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NDP leader and premier elect Rachel Notley arrives flanked by security in Edmonton, Alberta on Tuesday, May 5, 2015. Amber Bracken for The Globe and MailAMBER BRACKEN/The Globe and Mail

Good morning,

The push across the country to restrict political fundraising, typically by banning corporate and union donations, has fuelled another voice in Canadian politics: the third-party advertiser. Similar to political action committees, or PACs, in the United States, such groups can spend tens of thousands of dollars or more on advertising during elections, and face no restrictions outside of campaign periods. And they're typically free to use corporate and union money.

The latest examples are in Alberta, where a race to lead the soon-to-be-united Progressive Conservative and Wildrose parties has attracted several groups stumping for different candidates. It's also prompted the NDP government, which banned union and corporate donations and set limits on personal donations, to consider clamping down on third-party advertisers. Under the current rules, such groups can accept unlimited donations from any source outside of election campaigns, though they must disclose donors. They can also advertise without a spending cap. During a campaign, they would face spending limits of $150,000 across the province, or $3,000 for local races.

And it's not just Alberta. When Ontario overhauled its campaign finance laws last year, it also placed limits on third-party advertisers – $100,000 during campaigns and $600,000 in the six months before. Working Families, a union-backed group, has spent millions of dollars on attack ads against the Progressive Conservatives. A relatively new group named Ontario Proud is now targeting the Liberals.

B.C. has had similar rules restricting third-party advertisers, though limits in the months before the campaign were struck down in court. Dozens of groups registered for the recent election, though with no limits on campaign donations, they don't appear to have been a major factor. That could change when the new NDP government bans union and corporate donations.

This is the daily Politics Briefing newsletter, written by Mayaz Alam and Eleanor Davidson in Toronto and James Keller in Vancouver. If you're reading this on the web or someone forwarded this email newsletter to you, you can sign up for Politics Briefing and all Globe newsletters here. Let us know what you think.

CANADIAN HEADLINES

One of Ontario's biggest employers says jobs at the company could be threatened by the province's new labour legislation. In a submission to the Ontario legislature's standing committee on finance, Magna International Inc. said new minimum wage laws could make the company less competitive, and threaten future investment. Magna employs 22,000 people at 50 plants and engineering centres in Ontario.

The federal inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women is facing another delay, as a hearing scheduled for Thunder Bay in September now won't happen until December. The schedule was changed amid concerns that the community won't be emotionally ready after the recent death of a woman, which may have been racially motivated, and the unexplained drownings of First Nations youth. The inquiry has been beset by complaints of delays and disarray that have fuelled calls for the process to be reset.

After largely staying silent on recent revelations about Julie Payette, Canada's next governor-general, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that there were no issues raised during the background check of the former astronaut. Ms. Payette was expunged of a second-degree assault charge while she lived in the U.S. and was involved in a fatal car accident but was found not to be at fault.

And, B.C.'s NDP government has increased social assistance and disability rates by $100 – the first increase in a decade and a significant campaign promise from the recent election. The previous Liberal government was repeatedly attacked for refusing to give the province's poorest residents more money or implement a poverty reduction strategy. In their government's dying days, the Liberals promised to increase rates in a final Throne Speech that included a series of complete policy reversals.

Sheema Khan (The Globe and Mail) on CSIS and toxic workplaces: "Allegations point to a toxic workplace culture that suffocated the aspirations of five Canadians who dedicated their careers to protecting the security of fellow Canadians. They claim that 'CSIS is a workplace rife with discrimination, harassment, bullying and abuse of authority,' ...Given the serious nature of the CSIS allegations, and their potential impact on national security, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale must call for an immediate investigation."

Stephen Maher (iPolitics) on Julie Payette's past: "In our system, the vice-regal representatives spend most of their time on ceremonial functions — handing out awards, giving speeches and cutting ribbons — but from time to time they play the role of constitutional guarantor, making difficult decisions about who will govern us… The person who cuts all those ribbons and hands out all those bravery awards may someday be called upon to decide who has the democratic legitimacy to govern the country. For that reason, we need to know a lot about that person before they take the job."

NAFTA UPDATES

Canada's ambassador to the United States, David MacNaughton, said the NAFTA renegotiation must focus on finding changes to the deal that President Trump can claim as victories. Mr. MacNaughton told a forum in Washington that it is not enough to simply defend the deal in its current form. "This was such a big part of the President's campaign last year, and for any of us to think that we could sort of just ignore that would be crazy. We have to find ways where he can declare victory without it being seen in either Mexico or Canada as being a loss," he said. 

