At the Commons’ heritage committee, there was a bit of a showdown between the Conservatives’ heritage critic, Rachael Thomas, and minister Marc Miller, and it’s an indication of just how stupid the online discourse is right now. You see, a couple of weeks ago, there was a conference in Ottawa for independent film and television producers, and the president of the Canadian Media Producers Association said that they have the prime minister’s back. Immediately, every far-right and bad faith conservative on social media claimed that this was media declaring their bias for the government, when the “media” in question is film and scripted television, not journalism.

Thomas, however, went into this exchange trying to corner Miller to “prove” that this was about journalists being in the tank for Carney. Miller disabused her of that notion, but she kept it up online afterward, completely discrediting herself in the process, but this is part of her shtick—making wildly incredulous claims, which sound absolutely ridiculous to you and I, but to a segment of very online people are absolute catnip. Things like her saying on the floor of the House of Commons that Justin Trudeau was a “dictator.” I wish I was kidding.

There’s a reason why Thomas does this, with Poilievre’s blessing, is because it creates a separate reality for these very online people, which is a darker and more dystopian version of the country that they believe is going to hell around them (often “because woke” or some other such nonsense), but it fuels them with this urgency about how they need to “save” the country from itself, and if that just happens to mean that they need to do it by undemocratic means, well, that’s just what they’ll have to do. Having watched the bifurcated American media create separate news ecosystems that in turn became separate realities for Democrats and Republicans, Conservatives in this country have been salivating at the opportunity to do the same, and Thomas is happy to give them fodder to construct this false reality that they radicalise themselves with. It’s good that Miller is at least one of the very few members of the government to call this out, but also note that in the reporting, The Canadian Press very carefully both-sides her comments rather than simply declaring that she is making shit up, and that is a problem in and of itself, because the Conservatives learned that they can just outright lie and legacy media won’t call them on it. Thomas took that lesson to heart more than most, and this kind of stunt at committee is the result.

— Effin' Birds (@effinbirds.com) 2026-02-12T22:27:02.144Z

Programming Note: I am taking the full long weekend off from the blog.

Ukraine Dispatch

Russian attacks have again left people without power in Kyiv, Dnipro and Odesa, however the weather has been warming, which is reducing the energy deficit. Ukraine says two Nigerians were found fighting for Russia after a drone strike in Luhansk.

Good reads:

• Mark Carney and other party leaders will attend a vigil in Tumbler Ridge tonight.
• Here are more details on the victims of the shooting. Police say it may be several more days before they release details on the guns used.
• The government has decided not to break up the RCMP (which is a mistake).
• Lina Diab insists that the changes in Bill C-12 will make some refugee claims easier, but the legal community is concerned this will create a two-tier system.
• Shafqat Ali defended the provisions in the budget bill pertaining to regulatory sandboxes, and says that conflict of interest laws still apply to them.
• Public Health officials say that an open freezer door caused the loss of $20 million in medication from the national emergency stockpile a year ago.
• The Military Police Complaints Commission said an investigation into a sexual assault was poorly handled and wound up with an officer’s suicide.
• Here is a look into the lobbying activities of the Moroun family, who own the Ambassador Bridge, and who have been trying to block the new bridge.
• The Conservative MP who tried to decline his pay raise got heckled in caucus, and eventually had to leave the meeting, and everyone confirmed it on the record.
• The National Post talks to Jamil Jivani about his trip to Washington, where he insists there’s a lot of “goodwill” to Canadians. (So why do they keep punching us?)
• Stephen Saideman discusses how a civil war in the US could break out, and what that would wind up meaning for Canada.
• Justin Ling goes into the search histories of the Tumbler Ridge shooter, and tries to decipher some of the clues about what motivated her.
• Jen Gerson makes the key point that Danielle Smith has no mandate to hold a separatist referendum, and that this gamble is about keeping her party together.
• Supriya Dwivedi calls out how deeply unserious Jivani’s trip to Washington was, and how the Conservatives remain by refusing to name Trump as the problem.
• Matt Gurney makes note of the muted reaction to Trump’s bridge threats because we’re getting used to them, while the Conservatives are still missing in action.
• Susan Delacourt follows up with former NDP national director Anne McGrath about being the survivor a school shooting 50 years ago.

Odds and ends:

It's not even satire anymore.

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-02-12T23:59:50.030Z

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