DC throws shade at Canada

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Welcome to Canada Playbook.
Let's get into it. In today's edition:
→ Canadian approval of Washington crashes under Trump.
→ Defense Minister DAVID MCGUINTY's tour of duty.
→ How Trump's State Department sees Canada.
Trade war
CROSS-BORDER COLD FRONT — Canadians' views of U.S. leadership have turned increasingly negative since President DONALD TRUMP returned to office, a new Gallup poll found.
Here's what POLITICO's JACOB WENDLER dug out of the new report:
— Approval of Washington dropped to 15 percent — its lowest since Trump's first term — with nearly four in five Canadians disapproving of U.S. leadership's job performance.
— That exceeds disapproval ratings for Chinese leadership, with 64 percent of Canadians expressing disapproval of Beijing.
— Canadians' approval of their own leadership rose nearly 20 percentage points from last year, with nearly 60 percent of Canadians approving of the country's leaders.
Read the write-up here.
DRIVING THE DAY
5 BASES, 4 PROVINCES — If it's Thursday, DAVID MCGUINTY is likely in British Columbia.
Canada's new defense minister has been on a tour of Canadian bases. We're guessing he's going to turn up at CFB Esquimalt and CFB Comox.
McGuinty has crossed the country this week, promoting the 20 percent pay raise — and various social supports for military families — that Prime Minister MARK CARNEY announced last week at a base in Trenton, Ontario.
— Answering Trump: The boost in salaries is part of Canada's promise to hit the old NATO spending target of 2 percent of GDP by March 2026 — and reach the new 5 percent benchmark by 2035, in answer to President TRUMP's repeated complaints about freeloaders.
— I've been everywhere: McGuinty's tour started Monday at CFB Borden, an Ontario base that is home to the military's largest training institution.
'This is part and parcel of reinvesting in our Canadian Armed Forces, making sure that we have a dynamic, resilient and a lethal armed forces,' he told reporters.
The minister had a sit-down there with the base commander and troops to discuss the hemorrhaging of full-time personnel and what his predecessor BILL BLAIR described as the 'death spiral' of recruitment.
On Tuesday, McGuinty showed up at CFB Winnipeg.
The next day, he was at CFB Cold Lake in Alberta.
— Reality check: Playbook spoke to CHARLOTTE DUVAL-LANTOINE, vice president of Ottawa operations for the Canadian Global Affairs Institute — and a Ph.D. candidate studying military behavior, structure and culture.
She said a vast majority of military members have lost trust in Ottawa after empty commitments from successive governments. She gave McGuinty credit for delivering news of the pay increases and new benefits in person.
Here are a few more takeaways from our conversation:
→ Service members are jaded from the get-go. 'They tend to assume that things are going to go poorly — that the government is not going to live up to their promises,' Duval-Lantoine explained.
→ It's not just about money. McGuinty must focus on retaining staff and warding off 'another affordability crisis' that may drive away more serving members, she added.
→ And it's not just about salaries. The military's housing crisis deserves attention, she said.
'Do we need to post and move people geographically as much as we are?' Duval-Lantoine asks. 'It's also a problem of well being, of military families, where they get uprooted all the time — and that creates problems for dual-income [earning], but also for children and their stability.'
For your radar
'STATE' OF SHOCK — The U.S. State Department just published its latest take on the state of human rights in Canada, one of a trove of takes on countries all around the world.
Some of those reports, per the NYT, 'left out language on persistent abuses in many nations that was present in prior reports.'
This year's Canada assessment, which dropped this week, bears little resemblance to the milquetoast 2023 edition. The Trump administration deploys sharp criticism of Ottawa in a document laced with political barbs directed at Canada's federal government.
The report reaffirmed that freedom of expression was a thing in Canada, but claimed 'significant curtailments' of press freedom.
Rebel News subscribers will applaud a lot of it. Liberals' heads will explode.
