The Conservatives are full-on throwing everything they can at the wall to see what sticks, and yesterday it was the moral panic over immigration figures. Pierre Poilievre put out a press release decrying that permits issued had blown past the proposed caps, and that the system is “facing collapse,” which I’m pretty sure is bullshit, before promising to propose “fixes” in the fall, which you can already be assured will mostly be comprised of dog-whistles. (And remember, the problem is less with immigration numbers than it is with premiers who are not doing their jobs with regards to building housing of properly funding healthcare).
Enter Jason Kenney, who went on an extended rant about how he “fixed” the system when he was minister, and how Trudeau and company broke it, but this is also revisionist history. He talks about the sweeping reforms he brought in in 2010, and how everyone praised it, but he omitted that he blunted most of those reforms before they could be implemented. You see, in 2010, it was a hung parliament and the Conservatives couldn’t push through draconian immigration legislation, so they needed to work with the opposition (most notably Olivia Chow as the NDP’s immigration critic), and they passed a bill that had plenty of safeguards in place. In 2011, there was an election where they got a majority, and before the 2010 bill could be fully implemented (because the coming-into-force provisions were going to take as long as a year), Kenney rammed through a new bill that curtailed most of those safeguards, and used tales of international migration cartels, and human smuggling rings that would bring people into the country to collect social assistance, which those cartels would then collect, and so on. Yes, there were problems with high rates of claims from certain countries, but like most things, Kenney was less than honest and building his scaremongering case, while also doing the thing where he played economic migrants against asylum seekers, and made “good immigrants versus bad asylum claimants” arguments to justify his legislation.
https://twitter.com/jkenney/status/1960088637925961993
The other thing that Kenney is blatantly ignoring is that the world is not the same world as it was in 2010, and the migration situation is vastly different than it was back then. So yes, the current government is facing different challenges, but I wouldn’t expect Kenney to be honest about well, pretty much anything, because that’s who Jason Kenney is.
effinbirds.com/post/7790141…
Ukraine Dispatch
Ukraine has been stepping up drone attacks on Russian oil refineries and fuel terminals, squeezing their war economy.
Good reads:
- Mark Carney was in Warsaw to talk strategic partnerships on trade, defence, and energy. He’s off to Berlin and then Riga today.
- Here is some reaction to Carney saying that Canadian troops could play a role in post-war Ukraine.
- The government is endorsing a UN-backed finding that famine is occurring in Gaza, and that Israel needs to stop its campaign.
- Dominic LeBlanc is headed back to Washington for more trade talks now that we’ve capitulated on more demands. (There is no deal to be had).
- Gregor Robertson thinks we need more Buy Canadian protectionism—because that’s going to endear us to new trade markets! (Just amateur hour…)
- There are questions and concerns about the state of the Start-Up Visa immigration programme, and where it’s working and where it’s being abused.
- The CRA has extended contracts for about 850 call centre workers because of “alarming” staffing levels.
- Here’s a look at how the Arctic could factor into increased defence spending.
- There are warnings that the federal budget and staffing cuts will affect diversity and disability hire initiatives (but that’s what you get when PMO is a bro culture).
- Elections Canada says there were very few rejected ballots in the Battle River—Crowfoot by-election in spite of the write-in requirement.
- The Federal Court has upheld a Canadian Transportation Agency decision requiring WestJet to pay $1000 to a passenger for a cancelled flight in 2011.
- Danielle Smith is launching another public input panel, this time on nuclear energy in the province (after she cancelled a tonne of renewable projects).
- Former Alberta deputy premier Thomas Lukaszuk is collecting 300,000 signatures for his pro-federalism referendum question to be accepted.
- Marty Patriquin hears from the chief of Kahnawake that they are planning on tolling roads through their territory to protest federal cuts and Bill C-5.
- My (belated weekend) column points out the extent of the drought crisis in Canada, and why this is the alarm bell we need to take faster climate action.
Odds and ends:
My Loonie Politics Quick Take calls out some of the false narratives that have taken root in the wake of Poilievre’s by-election win.
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