An inside look at what went wrong Did someone forward you this newsletter? Sign up here to get it delivered weekday mornings. New Democrats circulated a scathing internal audit of the Public Health Agency of Canada's handling of the pandemic response. The September 2020 "lessons learned" audit, disclosed to MPs as part of a massive document request and first reported on by the Globe and Mail, praised the "quick mobilization" of PHAC staff in the early days and effective partnership-building with provinces and territories. But then there's the bad news. Lots of it. From the beginning, the agency "did not have the breadth and depth of human resources required to support an emergency response of this never-seen-before magnitude." And senior managers noted "limited public health expertise, including epidemiologists, psychologists, behavioural scientists and physicians at senior levels." PHAC was also "missing sufficient skills and capacity regarding risk communications," read the audit, "specifically communicating uncertainty." Auditors also said that Dr. Theresa Tam, the chief public health officer, was sometimes poorly prepared by officials. "The senior medical expertise needed to support her navigating the rapidly changing science of this new virus was slow to be put in place, and most likely is still insufficient to provide the support required." The audit says Tam was "well known" to be working up to 20 hours a day without a day off. The House of Commons is back. Early yesterday, MPs unanimously agreed to a lengthy motion—read all 10 pages—that set the terms of a hybrid sitting format. They cautiously approved a remote voting app months in the making—though they'll keep voting the old way until everyone on all sides of the chamber is confident in the app's integrity. (One key measure: MP's snap a selfie as they vote to confirm their identity matches their official portrait.) Erin O'Toole kicked off the new parliamentary year with a morning press conference—watch all 23 minutes—that foreshadowed the Tory priorities du jour. O'Toole, who spoke with Pfizer's CEO late last week, says the Liberal government is failing on vaccine procurement. He also took shots at Justin Trudeau for improperly vetting former GG Julie Payette and not lobbying hard enough for the Keystone XL pipeline. Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland kicked off the new year with two magic words in Ottawa: pre-budget consultations. The feds launched a questionnaire and asked for formal submissions from, it seems, anyone who has one. Lobbyists are sharpening their pitches. Bureaucrats are submitting wish lists. The opposition is plotting strategy. Set up a Google alert today and watch the budget season hits roll in. U.S. President Joe Biden rolled out new "Buy American" procurement rules in an executive action directed at U.S. government agencies. A pair of confidential sources told the Globe and Mail the new rules wouldn't come into force immediately and apply broad requirements—"giving Ottawa time to lobby for exemptions that would protect Canadian business interests." Last week, Trudeau and Biden agreed on their first phone call to "avoid measures that may constrain bilateral trade, supply chains, and economic growth." The Canadian Chamber of Commerce warned that "a lack of Canada-specific targeting does not equate to a Canadian exemption." Liberal MP Ramesh Sangha is no longer a Liberal MP. The party booted Sangha from the caucus for making "baseless and dangerous accusations against a number of his caucus colleagues." A few days ago, Sangha accused former Liberal cabinet minister Navdeep Bains of extremism—and offered no evidence. The now-independent MP has a history of falsely claiming his own (former) party panders to Sikh extremists. Lynn Beyak is a senator no longer. On the eighth anniversary of her appointment by Stephen Harper, the perennially controversial denizen of the Red Chamber said she'd always believed in a term limit of exactly this length. Beyak stood by statements about residential schools—defending the "good" in some of them—that saw her booted from the Tory caucus. A final parliamentary note of the day: The Commons passed a unanimous motion supporting the designation of the Proud Boys as a terrorist entity in Canada. The feds haven't moved to actually make that happen, but some academics warned it could set a dangerous precedent. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police asked the pollsters at EKOS to conduct an annual survey on Canadians' opinions of the Mounties. The stats-heavy final report was recently published online. EKOS reported "generally positive and stable" reviews. There was good news: 87 per cent "would help the RCMP if asked." Then there was the bad. Only half of respondents say the RCMP "provides the same quality of service to all citizens." Fewer than half think the Mounties treat women fairly, are "respectful to the cultural needs" of Indigenous people and are "sensitive to the needs" of LGBQ people. The Parliamentary Budget Office took a close look at Conservative MP Marty Morantz's private member's bill, C-256, which would take the capital gains tax off real estate proceeds donated to charity. The PBO pegged the cost to Ottawa's bottom line at $777.5 million over five years. But analyst Katarina Michalyshyn also found that "behavioural effects" of the new policy would spur $981 million in new donations. In the late 1930s, a couple of brothers—Hans and Lars Fredricksen, seen here standing over a cougar—are said to have introduced mink and raccoon to the Scott Islands archipelago just off the northwest tip of Vancouver Island. Those invasive predators didn't waste time and eventually decimated bird populations on Cox and Lanz islands. The archipelago's other islands are still home to a massive concentration of breeding seabirds . Now, the feds are hoping to rid the area of those pesky mink and raccoon so birds can reclaim their lost lands. Happy birthday, Wayne Gretzky! The Great One turns 60 today, and dominion carillonneur Andrea McCrady is serenading the hockey legend with a 20-minute lunchtime set. She kicks off the ode to greatness with Gordon Lightfoot's "Alberta Bound", a tribute to Gretzky's record-setting era in Edmonton. "Los Angeles, I'm Yours" evidently didn't make the cut, nor did "Meet Me In St. Louis" and "Empire State of Mind". Alas, McCrady caps her set with Stompin' Tom's toe-tapper. —Nick Taylor-Vaisey | 