A few examples that stand out:
→ Trucker convoy: The report's authors describe the 2022 protests that took over much of downtown Ottawa for several weeks as a response to 'draconian lockdown measures that substantially damaged the communities and economic livelihoods of many Canadians.'
The report claims the government's response to the protests included 'large-scale social media censorship and debanking.' (A Federal Court judge ruled the government's invocation of the Emergencies Act was unreasonable. A public inquiry saw things differently.)
→ Court action: The assessment notes a different Federal Court ruling that upheld the government's disqualification of Rebel News from journalism tax credits — and describes Rebel as 'one of the few in the country that produced critical reporting on the government's response to protests of the COVID-19 lockdowns.'
That's certainly a take.
→ The Don Jr. Show: The assessment highlighted a lawsuit with its roots in a May 2024 event co-hosted by Rebel and Rumble. Among the headliners: DONALD TRUMP JR., journalist GLENN GREENWALD and YouTuber DAVID FREIHEIT.
The organizers, the report notes, are suing Canada Lands Company (which operates the park where the event was held) and former Toronto MP YA'ARA SAKS for allegedly slapping 'unwarranted' security costs on the event and attempting to disrupt it.
→ Follow the money: The authors claimed that most private media outlets were 'substantially dependent' on taxpayer funding — with apparent consequences:
'Government intervention in the media market favored means of communication that did not diverge from government-suggested bounds of political speech, and government policy and practices often disadvantaged independent media,' read the report.
Another eye-opening claim:
'News organizations faced direct and indirect pressure to conform their political speech in order to gain or maintain access to these funds, leading to self-censorship. Independent news organizations that did not take government funds faced a substantial market disadvantage.'
→ DEI in the crosshairs: The authors also noted federal funding that prioritized local journalists from various marginalized groups as 'discriminating against journalists who fell outside of these favored categories.'
THE ROOMS THAT MATTER
— PM CARNEY is on a lighter work schedule somewhere in the National Capital Region.
— Governor General MARY SIMON will speak at the WAVES 2025: Global Indigenous Languages Summit.
— Conservative Leader PIERRE POILIEVRE will hold a press conference in Saskatoon at 11 a.m. ET.
— PBO YVES GIROUX posts a new report entitled 'Forecasting Federal Capital Expenses' at 9 a.m. ET.
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ALSO FOR YOUR RADAR
CHARM OFFENSIVE — The PM's office ended some unnecessary suspense Wednesday over whether he'd be part of a virtual gathering of the 'coalition of the willing.'
The PM did end up on a call with leaders from the U.K., France, Germany, Ukraine — and U.S. Vice President JD VANCE. The side meeting, convened by German Chancellor FRIEDRICH MERZ, was ahead of Friday's high-stakes summit in Alaska between POTUS and Russian President VLADIMIR PUTIN.
— Yesterday, not today: Carney's office declined to confirm his attendance when pressed by Playbook.
But it later issued a release marking his participation and announcing an additional C$2 billion in military support for Ukraine.
The PM was not part of two core sessions Merz organized with Trump, Ukrainian President VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY and other European leaders.
According to our colleagues in Europe, Merz and French President EMMANUEL MACRON emerged from those talks hopeful Trump will push for a Ukraine ceasefire — and avoid trading Ukrainian territory during the negotiations.
MORNING MUST-CLICKS
— Top of the Globe this morning: Nearly 150 Canadians held in ICE custody this year, including two toddlers, data show.
— The Canadian Press reports: A Chinese tariff of nearly 76 percent on Canadian canola seed is set to come into force today.
— ERIN O'TOOLE cites SUN TZU in an essay on Canada's lessons learned in trade talks with the Trump administration.
— Conservative Leader PIERRE POILIEVRE told the Calgary Herald that he's campaigning in Battle River-Crowfoot like he's 'one vote behind.'
— From The Logic's JOANNA SMITH: 'Saudi bank saga reveals the lobbying registry's vulnerability.'
