By Kyle Duggan

Ottawa Playbook won’t publish on Monday; we’ll be back in your inboxes bright and early Tuesday. Happy Thanksgiving.

Thanks for reading Ottawa Playbook.

In today's edition:

→ A bird's-eye view of the fall’s coming media fight.

→ U.S. envoy JAMES RUBIN walks back “terrible assassination” remark.

People pass by a booth of Google at the re:publica 2022 digital media convention in Berlin, on June 9, 2022. | Tobias Schwartz/AFP/Google

HOW TIMES CHANGE — Flash back to a year ago, and major internet platforms used every day by Canadians looked a lot different.

ELON MUSK hadn’t closed the deal on buying Twitter or rebranded it to X or started monkeying around with it in an agonizing how-bad-can-it-get-before-the-politics-junkies-leave experiment.

The Government had yet to pass any new laws on regulating internet platforms.

Facebook still allowed the sharing of news (and just like with the Phoenix pay system fiasco, its reaction to Bill C-18 passing led to entirely predictable unintended consequences during Canada’s worst-ever wildfire season that had played out first in Australia).

Podcasters weren’t yet dismayed and ready to start an open revolt against the CRTC, Canada’s communications-sector regulator, over new streaming regulations under Bill C-11.

Microsoft hadn’t yet started using AI search with Bing.

Just give it a little more time. Things could get stranger.

— T-minus 2 months & change: 74 days, to be exact, until the C-18 deadline of Dec. 19.

That’s when the Liberal government’s online news act takes full effect. And big platforms that share news links face the prospect of mandatory arbitration to fund Canadian publishers.

It would be the date Google has circled as a hard stop on news if its concerns aren’t addressed.

So far, they are not, as the Globe pointed out this week. It’s one thing for the government if Meta pulls out of news sharing, but it’s another if Google does.

— Searching for a fix: Google confirmed to Playbook it remains unimpressed with the draft regulations.

So much so, that the government might even need to go back to the legislative drawing board to get the company on board.

Otherwise, it sees itself potentially being held ransom by an expansive group of publishers with no cap on its financial liability.

— Media lines: It’s not just that it’s “unworkable” for Google — it would be for any company.

— Show the cards: The government has yet to publish stakeholder submissions, but will “in due time once initial review is completed,” an official from Heritage said. But some groups have already made theirs public online, such as Unifor.

Meta notably didn’t submit any recommendations in the process, since it pulled out of news sharing altogether, and has said for months nothing in the regulations would fix its concerns.

— Perma-optimist: For her part, Heritage Minister PASCALE ST-ONGE said the government aims to propose its final regulations “shortly” after considering all the submissions. And she’s not blinking.

“I still have confidence that we will come to an agreement with Google,” St-Onge told reporters in French on Wednesday. “The channels of communication are open.”

St-Onge may just escape a committee grilling until the next shoe drops. The Commons heritage committee learned Thursday that a hearing with the minister is still nowhere in sight on their calendar.

— Still to come: The Liberals’ long-promised online harms bill, which would really turn up the political heat on the heritage file, is still TBA.

— Shots fired: Conservative MP RACHAEL THOMAS’ motion to study the “sneaky” CRTC move to register podcasters under the government’s new online streaming rules failed on the floor Thursday, with Liberal MP LISA HEPFNER calling it an “attempt to relitigate C-11.”

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WRONG WORD REWIND — JAMES RUBIN, special envoy and coordinator for the U.S. state department's Global Engagement Center, reaffirmed Thursday that the Biden administration supports Canada’s investigation of HARDEEP SINGH NIJJAR’s murder — a case that has rapidly deteriorated Canada-India relations.

The subject is “tricky,” he said, echoing the careful tone the White House has taken on the case, weeks after Trudeau suggested “agents” of the government of India were involved.

— Notable quotable: Rubin initially called Nijjar’s death a “terrible assassination” before walking back his words during a briefing with reporters Thursday about the center’s new special report probing the Chinese government’s foreign information manipulation efforts.

He declined to say definitively if the current Canada-India dispute makes Ottawa a more attractive target for Beijing to dabble in the “digital authoritarianism” warned about in the report.

— Correction note: “I meant the word ‘murder,’” Rubin said, explaining he doesn’t want to add any exaggeration. “There was clearly a murder, it should be investigated in Canada.”

The word “assassination” was an error, he said, “because that has political overtones.”

