Roundup: A new tariff threat?

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Surprising nobody except the most credulous, Donald Trump’s “thirty-day reprieve” has ended early with the announcement that he’s launching steel and aluminium tariffs today—allegedly—and that includes on Canada. Maybe. We’ll see. But he insists he’s serious about annexing Canada (while his national security advisor, being too cute by half, insists there are no plans to “invade” Canada, which is not what Trump has threatened). When asked about the comments in Paris, Justin Trudeau didn’t say anything, but senior officials (correctly) said they are waiting to see something in writing first, because they know that Trump says a lot of things.

Of course, since the start of the tariff threats, we have a bunch of people talking about west-east pipelines again, which has yet again led to a bunch of media outlets credulously retyping complete mythology about what happened with the pipeline in the first place, and taking Poilievre’s word for what happened, even though he’s once again bullshitting.

And of course, we’re also repeating the complete nonsense about the Liberals trying to “kill” the energy sector over the past nine years. But given that oil and gas production are at record levels, and royalties are churning out, it really doesn’t look like they succeeded (never mind that they bought a pipeline to ensure its competition, championed Keystone XL, and got a major LNG project on the west coast over the finish line). Yeah, they were really trying to kill the industry by doing all that. Can we have some adults in the conversation, please?

Ukraine Dispatch

Ukraine downed 67 out of 139 Russian drones overnight Friday, and 70 out of 151 drones overnight Saturday. Further drone attacks overnight Sunday started a fire in Kyiv and damaged houses in Sumy.

Good reads:

  • From the AI Action Summit in Paris, Justin Trudeau says that developing more electricity to power AI while still respecting climate goals is a G7 priority.
  • The CBC looks into the RCMP’s investigation into a human smuggling network in Canada that led to the deaths of two families trying to transit into the US.
  • The Star rounds-up the current slate of promises by the Liberal leadership hopefuls.
  • The Invictus Games have kicked off in Vancouver.
  • Kevin Carmichael delves into some of the crazy that the Trump White House believes in when it comes to economics, which is why it won’t end soon.
  • Matt Gurney and Susan Delacourt debate the Conservatives trying to change tactics as the ballot question changes and it’s no longer a referendum on Trudeau.
  • Similarly, Althia Raj notes the increasingly desperate tone that Poilievre has taken on as he tries to pivot to a nationalist selling point in the face of Trump.
  • Paul Wells makes some trenchant observations about Mark Carney’s stealth campaign, and how he’s nevertheless managed to outplay Poilievre.
  • My weekend column takes a more critical look sat Trudeau’s legacy when it comes to his changes in the Senate, and why on balance the bad outweighs the good.

Odds and ends:

New episodes released early for C$7+ subscribers. This week I talk to @kevinmilligan.bsky.social about the reality of those internal trade barriers, and the talk about Canada joining the EU. #cdnpoli

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-02-09T22:59:47.621Z

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