Apparently, everyone is getting in on the dumb populist moves when it comes to gasoline prices—prime minister Mark Carney included. In the morning, Carney announced that he was going to suspend the excise tax on fuel (10¢/litre for gasoline, 4¢/litre for diesel) until Labour Day in order to help with the rising cost of gasoline thanks to the Iran conflict, and gearing it to the summer travel season. This is not quite what the Conservatives have been demanding, which is to remove the excise tax, the GST and the clean fuel standard (which they deliberately misconstrue as a tax when it’s not even a charge). In both cases, it’s crass populism that is bad economics. If prices are rising due to external factors, credible economists will tell you the best thing to do is increase transfers to lower-income households because they need it most. Just cutting fuel prices at the time when they’re rising because of a global shortage encourages people to buy more, which exacerbates the shortage. And yes, we produce most of the gas we consume in this country, but not all parts of the country do, and the east coast in particular will be more vulnerable to the global shortage, and this could be very bad. This is certainly not the technocratic government that we were promised under Carney.
Hmm. Around the world I see oil/gas price caps, subsidizing demand for things in short supply.We have seen this before. Doesn't end well!
— Kevin Milligan (@kevinmilligan.bsky.social) 2026-04-14T16:52:07.899Z
Blake provides some solid technocratic economist advice.But in the age of slopulism there just doesn't seem to be any appetite for policy that delays gratification even minimally. bsky.app/profile/blak…
— Kevin Milligan (@kevinmilligan.bsky.social) 2026-04-14T16:57:34.839Z
Yeah, that's bad. Dumb populism.Think about it this way: If you had a pot of cash to hand out, who would you send it to? I'm guessing you wouldn't say: “Folks who drive a lot are obviously the neediest; that's who deserves my cash.. Also, I would love to subsidize reliance on foreign oil.”
— Justin Wolfers (@justinwolfers.bsky.social) 2026-04-14T23:23:40.959Z
Pierre Poilievre, meanwhile, has decided that his latest line of attack is to claim that Carney has been “badly educated” in economics, which is…hilarious. Poilievre has no economics training, but because he watches crypto bros on YouTube, he thinks he’s got a better economics understanding that someone with degrees from Harvard and Oxford, and was the governor of the central bank for two G7 countries. And when called out on it, he and Andrew Scheer are doubling down on it. The Dunning-Kruger Effect here is just blinding.
Tonda MacCharles: Pierre Poilievre called you badly educated in economicsMark Carney: Did he? Wow.
— Scott Robertson (@sarobertson.bsky.social) 2026-04-14T14:44:59.393Z
https://twitter.com/andrew_leach/status/2044206811390325191
Not to be outdone, Avi Lewis has his own plan for gas prices, which is to cap them and then charge windfall taxes on oil companies. Capping prices during a shortage will have the same effect as discounting prices, because the supply problem is not changed, and windfall taxes are tricky beasts because those companies will demand all kinds of government support the moment there is any kind of downturn.
It's mindless populism all the way down.
— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-04-14T21:54:32.368Z
https://twitter.com/andrew_leach/status/2044145727388139992
Ukraine Dispatch
A Russian missile strike on Dnipro killed at least five civilians. Ukraine has signed a deal with Norway for Norway to produce Ukrainian drones.
Good reads:
- Mark Carney and Finnish president Alexander Stubb skated with the PWHL’s Ottawa Charge at their practice yesterday, after Stubb met with Mary Simon.
- Carney suggested that there will be less showboating once their majority takes effect on committees. (I suspect we’ll get even more, actually).
- François-Philippe Champagne will table a spring economic update on the 28th.
- The federal government is planning to revamp the skilled immigration point system to prioritise higher-wage job offers.
- Here are profiles of Dr. Danielle Martin, Doly Begum, and Tatiana Auguste.
- Nate Erskine-Smith says he will resign his seat this summer, as the provincial Liberal nomination for Scarborough South will be May 9th.
- In spite of the fact that the Conservatives’ vote share declined dramatically during the by-elections, Poilievre insists that he’s not going anywhere.
- Jen Gerson makes some observations from the Liberal convention on the sense of self-assuredness with no accomplishments, and on Marilyn Gladu’s demeanour.
- Colin Horgan, also from the convention, reflects on the change in the Liberal Party between Trudeau and Carney, and what the end of the former’s era signals.
Odds and ends:
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I don’t know if I’d zero in on a nuclear reactor to complain about how long it takes to build anything here, as Jen Gerson does. Do we really want those fast tracked?
But I was happy to see some bemusement (from Colin Horgan) toward “Canada Strong” as a Liberal slogan.