With the Conservative convention now over, we can prepare for a whole bunch of legacy media pundits insisting that Poilievre is “setting a new tone,” and that he’s demonstrating he needs to “change,” and a bunch of other equally risible nonsense. Poilievre is not going to change, no matter if you think one speech signalled an intention to or not. Aside from the fact that in all of his adult life, he has refused to change, the fact that he spent his speech talking about Trudeau and not Carney or Trump should be the dead giveaway. Legacy media keeps insisting that this time for sure he’ll change, but rest assured he won’t.

Yes, the quote that Conservatives began weaponizing in 2015 definitely created the Quebec separatist movement that dates back to the 1960s.

— Max Fawcett (@maxfawcett.bsky.social) 2026-02-01T17:53:57.593Z

And while we get voices like Jenny Byrne who keep insisting that everything the party says needs to come back to affordability, to the point that she thinks they should blame the inability to get a deal with Trump on that (and funnily enough, Trump gets no blame there). There was also another push for a bunch of more failed American-style laws in their policy debates, but I will note the attempt to undo the conversion therapy ban and to change the policy on abortion laws both failed to get enough support, so that’s a minor positive. The grassroots also pushed back at the central party for putting their thumb on nomination races, and insisted on changing the rules around it to be fairer, so that’s a rare positive in all of this.

The smell in the room, however, was the presence of the Alberta separatists, who made their presence known, and who were not denounced by anyone in any official capacity. Danielle Smith continues to give them succour, and when those separatists boasted that members of her own caucus have signed their petitions, she claimed that she “doesn’t police the responses of my MLAs,” well, we all know that’s not true either. Smith also continued her bullshit lines about Trudeau “relentlessly attacking” her province, when he in fact bent over backwards to help them when oil prices crashed, and was repaid by this. Federal Conservatives also mouthed these grievance talking points, and wouldn’t denounce separatism either, so that’s healthy, and a conversation the party should be having with itself right now.

Danielle smith repeats disinformation about 30 percent plus being in favour of this.

— Orlagh O’Kelly (@orlaghokelly.bsky.social) 2026-02-01T19:45:19.591Z

Ukraine Dispatch

A Russian drone struck a bus carrying miners in Dnipropetrovsk, killing twelve people, which is one more way of targeting energy workers.

Good reads:

• Gary Anandasangaree “won’t pass judgement” on ICE operations in Minnesota, and come on—you need to be able to call out fascism.
• Gregor Robertson says he wants banks and pension funds to use Build Canada Homes to invest in housing (but won’t explain what the business model would be).
• Lina Diab wants the ability to track temporary residents when they leave the country (which seems awfully like exit visas in totalitarian countries).
• The updated figures from the government show a plan to eliminate more than 16,000 positions in the civil service, with 23,000 jobs at risk.
• Some premiers say that they are interested in pharmacare deals but find the federal government too inflexible and can’t guarantee long-term funding. (No one can).
• The RCMP say that things are turning around from their recruitment crisis (which is good considering the government’s promises of more Mounties).
• No, Minnesota can’t join Canada (unless every other state agrees to let them go).
• Mary Simon is heading out on official visits to Greenland, Denmark and Norway this week, and to attend the Arctic Frontiers Conference.
• The Liberals have announced that Dr. Danielle Martin of U of T medical school will be the candidate in University-Rosedale—with no nomination contest.
• Here is an interesting comparison between Carney and Stephen Harper, both of whom tend to consider themselves the “smartest guy in the room.”
• At his own party convention over the weekend, Doug Ford proclaimed his intention to run again in the next provincial election (whenever that may be).
• Kevin Carmichael suggests that Canadian businesses have been too focused on NAFTA talks and not focused enough on ensuring they have what the world wants.
• Lori Turnbull notes Poilievre’s careful omissions when he raised Reagan in his speech, and why the context matters in the face of Trump.
• Susan Delacourt talks to Wab Kinew about his concern for what is happening in Minnesota, and why he wants this conversation to be had in Canada.
• My weekend column calls on Carney and others to deal with the separatist threat in Alberta before they turn the province into the Donbas of Canada.

Odds and ends:

My Loonie Politics Quick Take talks about how Poilievre has tried to move on his “Canadian Sovereignty Act” nonsense as a counter to Carney’s Davos speech.

I can humbly say that I was wrong to suspect that Carney would slot one of his banker friends into the riding.However.This was not an open nomination process, and that's still a HUGE problem for the Liberals and for democracy as a whole.

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-01-31T21:14:47.349Z

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