There was an interesting piece in the Star over the weekend, where a bunch of their reporters went out into the 905 belt around Toronto, in order to talk to newcomer communities who have been increasingly switching their votes from the Liberals to the Conservatives, and managed to capture a few of those ridings this time around (and costing the Liberals their majority). But while we shouldn’t always assume that immigrant and newcomer communities will be Liberals, even though there has been this particular trope that they have been told to vote Liberal because Pierre Trudeau really opened up immigration into this country back in the seventies, I do think that trope is overused and misses some of the other points, like the fact that they often pick up on dog-whistling by Conservatives, or that their ways of trying to engage with newcomer communities can be ham-fisted (such as the famous example of Jason Kenney going to every ethno-cultural buffet event and saying things like “I hear you guys hate the gays too. You should vote for us!” And no, that didn’t wind up being successful, even though a mythology was built up around it that doesn’t reflect voter turnout).

What I found instead in this Star piece was that in many of these communities, they were blaming the federal Liberals and Justin Trudeau for things that are squarely within provincial jurisdiction—like housing, or the uptick in crime that that has been hammered away at in those areas. No, none of the reporters made this distinction in the story, and we find ourselves back in the place where nobody in this country wants to hold the premiers to account for their failures. (For their corruption, yes, to an extent, but not their failures to do their jobs). Pierre Poilievre has successfully weaponised the incompetence of the premiers against the federal Liberals and Trudeau in particular, which Trudeau let him get away with time and again because he refused to call the premiers out. But the even bigger irony is that these are regions that have increasingly been voting for Doug Ford, who has been the cause of, or done nothing about, the very problems they are raising as to why they switched their votes.

I would also note that there are some other fairly disturbing undertones in some of the responses from these voters—far-right talking points like “mass immigration,” for example, or the fact that they appear to be pulling up the ladder behind them. They immigrated this country and bought houses in these suburbs, but immigrants who came in behind them and can’t find affordable housing are the problem? Do you see the issue here? I think this is a warning sign we should be paying more attention to, but again, if the premiers did their fucking jobs, we wouldn’t be seeing some of these issues able to take root within these newcomer communities.

Ukraine Dispatch

An overnight drone attack on Kyiv has injured at least 11, as Russia is calling for a ceasefire in advance of celebrations to mark the anniversary of VE Day. The mayor of the Russian port city of Novorossiisk has called a state of emergency after an alleged Ukrainian drone attack. Ukraine says that they shot down a Russian Su-30 fighter jet with a missile fired from one of their maritime drones.

Good reads:

• Trump says not to worry, they likely won’t need military force to annex Canada. (Are you worried yet?)
• Here are seven non-Trump foreign policy issues that Carney needs to grapple, and a look at some of the economic headwinds facing the country.
• Poilievre’s talking point that the Liberals made Canada more dependent on the US is bullshit, and that project has been ongoing since the eighties.
• Indigenous leaders say that they are hoping Carney is willing to work with them on economic reconciliation, and the signs so far are positive.
• Three new Liberal MPs were all born in the early 2000s, and pardon me while I crumble into dust…
• Territorial premiers say the rush to remove internal trade barriers need to include their specific circumstances, which can include binding treaty obligations.
• John Hogan is the new Liberal leader in Newfoundland and Labrador, and set to become the province’s next premier.
• Kevin Carmichael takes stock of the economic situation in the country and looks at the steps Carney needs to take next to deal with it.
• Shannon Proudfoot is intrigued by Poilievre’s concession speech on election night, and what it signals about him.
• Colby Cosh is bemused and alarmed that Trump has turned America’s abundance agenda into one of austerity to suit his needs.
• My weekend column remarks on the impending visit of the King for the Speech from the Throne, and why this is a sign of why we will never be Americans.

Odds and ends:

American liberals have created Canada in their own image

— Moebius Stripper (@moebiusstripper.bsky.social) 2025-05-04T21:22:41.967Z

I'm so tired…

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-05-04T20:11:27.675Z

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