Thanks for reading Ottawa Playbook. Let’s get into it.

In today’s edition:

→ Ottawa puts its foot down on a global tax fight.

→ Canadians are gradually losing interest in Covid boosters.

TAX FIGHT — The Trudeau government sees Canada as a champion of multilateralism, a convenor of like-minded nations, a team player that doesn’t go it alone on the world stage.

Except, maybe, possibly, when it comes to taxing tech giants.

— In brief: OECD nations are negotiating a global digital service tax that would force major tech companies — Amazon, Apple, Google, ahem, Meta — to cough up tax dollars in the jurisdictions in which they operate.

It’s the first phase of a so-called “two pillar” approach that aims to produce a global minimum tax on large multinational corporations.

The digital services tax would boost revenue in more than 140 countries that have signed on to the idea — a boon to treasuries the world over, if enacted.

Canada’s problem: there’s no clear timeline on implementation of the first pillar.

Almost everyone at the table agreed Wednesday to delay imposing new unilateral taxes on the giants in their midst as they continue to work out details. The revised plan is for the treaty to go live in 2025. Five countries opposed the delay: Russia, Belarus, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Canada.

Of that rump of holdouts, only Ottawa is planning to introduce its own domestic tax.

— The Canadian take: Finance Minister CHRYSTIA FREELAND first promised a digital services tax in November 2020. By 2021, negotiations had already dragged on for eight years. Freeland’s hope when she presented that April budget was that a global deal would wrap up in short order.

If not, Canada would go it alone in 2024. The minister didn’t hide her Plan B.

“While Canada’s hope and preference is for a multilateral solution this summer, whether or not a deal is reached, Canada intends to take action,” read the budget.

Fast forward to Budget 2023: “It is Canada’s hope and expectation that the timely implementation of the new multilateral system will make a digital services tax unnecessary.”

The federal government is aiming to implement a tax as of Jan. 1.

— The latest lines: “Canada’s strong and essential social safety net is built on a robust national tax base, which depends on those who do business in Canada paying their fair share of tax,” Freeland said in a Wednesday statement. “Canada has a clear national interest in the two-pillar plan, which protects against the erosion of Canada’s tax base and which will generate additional revenue for Canada.”

Any further delay, she said, “puts Canada at a disadvantage relative to countries which have continued collecting revenue under their pre-existing [digital services taxes].”

— 31: The number of countries that have already enacted similar taxes, according to a June 2023 KPMG analysis

— Sound off: MEGAN FUNKHOUSER, senior director of policy, trade and tax at the Washington-based Information Technology Industry Council, called Canada’s decision “deeply disappointing, particularly given the pace and breadth of activity to develop a multilateral approach.”

A unilateral tax, Funkhouser claimed, “would undermine ongoing negotiations and further fragment the international tax system.”

— The stakes: “Decision makers fear that a global trade war will erupt without the accord in place. Governments would start taxing U.S. digital giants on the profits they make within their borders, resulting in retaliatory measures out of Washington and an eventual breakdown of global tax cooperation,” writes POLITICO’s BJARKE SMITH-MEYER.

At a recent bilateral meeting, U.S. Trade Representative KATHERINE TAI urged Trade Minister MARY NG not to go it alone.

— Days remaining until Jan. 1: 172

— Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU is wheels up from Vilnius. He departs at 9:30 a.m. local time, and lands in Ottawa at 11:30 a.m. ET — which leaves most of a workday back on home soil.

— Deputy PM CHRYSTIA FREELAND is in Toronto with private meetings on her agenda.

— Environment Minister STEVEN GUILBEAULT is in Brussels for the Ministerial Meeting on Climate Action (MoCA). DAVID THURTON of CBC News sets the scene.

— Foreign Minister MÉLANIE JOLY is in Jakarta, Indonesia, to attend the 56th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting. She will “take the opportunity to provide an update on the progress of Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy implementation in the region.”

— Trade Minister MARY NG is in Auckland, New Zealand, for meetings of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership Commission.

4:15 p.m. Families Minister KARINA GOULD and her P.E.I. counterpart, NATALIE JAMESON, will hold a press conference at the conclusion of federal-provincial meetings on early learning and child care in Iqaluit.

COVID FATIGUE — Canadians appear to be losing interest over time in Covid vaccines. A federally commissioned Covid tracking survey conducted by Léger — contract cost: C$282,441.24, HST included — assembled focus groups and polled thousands of Canadians between September 2022 and January 2023.

— Trend lines: The pollster observed telling shifts in public opinion from the fall through the early winter, especially on vaccine uptake.

→ Booster? No thanks: Seventy-one percent of respondents in September pledged to stay up-to-date with booster shots. By January, that figure had dropped to 61 percent. Fewer Canadians were already scheduling boosters: In a November/December polling wave, 42 percent had received a dose within the past three months. That number plummeted to 27 percent by the first month of 2023.

→ Routine proceedings: Fifty-eight percent of January respondents said they’d take the Covid vaccine as a routine shot, down 6 percentage points from September. Three-quarters said they’d take the shot twice a year, a drop of 3 percentage points.

→ Think of the children: Parents were losing interest in inoculating their kids with boosters. In September, 57 percent said their kids were “likely to receive” one. By January, only 38 percent were onboard with the idea.

→ Focus group fodder: “Some participants mentioned being fed up with being vaccinated and feeling that they are adequately protected with the doses they have already received. Some did not see the need to be vaccinated several times a year, since they could still get COVID-19.”

