Roundup: A failure to condemn Carlson

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The increasing unseriousness of our Parliament continues apace. After Question Period yesterday, NDP MP Matthew Green stood up to move a unanimous consent motion to condemn Fox “News” personality Tucker Carlson for his comments calling for an armed invasion of Canada in order to depose Justin Trudeau, apparently before we “become Cuba.” (Carlson also called for a “Bay of Pigs” invasion, apparently not understanding how badly that went for the Americans). And when the Speaker asked if there was consent to move the motion, a few Conservatives said nay (and no, I couldn’t tell which ones did).

A couple of points. Number one is that Green shouldn’t have bothered because this just gives Carlson the attention he craves, but we know what this is for—social media clips, so that he could plaster it over Twitter and whatever other socials he’s on that he got Parliament to condemn Carlson, and isn’t he a hero for doing so. It’s performative bullshit, and that’s what our Parliament runs on these days to our detriment. Point number two is that the Conservatives could have shut up and not shown support for foreign regime change, but they did not, meaning they a) agree with Carlson, b) want to appease the Carlson fans in their base, or c) didn’t want to give Green the clip he was fishing for. None of those three are good looks, and just shows the continued decline in the state of debate. Everyone should rethink some of their life choices here.

Ukraine Dispatch, Day 343:

The villages of Klishchiivka and Kurdyumivka, which are on the southern approach to Bakhmut, came under renewed Russian fire. As well, a new assault against Vuhledar is unlikely to make gains. Meanwhile, a new US aid package to be announced later this week is said to include longer-range rockets, which Ukraine has been asking for.

Good reads:

  • National standards for long-term care have been published, but because it’s provincial jurisdiction, the federal government can’t impose them.
  • Ontario’s minister of long-term care, Paul Calandra, says he doesn’t want federal standards to “water down” Ontario’s, and it’s so laughable that I cannot even.
  • The Star gets a preview of the kinds of deals that provinces are expected to be making with the federal government on health transfers.
  • Pascale St-Onge says she is pushing her provincial counterparts to sign onto the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner to investigate abuse in sport.
  • Lawrence MacAuley’s office disputes any connection between the nearly $1 billion in lapsed funding last year and the ongoing backlog of claims.
  • Patty Hajdu signed an agreement with Peguis First Nation in Manitoba and the province to turn over child welfare cases to the First Nation.
  • Documents are suggesting that the government spent $6.7 million to operate a quarantine hotel in Calgary that saw few people (but the figures are in doubt).
  • Canada and the US are in another trade panel over Supply Management.
  • The Emergencies Act public inquiry got a few days’ extension to their deadline in because they’re not quite finished the report.
  • FINTRAC is publishing new guidelines to help banks and other institutions look for signs of poachers and other illegal wildlife traffickers.
  • One of the problems with ensuring safe sports is that there is very little ability for the federal government to deal with issues that occur at the local level.
  • If you’re catching up on why McKinsey contracts have become an issue federally, here is an explainer for you.
  • The Commons’ ethics committee plans to revisit the Mary Ng contract issue (because they need to showboat over it and gather clips for fundraising).
  • Conservatives on the official languages committee have decided to side with the Bloc in trying to force the government to capitulate to the Quebec government.
  • Liberal MP Jaime Battiste says that the riding boundary redistribution proposal cuts out two Indigenous communities from his riding, and that they weren’t consulted.
  • BC’s limited drug decriminalisation experiment started yesterday.
  • Kevin Carmichael points to how higher interest rates are taking steam out of the housing market, and doing the work of better rebalancing the economy.
  • Susan Delacourt looks at Trudeau’s bad polling numbers, showing fatigue, and that the Liberals are starting to lose the “empathy game.”
  • Paul Wells notes some particular patterns of Liberal parties in Canada and what the “Draft Mike” campaign signals about Ontario’s Liberals.
  • My column sees the “Draft Mike” campaign by certain Ontario Liberals to be a sign of the rot in party politics where parties are reduced to branding exercises.

Odds and ends:

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