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       This is the daily Politics Briefing newsletter, written by Ian Bailey. It is available exclusively to our digital subscribers. If you’re reading this on the web, subscribers can sign up for the Politics newsletter and more than 20 others on our newsletter signup page. Have any feedback? Let us know what you think.

       Canada’s next Governor-General will be sworn in on July 26.

       Heritage Canada today announced the date of the installation ceremony for Mary Simon, who will be Canada’s first Indigenous Governor-General.

       Ms. Simon has been an Inuk leader and former diplomat. She served as president of the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, Canada’s national Inuit organization, and was key to the creation of the Inuit Circumpolar Council, which brings together the Inuit of Canada, Alaska, Greenland and Russia.

       Her appointment comes amid the expectation that a federal election is expected to be called within weeks. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau would have to seek the Governor-General’s approval to dissolve Parliament, precipitating that election.

       When Mr. Trudeau announced, on July 6, that Ms. Simon would be the new governor-general, both he and Ms. Simon said they had not discussed issues around elections in talks ahead of her appointment.

       Parliamentary Reporters Kristy Kirkup and Janice Dickson wrote about Ms. Simon’s appointment here.

       And Deputy Ottawa Bureau Chief Bill Curry and Ottawa Reporter Menaka Raman-Wilms wrote about Ms. Simon’s life and career here.

       TODAY’S HEADLINES

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       NEW DEAL FOR CHILD CARE - Nova Scotia has become the second province, after British Columbia, to sign a deal with Ottawa for regulated child care spaces that would lower the average cost of care to $10 a day over a five-year period.

       AFGHAN DRIVER CONCERNS - Former drivers who spent years shuttling Canadian officials and embassy staff around Afghanistan say they are being ignored by the federal government and that their lives are in danger from Taliban reprisals as the U.S. withdraws its troops from the country.

       LIBERALS FILIBUSTER OPPOSITION - Liberal MPs on Monday filibustered an attempt by opposition parties to hear testimony from the party’s chief digital campaign strategist regarding constituency work that his company is being paid by taxpayers to perform.

       NO MONEY FOR PAUL’S SEAT BID - Green party executives have moved to withhold funding from leader Annamie Paul’s campaign to win a downtown Toronto seat in a likely election later this year.

       OTTAWA REJECTS SASK. CARBON PLAN: MOE - Premier Scott Moe says Ottawa has rejected Saskatchewan’s plan for replacing the federal carbon price with one of its own, while the Liberal government is saying any proposed changes simply have to wait.

       CONTINUED AID FOR AFGHANISTAN: GOULD - Ottawa will continue sending humanitarian and development assistance to Afghanistan after the United States completes its troop withdrawal from the country next month, International Development Minister Karina Gould says.

       PRIME MINISTER'S DAY

       Private meetings. The Prime Minister speaks with the Alternate Prime Minister of Israel, Yair Lapid. The Prime Minister virtually joins Nova Scotia Premier Iain Rankin and others to make an early learning and child-care announcement. He then convenes a meeting of the Incident Response Group to discuss the wildfires and extreme weather impacts in Western Canada.

       LEADERS

       Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-Fran？ois Blanchet continues his summer tour with stops in the Quebec City region that include a meeting with the Consul General of France and the board of directors of Quebec City Airport.

       ELECTION FORECAST

       According to The North Shore News, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was in B.C. community of Deep Cove last week, shooting an ad for the pending election campaign. Burnaby North-Seymour Liberal MP Terry Beech and his family were on site for the shoot. Story here.

       During a speech to the Richmond Chamber of Commerce this week, Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole denounced Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as “naive,” and said Canadians need to be “clear-eyed realists” with communist China, according to the Richmond News. “We have to be crystal clear that our criticism is with the Chinese communist regime, not with the Chinese people or the country of China itself,” he added. The story here also says Mr. O’Toole was heading to Vancouver Island and the Okanagan.

       OPINION

       Tanya Talaga (Globe and Mail) on whether accountability will ever come in the Catholic Church and the Canadian government: “It is almost as if a great reckoning is taking place – one that has simmered below the surface since Confederation. Finding those little souls in Kamloops has touched off the discovery of so many more, including 751 unmarked graves near Saskatchewan’s former Marieval Indian Residential School, and nine-year-old Emma Laffort somewhere in Thunder Bay’s St. Andrew’s Catholic Cemetery. Our children are crying out to be found so that their spirits can be brought home and rest. There are efforts under way among many Indigenous families to hear survivors’ stories once again, and to take down names – of the lost, and of the alleged perpetrators who may have committed crimes. So when does the accountability begin?”

       David Jacobson (Contributor to The Globe and Mail) on the need for a better system to prevent severe delays when the border reopens: “After more than a year of pandemic-driven restrictions between the United States and Canada, we are finally seeing a gradual resumption of cross-border travel. While this is good news, details on how and when a full reopening can take place are still up in the air. Both governments have to get this right. This means remaining vigilant to the risks of COVID-19 variants while also ensuring that people on both sides of the border can count on a predictable, stable and long-term return to normal.”

       Emilie Nicolas (Montreal Gazette) on the need for reciprocal respect and recognition in the debate over the new Governor General: “The basic argument here is: [Mary Simon’s] not learning French earlier shows disrespect, and francophones deserve respect and recognition from their state institutions. Indeed, they do. Therefore, might I ask: What does it mean that so many people in this country, including past and present premiers, as well as some of our most senior journalists, have never taken the time to learn even the simplest things on Indigenous cultures and our history of colonization? If even the most energetic self-titled allies usually sit through elder-led prayers and land acknowledgements with a gaping mouth and glassy eyes, and will learn multiple foreign languages before they get past “miigwetch,” is that a show of disrespect too?”

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