— Booster reluctance: Twenty-two percent of January respondents said they hesitated before scheduling a booster. Léger asked them to explain their caution. Fifty-nine percent raised concerns about “the safety and/or side effects of having a booster dose.”

— What convinced them to get the shot? These were the top four responses: “High number of COVID-19 cases” (32 percent), “Benefits are more important than risks” (24 percent), “I was recommended by a healthcare professional” (21 percent), “I fear I may regret it later if I don’t” (20 percent).

— The official advice: The National Advisory Committee on Immunization said Tuesday that is recommends Canadians receive a booster shot this fall, if six months have passed since their most recent dose.

THERESA TAM, Canada’s chief public health officer, said boosters and other preventative measures “will be vital this fall when we expect other respiratory viruses, including influenza and RSV, to be co-circulating in our communities and adding stress to our healthcare system.”

— CP’s TARA DESCHAMPS reports: Canada’s heritage minister leaves door open to regulating Threads.

— Canada’s premiers came away from summer meetings with a request for a first ministers’ meeting with PM Trudeau on critical infrastructure.

— In the Hill Times, YAROSLAV BARAN argues Ukraine’s accession into NATO won’t be an act of charity — but of “enlightened self-interest.”

— From POLITICO’s team in Vilnius: How Ukraine lost its battle for a NATO membership commitment.

— Housing Minister AHMED HUSSEN pleads with National Post readers not to blame mayors for housing shortfalls. Economist MIKE MOFFATT is puzzled.

— VANMALA SUBRAMANIAM is on the Decibel pod this morning to talk about “algorithm wage discrimination.”

— The NYT’s JIM ROBBINS opens his feature on the impact of open-pit mines with this sentence: “In the mountain streams of southern British Columbia and northern Montana, a rugged part of the world, fish with misshapen skulls and twisted spines have been caught over the years.”

— From The Hub, a deep dive into why federal Conservatives are coming around on the Liberals’ national childcare program — and pledging to fix it, not kibosh it.

— The Canadian Press reports on the health, logistical and cultural challenges of some 1,200 evacuees from Cree communities who have fled northern Quebec because of wildfires and smoke.

— One year ago, Pope Francis visited Canada to apologize for residential schools. What difference did the trip actually make? Novelist RANDY BOYAGODA offers his take in a feature over on The Walrus.

— Finally, top of POLITICO this hour: RON DESANTIS is hoping Iowa evangelicals can make his campaign born again.

Birthdays: HBD to former MP and current B.C. Cabinet minister NATHAN CULLEN. Crestview Strategy consultant WILLIAM WUEHR also celebrates.

HBD + 1 to Mississauga-Malton MP IQWINDER GAHEER.

Spotted: The Liberal Party’s list of attendees to the annual Laurier Club summer garden party at the Canadian War Museum. Twenty-five Cabinet ministers were in the room, along with just about every Liberal luminary you can think of from SYLVAIN ABRAMOWICZ to SAMEER ZUBERI.

Niipaawi Strategies founder CAM HOLMSTROM, driving with his family to Shoal Lake: “There’s no place like home.”

AUDREY CHAMPOUX, press secretary to Public Safety Minister MARCO MENDICINO, notifying the ethics commissioner that she recused herself from any discussions about potential federal grants for the International Centre for the Prevention of Crime — where her aunt, ANN CHAMPOUX, is director general.

Movers and shakers: Nova Scotia Premier TIM HOUSTON is the new chair of the Council of the Federation. He’ll host his colleagues on July 15-17, 2024.

Evolution Potash, which is exploring potential funding support, filed June meetings with MITCH DAVIES, senior assistant deputy minister for the federal Strategic Innovation Fund; JEFF LABONTÉ, assistant deputy minister for lands and minerals at Natural Resources Canada; SAMIR KASSAM, a senior policy adviser to Trade Minister MARY NG; ANNA BODNAR, a senior policy adviser to DAN VANDAL, minister of northern affairs and Prairies Economic Development Canada; and Liberal MPs GEORGE CHAHAL and TERRY DUGUID.

Media mentions: The Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing’s Canadian chapter handed out annual awards on Tuesday. The Globe and Mail led all outlets, winning five gold medals and four silvers. The Logic picked up five silver medals.

If you’re a subscriber, don’t miss our latest policy newsletter: Canada opposes delays on OECD tax overhaul.

In other Pro headlines:

— Ukraine warns it won’t negotiate new Russian gas transit deal.

— Vestager faces blowback over selecting U.S. professor for key competition post.

— Pentagon seeks to shuffle $4B in defense budget.

— House moves forward on defense bill.

— EPA proposes far tighter lead dust limits

— 4 takeaways from House Republicans’ anti-ESG hearing

Wednesday’s answer: The Haskell Free Library & Opera House straddles the border between Vermont and Quebec.

Props to BRIGID HAYES, HECTOR GIRALDO, FERNANDO MELO, GEORGE SCHOENHOFER, GUY SKIPWORTH, JOHN MERRIMAN, PATRICK ST-JACQUES, JOANNA PLATER, ROBERT MCDOUGALL, JIM CAMPBELL, DOUG SWEET, LAURA JARVIS, CAMERON RYAN, AMY CASTLE, GERMAINE MALABRE, ALEX BALLINGALL, GORD MCINTOSH and Nova Scotia MLA KELLY REGAN.

Today’s question via reader HECTOR GIRALDO: When did Canada and Colombia establish full diplomatic relations?

Send your answer to [email protected]

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CORRECTION: An earlier version of this newsletter misstated when Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland first promised to introduce a digital services tax.