Yesterday was inflation data day, and it did tick upward, but for the reason that there was a base-year effect, meaning that because a year ago, the government instituted their stupid “GST holiday” as a gimmick to boost them in the polls, and that shakes out in the inflation data a year later because prices are that much higher a year later (and inflation is a year-over-year measure). But where this bites particularly hard is with food from restaurants, as that was one of the beneficiaries from the “holiday,” and that pushes up the food price index further, which is already high because of things like coffee and beef.
Enter Pierre Poilievre, who sees those higher numbers and starts to immediately caterwaul about them, without actually reading the rest of the data about why things like coffee and beef are climbing in price, and spoiler, it has a lot to do with climate change. “Adverse weather conditions” is generally things like droughts or extreme weather, most of which is climate-change related. Cattle inventories are low because the drought on the prairies meant that ranchers had to cull their herds because importing feed was expensive, and that means a lower supply and lower supply means higher prices (which is basic supply-and-demand). But Poilievre keeps trying to insist that this is about “hidden taxes” and that deficits are driving inflation, which is not the case. But will anyone on the government side correct him and his disinformation? Of course not.
It's too bad reading comprehension is so difficult for these jackasses.Food purchased from restaurants is up because of the base-year effect of last year's "GST holiday."Grocery pricers are up because the two main drivers were affected by drought.www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quo…
— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-01-19T15:14:03.719Z
From the 2025 annual CPI report, on food prices. "Adverse weather conditions" is mostly droughts, but also extreme weather driven by climate change.These price increases have fuck all to do with "taxes" or government deficits. www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quo…
— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-01-19T15:14:03.720Z
But will any member of the government actually point any of this out? Of course not. They will pat themselves on the back for the school food programme, or the Canada Child Benefit, but because they believe that "if you're explaining you're losing," they never explain, and the lies just fester.
— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-01-19T15:14:03.721Z
And here’s the kicker—Environment Canada is predicting that this will once again be among the four hottest years on record, and that is likely going to mean more droughts, possibly more extreme weather—because this does affect hurricane formation—and that’s again going to impact food-producing regions, which will raise prices even more. But Poilievre and the Conservatives refuse to believe this. They have openly scoffed in Question Period about this, and said stupid things like “paying a tax won’t change the weather,” as if that was what the point was. And then there’s Carney, gutting our environmental programmes left and right in the name of diversifying our economy, which will exacerbate things even further. So long as they all continue to play this ignorant little game, things will continue to get more expensive, and they will keep looking for more scapegoats rather than looking in the mirror.
Ukraine Dispatch
Russia launched a combined drone and missile assault on Kyiv, cutting off power and water supplies in parts of the city. The night before, drone strikes cut power across five different regions. President Zelenskyy announced a new facet of their air defences system, working to transform the system with more interceptor drones.
Good reads:
- Mark Carney is apparently still mulling the “Board of Peace’ invitation in spite of the Putin invitation and the $1 billion entry fee. (Seriously?!)
- Carney is now in Davos, Switzerland, to suck up to oligarchs and billionaires at the World Economic Forum in the name of diversifying trade.
- Canada has finally opened a high commission in Fiji, with Randeep Sarai in attendance, three years after promising to do so.
- Thousands of civil servants have now received notices that their jobs may be cut.
- The Federal Court has rejected the government’s attempt to block transparency on their renegotiations with the US around the Safe Third Country Agreement.
- Pierre Poilievre and his loyalists are campaigning amongst the party membership base ahead of the leadership review vote at the end of the month.
- The Conservative Party’s national council has already approved Damien Kurek to run again in Battle River—Crowfoot, meaning Poilievre needs to find a new seat.
- Former justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould says she’s undergoing treatment for breast cancer.
- Doug Ford is still throwing a tantrum about the Chinese EV deal, and the fact that Carney didn’t warn him ahead of time (because Ford can totally be trusted).
- Thomas Gunton makes the case that the market is showing we don’t need a new pipeline given excess capacity and global oversupply.
- Susan Delacourt sounds caution for the “Board of Peace” nonsense/grift.
- Anne Applebaum boggles at Trump’s increasingly unhinged behaviour regarding Greenland, and calls on Congressional Republicans to rein him in.
Odds and ends:
New episodes released early for C$7+ subscribers. This week I talk about the recent spate of "strategic partnerships" with authoritarian countries. #cdnpoli
— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-01-20T02:49:31.442Z
Want more Routine Proceedings? Become a patron and get exclusive new content.