Pierre Poilievre decided he needed some more media attention yesterday, so he called a press conference in Ottawa, and declared that following the public disclosure of prime minister Mark Carney’s ethics filings, that none of this was good enough, that Carney needed to cash out all of his investments instead of putting them into a blind trust, and that nothing was good enough because he’ll be constantly managing conflicts (even though the point of the ethics screen is that he isn’t managing conflicts, his chief of staff and the Clerk of the Privy Council manage the conflict so that he’s not involved). Perish the thought that this special set of rules for Carney will only serve to keep other accomplished individuals away from political life.

Of course, the whole episode is rife with hypocrisy. These are the conflict-of-interest laws that the Harper government put into place, of which Poilievre was not only a part of, but defended them, particularly when questions arose around Nigel Wright and his assets when he was Harper’s chief of staff, and Poilievre personally swore up and down at committee that these rules were amazing and that the blind trust was blind, and so on. Of course, now that it’s convenient, his tune has changed, but that didn’t stop the CBC from pulling out the footage from the archives.

Meanwhile, Poilievre also told reporters that the country needs “more people leaving than coming,” which is not even a dog-whistle at this point but a bullhorn. If this is pandering to the far-right elements of the riding he’s trying to win, well, it is likely to backfire on his attempts to continue wooing other newcomer communities, particularly the Sikh and Punjabi communities he spent so much time wooing in the leadup to the last election. Immigration numbers have already flatlined, and it’s going to cause problems down the road, sooner than later. For Poilievre to say this as the mass deportations south of the border pick up speed shows he’s not only incapable of thinking through the implications of the things he says, but he’s fine with mouthing the words of fascists, and that’s a real problem.

(Incidentally, Poilievre once again said he opposes Alberta separation but says that they have “legitimate grievances,” and repeated his same bullshit line about the Ottawa telling Alberta to “pay up and shut up.” They pay the same income tax as the rest of us, and have the same representation in Parliament).

Ukraine Dispatch

Russian drones killed two people in the Kherson region. President Zelenskyy is proposing a major government reshuffle that includes a new prime minister, while the current one is to be shuffled to defence. Trump’s “ultimatum” to Putin to reach a ceasefire in 50 days is just license for him to keep firing drones and missiles at Ukraine for another 50 days, and probably longer.

Good reads:

• Carney will be meeting with his Cabinet today, while Trump says that the 35 percent tariff letter “is the deal,” leading to more questions about Carney’s strategy.
• François-Philippe Champagne has launched his pre-budget consultations.
• There are concerns about Carney’s planned cuts to Global Affairs at a time when we need more diplomats to engage abroad given the times we’re in.
• An RCMP officer from Quebec is under investigation for threatening remarks and leaking Trump’s movements during the G7 summit.
• AFN national chief Cindy Woodhouse Neepinak says the meeting between Carney and First Nations leaders needs to be the beginning and not the only one.
• One of the four men arrested as part of a militia near Quebec City was granted bail with strict conditions; the three others facing terror charges remain in custody.
• The Logic has the strange tale of someone who registered as a lobbyist for a Saudi investment bank, whom the bank disavows, and has conflicting tales of his own.
• TikTok’s CEO has called for an urgent meeting with Mélanie Joly regarding the order for the company to shut down their Canadian operations.
• New York Magazine has a longread about one of their writers heading up to Canada to learn about how angry we really are (with a lot of extreme not-getting-it).
• The Federal Court says that Indigenous Services acted unreasonably in denying funding for mould removal from First Nations houses with children with asthma.
• The King met with members of Lord Strathcona’s Horse, currently on guard at Buckingham Palace, and talked about how much he misses Canada.
• The special envoy on antisemitism says that Ontario has to address the problem of antisemitism in its public schools.
• Danielle Smith’s husband has been showing up at meetings involving plans for passenger rail, but she insists it’s not a problem because “he’s not a lobbyist.”
• Paul Wells ponders the coming spending review, and the need for actual transparency in budget documents rather than just political faff.

Odds and ends:

There is no going back to "normal." That's the problem.

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-07-14T14:39:26.098Z

Want more Routine Proceedings? Become a patron and get exclusive new content.