— In D.C., The Hill reports: Trump's tariffs are forcing Canada to address its money laundering problem.
— Fratton Park founder REGAN WATTS dropped some spicy language on The Ben Mulroney Show directed at ANA POILIEVRE, who had posted an Instagram story that complained about Air Canada flight delays. 'That is not what we should be doing in this country, particularly as public figures,' Watts said just past the show's 11-minute mark. 'We should be supporting our large companies and supporting the employees who work there.'
— The Globe's MARK RENDELL reports that the Bank of Canada's governing council is divided on the need for more interest rate relief.
LOBBY WATCH
Our daily check-in on federal lobbyist registrations and notable meetings around town:
— Prime Minister Carney publicly noted a July 2 meeting with the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers' Association and its Big Three automaker CEOs. The CVMA's entry in the lobbyist registry reveals who else was in the room: former PMO chief of staff MARCO MENDICINO, principal secretary TOM PITFIELD and senior policy adviser MATHEW HALL; and Finance Minister FRANÇOIS-PHILIPPE CHAMPAGNE.
— The Canadian Bankers Association logged a July 3 meeting with 'fentanyl czar' KEVIN BROSSEAU and his senior staff; and a July 22 check-in with Liberal MP KARINA GOULD, chair of the House finance committee.
— The Aluminium Association of Canada met KIRSTEN HILLMAN, Canada's top envoy in Washington, three times in July.
— The United Steelworkers logged July meetings with Carney, Hillman, Labor secretary of state JOHN ZERUCELLI, and Hamilton-area Liberal MPs.
— Heidelberg Materials, which scored millions in federal support for a carbon capture, utilization, and storage project in Edmonton, Alberta, logged an Aug. 2 meeting with PMO chief of staff MARC-ANDRÉ BLANCHARD and principal secretary DAVID LAMETTI.
— Innovative Medicines Canada met with Industry Minister MÉLANIE JOLY on July 18.
PROZONE
For POLITICO Pro subscribers, here's our latest trade news:
— Trump administration looks to award $1B to critical minerals projects.
— US, other fossil fuel producers try to weaken plastics treaty.
— A 'glacial outburst' is flooding Alaska's capital.
— EIA: Oil production to fall as prices drop to pandemic levels.
— Minnesota Dems in hot seat over Boundary Waters mining.
And our latest Pro policy newsletter: Diplomacy on a deadline.
PLAYBOOKERS
Birthdays: HBD to Sen. TONY LOFFREDA, former MP and MPP GARY CARR (70!), former Sen. RAYNELL ANDREYCHUK and GORDON THIESSEN, sixth governor of the Bank of Canada.
Movers and shakers: The Globe reports that MARK MULRONEY is joining CIBC as a vice chair in the office of incoming CEO HARRY CULHAM.
Noted: Elections Canada published preliminary data for the Battle River-Crowfoot byelection that showed 14,454 voters cast ballots at advance polls. That's roughly 17 percent of the 84,515 total voters in the riding (which is also a preliminary count).
TRIVIA
Wednesday's answer: PIERRE POILIEVRE was born on PIERRE TRUDEAU's last full day in office following the 1979 federal election.
Props to REID ALEXANDER, DARREN MAJOR, JOHN DILLON, RALPH LEVENSTEIN, BOOTS VAISEY, CAMERON RYAN, THOR CHRISTIANSON, ELIZABETH BURN, STUART BENSON, STEPHEN HAAS, DARRYL DAMUDE, MALCOLM MCKAY, MAIA EASTMAN, AMY SCANLON BOUGHNER, DOUGLAS HEATH, CHRIS FARLEY, SHEILA GERVAIS, FRANCIS DOWNEY.
Today's question: Which notable lake in Gatineau Park lies immediately to the southeast of Harrington Lake?
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Writing tomorrow's Playbook: MICKEY DJURIC.
Canada Playbook would not happen without: Canada Editor Sue Allan, editor Willa Plank and POLITICO's Grace Maalouf.