As prime minister Mark Carney gets set to ram his major project legislation through Parliament—Henry VIII clause and all—a couple of philosophical questions are popping up about the nature of what it is they’re doing to speed through these approvals. Doug Ford is trying to do it by essentially creating lawless zones, whereas Carney is giving himself the power to override other laws through regulation alone, which is ripe for abuse and which the Liberals would be screaming bloody murder about if they were in opposition. (The Conservatives, incidentally, are not up in arms about this use of a Henry VIII clause). The thing is, though, these laws and regulations exist for a reason—they’re not there just to thwart investment or development (in spite of what the Conservatives might tell themselves), and you’re asking for trouble if you go around it.

Part of that trouble is Indigenous consultation, and what they seem to believe it entails. It’s not just a meeting where you sit down and go “Here’s what we want to do on your lands.” It’s way more complicated, especially as you have some particular First Nations that have been burned in the past by other developers who promised them all kinds of benefits for that development and then reneged on their agreements (often leaving an environmental catastrophe in their wakes that they won’t pay for, leaving these First Nations off even worse). And they are already talking about litigation if their rights are violated, and those rights include free, prior and informed consent. This is a big deal, and we’re not sure that either Carney or Ford have actually thought this through. Things take time—especially within First Nations. Carney may be in for an unpleasant surprise about his timelines.

[Mallory Archer voice]: Do you want litigation? Because that's how you get litigation.

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-06-10T04:18:21.071Z

Meanwhile, oil prices have crashed to rock-bottom prices, meaning it will be even more unlikely that we’ll see companies willing to invest in new pipeline infrastructure, even if the Carney government thinks they can ram projects through in a two-year window (which, again, I remain dubious about). Danielle Smith is trying to entice a proponent for some sort of pipeline, but again, money talks. Those rock-bottom prices are also going to hit Alberta’s government hard, because they budgeted for much higher royalties, and that in turn will make Smith panicky and try to pick even more fights, all because she refuses to implement a sales tax that would avoid being dependent on oil revenues above a certain level to balance the books.

Ukraine Dispatch

It was another night of heavy drone attacks, with the hardest-hit area being Kharkiv, killing three people and a total of 64 wounded across the country. Ukraine says that they struck a large gunpower factory in Russia. Another prisoner swap was held yesterday, but it was less prisoners than 1212 bodies.

Good reads:

• Mark Carney announced that Michael Sabia will be the new Clerk of the Privy Council. (Sabia has experience, but has left jobs pretty early.
• Carney also says that UK prime minister Keir Starmer will visit Ottawa on Friday ahead of the G7 meeting.
• The Star got a preview of what we can expect at the G7 summit in Kananaskis.
• Carney keeps making invites, now including the UAE and Brazil.
• Multiple sources™ say that the Canadian government and Trump have exchanged documents on a proposed trade deal, but it’s still far from being completed.
• The government is expected to announce the details of its “Canada Strong Pass” programme to encourage domestic tourism soon.
• Mélanie Joly says that all parts of the country will get their “fair share” of the windfall from increasing defence spending and work for the industry.
• Gary Anandasangaree has recused himself from anything doing with two former Sri Lankan terror groups.
• The Government House Leader rejected the Bloc’s bid to split Bill C-5, given that the second half of that bill is a problem (it’s one big Henry VIII clause, and that’s bad).
• Liberal MPs have been trying to convince Carney to rescind the invitation to Narendra Modi, but have had little luck.
• A University of Toronto study shows the Conservatives are making inroads into visible minority communities.
• Charlie Angus took some shots at the problems with the NDP—too focused on the leader and TikTok—that lost them the election.
• The National Post has been editing wire copy to change narratives about the conflict in Gaza to be entirely pro-Israel.
• The CBC digs into who is behind “Project Ontario,” which seeks to change the course of Doug Ford’s PC party to make it more fiscally conservative.
• Anne Applebaum notes the revolutionary pattern Trump has been following as he dismantles the state and incites violence for his purposes.
• Stephen Saideman points to the fairly apocalyptic ways in which Trump’s Fort Bragg speech is tearing down democracy in the US.
• Saideman also has a checklist on politicising a military, which Trump and company have ticked nearly every item off on.
• Paul Wells remarks on the tendency for Carney to surpass Trudeau in terms of his capacity for centralisation, and his ignorance of just how government operates.

Odds and ends:

Solomon is a hype man.He's going to spend his time as minister producing terabytes worth of b-roll and sizzle reels about himself, and sometimes he'll be hyping AI. That's what he does.

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-06-11T13:10:32.595Z

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