Day twenty-two, and we are moving into the debate preparation part of the campaign, so expect a couple of small announcements in the Montreal area (where the debates are being held), but for the pace to cycle down. Mark Carney was in Montreal for Tout le monde en parle, and by all accounts, acquitted himself reasonably well enough. Carney will be in Dorval, Quebec, today to make an announcement.

My unqualified $0.02 on #TLMEP – The TLMEP team asked Carney questions about policy, but Poilievre got more questions about his campaign and his personal style. Even the CBC/SRC question was whether or not his plan to cut is financially or ideologically motivated.

— Stephanie Carvin (@stephaniecarvin.bsky.social) 2025-04-14T01:50:23.686Z

Pierre Poilievre was in Ottawa, where he proposed an “Accountability Act 2.0,” both to bring back the Harper vibes, but to also proposed to change a whole bunch of ethics rules specifically for Mark Carney, that will have the added effect of chasing away every accomplished individual from politics for all time. (Seriously, though, this is a party whose generational turnover gets increasingly incestuous as so many of its candidates and MPs are former staffers). He then headed to Montreal to also appear on Tout le monde en parle. Poilievre will remain in Montreal today.

Jagmeet Singh was in Timmins, Ontario, where he promised a “Plan for Northern Ontario,” which was pretty much entirely within the domain of the provincial government, because of course it was. This is the federal NDP we’re talking about. Singh will be in Toronto for the morning.

Once again, the NDP's announcement is pretty much entirely things that the province needs to do, and the federal government can do pretty much nothing about.Oh, a 1% top-up on your transfers to comply? Seriously?

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-04-13T18:06:31.507Z

In other campaign news, everyone’s tongues were wagging about the fact that Liberal operatives admitted to planting buttons at the Formerly-Known-As-Manning Conference this weekend, saying things like “Stop the Steal,” among other things, which the party called staffers getting “carried away.” There is a long tradition of “funny” buttons at opposing conventions, but this was not done openly and is at a time of heightened disinformation I will probably write more about his later in the week, but I will also say that I have zero patience for all of the Conservatives on their fainting couches, clutching their pearls about this while they have lied and slandered throughout the campaign, and spent the very day this story broke trying to push a bullshit tale about Liberal organising prisoners to vote for them, and bringing back the canard about “secret plans” for a home equity tax. And no, the Conservatives lying doesn’t make Liberal ratfuckery any more justified. This kind of thing is poisoning our democracy.

Dirty-tricksterism like those Liberal-planted buttons may be the political world’s oldest profession. Last year, some unknown right-wing operatives printed these race-baiting brochures at the Alberta UCP convention, ahead of Danielle Smith’s leadership review.

— Jason Markusoff (@markusoff.bsky.social) 2025-04-13T19:18:08.678Z

https://twitter.com/maxfawcett/status/1911532346068832768

I get that the vast majority of partisans have absolutely no self-awareness, but seriously? On the same day that they have trotted out the lie that the Liberals are secretly planning a "home equity tax," like they have in every election for the past decade, no less. Honest to Zeus, guys.

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-04-13T22:29:23.200Z

Ukraine Dispatch

Russians bombed the city centre of Sumy as people were gathering for Palm Sunday celebrations, killing 34 people and wounding at least 117.

https://twitter.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1911374389746004111

Instant results ARE possible. Russia just needs to stop attacking and go home.

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-04-14T04:13:18.964Z

Good reads:

• CBSA says that they have contingency plans in place for any rush in asylum claims coming from the US, as there have already been increases.
• The daughter of former Conservative MP Deepak Obhrai is running for the Liberals, and she rejects the notion her father would not approve of it.
• Susan Delacourt and Matt Gurney debate the current state of the campaign, how it’s not the nasty one we were expecting, and that there’s a lot of memory-holing.
• My weekend column points out that Jagmeet Singh’s pitch to hold the balance of power in the next Parliament presupposes he didn’t burn all of his bridges last time.

Odds and ends:

New episodes released early for C$7+ subscribers. This week I'm answering your #cdnpoli questions.

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-04-13T22:49:01.959Z

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