal, Cenovus Energy announced yesterday it will purchase Husky Energy for $3.8 billion, boosting Cenovus to the third-biggest oil and gas producer in the country. The Financial Post reports that some kind of merger has been in the works for years, but once the pandemic hit, discussions firmed up immediately. The news comes a week after American giant ConocoPhillips announced its purchase of Concho Resources, signalling that the only way these fossil fuel mega-corps are going to ride out a global pandemic with flatlining oil prices is to consolidate and cut costs. That's a big "if". Appearing on CTV's Question Period yesterday, Health Minister Patty Hajdu addressed the pandemic with a half-hearted condemnation of China: "If China wasn't honest, then they need to be held to account." Of course, it's been well reported that China has not been honest, as multiple outlets have reported . Throughout this whole pandemic, however, Hajdu has repeatedly defended China, presumably less out of sincerity than diplomatic courtesy (and to avoid any more Canadians getting detained). Hajdu's bad weekend continued Sunday evening, when an Alberta government staffer caught her not wearing a mask at Toronto's Pearson airport. "I don’t like wearing masks in indoor spaces either," the staffer quipped on Twitter. "But please don’t undermine PHAC’s efforts to reduce the spread of COVID. We all have to do our part. Please set a better example for Canadians." Hajdu, who was in fact seated at a restaurant lounge at the time of the gotcha photo (though conspicuously sans food), responded an hour later : "Following public health rules is important to me. I wear my mask at all times at Toronto Pearson, and only take it off to eat or drink, as allowed." Cue the partisan trolls from both sides. The Canadian Chamber of Commerce kicks off its two-day annual general meeting. Trudeau, O'Toole and Ontario Premier Doug Ford will all be speaking today. The main subject for all of them, as well as every scheduled talk, will no doubt be economic recovery and bearing the second wave. The PM also has a few more phone calls set up today, including a timely one with Canadian consuls in the United States and Ambassador Kirsten Hillman. Hillman, a non-partisan public servant and international trade expert, was appointed to the post in March. With the U.S. election just a week away, Canada needs a gameplan for a worst-case scenario of inconclusive results or, as Donald Trump has vaguely alluded to, no peaceful transition of power. Take me to church. Speaking of American instability, political conspiracy theories about deep-state secrets, espoused by followers of QAnon, have officially seeped into Canadian church life. John van Sloten, a pastor in Calgary, was surprised to find how many anti-mask conspiracy theorists aggressively pushed back against a pro-mask column he wrote for his local newspaper. As CBC News reports, a few big American conspiracies were actually sparked by Canadian believers. Very nice! The new Borat film dropped on Amazon Prime this weekend, but watch out: it comes with a content advisory warning of "sexuality, foul language, nudity [and] blackface." No, Borat does not personally don blackface (even Sacha Baron Cohen wouldn't go that far), but a familiar photo of a certain Canadian prime minister makes an appearance a few minutes into the political mockumentary. This newsletter writer respects the craft of comedy too much to spoil the joke, but it's a good jab—and if you don't plan on watching it, the folks at VICE have described the gag for you. —Michael Fraiman | 
