Tonight’s Evening Brief is brought to you by University of Victoria.

Good evening to you.

So, it’s official. Mad Max and the Peeps is a thing. Well, perhaps only for us. However, on more official fronts, Maxime Bernier has formally registered his new People’s Party of Canada with Elections Canada. After dropping off the paperwork in Gatineau, Que., he wasted no time today making a connection between his political startup and the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ), which just won the provincial election in la belle province. He pointed to the CAQ as proof that new parties can eventually come to power. And there was more. “The CAQ advocates for fewer immigrants, and I do the same,” he told iPolitics. Boris Proulx was there.

With the clock ticking down to legalization on Oct. 17, the campaign to grant amnesty to people convicted of simple pot possession has two new backroom strategists on its side. Senior advisers to the Liberal and Conservative parties — cannabis lobbyists Melissa Lantsman and Omar Khan — are joining the advisory board of the Campaign for Cannabis Amnesty to help shape the strategy the group uses to convince Ottawa to expunge criminal records from pot possession. NDP MP Murray Rankin has already brought the campaign to Parliament Hill, with a private member’s bill tabled last week, which, if passed would allow people convicted of simple possession to apply to the Parole Board of Canada to have their records expunged. The Trudeau government has not endorsed the bill, but says it will consider the matter after Bill C-45, the Cannabis Act, becomes law next week. More from Marieke Walsh.

Meanwhile, at least one Liberal MP is foggy on whether he can smoke pot and head to work. While announcing $4.1 million for legal cannabis-awareness campaigns, John Oliver, the parliamentary secretary to the health minister, said he doesn’t actually know what rules for cannabis consumption he’ll have to follow. He also told reporters today he doesn’t know what Parliament’s rules will be for consuming weed once it’s legal next Wednesday. Walsh has that story, as well.

If you’re after a good deal once legalization comes down the pipe, bargain hunters might want to look next door to Quebec. Montreal and Quebec City have the lowest average price among 10 metropolitan areas from the Atlantic to British Columbia, according to a crowdsourced estimate of marijuana retail prices from Statistics Canada. Tim Naumetz reports.

Meanwhile, the Conservatives are up in arms over comments by Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould this weekend on Global News’ West Block, when she said pot-impaired driving charges will be considered “on a case-by-case basis.”

Next door, the looming legalization is being watched closely. The Associated Press spoke with Hannah Hetzer, who tracks international marijuana policy for the New York-based Drug Policy Alliance. She called Canada’s move “extremely significant,” given that about 25 countries have already legalized the medical use of marijuana or decriminalized possession of small amounts of the drug. “It’s going to change the global debate on drug policy,” she said. “There’s no other country immediately considering legalizing the non-medical use of cannabis, but I think Canada will provide almost the permission for other countries to move forward.” AP reports.

Meanwhile, at the border, a group of lawyers isn’t ruling out legal action to stop an “unlawful” Canada Border Services Agency project in its tracks. In 2017, CBSA started a pilot project to control the practice of “flagpoling,” whereby migrants can renew their Canadian work permits, or receive their permanent citizenship, by leaving Canada at a border crossing with the U.S. and immediately re-entering. However, it doesn’t allow flagpoling migrants to present their cases to border officers from Friday to Monday. The Canadian Bar Association (CBA) says the government should give migrants access to landing interviews in person or by phone within a week of being issued a permanent visa, and should launch a public education campaign about peak application times at border crossings. The CBA has urged Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale to stop the pilot, but it’s ongoing. Calling the project “unlawful,” Barbara Jo Caruso, the CBA’s immediate past chair, said the agency is “refusing to do work they are authorized to do.” Anna Desmarais has that story.

Canadian fruit and vegetable growers fear that a new policy requiring foreign workers to provide their fingerprints to immigration officials will only worsen existing labour shortages. Starting Dec. 31, all foreign nationals who apply for a study, work or visitor visa to Canada from Europe, Asia, the Americas and the Asia Pacific will have to supply biometrics, including fingerprints and photos. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada has said the new policy is designed to ensure a more efficient and secure immigration screening process. Kelsey Johnson reports.

Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland had an unlikely dinner guest at her Toronto home last night. As CBC News reports, after more than a year of battling it out over a new NAFTA, which didn’t come without bickering and a blunt word or two, she broke bread with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to celebrate the new deal. And there’s a good chance it involved maple candies. Katie Simpson has this look at how their relationship evolved.

