A day before he’s due to embark on a high-stakes international tour that will take him to India, Australia and Japan, Prime Minister Mark Carney is set to join his Liberal caucus colleagues as they gather for their first closed-door huddle since the news broke that now former Conservative MP Matt Jeneroux would be joining the team — and, as iPolitics reported yesterday, will also be accompanying Carney on his tri-continental tour. (10 a.m.)

As yet, there’s no word on whether Carney will be in the chamber to face his opposition adversaries, who, given the staggered sitting schedule, likely won’t get another chance to cross-examine him in person until the second week of March, when regular parliamentary programming is set to resume following the upcoming hiatus.

Later this afternoon, MPs are set to circle back to the government’s proposal to establish Build Canada Homes as a full-fledged Crown corporation, which made its second-reading debut earlier this week.

Before that gets underway, however, they will vote on the Conservatives’ non-binding call for the government to reduce health benefits for refugees and asylum seekers, which, as iPolitics reports, was put forward by the party’s immigration critic, Michelle Rempel Garner, yesterday.

Also in the voting queue: Backbench bills aimed at increasing the penalties and liabilities for damage to marine areas and harmonizing the management of Atlantic groundfish fisheries, courtesy of Liberal MP Patrick Weiler and Conservative MP Jonathan Rowe, respectively.

Outside the chamber, members of the JUSTICE AND HUMAN RIGHTS committee are set to resume clause-by-clause review of Justice Minister Sean Fraser’s plan to expand the current anti-hate laws to prohibit the public display of swastikas and other symbols associated with hate groups, as well as strengthen provisions aimed at protecting religious and cultural centres. (4:30 p.m.)

As iPolitics reports, the bill has been at the centre of a months-long cross-table standoff over a Bloc Québécois-initiated amendment that would remove the current exemption for religious beliefs, which the government agreed to support to secure the party’s backing to get the bill through committee, which prompted Conservative committee members to mount an ongoing campaign to block its progress.

Earlier this week, the government put forward a revised amendment that would “clarify that Parliament wasn’t intending to criminalize religious speech, but the Conservatives argued what was being proposed didn’t address real concerns from faith communities,” iPolitics notes.

“Speaking to reporters before Tuesday’s cabinet meeting, Fraser said he’s still hopeful the Conservatives can be brought on board and urged members of the committee to find a compromise. Conservative House Leader Andrew Scheer wasn’t nearly as optimistic about the prospects of a deal being reached.He told reporters later in the day on Tuesday that the Liberal changes only ‘circled back’ to the controversial amendment and said his party’s offer to split the bill into two to avoid further delays had been rejected.”

Elsewhere on the committee circuit: PUBLIC ACCOUNTS members will get an update from Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne on the Canada Revenue Agency’s ongoing efforts to “address service delays and access challenges” at the agency’s contact centres that were flagged by Auditor General Karen Hogan last fall. (4 p.m.)

ON AND AROUND THE HILL

• The Parliamentary Budget Office releases its assessment of the “operational funding gap for First Nations and Inuit police services,” as well as its projections of the “value of one-time costs to meet provincially estimated service needs,” which was prepared at the request of the INDIGENOUS AND NORTHERN AFFAIRS committee. (9 a.m.)
• Women’s Health Coalition of Canada chair Carmen Wyton, Society of Gynecologic Oncology of Canada president Shannon Salvador and Manitoba provincial lead Sarah Kean hit the West Block press theatre to promote the “priority recommendations” included in a new white paper on how the federal government “can eliminate cervical cancer” in Canada. (9 a.m.)
• Interim New Democrat leader Don Davies and his caucus colleague, Gord Johns, will hold a mid-afternoon media availability to highlight what the advisory describes as the “importance for the Carney government to continue negotiating pharmacare agreements with provinces.” (1:30 p.m.)

IN THE CHAMBER

Later this afternoon, Conservative MP Blaine Calkins will wrap up the opening round of debate on his proposal to reverse changes to the definition of ‘natural health products’ in 2023 that, he contends, “meant that getting something as simple as a vitamin B complex to the marketplace is just as complicated and potentially as convoluted as getting a new cancer treatment drug to the marketplace,” which are expected to be given the green light to proceed to committee for further review.

OUTSIDE THE PRECINCT

Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson heads to Tracyville, N.B., to share the details of new measures to “protect and support Canada’s forest sector,” according to the advisory. (9:30 a.m. AT)

Back in the capital, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand and Defence Minister David McGuinty will welcome their respective South Korean counterparts to the capital for what the advisory notes will be the “second Canada-Republic of Korea Foreign and Defence 2+2 Ministerial Meeting,” which will include a signing ceremony for a new bilateral deal on the protection of classified information. (6:15 p.m.)

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