Because everything needs to be stupid all of the time, Conservative MP and obnoxious windbag Andrew Lawton started circulating a petition in support of his nomination of Don Cherry to the Order of Canada. The Order of Canada advisory board does not respond to petitions. It is an arm’s-length body chaired by the Chief Justice in order to apolitically weigh the nominations for the Order. I make this point because the honours system in Canada is held by the Crown in order to keep it apolitical (which is one reason why constitutional monarchy is superior). Lawton circulating this petition, which is being signed and championed by members of his caucus, including his leader, is the very definition of politicising these honours for the sake of culture war bullshit—after all, Cherry eventually lost his lucrative CBC gig because of racist commentary.
But because Lawton was so keen to gin up the culture war grift, he inadvertently pissed off members of his own caucus—specifically, most of the Quebec members, who are not fans of Cherry because Cherry also spent his career insulting Quebec and European players, and they are not looking to forgive and forget. And now this is spiralling because culture war grifting is by its very definition stupid and self-defeating. But when your political fundraising is tied to this same grifting complex, is it any wonder that this kind of self-own happens? And will they learn any lessons from this? Of course not.
Carney-versary
It’s the one-year anniversary of Mark Carney being sworn-in as prime minister, so there are a few retrospectives. The National Post takes stock of what we know and don’t know about him, and the fact that there are still a few mysteries. JDM Stewart enumerates the expectations placed on Carney that he will need to deliver on. Althia Raj talks to 33 sources about that first year in office, and it’s a pretty honest assessment of the trends both good and bad he has demonstrated.
Ukraine Dispatch
Russian shelling killed one and wounded six in Dnipropetrovsk region, and an attack in Zaporizhzhia region injured four. President Zelenskyy warned that pausing Russian oil sanctions will only prolong the war.
Good reads:
- Mark Carney was in Norway to observe NATO exercises (photos here), and also said that Canada is holding firm on Russian sanctions while the US pauses them.
- Carney basically shrugged off the dismal job numbers, saying that in the bigger picture we’re still doing better than the US in terms of job creation.
- The federal government is allowing rural businesses to increase use of temporary foreign workers because of “persistent labour shortages.”
- Canada is contributing 23.6 million barrels of oil to the International Energy Agency’s attempt to help stabilise prices.
- There are questions about how the responsibilities of the incoming national security and intelligence advisory, as the outgoing advisor leaves the post.
- Two former members of the Net Zero Advisory Panel were invited to committee, and were beset by junior high behaviour, which confirmed their decision to resign.
- Here is a look at how the byelection is unfolding in Terrebonne.
- Pierre Poilievre visited Windsor ahead of his US trip, and promises he’ll have an “auto strategy” of his own to announce on Sunday.
- Doug Ford is gutting the province’s access to information regime in order to keep his phone records and other Cabinet materials secret.
- Stephen Saideman offers a reminder of the dynamic in our Parliament where MPs prefer not to know classified things so that they can be loud in the media.
- Supriya Dwivedi also comes out against any move to ban social media for minors, because age verification is just a privacy nightmare for everyone.
Odds and ends:
The Foreign Influence Transparency Commissioner has formally been appointed, months later than promised. #cdnpoli
— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-03-13T20:25:46.201Z
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