The new memoir is out this fall Did someone forward you this newsletter? Sign up here to get it delivered weekday mornings. Jody Wilson-Raybould, the former justice minister who quit cabinet amidst the SNC-Lavalin affair and then won re-election as an independent MP, is publishing a new memoir. ‘Indian’ In The Cabinet: Speaking Truth To Power will be published on Oct. 12. The HarperCollins announcement notes JWR's time in cabinet started with optimism, but "shifted to struggles over inclusivity and concerns about the adherence to core principles of our democracy." A Tory statement yesterday claimed the Liberals fabricated a "nearly $30 million" investment in Nova Scotia's famous garment manufacturer, Stanfield's. Procurement Minister Anita Anand insisted on Tuesday that Stanfield's Truro plant received a $27.9-million investment. Tory MP Chris d'Entremont retorted that "not a cent" of investment went to the company. What's the discrepancy here? The word invest, which governments routinely conflate with spend. The feds purchased PPE from Stanfield's, but never invested in the plant's retooling—and, in fact, rejected the company's application for just that purpose. The source of that claim is none other than Jon Stanfield, the president and CEO. The line of the day from a Tory operative: "If I buy bread from Loblaws, am I investing in Loblaws?" (The unspoken punchline: In 2019, the Liberals did invest $12 million in energy-efficient fridges at Loblaws.) The Conservatives aren't alone in unleashing zingers. Yesterday, when Tory MP Pierre Poilievre asked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to show some contrition on his pandemic management, the PM shot back: "I can understand the frustration of the member opposite, being amongst the many Canadians who lost their jobs during this pandemic." Poilievre was recently shifted from the finance critic portfolio to jobs and industry, a demotion in the eyes of the chattering classes. Watch the full exchange. CBC News posted an evergreen headline yesterday: "Federal government vows again to end boil water advisories but offers no new target date." Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller re-pledged clean drinking water for every Indigenous person in Canada, and launched a new website to track progress. Quipped the Tories: "A website is not a strategy, nor a solution." StatsCan dropped a massive year-in-review analysis of the pandemic's impact on Canada. Some key findings: Last July, 58 per cent of Canadians were "very likely" to seek out a vaccine. By September, that number had dropped to 48 per cent. Seventy-seven per cent of Black Canadians were "not very likely" to get a vaccine. StatsCan also found that extended pauses in cancer screenings could increase total deaths from that disease. And the agency found that B.C. had the strongest economic recovery outside the Atlantic bubble, while Alberta was the hardest hit in the country. Dhananjai Kohli is running for president of the federal New Democrats. Kohli, a staff rep at the United Steelworkers union and party organizer in Ontario, pitched the NDP as "the political home for a multi-racial working-class movement today and for the next generation of activists." He positioned himself as an anti-establishment candidate: "Some people may want a president with experience going on cable TV power panels to argue with talking heads from other parties," he tweeted. "All power to them, but if that’s what you want, go elsewhere." Corey Hurren, the former military reservist who broke through the gates on the grounds of Rideau Hall, was sentenced yesterday to six years in prison, less a year served. His lawyer had sought a three-year sentence. Angus Reid's latest poll on premier popularity shows a little bit of movement. British Columbia's John Horgan and Quebec's François Legault remain at the top. Ontario's Doug Ford continues to slide, falling from a June 2020 high of 69 per cent to 50 per cent—still far above his pre-pandemic score. The newest preem on the block, Nova Scotia's Iain Rankin, starts at the bottom of the pack. But his province barely even knows him yet. Ken Dryden, the six-time Stanley Cup champion who went on to serve as a Liberal cabinet minister, flexed his rolodex yesterday. Dryden doesn't spend his time on Twitter (last tweet: a decade ago, just before he lost his seat), but he circulated a photo to a select group of friends who could amplify it: an old hockey mask wearing a mask. Those chums included political insider Gerry Butts, hockey broadcaster Gord Miller, economist Armine Yalnizyan, Ontario Lieutenant-Governor Elizabeth Dowdeswell, literary giant Margaret Atwood, and even his alma mater, Cornell University. We all need this: The Canadian Coast Guard observed an early-spring phenomenon out on the East Coast: ice pancakes. —Nick Taylor-Vaisey | 
