Scheer calls for Morneau to step down — Trudeau China-bound for bilateral trade talks — Beware the laxative of the sea — Indigenous leaders disappointed in Trudeau Supreme Court appointment — U.S. calls on nations to cut all ties with N. Korea — Trump in Twitter spat with U.K. PM



Today’s Morning Brief is brought to you by Canada’s Combat Ship Team. Lockheed Martin Canada is leading a team of BAE Systems, CAE, L3 Technologies, MDA and Ultra Electronics to deliver the Royal Canadian Navy’s future fleet of surface combatants.

A good Thursday morning to you. It’s Cities for Life Day, which is a worldwide movement to end the use of the death penalty.

The opposition Conservatives are calling for the political death penalty for embattled finance minister Bill Morneau, whose brash dare for critic Pierre Poilievre to “step outside” just shone the Klieg lights ever brighter on accusations of improprieties. Conservative leader Andrew Scheer, having bided his time since the summer, called on Morneau to do an honourable thing and resign, but added that PM Justin Trudeau should be prepared to put his minister out of his misery, if need be. Neither Morneau nor Trudeau have public appearances scheduled for today, which is only going to further fan speculation that Morneau is holed up rather than answering questions.

As the crisis with his top minister rolls on, Trudeau heads to China this weekend in a secretive visit to jumpstart bilateral trade talks. The trip comes just as Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne returns from a 10-day “Team Ontario” trade mission that took her and her delegation to big cities and manufacturing hubs throughout the country. Even International Trade Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne is pushing “opportunities in the Asia-Pacific region” in a speech to the Toronto Region Board of Trade today. It all has former envoy David Mulroney wondering whether the federal government needs to be warning Canadians that doing business with the Chinese can be quite perilous.

Also perilous, it turns out, is ordering fish in Ottawa. Indeed, it’s not uncommon to order tuna and end up with “the laxative of the sea.” The group Oceana Canada is calling on the federal government to start tracking seafood from the boat to the plate after finding that more than half of the seafood samples tested in Ottawa — 45 out of 98 — were mislabelled, and that escolar — a fish known for its indigestible waxy oils — is frequently substituted for white tuna and butterfish.

There was nothing fishy about Trudeau’s appointment of Sheilah Martin to the Supreme Court yesterday, but it was a slap in the face to Indigenous peoples, who voiced their dismay. After earlier failing to appoint an Indigenous judge to the SCOC last year (appointing Malcolm Rowe instead) and then passing over Marie Wilson for the Governor General’s role, many assumed Trudeau would use the retirement of Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin to make a strong legal statement on Indigenous peoples. While Justice Martin is widely considered an excellent judge, “the fact they passed on (appointing an Indigenous judge) is pretty disheartening … because if not now, when?” Merle Alexander, a Vancouver-based lawyer with Gowling WLG. Brooks Arcand-Paul, treasurer of the Indigenous Bar Association, said: “We’re deeply disappointed in the decision. Being a prime minister who’s affirmed that no relationship is more important to Canada than the relationship with Indigenous people and then not nominating an Indigenous jurist reflects a lot on where he places this relationship.”

They say practice makes perfect, but let’s hope we never find out. CBC’s Murray Brewster is reporting this morning that Canadian and U.S. officials quietly held exercises last spring to simulate how they would deal with worst-case nuclear scenarios.

So, as if the $5.6-million hockey rink adorning the front lawn of Parliament Hill wasn’t controversial enough, the Liberal government’s hasty decision to extend its life beyond the original three weeks in December will cost taxpayers a further $2 million.

Representatives from Canada’s three biggest television companies — Wendy Freeman of CTV, Michel Cormier and Jennifer McGuire of CBC, and Troy Reeb of Global — are in Ottawa this morning to talk with the House Affairs committee on the idea of creating an independent commissioner responsible for leader’s debates. They’ll be followed as witnesses by Stephane Perrault, Acting Chief Electoral Officer.

AROUND THE WORLD

The United States is urging all nations to cut ties with North Korea — which isn’t sitting well with Russia — in the wake of the reclusive nation’s most recent missile launch. President Donald Trump has asked Chinese leader Xi Jinping to put a plug in China’s oil supply to Pyongyang, a request that U.S. envoy Nikki Haley backed up with a treat to disrupt Chinese crude shipments in the region if need be.

Speaking at an emergency meeting of the UN security Council, Haley told her counterparts that “If war does come, it will be because of continued acts of aggression like we witnessed yesterday … and if war comes, make no mistake, the North Korean regime will be utterly destroyed.”

Haley isn’t the only one dishing out the tough talk. President Trump called Kim Jong-un a “sick puppy” at a rally in Missouri yesterday.

The Hwasong-14 missile launched early Wednesday morning in North Korea surprised with how high it flew, and the Washington Post reports that photos released of the new Hwasong-15 have missile experts alarmed.

From one conflict to another: you may have seen that Trump retweeted videos from a British far-right group yesterday afternoon and U.K. PM Theresa May released a statement saying, in part, “It is wrong for the president to have done this.” Well, Trump fired back on Twitter this morning:

.@Theresa_May, don’t focus on me, focus on the destructive Radical Islamic Terrorism that is taking place within the United Kingdom. We are doing just fine! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 30, 2017

Where’s that Trump-banning Twitter employee when we need him?

Other international headlines

FINALLY

Late night hosts had a field day at the expense of Matt Lauer, who was canned from his Today show hosting gig for after being accused of sexual misconduct. While celebs are losing their jobs left, right and centre amid the recent flood of accusations, it turns out that, in the U.S., things have to get pretty awful to meet the threshold for sexual harassment. Yeesh.

Have a good day.