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also offered cautioning words on NAFTA. He told reporters yesterday that the renegotiation efforts are "too important to fall into partisanship." His comments came after the federal Conservatives criticized Mr. Trudeau's Liberals through the American media for the $10.5-million settlement to Omar Khadr for the abuses he suffered at Guantanamo Bay.

Laura Dawson (The Globe and Mail) on takeaways from the U.S. NAFTA mandate: "Since the U.S. mandate does not prioritize which issues are deal breakers and which are merely routine complaints, it is impossible to tell at this point which of Canada's protected sectors are truly under threat. A better way to figure that out is to watch the USTR's stakeholder hearings and key Congressional meetings (conveniently webcast online) and look for persistent themes, repeated by individuals capable of mobilizing dollars and influence."

John Ivison (National Post) on partisan unity on NAFTA: "The Conservatives would be well advised to follow the lead of Winston Churchill, who said he always made it a rule not to criticize the government while overseas. 'I make up for lost time when I come home,' he said. The importance of a successful NAFTA re-negotiation is clear in a new survey of the country's manufacturers by the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters group, released Wednesday. The report says re-negotiation implies a deal more tilted toward U.S. interests, suggesting that risks outweigh opportunities."

INTERNATIONAL HEADLINES

Britain's Trade Minister Liam Fox says that it wouldn't be the end of the world if the U.K. left the EU without a new trade deal with continental Europe after Brexit is completed. Without a specific agreement outlining the two markets' trading relationship, they would trade under World Trade Organization terms. Experts warn that such a change could have drastic negative impacts on business activity.

The U.S. will deploy officials to Qatar to work as part of the state prosecutor's office as part of the counter-terrorism accord the two countries signed this month. The deal hasn't been approved by the American allies in the Arab Gulf that severed ties with Qatar over its alleged funding of extremism.

Kelly Knight Craft, the nominee to be the next U.S. ambassador to Canada, said in a Senate confirmation hearing that she will work to strengthen ties between the two countries. Ms. Knight Craft is a wealthy Republican megadonor. She would be the first woman to serve in the role.

Canadian mining companies have invested millions of dollars in Congo. But a new report shows at least some of those funds were diverted and distributed among corrupt networks linked to President Joseph Kabila's regime. However, Canadian funds were not the only ones to go missing. The report found that over $750-million of Congo's mining revenue has vanished. The money was siphoned off by politically-connected insiders over the course of three years.

The European Union is warning that the increasingly right-wing moves made by Poland's government could mean the country would no longer be defined as a democracy by the E.U. Tensions in Poland escalated this week over the ruling party's move to take control of the courts. A new bill would force all current members of the Supreme Court to resign, and replace them with judges selected by the governing party. Poland's court system is the country's last major independent government institution.

Denise Balkissoon (The Globe and Mail) on women and global warming: "Women are at the front lines of every crisis but rarely involved in solutions, instead under-educated and disrespected at every turn. A smart climate change strategy would reduce gender inequality by default; or, if you prefer, feminist foreign policy would be good for the planet where we all live."

Konrad Yakabuski (The Globe and Mail) on Paris, nuclear power and climate change: "There might be a way for the world to meet its carbon-reduction targets that does not involve building more nuclear power plants. The problem is, no one has come up with one. Until that happens, politicians need to get real about nuclear energy's essential role in saving the planet. Unfortunately, most of them still have their heads stuck in their solar panels." (for subscribers)

Musimbi Kanyoro and Theo Sowa (The Globe and Mail) on feminist foreign policy: "Women's funds can expand their vital work as relationship brokers, scouts of local ingenuity and advocates for change. Governments are able to diversify their reach and deepen the impact of their investment for women and girls. Canada's policy shift shows commitment to supporting local women's organizations and movements. Women's funds around the world are ready, willing and waiting to help Canada make its feminist international assistance policy real and effective."

The New York Times editorial board on war with Iran: "The last thing the United States needs is another war in the Middle East. Yet a drumbeat of provocative words, outright threats and actions — from President Trump and some of his top aides as well as Sunni Arab leaders and American activists — is raising tensions that could lead to armed conflict with Iran...Since the 1979 revolution that installed a theocracy in Iran, American leaders have periodically toyed with regime change. But some experts say this time is more serious, because Mr. Trump accepts the simplistic view of Sunni-led Saudi Arabia that Shiite-led Iran is to blame for all that's wrong in the region, taking sides in the feud between two branches of Islam."

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