Roundup: Hand-waving through a plan doomed to fail

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It’s the final debate day of the election, so expect a couple of brief photo-ops, then a quiet day as the leaders do their final prep. Yesterday, Andrew Scheer went to the Roxham Road irregular border crossing in Quebec to pledge that he would end said border crossings – and then hand-waved through just how he planned to do so, given that the Safe Third Country Agreement is a treaty with the Americans and we can’t do anything without negotiating with them, and they are not exactly big on taking in asylum claimants right now and would be happy to see them wind up in Canada. And their “other options,” such as trying to declare the entire border an “official point of entry” for the purposes of the agreement won’t work, and will simply drive more asylum seekers to more remote crossing points where there are fewer controls, and more likelihood of death or injury. In other words, he was misleading about his plans to address the issue, and more than that, he invoked the spectre of MS-13 (which is an American border issue, not a Canadian one), gave the false notion that these crossings somehow let migrants “jump the queue” unfairly (there is no queue for refugees, and they don’t impact those we are bringing in from refugee camps), made the ludicrous promise to move more citizenship judges to the border to process claims faster (proximity has nothing to do with it, and trying to speed up claims has failed in the past because we still need to have procedural fairness and adherence to Charter rights). Immigration and refugee experts have thus proclaimed that Scheer’s pledge today is doomed to failure. On a related note, Scheer keeps saying his full platform will be out in “plenty of time” for people to make an informed decision, but advance polls have already opened on university campuses, and for everyone else tomorrow, so that’s not exactly time for people to start making informed decisions – and leaving Scheer open to the criticism that he plans to replicate the Doug Ford tactic of not releasing a platform and preferring to coast in on anger instead. And while we’re on the subject of Scheer’s dishonesty, he claimed that Elections Canada gave the okay for his campaign director, Hamish Marshall’s ad company to also be producing election ads for the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers – but Elections Canada said that’s not true. So chalk that up to yet another lie on the tally.

https://twitter.com/acoyne/status/1181961842291281923

https://twitter.com/moebius_strip/status/1181961052390600707

Justin Trudeau was in Markham, promising that the first thing he would do if re-elected would be to cut taxes for the middle class, which was essentially just a reannouncement of their basic personal amount cut. When answering questions, he offered some clarity to the situation around the spat between the Canadian Forces and provincial healthcare systems, which stems from the Canadian Forces being billed for higher rates than they would be normally for those services.

Jagmeet Singh, meanwhile, was in Montreal to address CUPE convention, with promise to fight privatization, in the hopes of winning back the labour vote.

Other election stories:

  • A number of economists delve into the nuances of the differences between the proposed Liberal and Conservative tax cuts.
  • Here’s a profile of Brampton-East, where the Liberal-turned-Independent incumbent isn’t running, and where Jagmeet Singh held the seat provincially.
  • Long-time Liberal incumbent Judy Sgro made boneheaded comments about Trudeau in Blackface, and needed to apologise for them.
  • Seamus O’Regan is now the second minister to take time off of the campaign trail for an ill family member (Filomena Tassi being the other).
  • Andrew Scheer says he would help deal with rising international protectionism by…lowering taxes? Erm, not sure that helps.
  • An anti-hate group is calling out Jagmeet Singh’s stance on not wanting to intervene in the Bill 21 cases in Quebec.
  • While the Bloc seems to be somewhat resurgent in Quebec, the separatist talk these days is coming from Alberta (stoked by Jason Kenney’s lies and snake oil promises).

Good reads:

  • Chrystia Freeland has condemned Turkey’s incursion into Northern Syria as destabilizing.
  • Here’s a look at the arguments against the Human Rights Tribunal ruling on Indigenous foster child compensation, with the legal nuance buried at the end.
  • Problems with ventilation systems aboard Canadian warships has led to a plague of mouldy mattresses.
  • Jason Kenney is setting up a Crown Corporation to help First Nations invest in resource projects. (Look forward to this being used as a rhetorical hammer).
  • Kenney’s government also incorporated their “war room,” dubbed the “Canadian Energy Centre,” with a $30 million budget to pursue conspiracy theories.
  • Kevin Carmichael is a little concerned that companies are starting to plan for a possible recession while federal parties are not in this election.
  • Chantal Hébert makes the point that Bill 21 will live or die in the courts, and not on the federal election (though one suspects it’s also about the message it sends).
  • Andrew Coyne thinks the solution to the hot mess of a debate is to simply have more debates. (I remain unconvinced as it is yet more presidentialization).
  • Chris Selley drives home the point that the NDP may be headed for demise in Quebec, and they have largely abandoned their principles along the way.

Odds and ends:

I was back on CPAC’s Have Your Say yesterday (I’m in the second hour).

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