Yesterday, Pierre Poilievre tweeted an endorsement of JK Rowling praising the International Olympic Committee’s decision to ban trans women from sport, using a photo of Algerian boxer Imane Khelif as illustration. In spite of conspiracy theories and slander, Khelif is not trans (and is from a country where being queer is a crime). Poilievre should know this, but he is choosing to double down on anti-trans rhetoric (with a dose of misogyny and slander along the way). This is not the first time he has shown himself to be anti-trans, but this is the first major opportunity since he’s been trying to cast himself in a new light.

In case you needed any clarification where Poilievre stands on trans rights.

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-03-27T17:16:48.712Z

The discussion of this online turned to Mark Carney’s stance on trans rights (he has been blandly supportive, and one of his children identifies as non-binary), and whether he is going to do anything about provinces like Alberta and Saskatchewan, who have invoked the Notwithstanding Clause to protect their anti-trans legislation from court challenges. The answer is that he doesn’t have the constitutional tools to do anything about it other than moral suasion. And then someone will pipe up and say that he can use disallowance.

No, he can’t. Disallowance is a constitutional dead letter because it was largely meant to prevent provinces from intruding into areas of federal jurisdiction, and that power was essentially adopted by the Supreme Court of Canada’s reference function. This means that any residual disallowance power would be a declaration of war on a province, at a time when you have two provinces that are flirting with separatist agitation. It’s not going to happen. Stop pretending that it’s a possibility because it’s not.

For the last time:The federal government is NOT going to use disallowance.Stop pretending it is a magic wand to deal with asshole premiers. You want to stop them? Get off your ass and organize, organize, organize. That's how politics works.

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-03-28T04:36:47.504Z

— Effin' Birds (@effinbirds.com) 2026-03-27T13:24:01.622Z

Ukraine Dispatch

Ukraine’s economy minister said that the rise in fuel and fertilizer prices thanks to the Iran conflict are not expected to impact Ukraine’s spring planting season.

Good reads:

• Mark Carney was in Halifax to sign an agreement on simplifying environmental assessments, and commit to $3 billion in defence projects in the region.
• At a talk at the Halifax Chamber of Commerce, Carney noted that separatist agitation in Alberta can have an effect on investor confidence in the province.
• Carney also cancelled his media availability, leaving it up to Tim Hodgson and Maninder Sidhu to deal with the fallout of Michael Ma’s committee performance.
• Here is a deeper dive into the tainted supply chains of Chinese EVs, particularly with regards to use of aluminium, and why that might trigger US retaliation.
• The Fiscal Monitor shows a deficit of $31.21 billion between April and January.
• Tim Hodgson announced $28.9 million for carbon capture projects.
• Now that Bill C-12 has received royal assent, the immigration department is preparing to cancel 29,000 asylum claims in one fell swoop.
• After months of delay, the promised early retirement incentive programme for civil servants is now in launching.
• The president of the Canadian Bar Association is calling on the prime minister to reject the demands by four premiers for more say in judicial appointments.
• A Canadian neo-Nazi has been sentenced to twenty years in prison on terrorism-related charges.
• The Métis National Council is also unsatisfied with the RCMP Commissioner’s expression of regret for the spying in the sixties. (There was accountability then).
• Here is a look at the paths to victory for the NDP leadership candidates. There was a thank you and farewell for Jagmeet Singh at the convention on Friday.
• Here is more about the methane agreement between the federal government and Alberta, and it requires third-party verification because of chronic under-reporting.
• Danielle Smith’s Service Alberta minister violated election laws, while her parliamentary secretary is encouraging people to sign the separatist petition.
• Anne Applebaum chronicles Viktor Orbán’s use of digital slop to fight an election based entirely on surreal fictions, like the fantasy that Ukraine wants to invade.
• Justin Ling points to the upcoming 25th anniversary of when Hassan Almrei was locked up on a security certificate, and that he is still waiting for an apology.
• Althia Raj tees up the choice facing the NDP this weekend.
• Susan Delacourt ponders the bigger picture of people feeling the NDP has lost its relevance, as they don’t seem to have kept up with broader societal shifts.

Odds and ends:

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