Ottawa

Tease the day: When a horse saved Justin Trudeau

Did Marty’s romp through Toronto take some of the heat off Trudeau’s controversial remarks of the past?

CP/Paul Chiasson

Justin Trudeau must be thanking a stallion named Marty for making such a fuss on the streets of Toronto. Yesterday, Marty and his friends from Calgary trotted through the city’s downtown core as part of this week’s Grey Cup festivities. Marty made national headlines when the Royal York Hotel initially refused him entry into the building, citing health and security concerns (read: lame rules). Marty’s Albertan keepers didn’t relent and, eventually, the horse stomped into the hotel’s lobby. At the end of the day, everyone in the country—even the proudest of Torontonians—had a reason to poke fun at Toronto.

Meanwhile, Trudeau had a bad afternoon. The Sun News Network aired a two-year-old video clip of the leadership candidate talking about how much Albertans are driving Canada into the ground, and how much Quebecers need to be in charge once again. This rehash came just a day after another Liberal MP, David McGuinty, apologized for making similar remarks. As usual, Conservative spin doctors pounced, and it was a story tailor-made for a newspaper’s front page. In the end, only the National Post featured Trudeau’s remarks (alongside the story about our famous horse, no less). We’ll never know how newsrooms would have treated a world without Marty, but the good horse might have spared Trudeau some grief—and he has only Albertan football fans to thank for that.


What’s above the fold this morning?

The Globe and Mail leads with Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi’s sweeping new powers. The National Post fronts the “new” east versus west battles: the Stampeders/Argonauts Grey Cup battle; and, more controversially, Justin Trudeau’s comments from 2010 suggesting Albertans are leading Canada astray. The Toronto Star goes above the fold with Public Safety Minister Vic Toews’ orders to the RCMP to address gender bias within the force. The Ottawa Citizen leads with several Montreal residents denying they donated to the federal Conservative Party. iPolitics fronts a federal move to study oil and gas production on aboriginal lands. National Newswatch showcases Postmedia‘s story about those donors who denied giving money to the Conservatives.


Stories that will be (mostly) missed

1. MS treatment. Conservative Senators shut down debate on a bill that would have forced the feds to study a controversial treatment for Multiple Sclerosis—known as CCSVI. 2. Mentally ill inmates. The Conservative government will move to make it more difficult for mentally ill prisoners to leave custody. It’s meant to address victims’ rights and public safety.
3. DND cuts. Over 500 civilian employees of the Department of National Defence were issued notices yesterday that they could lose their jobs. Those affected span two unions. 4. Refugee chemo. Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall couldn’t believe the feds’ denial of chemotherapy to a refugee stricken with cancer. The province will pay for the treatment.

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