In the shadow of Meng, Trudeau pushes for that Security Council seat Did someone forward you this newsletter? Sign up here to get it delivered weekday mornings. If you're hoping to win a seat on the UN Security Council, sharing a stage—or at least a screen—with the UN secretary-general the month before the election is probably where you want to be. And there was Prime Minister Justin Trudeau yesterday, convening a press conference with António Guterres and Jamaican PM Andrew Holness. The order of the day was a "high-level event" on "financing solutions" related to COVID-19 on the world's most vulnerable countries. The PM's opening statement at the virtual conference was marred by technical difficulties—a trademark of the pandemic era—that prevented viewers from actually seeing him on screen for a few minutes. Mark Carney, the former head central banker in Canada and the U.K., made an appearance at the event in his capacity as special envoy on climate and private finance. (This afternoon, Trudeau continues his virtual tour with a meeting of the United Nations African Group.) That global meeting came on the heels of the Meng Wanzhou ruling that will almost certainly see China seek vengeance against Canada of some sort for refusing to intervene in extradition proceedings to free the Huawei CFO. Terry Glavin, writing in Maclean's, said Canada was warned not to cozy up to Huawei and Beijing—but now, as a belligerent government across the Pacific considers its options, years of playing nice could backfire horribly. An O'Toole kit for recovery: Hot off the heels of Peter MacKay's eight-point plan to save the economy, rival Erin O'Toole released his own nine-point plan yesterday. MacKay's plan distinctly lacks specifics on several of his points. The same can't be said for O'Toole, whose various planks read more like a detailed platform than a broad set of ideals. Compare and contrast, as but one example, their plans to save small biz (MacKay is here and O'Toole is here). Patty Hajdu goes on the record: If you missed this week's Maclean's Live conversation between Paul Wells and the federal health minister, watch a full replay of their candid chat about what it's like to govern amid a pandemic. Hajdu left her talking points at the door and opened up about her experience as a minister only months into her new portfolio when COVID-19 found its way to Canada. Memories are short in a minority Parliament. Recall that in March, the Bloc Québécois supported the Liberals during a parliamentary showdown with Conservatives and New Democrats on pandemic transparency. More recently, the Bloc panned the NDP and Liberal agreement to, in Yves-François Blanchet's words, would "shut down Parliament." Yesterday brought a new dynamic. All four opposition parties united to call on the Liberals to restore lapsed funding to non-profits that help women and girls who are "vulnerable to sexual exploitation and human trafficking"—the sort of violence that has actually increased during the pandemic. Is Jason Kenney secretly undermining the energy industry? That's the provocative, tongue-in-cheek question Max Fawcett asks about the Alberta premier. No, he doesn't believe in conspiracy theories. But he does wonder why Alberta seems to be shooting the industry in the foot at a time when the province needs to make more friends, not enemies. If Alberta wants to ensure that its investment in Keystone XL pays out, it should stop giving a potential Biden administration reasons to interfere with that. It should learn from the mistakes that Stephen Harper’s government made on this file, where Kenney had a front-row seat, and it should embrace the fact that peace is better than war, no matter how fond you might of the latter. It's a small world: The death of Capt. Jenn Casey, a Snowbirds public affairs officer whose Tutor jet crashed shortly after takeoff in Kamloops, B.C., prompted Maclean's to look into the Tutor's long history in Canada. The RCAF sent over a ream of articles about the jet's origin, one of which was written by Roy Dishlevoy, a member of Canadair's design team back in the 1950s. Dishlevoy's name was still in the phone book, but it was his wife, Shirley, who picked up the phone. She interrupted preliminary introductions to report that, sadly, Roy died several months ago of heart failure. But Shirley, 86, was happy to talk about Roy's time at Canadair and his penchant for perfectionism. When the family trimmed a Christmas tree, he'd end up angering everyone by spotting bare patches, drilling holes in the trunk and filling them with spare branches. She recalled their marriage in Eastview, Ont.—now Ottawa's Vanier neighbourhood—at a church only a 10-minute walk from where your newsletter correspondent is working from home. She mentioned that her daughter lives near the airport in Kamloops, where Casey's life came to its abrupt end. And she was well aware that the air base where Casey had intended to land was a short drive from the Dishlevoy home, where Roy lived his final days, in Comox, B.C. —Nick Taylor-Vaisey | 