— Related reading: The Star's TONDA MACCHARLES reports on the online attacks and disinformation campaigns that have targeted the Trudeau government since the start of the diplomatic crisis.

— Ultimatum: CTV reports Canada was given until Oct. 10 to “reduce Canadian diplomatic staff in that country to a level on par with the number of Indian diplomats in Canada,” which throws that earlier 41 figure up in the air.

— Price tag floated: A new number making the media rounds in India: $700 million.

That’s what the New Delhi-based think tank Imagindia Institute estimates the cost will be next year to Canada if the diplomatic dispute between the two countries drags out due to a reduction of international students.

ROBINDER NATH SACHDEV, president of the institute, told Playbook they settled on a 5 percent drop as “a most conservative figure.”

U don’t have to GIC it — The Senate’s Standing Committee on Internal Economy, Budgets and Administration has a peculiar new power: appointing the usher of the black rod.

That’s according to a recently published Order in Council, which grants it the responsibility for “the identification of an appropriate candidate and the establishment of compensation and terms and conditions of employment.”

The usher — not just the door-knocky guy but also the King’s personal attendant and a top administrative figure in the Senate who deals with protocol and security — has been until now appointed via the Governor in Council (Cabinet decisions made official by the governor general).

Currently, the gig is held by J. GREG PETERS, who has been in the role since 2013.

Retired House of Commons procedural clerk THOMAS HALL points out to Playbook via email that the terse OIC curiously doesn’t contain any language about maintaining the Crown’s independent interests. And the move raises some questions.

The black rod reports to the speaker for security in the chamber — not the Senate administrative committee, so will this affect its security role?

It also creates procedural strangeness: When the black rod goes to the House of Commons to tell them to come to the Senate chamber, it’s supposed to rep the governor general, but now it would be there on behalf of the Senate directly.

VINCE MACNEIL, chief of staff to Senate Speaker RAYMONDE GAGNE, replied to Playbook via email, “From our perspective, the role remains unchanged.”

— Try learning something in Ottawa: Playbook’s questions bounced around some four different offices over the course of the day to obtain that line, including one comms official who replied “on background” with the same information contained in the OIC.

— Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU meets with the Chair of Wallenberg Investments AB at 9:15 a.m. for a photo op before heading to southwestern Ontario later in the day for more photo stops at a community fest at 2:30 p.m. and a local grocery store at 3:45 p.m.

— Deputy Prime Minister CHRYSTIA FREELAND is in Toronto for private meetings.

8:30 a.m. Statistics Canada releases its labor force survey for September.

9 a.m. The parliamentary budget officer will release a new legislative costing note titled, “Applying the Canada Recovery Dividend to Fossil Fuel Companies.”

11 a.m. Transport Minister PABLO RODRIGUEZ will be in Lac-Mégantic, Que. to make an announcement on the Lac-Mégantic rail bypass project. Lac-Mégantic Mayor JULIE MORIN joins him.

4:30 p.m. Energy and Natural Resources Minister JONATHAN WILKINSON is signed up to deliver remarks at the LIAMforum 2023 about sustainable resource development.

Up: GREG FERGUS, whose photogenic grin splashed across the media this week when he took the helm as speaker.

Down: The prices Innovation Minister FRANCOIS-PHILIPPE CHAMPAGNE sees in whatever grocery store flyers (locations undisclosed, but clearly not Toronto’s Longo’s) he’s flipping through at 6 a.m.

— Today's talker from MURRAY BREWSTER of CBC News: Top generals warn that allies — Canada included — are running dangerously low on artillery shells.

— POLITICO’s GRAHAM LANKTREE dishes on British Prime Minister RISHI SUNAK shifting Canada-U.K. trade talks into low gear — just as key trade deadlines appear on the horizon.

— Don’t miss: NP’s ADRIAN HUMPHREYS and CHRIS NARDIhave this window into the “lobbyist of last resort,” ARI BEN-MENASHE, and his fight against the Canadian government over being unbanked.

— LUKE LEBRUN writes for PressProgress that the “Save the Children” convoy strayed into freaky territory involving plotting to detain MPs.

— Bloomberg takes a deep dive into Canada’s diplomatic spat with India.

— MURRAY MANDRYK explains in the Regina Leader Post why PIERRE POILIEVRE’s upcoming speech to the Saskatchewan Party is unlikely to be a plea for moderation.

