Ottawa

Evan Solomon and John Geddes on Trudeau’s next big decisions

Follow along with speedy punditry on infrastructure, pipelines, and the fight against Islamic State

Evan Solomon joins Ottawa bureau chief John Geddes for their latest attempt at rapid-fire politics. This week, the duo ran down all the meetings packed into the Prime Minister’s busy day planner. The PM scheduled lots of talk with premiers and mayors over the past week. But Justin Trudeau now faced decisions, not just more consultation, on key files. Here’s what went down:

1. The Meeting Man. Trudeau is on a full meeting offensive, heading from Alberta, where he met Premier Rachel Notley and oil executives, back to Ottawa where he met with big city mayors and B.C. Premier Christy Clark.

2. The money. If the meetings are piling, up they all have one thing in common: money. Premiers and mayors, and everyone else, want money from the federal government.

3. The infrastructure. What will Trudeau deliver for cities on infrastructure—and for provinces on pipelines?

4. The military. Domestic issues aren’t the only urgent items on the agenda. NATO defence ministers meet next week, and the Liberal government will announce its plan for the mission in Iraq and Syria beforehand. What will the Liberals do, and how will it define their foreign policy?

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