Trudeau doesn't answer what he isn't asked Did someone forward you this newsletter? Sign up here to get it delivered weekday mornings. Maybe there was something, just a morsel of truth, to those Tory gripes about Justin Trudeau covering up an investigation into Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin's conduct. Yesterday, the PM revealed that he learned of the Fortin complaint two weeks ago, though he said he "didn’t receive details of what is being alleged." Silence doesn't imply a coverup, but this is a handy reminder of the obvious: the amount the PMO knows and won't tell us could stun a team of oxen in its tracks. Meanwhile, the Globe and Mail reported that DND waited nearly two months to remove Fortin from his job overseeing Canada's vaccine rollout. The news that Trudeau wanted to make headlines was also in the government's vaccine bailiwick. Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne announced just shy of $200 million for Resilience Biotechnologies, a vaccine manufacturer with a facility in Mississauga, Ont. Resilience will be able to produce coveted mRNA vaccines and assorted other therapeutics. (Watch the presser jam-packed with news.) Constitution confrontation: Quebec's Bill 96 intends to reform the Constitution Act, 1867 by adding two clauses to the "provincial constitutions" section: first, that Quebec is a nation; and second, its only official language is French. Last week, a man who knows a thing or two about documents like this—Emmett Macfarlane—wrote that Quebec doesn't have that power. Yesterday, Trudeau said initial indications are that Quebec actually does. The PM's former right-hand man, Gerry Butts, quipped that reform surely implies broad acceptance from a province that famously never signed the foundational doc. A plea for reopening: As vaccinations continue to ramp up, 61 different business associations joined together to call on the feds for a "clear and predictable plan for a gradual and safe return to a more normal life." They say a pan-Canadian effort "would instill public confidence while demonstrating concern for the physical, mental and economic health of Canadians." Lap-flop: Sometimes, we all just need a laugh at the expense of our political leaders. Yesterday, a prime opportunity for a good civic chuckle revealed itself in a photo of the PM typing on a laptop adorned with an Apple logo. On closer inspection, the logo was a sticker and the inputs weren't right for a Mac. Trudeau was using an HP machine. The Toronto Sun skewered Trudeau for fakery and phoniness. The Liberal explanation: The infamous laptop belonged to an unnamed party apparatchik who'd offered it up for post-byelection virtual calls. Spare a moment for that red Red face. What if Rona Ambrose were leader? In the latest issue of Maclean's, Ottawa bureau chief Shannon Proudfoot gamed out some must-read speculative political fiction. In the Conservative leadership vacuum that followed Andrew Scheer's fall from grace, influential conservatives like Jason Kenney and Brad Wall openly pined for interim leader Ambrose to go for the gig. How would she have fared in a pandemic? Check out this praise from Jamie Ellerton, a longtime Conservative insider: “You can be constructive and holding the government to account and be a conservative partisan without your brand being that you’re angry and cross all the time. Having a more empathetic face and a more empathetic leader leading the opposition during this crisis is something that would have yielded benefits, both politically and to the country as a whole.” The federal funding no one follows: Yesterday, Ottawa pledged $1 million to the International Committee of the Red Cross for ongoing work in Nagorno-Karabakh, a contested region where Armenian and Azerbaijanian forces have clashed for decades. The Red Cross is helping to recover bodies of those killed in the fighting , and navigating battle fields strewn with unexploded ordinance. They also maintain contact between detainees and their families and trace missing people. The revolving door mayoralty: Way back in 1997, Ottawa mayor Jim Watson was, well, the mayor of Ottawa. At the time, Bob Chiarelli was the chair of the regional government. In 2000, Chiarelli was elected mayor of the amalgamated city and served until 2006. Watson returned to politics in 2003, and repped a suburban Nepean riding at Queen's Park until 2010. He resigned that year to run for mayor, and Chiarelli won the by-election that filled his vacancy. Watson might shoot for a fourth term in 2022, but he could be up against a familiar face. Chiarelli has his eyes on the same job —again. Cross-border vaccine freedom: Good news if you live near a border crossing and doses are plentiful on the other side. The feds now say Canadians who cross for inoculation can avoid quarantine back home under certain conditions. —Nick Taylor-Vaisey | 