Still with trade, a new report is recommending Canada expand its trading relationship with China, sector by sector, rather than seeking a sweeping free-trade deal that could risk angering the United States. The Public Policy Forum paper, to be released officially tomorrow, lays out a suggested blueprint for Canadian policymakers at a time when Ottawa has struggled to deepen business ties with the Asian superpower. That story from the Canadian Press.

Canada’s privacy watchdog is asking a judge to clarify whether the law requires Google to remove web pages from its search-engine results. Privacy Commissioner Daniel Therrien argues the federal law covering private-sector handling of personal information includes a right to de-indexing in certain cases, which entails removing links from search results without deleting the content itself. That story from the Canadian Press. In New Brunswick, Premier Brian Gallant will convene a new session of the legislature on Oct. 23, but he’s been unable to come to a formal agreement with the Green party in his bid to stay in power. Green Leader David Coon says after days of discussions with the Liberals and Tories, it became clear the conditions for a formal agreement were not present. CP reports.

In The Sprout: Tough harvest continues on the Prairies

In The Drilldown: First Nation evacuated after gas pipeline bursts, catches fire

In Other Headlines:

Ontario to allow Sikhs to ride motorcycles without helmets (CP)

Canada’s goals well below what’s needed to stop catastrophic climate change (CP)

NDP urges Liberals to meet new UN emissions targets (iPolitics)

Jean to vie for Francophonie post despite Canada, Quebec pulling support (CP)

Owner of trucking company involved in Humboldt Broncos crash charged (CP)

Internationally:

“Who drew it?” As if it’s some kind of etch-a-sketch.

That was U.S. President Donald Trump’s reply when asked this morning about the report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The panel that “drew” it is made up of leading scientists from around the world — 91 scientists from 40 countries, if you’re counting — which was created to make recommendations to world leaders on the issue of climate change. Earlier this week, having drawn on 6,000 studies, it released a report that warned of environmental catastrophe if the world stays the course in its efforts to combat climate change. Not only has Trump not read the report, as the Washington Post noted, it didn’t even sound like he’d ever heard of the panel. It’s a lot to keep track of when you’re consumed with “beautiful, clean coal.”

As it didn’t include interviews with Brett Kavanaugh, his accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, or other potential witnesses, the FBI’s background investigation into the Supreme Court Justice was limited in scope, which followed precedent for similar investigations, director Christopher Wray said today. He made the remark when asked by Sen. Kamala Harris during a Senate hearing whether his agency was given full discretion “to investigate whatever your agency thought was appropriate to figure out what happened.”

“Our investigation here, our supplemental update to the previous background investigation, was limited in scope, and that is consistent with the standard process for such investigations going back quite a long ways,” Wray said. The Hill has more.

“They’ve got a lot of explaining to do.” That’s the word on Saudi Arabia from Sen. Bob Corker. After reviewing U.S. intelligence last night and this morning, “everything” indicates the kingdom is involved in the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Corker said. Asked if that intelligence proves Turkey’s claims, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said, “Everything right now points to Saudi Arabia.”

Trump said today he’s spoken with the “highest-level” Saudi officials about the disappearance, but didn’t say much else, other than, “We’ll get to the bottom of it.” Word is that yesterday, national security adviser John Bolton and Jared Kushner phoned Kushner’s good buddy, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, to try to get information.

Meanwhile, on the Russian front, special counsel Robert Mueller landed his longest sentence yet today. As Politico reports, that honour goes to a California man, who received six months in prison and six months of home confinement after pleading guilty to a felony identity-fraud charge tied to Russian troll activity that rocked the 2016 presidential campaign.

And then there’s Stephen Miller. It’s only been a few months since his uncle called him an “immigration hypocrite” in an op-ed, but now his third-grade teacher is up at bat. In a short piece published this morning, Nikki Fiske told the Hollywood Reporter that Trump’s political adviser used to be a “loner” who ate glue in elementary school. This could explain a lot, no?

In Featured Opinion:

L. Ian MacDonald: So much time, so much to discuss for Trudeau and Legault

Noteworthy:

And from the “some things never change” file, we give you the Canadian Club of Toronto, which has made clear in ALL CAPS that the media are not invited to Stephen Harper’s talk on Thursday — despite earlier inviting reporters along to hear the former prime minister muse about his new book. This could also be filed under “this is getting pretty old/pathetic,” no?

“The shift is hard”: An exclusive look at the disquieting new political reality for Kathleen Wynne and Ontario’s defeated Liberals (National Observer)

Finally:

So … that’s a hard “no” to squirrels on a plane?

We’re not sure we’re on board with that, but the folks at Frontier Airlines seem pretty firm.

On that note, have a safe commute and a good night.