— The New York Times considers STEVE BANNON’s role in the Republican Party meltdown.

— PHILIP AUTHIER writes in the Montreal Gazette that Quebec wants Ottawa to cough up C$900 million “sitting dormant in the federal treasury” for housing before the fall economic update.

Enter the “room where it happens”, where global power players shape policy and politics, with Power Play. POLITICO’s brand-new podcast will host conversations with the leaders and power players shaping the biggest ideas and driving the global conversations, moderated by award-winning journalist Anne McElvoy. Sign up today to be notified of new episodes – click here.

If you’re a subscriber, don’t miss our latest policy newsletter from ZI-ANN LUM and SUE ALLAN: Apples and oranges.

In other news for subscribers:

— On Ukraine aid: 'Who the hell knows?'

— Western allies commit to telecoms coalition.

— WTO scales back short term global trade growth expectations.

— Microsoft finds China is stepping up cyber-espionage efforts against Taiwan.

— Cannabis hospitalizations in Canada increased with commercialization, but not with legalization.

Birthdays: HBDs go out to SANDRA PUPATELLO, former Chrétien PMO policy director CHAVIVA HOSEK and longtime public servant MARGARET CATLEY-CARLSON.

Saturday celebrations: PMO deputy chief of staff BRIAN CLOW (4-0!), Sen. RAYMONDE SAINT-GERMAIN, Ag Parlsec FRANCIS DROUIN (4-0!), former MPs BILL MORNEAU and DAVE VAN KESTEREN, and McMillan Vantage’s JEFF RUTLEDGE. Also celebrating: SARAH CHOWN, managing partner of the Métropolitain (and gracious host of Playbook Trivia).

On Sunday: Conservative MP RON LIEPERT.

Send birthdays to [email protected] .

Spotted: At the Korean National Day celebration at the Château Laurier hosted by Ambassador WOONGSOON LIM: Vice Chief of the Defense Staff Lt. Gen. FRANCES ALLEN, Sen. YONAH MARTIN, Conservative MP MICHAEL COOPER, Japanese Ambassador KANJI YAMANOUCHI, German Ambassador SABINE SPARWASSER and Chief of the Defense Staff Gen. WAYNE EYRE standing next to India’s High Commissioner SANJAY VERMA at the close of opening remarks.

MP TIM LOUIS with a shout-out in the House to maple syrup, “not just about the delicious sweetness that graces our pancakes and waffles.”

The government’s auction site marking down the minimum bid for a set of “nuptial outfits” from C$500 to … $C25, for a wedding dress, veil, pajamas and more.

Just announced: Imprisoned Iranian activist NARGES MOHAMMADI has won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Movers and shakers: Former KATHLEEN WYNNE adviser ANDREW BEVAN is replacing Finance Minister CHRYSTIA FREELAND’s chief of staff LESLIE CHURCH, as Church mulls a run for office in Toronto-St. Paul’s.

Liberal MP MIKE KELLOWAY subs GREG FERGUS’ seat on the House access to information committee … Liberal MP DARREN FISHER also steps in to take the new speaker’s seat on the House health committee.

Labor Minister SEAMUS O’REGAN retroactively announced JULIE HÉBERT’s appointment to the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) nearly two weeks after she started in the position … LORI KENNEDY, reappointed to the COOHS …

Farewells: THOMAS MCBRIDE, the late parliamentary assistant to MP COLIN CARRIE (who used his members’ statement to honor him in the House).

Thursday’s answer: President HARRY S. TRUMAN made the first televised address from the White House on Oct. 5, 1947.

Props to HÉLÈNE CHEVALIER, ALLAN FABRYKANT, ROBERT MCDOUGALL, CAMERON RYAN, STEPHEN KAROL, QASIR DAR, MARC R. LEBLANC, MARCUS MATTINSON and JOHN ECKER.

Today’s question: Name the governor general who issued a proclamation that established the second Monday in October “A Day of General Thanksgiving to Almighty God.”

Send your answer to [email protected]

Think you have a harder trivia question? Send us your best .

Want to grab the attention of movers and shakers on Parliament Hill? Want your brand in front of a key audience of Ottawa influencers? Playbook can help. Contact Jesse Shapiro to find out how: [email protected]

Playbook wouldn’t happen without: POLITICO Canada editor Sue Allan, editor Emma Anderson and Luiza Ch. Savage.

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