Roundup: Rage-farming for rural Alberta paranoia

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In Alberta, Danielle Smith has finally unveiled more details for her proposed “Sovereignty Act,” and as you might expect, they’re a lot of bullshit, and most of it predicated on situations that will never, ever actually come to pass, like the federal government invoking the Emergencies Act to impose mask mandates. Of course, that’s not how the Emergencies Actworks, and she’s just rage-farming, ensuring that the rural Alberta party membership that she’s targeting, who are twitchy to begin with and who are consuming vast amounts of American media and conspiracy theories, are just being fed more materials to make them even more paranoid. It’s not surprising, but it’s also alarming that this has somehow become acceptable political discourse. Smith also insists she’s just doing “nation within a nation” assertion, like Quebec, which is not true, and I’m genuinely not sure if she is simply that clueless about how federalism and the constitution works, or if this is pure disinformation for the purposes of rage-farming and motiving the party base through anger and paranoia. Either way, it’s not good, and is a very real problem for the province and the country, because this kind of bullshit is also contagious.

 

Ukraine Dispatch, Day 196:

The Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant went off the grid yesterday after more Russian shelling in the region, until a fire could be put out. That means that they were relying on backup power to keep cooling systems operational, which gets us closer to a more dangerous place in terms of a potential meltdown that could have catastrophic consequences for that part of the world. The International Atomic Energy Agency continues to call for a demilitarized zone around the plant, but good luck getting Russia to play by the rules. As for the Ukrainian counterattack in the southern part of the country, officials have now confirmed that they have retaken at least two villages, though information remains largely locked down. Apparently, the counterattack is happening slowly in order to save on ammunition and casualties.

Good reads:

  • Justin Trudeau is leading a three-day Cabinet retreat in Vancouver in advance of the fall sitting of Parliament, with vague promises about cost-of-living assistance.
  • Marco Mendicino says that there will be a review of the Parole Board’s decision to release the alleged Saskatchewan stabbing suspect.
  • Ahmed Hussen says that the Department of Heritage won’t be giving any other grants until a new vetting process is in place, to avoid another antisemitic instance.
  • The RCMP were concerned that their own members or other police would leak operational details to the occupation in Ottawa in January, because of sympathies.
  • Candice Bergen has announced that she won’t run in the next election.
  • The Canadian Press profiles Leslyn Lewis, Jean Charest, and Pierre Poilievre.
  • Jason Kenney has determined that he won’t stay quiet about Danielle Smith’s sovereignty nonsense, but pretends he didn’t inflame separatist sentiments. Oops.
  • Dr. Katharine Smart details ways that provinces could lighten the burden on doctors to save the healthcare system (and yet provinces have mostly ignored these calls).
  • Paul Wells notes the mood around Trudeau’s Cabinet retreat, and the rumours that are emerging about a possible new job for Chrystia Freeland.
  • My column warns that those looking at envy at the short UK Conservative leadership process need to remember that the underlying problems remain.

Odds and ends:

For Xtra, I have a one-on-one interview with Marci Ien about the federal government’s new LGBTQ+ Action Plan.

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