The vote on the Ways and Means motion around the federal budget will be held early this evening, at the collapse of debate, and as of yet, nobody is willing to say just how it’s going to pass. And rest assured, it will pass, because nobody wants an election, and the NDP in particular have no way of affording going to an election (with an interim leader, no less), but absolutely nobody wants to actually look like they’re going to back down when they can swing their dicks around instead.

And so, we’re now in a game of chicken. The Government Whip says they’re ready to go to an election on this budget if they have to, but it’s an empty threat because nobody actually wants to go to an election. The real problem is there being a potential accident where someone isn’t supposed to vote (for the sake of the numbers) does, because everyone can vote on their phones now (which, I remind you, is a parliamentary abomination and should be stopped), and it goes over the edge. But I’m pretty sure that’s not going to happen, because again, nobody wants to go to an election, especially the Conservatives and the NDP. So, I suspect the Conservative whip is going to ensure that someone has unforeseen circumstances that they “just can’t vote,” and oh, well, the budget passed by the narrowest of margins. Oh darn.

Because we’re not going to have an election over this.

Ukraine Dispatch

A Russian missile struck the city of Balakliia in Kharkiv region, killing three and wounding at least ten. Russia claims it has taken two more settlements in the Zaporizhzhia region in the south. President Zelenskyy says he is working on another prisoner exchange with Russia.

Good reads:

• Mark Carney was in Winnipeg to talk about studying the possibility of expanding the Port of Churchill, before doing the coin toss at the Grey Cup game.
• Carney is making a show of not waiting around for Trump to text him to re-open trade talks, but is demonstrably focusing on the budget.
• Carney will be heading to the UAE this week, and there are questions about links between the UAE and the civil war in Sudan.
• Interim PBO Jason Jacques says he is “absolutely” applying for the position permanently, thus demonstrating an utter lack of self-awareness.
• Ahead of December 6th, PolySeSouvient is again accusing the federal government of inaction on inaction on the gun control file. (Like every year).
• A prominent 95-year-old legal scholar was detained by CBAS officials in Toronto for four hours, and nobody wants to comment (nor does CBSA have any oversight still).
• The Pope has returned 62 Indigenous artefacts from the Vatican collection.
• Here is a look at the investigation that led to the collapse of an Indigenous art forgery ring that has been operating for years.
• Speaker Scarpaleggia has opted not to reside at the official residence at “The Farm” as his wife has no intention of moving there with him.
• Ontario is trying to blame the problems at post-secondary institutions on the federal student visa cap instead of their own underfunding, and I am going to lose my mind.
• Kevin Carmichael laments that the budget didn’t take the opportunity to reform the tax structures that encourage Canadian firms to stay small and not scale-up.
• My weekend column calls for more MPs to be good backbenchers like Nate Erskine-Smith, rather than more of the same robotic message control.

Odds and ends:

Counterpoint: We restore it to its original state.

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-11-16T00:43:13.309Z

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