Roundup: Saudi spat

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So that diplomatic dispute with Saudi Arabia sure escalated quickly. To recap, Saudi Arabia took offence to Canada calling on the release of activists from their country, and expelled our ambassador, cancelled trade deals (which includes large exports of barley from Canada), and demanded that the 15,000 or so Saudi students in Canada return home within the next four weeks (which could have an impact on the Canadian economy). It remains to be seen if that LAV deal is still on the table, because that could also have a major impact on jobs in Southwestern Ontario. Both Chrysita Freeland and Bill Morneau are holding firm in their position, but what is potentially more worrying is the fact that the US and the UK aren’t taking sides. Peter MacKay thinks that the PM needs to get involved personally to clear this up, for whatever his opinion is worth.

Bessma Momani talks about what’s behind Saudi Arabia’s move in expelling Canada’s ambassador, and John Geddes interviews two other experts on the area. Kevin Carmichael looks at how political disputes are going to affect trade in the future, especially as authoritarian regimes dare Western countries to ignore rights.

Meanwhile, the dumbest take in all of this has to be the number of people who have started salivating about how this loss of Saudi oil imports on the East Coast means that we should resurrect Energy East. Not only does it not make economic sense, it doesn’t make practical sense since the refineries in Eastern Canada aren’t built to handle the heavy crude coming from Alberta, which puts a lie to the notion that Energy East would be used for domestic consumption rather than export. Even if it were economical to convert and extend the pipeline (and currently it’s not with both Trans Mountain being twinned and Keystone XL finally going ahead), you would need to retrofit or build new refineries in the East, at the cost of yet more billions of dollars, which doesn’t make any sense when we can find imports from countries other than Saudi Arabia that are still cheaper. (And for so-called fiscal conservatives to demand this pipeline happen in spite of economics for nationalist concerns makes their reasoning all the more suspicious).

Good reads:

  • The new estimates for the Trans Mountain expansion are that it will cost $1.9 billion more than earlier anticipated, and take a year longer to build.
  • There is a high-level NAFTA meeting in Ottawa today to prepare for the next round of trade talks.
  • The government is running a contest to get ideas for how to get the private sector involved in building and maintaining housing on First Nations and reserves.
  • Yes, the government will still help asylum claimants after the September 30thdate that they’ll putting that Toronto cohort up in hotels for.
  • Catherine McKenna is expected to announce a review of emissions standards after the Americans are preparing to rollback theirs.
  • Canada may be supplying sniper rifles to Ukraine soon.
  • Jagmeet Singh is expected to announce that he’ll be seeking a seat in Burnaby, once the by-election there is called to replace Kennedy Stewart.
  • Ryan Hicks looks at the humanitarian situation in Central America that is fuelling the migrant crisis on the southern border of the US, and what Canada can do.
  • Paul Wells takes a deep dive into the works of Hamish Marhsall, Andrew Scheer’s campaign manager, and how he’s building the narrative for 2019.
  • Susan Delacourt looks at how Doug Ford’s Ontario is prioritising cheap beer over prescription drugs.
  • ICYMI, my weekend column looked at how the Liberals’ poor communications mean a streak of scoring goals on their own net.

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