The Nobel prize has been awarded to economists working on issues of climate change, who point to the need for carbon pricing to get markets to come to a consensus about finding solutions, and what do we get in Canada? Doug Ford going on tour to see Scott Moe and Jason Kenney to decry carbon taxation, and to lie to people about the efficacy of carbon taxes. They work, despite what Ford, Kenney, Scheer, et al. say, and we have the data to prove this.

The Ford/Kenney rally was apparently quite something, a demonstration of partisanship over politics, and a demonstration about what how this all relates to our recent discussions over populism, with the carbon tax as a wedge issue. But while this is being put against this notion that Stephen Harper is trying to put forward in his new book about how “conservative populism” is somehow trying to weed out the worst instincts of populists, but that can’t actually be true if the dog-whistling still goes on. In her piece about the Ford/Kenney rally, Jen Gerson relayed the anecdote about people attending the rally being asked to cover up their MAGA hats with oil sands stickers – but the MAGA hats are still there, even if they’re being literally papered over. Kenney and Ford still play semantic games around the same terminology that the xenophobes use (such as the use of “illegals”), and it’s still a dog-whistle. And it can’t be any surprise that because of all the dog-whistling that the Soldiers of Odin have started posing with UCP candidates in Alberta while wearing their badges and vests. You can’t simply say “Oh, it’s unacceptable these people show up to our events” when you keep inviting them with the dog-whistle language. (There’s a lesson in here for Maxime Bernier as well).

Meanwhile, John Geddes went through that excerpt of Harper’s book and deconstructed his arguments and his analysis about populism, and his nonsense construction of “Somewheres” and “Anywheres.” Aside from the fact that it’s deeply ironic that Stephen Harper, strong friend of Israel, is using the same “rootles cosmopolitan” argument used in Soviet propaganda to vilify Jews, it’s just trading on baseless mythology and trying to build an argument around it that doesn’t actually hold any water. But it also goes back to what Ford, Kenney and others are pandering to – they’re denying that problems exist, and then undermining the institutions that can help solve them. Such as with the looming climate crisis. We need a wake-up call.

Good reads:

• Justin Trudeau is off to the Francophonie summit, and looks like he will no longer go to the wall in order to get Michaëlle Jean a second term as head of the organization.
• The government has ordered the public service to design a program to deal with the complex problem gaps created around EI and sick benefits.
• Veterans Affairs wants more time to have to deal with service requests, in order to make promised delivery times more realistic.
• The Commissioner of Elections looks forward to his new investigative powers (once C-76 is passed), and has hired a social media expert to help capture information.
• A former professional Russian troll warns Canada to beware of interference in the coming election.
• The Canadian Forces says that a doubling of the number of sexual assault charges in its membership means that the drive to eliminate sexual misconduct is working.
• Growing far-right extremism in Canada is posing a challenge for law-enforcement agencies, particularly as it has been growing faster than jihadist groups.
• The Chief of Defence Staff admits that there are likely racists and white supremacists in the ranks, and he wants them out.
• CSIS is also seeing a growing amount of far-right extremism online, but so far isn’t sure how to tackle it.
• The RCMP are having difficulty bringing charges against some former members of groups like ISIS (like one who has been caught and is being held in Turkey).
• Here’s a lengthy profile of Chrystia Freeland in Maclean’s and how she managed to renegotiate NAFTA, and another one in the Financial Post.
• Some Liberal MPs are sounding a bit nervous by the CAQ victory in Quebec, and what it means for the trend of incumbent parties being turfed or hobbled.
• Andrew Scheer is currently in India, where he met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and promised to end “roadblocks” to energy exports if he forms government.
• Jean Chrétien says that Trump’s election means the end of the American Empire. He also thinks that common sense will prevail in Quebec over religious symbols.
• Kady O’Malley’s Process Nerd column looks at whether Canada could have a US Supreme Court nomination meltdown like they just did over Brett Kavanaugh.
• My weekend column looked at the ISG’s new charter, and how it confirms that they’re looking a lot like a political caucus.
• My column looks at the recent Samara study on MPs’ feelings about the state of debate and proposed reforms to them; some of their concerns are a bit rich.

Odds and ends:

Calgary MP Len Webber put out a column in his community paper that claimed that Hitler led Germany during the first World War. No, seriously.

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