The issue of Poilievre’s attack on the leadership of the RCMP has not gone away, and the party spent the day trying to manage the fallout, both with the new scripted talking points they handed out to their MPs when faced with media questions (obtained by the Star) that were intended to “clarify” what he meant, and the fact that Poilievre’s comms people have been sending statements to the media to again, clarify that he was only trying to cast aspersions on former commissioner Brenda Lucki and not the current management (even though the current commissioner was Lucki’s deputy, and frankly, should have disqualified himself from the position based on his response to the Mass Casualty Commission’s findings).
The thing is, Poilievre has not made any clarifications on his social media channels, or on the party’s official website, or any place that his supporters might actually see it—only to media outlets so that his followers can dismiss them as “fake news” precisely because they don’t see it on his social media channels. It is a deliberate choice, and this is not the first time that has happened, and rest assured, it won’t be the last. This is Poilievre trying to tell two different groups two different things, but unlike Erin O’Toole, he thinks he’s being cleverer about it because his followers can’t see the version he’s telling the media on his direct-to-voters channels. This is not clarification—this is fuckery, and we should be calling it out for what it is.
Immigration polling
The CBC has been working on a story about polling about feelings of immigration, and feeding the bullshit narrative that the “consensus has been broken,” when there wasn’t really a consensus to begin with. That poll also shows that the Conservatives’ feelings about immigration spiked to the negative, but kept making pains to say that this doesn’t mean that they’re xenophobic (even though that’s kinda what it means). But then they went and interviewed Jason Kenney on Power & Politics, and guys, just stop. Don’t interview Jason Kenney. All he does is 1) lie; 2) get indignant; and 3) lie some more. In this case, he kept insisting that this rise in anti-immigrant sentiment wasn’t because people are more xenophobic, but because Justin Trudeau broke the system. Oh, and Indigenous people are the most anti-immigrant. Nothing about far-right propaganda going mainstream on social media, nothing about his party pushing MAGA talking points, nothing about the scapegoating because premiers like him did fuck all to provide housing or healthcare for the immigrants that they were demanding to fill labour shortage, or when their strip-mall colleges were defrauding foreign students as they were imported to be cheap labour. Nope—it was all Justin Trudeau.
It’s not like Kenney brought in a bunch of far-right loons into his provincial party’s fold while he kicked out the centrist normies, who then poisoned the discourse further. It’s not like he wasn’t playing stupid games trying to get newcomers to turn against one another for his benefit. It wasn’t like he wasn’t doing his part to poison the sentiment toward asylum seekers when he was immigration minister. No, everything is Trudeau’s fault. I wish the CBC would wise up to this, but of course they don’t. Both-sides! *jazz hands*
Ukraine Dispatch
A Russian attack knocked out power in much of Chernihiv region on Monday. Ukrainian attacks have forced Russia’s Novokuibyshevsk refinery to stop production, and the Orenburg plant to reduce production coming from Khazahkstan.
https://twitter.com/ukraine_world/status/1980176600818651155
Good reads:
- François-Philippe Champagne says the government will implement the financial crimes agency they’ve been promising since 2021 for real this time.
- Here is the updated list of budget promises.
- Gregor Robertson says that average housing prices need to come down, but not necessarily individual home values, and now he’s made the math teachers angry.
- Mélanie Joly “summoned” the head of Stellantis, as well as Unifor, to her office in order to demand action about the announced job losses in Brampton.
- The government still has not issued a definition of “national interest” for its major projects legislation. (I’m as shocked as you are).
- Processing times for certain immigration streams are now in the range of ten years, which is unheard of (and a crisis for the department).
- DND has been accused of covering up drinking water contamination in North Bay as a result of chemicals leaching from their airfield.
- AFN national chief Cindy Woodhouse Neepinak is calling on the government to live up to their promise to legislate making First Nations policing an essential service.
- Opposition parties are making their budget demands known.
- The Post profiles Dominic LeBlanc as he tries to secure a trade deal with Trump.
- The court case by the former Bloc MP who lost by a single vote is now underway.
- Ontario wants hospitals to find more savings because starving the system to collapse wasn’t enough, and they need to make everyone suffer.
- Alberta is promising legislation to thwart Longest Ballot shenanigans in provincial elections, and they totally won’t use it for partisan ends—really! They promise!
- Another BC Conservative MLA has left caucus, as the wheels are falling off of John Rustad’s leadership of the party.
- Anne Applebaum fits Trump’s scatological propaganda response to the weekend protests in with the broader context of the authoritarian playbook.
- Marty Patriquin muses about the potential upset to the deal between Newfoundland and Labrador and Hydro-Québec after the province’s election.
Odds and ends:
New episodes released early for C$7+ subscribers. This week I'm talking to @smsaideman.bsky.social about what is happening with the F-35s and the "Golden Dome." #cdnpoli
— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-10-20T23:11:07.353Z
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