The week doesn't end with a whimper Did someone forward you this newsletter? Sign up here to get it delivered weekday mornings. Ottawa's next high-stakes political showdown is set for later today (not to put too fine a point on it). Justin Trudeau's chief of staff, Katie Telford, will reportedly testify at the Commons defence committee that's studying the government's handling of a misconduct complaint aimed at then-chief of defence staff Jonathan Vance. Today's meeting is scheduled for 1 p.m. ET. You can watch the proceedings here. This week's sleeper story: The uncertain future of Enbridge's Line 5 pipeline, which runs through Michigan and feeds Canadian markets, has snuck up on much of Ottawa. But as a state-imposed deadline of May 12 to cease operations inches nearer, the true scope of the potential cross-border kerfuffle is taking shape. Michigan's tribal nations are siding with the state, as are key Democratic Party allies. Last night, an emergency debate on the matter consumed the Commons. Meanwhile, one of the most powerful Democrats, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, wants to see a comprehensive border reopening plan. Schumer represents the border state of New York, where a federal fact sheet says five million Canadian travellers spent $1.2 billion in 2017. You get an icebreaker! And you get an icebreaker! The federal shipbuilding program has spawned a fierce rivalry in Canada's three biggest shipyards. As global naval powers turn their attention to the Arctic, two of those yards—Vancouver's Seaspan and Quebec City's Davie—have lobbied hard to build the Coast Guard's next frozen water buster. Yesterday, they both won, and five ministers made the announcement. (When new jobs are in the offing, everyone wants their turn at the mic. None of them could pin a price tag on the project, which could deliver the first ship in 2030.) Climate action is going to create too many jobs: Mike Moffatt and John McNally of the Smart Prosperity Institute, writing in Maclean's, argue that Canada could soon have too much of a good thing. And the more ambitious the climate target we chase, the worse it gets—unless policymakers act soon. In fact, our aspirations are so great that we have a new problem. This level of climate action is going to create too many jobs. Two big bottlenecks stand in the way of Canada’s climate ambition: a shortage of skilled labour and a shortage of housing. If we do not immediately address these, we will fail to hit our environmental targets and miss an opportunity for sustained economic growth. 7,609,826: That's how many calls were fielded by the Canada Revenue Agency's phone lines in April 2020, as anxious Canadians navigated the income-starved early weeks of the pandemic. Figures tabled in the House of Commons show the total duration of calls, including time on hold, averaged 47 minutes and 39 seconds that month. That length dropped to 24 minutes in August before creeping back up to 47:41 in February. Border bandits: The Official Opposition is hunting for unflattering stats on quarantine enforcement. Tory MP Damien Kurek put a written question on the order paper that asked how many air travellers have been arrested and charged for violations of the Quarantine Act. Federal records show that four individuals have been arrested, and 10 have faced charges. Nobody has so far been charged with criminal offences committed at quarantine hotels—but the feds had doled out 943 fines as of April 27. Check out the full breakdown. The Big Reset: No, not the Great Reset of conspiracy-minded fame. This is the title of a report into the frightening fiscal future facing Newfoundland and Labrador. Last November, Premier Andrew Furey tasked an economic recovery team led by Moya Greene, the former head of both the Canadian and British postal services. Greene's panel warned the province's debt could balloon to the point that salaries go unpaid and hospitals go unfunded. They laid out a six-year plan that will stanch the bleeding "before the situation reaches a point of no return." A peek into our spies' world: Gary Vos Smith gave an extraordinary interview to Global News. This was no ordinary interview because Smith is an intelligence officer with CSIS who manages a few different teams. He was speaking out after his attempts to convince the agency to enforce mandatory masking were rebuffed, only to be instituted in the aftermath of a spate of COVID-19 outbreaks. "“We’re not the dome of immunity," he said. "We are just like everyone else." —Nick Taylor-Vaisey | 
