First Reading is a daily newsletter keeping you posted on the travails of Canadian politicos, all curated by the National Post’s own Tristin Hopper. To get an early version sent directly to your inbox, sign up here.

As COP29 — the United Nations’ annual climate change summit — gets underway in Baku, Azerbaijan, Canadians may notice that their government isn’t broadcasting their participation to quite the same extent as in prior years. At the Paris Climate Summit in 2015, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was there on day one, promising to the assembled delegates that Canada “will take on a new leadership role internationally.”

Now, carbon pricing is one of the most singularly unpopular issues for the Liberal government, and this is the third year in a row that Trudeau won’t be personally attending the summit, which is taking place from Nov. 11 to 22.

Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault showed up promising to hand out more than $1 billion in climate-related foreign aid, and Canada has built an entire pavilion at the conference holding workshops ranging from Addressing Climate Disasters with Equity to Inspiring Change Through Global Children’s Perspectives.