Roundup: Caught out for trying to be too clever

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There has been another ridiculous slap-and-hairpull fight happening between Liberals and Conservatives over Twitter over an article in the Guardian which cites a rights watchdog saying that there are no pro-choice Conservatives left. It’s not actually true, because there are, but the problem is that the Conservatives were trying to be too clever by half when it came to MP Cathay Wagantall’s latest anti-abortion bill. It was structured ostensibly to give legal weight to a foetus when a pregnant person was attacked or assaulted, and it was 100 percent a backdoor attempt to give a foetus rights, which was intended to start the process of enshrining those rights on the road to banning abortion. It was not very well hidden, and every anti-abortion group in the country was counting on this bill. A smart Conservative leader would have either nipped this in the bud entirely, knowing that it was a trap, or marginalised Wagantall and any of her supporters, to demonstrate that they are a very small minority in the party. But no—instead, Poilievre had every single member of his caucus vote for it under the rubric that it was about protecting pregnant people. And it is that vote that this Guardian article cites as the basis for saying there are no pro-choice Conservatives.

But of course, political hay has been made of this, and Liberals across the board are sharing the piece, because this works to their advantage and plays to their base, and Conservatives are howling that they’re sharing misinformation. Never mind that the Conservatives spread all manner of mendacious messages on the daily, most of it outright lies and disinformation, and they don’t even blink, but as soon as something comes along that catches the Conservatives out on something they through they were being clever about, well, suddenly that’s beyond the pale.

Everyone needs to grow up, but seriously, this is your own fault, Conservatives. You should have known this was going to happen, so acting all wounded when it did is really disingenuous.

Ukraine Dispatch:

Drones purporting to come from Ukraine struck a Russian warship and caused what could in fact be severe damage to fit. Ukrainian forces have working to retake more land around Bakhmut. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian security service says that Russia is planning a false-flag operation against an oil refinery in Belarus in order to blame it on Ukrainians in order to draw Belarus into the conflict.

Good reads:

  • New “citizen’s services” minister Terry Beech wants government services to be digital-first and digital by design.
  • The federal immigration department is setting up an office to help deal with the problem of racism and harassment in its ranks.
  • Public opinion surveys find that more than half of the Canadian public thinks of the military as an old and “antiquated” institution.
  • Workers at BC ports have voted to ratify the deal presented by negotiators, ending a months-long labour dispute.
  • Climate-related disasters are making insurance more costly in Canada, and could render parts uninsurable.
  • Susan Delacourt remarks on the prevalence of rumours of prime ministers and their spouses breaking up over the past two decades, and it finally coming true.
  • My Xtra column notes the challenges and potential pitfalls facing all three queer Cabinet ministers who got promotions last week.
  • My weekend column on why more pressure needs to be applied to the premiers in order to fix the housing crisis.

Odds and ends:

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One thought on “Roundup: Caught out for trying to be too clever”

  1. Those Canadians who think that our armed forces are antiquated and secondly think in the face of Russian aggression and NATO pressure that Canada needs to spend 2% of GTP on our army should face the choice of paying taxes to achieve these goals. Result… Canadians will not pay more taxes.

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