Tomorrow is budget day, so that’s pretty much all anyone is going to talk about today, as François-Philippe Champagne gets his budget shoes (in that peculiar tradition), while the melodrama over whether or not it will pass continues to swirl. To get you up to speed, here are set-ups from both CBC and The Canadian Press, which are all about the promises, and the set-up of austerity and sacrifices to make these “generational investments,” as though there aren’t trade-offs that come with austerity that are very long-lasting. And Carney is saying that he’s convinced this is the right budget for the moment, and that this is “not a game,” so he’s serious, you guys.
But we still have obligatory melodrama, which is a whole lot of “who is going to support it?” because this is a minority parliament, but guys. Stop pretending that the Conservatives would ever support it in a million years because they won’t. They’re the official opposition. They are never, ever going to support it for that very reason. Constantly asking them and getting them to lay out unrealistic conditions is not helping anyone, and just muddies the water from where any pressure needs to be applied, which is of course, the Bloc and the NDP. And the Bloc have already laid out wholly unrealistic “non-negotiable” demands, which leaves the NDP. And they can’t oppose it because they’re broke, they have no leader, and they are going to have to swallow themselves on this one, because they have no choice.
The budget will pass. The only possible way it’s not would be by accident because Don Davies is too big for his britches, and no one else can count properly. It won’t happen. You can cut out the artificial drama.
Ukraine Dispatch
Russian attacks overnight Saturday left the Donetsk region without power and killed at least two. That said, Ukraine is still holding Pokrovsk, in spite of the recent Russian advance. Ukraine has hit one of Russia’s key Black Sea oil ports.
Good reads:
- At the end of his Asia trip, Mark Carney spoke about transforming the economy so that we’re not so dependent on the US, and that there are opportunities in Asia.
- Following his meeting with Xi Jinping, Carney says that China doesn’t understand how seriously we take foreign interference.
- Carney also said the lesson to take from the Blue Jays’ near-victory is that we don’t need to have the biggest payroll to win the World Series.
- The Canadian Press got a look at Carney’s speaking notes for his first call with Trump after the election back in April.
- David McGuinty has signed a defence cooperation agreement with the Philippines.
- Bob Rae says he has no regrets for sometimes going off-message as he leaves his post as UN ambassador.
- This year’s Silver Cross Mother is Nancy Payne, whose son was killed in Afghanistan.
- Here is a deep dive into the various ways that Canada’s lack of competition in our economy is hampering productivity and growth.
- Poilievre says he’s “confident” he’ll survive his leadership review.
- Kevin Carmichael laments how very unserious certain political players are at a very critical and serious moment in our country’s history.
- Shannon Proudfoot takes a couple of well-deserved jabs at Ambassador Hoekstra.
- Emmett Macfarlane gives his own take on the reaction to Friday’s Supreme Court of Canada decision, and the threats of use of the Notwithstanding Clause.
- My weekend column points out the increasing demand by the Conservatives and others about adopting private members’ bills at all stages, thwarting any debate.
Odds and ends:
https://bsky.app/profile/emmettmacfarlane.com/post/3m4ln3fuktk2h
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