OTTAWA — Justin Trudeau will huddle with his cabinet ministers this week to craft the political narrative they will take to Canadians ahead of next year’s federal election.But the reality is that heading into an election year, the Liberals face political risks beyond their control — the uptick in asylum seekers coming across the border, a tempestuous president in the White House and emerging opposition in key provincial capitals. How governments handle events not of their making often shapes their mandate and determines their success. In this case, the outside forces exerting pressure on Trudeau’s Liberals are huge and so are their potential impacts on defining issues like trade and climate policy.With a federal election now just over a year away, the wedge issues that could define the campaign are taking shape: the environment and carbon pricing; refugees, immigration and broader issues of diversity.Wednesday’s gathering will be the first cabinet meeting since Trudeau shuffled his ministerial lineup in July, moving some politicians to new portfolios and bringing in several new faces to better grapple with the political challenges now facing his government. The appointment of former Toronto police chief Bill Blair as minister of border security and organized crime reduction signalled the government’s intention to make “border integrity and security a top priority,” Trudeau said on the day of the shuffle.The asylum seekers entering Canada from the United States has become a political flashpoint, with opposition Conservatives, Quebec and Ontario and municipal leaders in Montreal and Toronto all clamouring for federal action on the file.The Conservatives have been sharply critical of the government on the issue, charging that the Liberals are mismanaging the border.In response, Trudeau says the opposition is “playing a very dangerous game around the politics of fear, politics of division.” Last month he ac ...
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