Tag Archives: Arctic

Roundup: Official silence around Lewis’ most recent nuttery

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There has been some attention paid lately to the fact that Leslyn Lewis is promoting a House of Commons e-petition that calls on Canada to withdraw from the UN, in the name of our “sovereignty.” Which is ridiculous, because the UN doesn’t impact on anyone’s sovereignty (which is partially why it’s such an ineffective body), but not unexpected. Lewis has peddled many a conspiracy theory around the WHO, or the World Economic Forum (which is a particular conspiracy theory that leans heavily into antisemitism), and has not only not received any rebuke from her party, but they actively encourage some of these same conspiracy theories—particularly those around the World Economic Forum (and then turn around and wonder about the rise in antisemitism. Gosh).

This largely went unmentioned in legacy media for a few days (but hey, a lot of people are still on vacation), but I do find the absolute silence from the Conservatives to be interesting. Some of their former staffers have tried to offer a bit of polish to this, but you can’t actually polish this. (And no, she’s not even data-mining on this kind of petition because it’s through the House of Commons’ portal, not her own or a party website). The simple fact of it is that the Conservatives are more than willing to engage in this kind of nuttery because they think that these are accessible voters in the next election, because these have tended to be people who didn’t used to vote, but then Maxime Bernier offered them something to vote for, and they flocked to his banner, and now Poilievre wants them under his, so he’s willing to entertain this dangerous nonsense and to keep shifting the Overton window in order to try and win those votes, even though it’s almost certainly a fool’s errand because they can see how hollow he really is. Nevertheless, he won’t stop trying, and we can expect more of this kind of nuttery going forward, because that’s who they are these days.

Ukraine Dispatch:

While there has been little movement on the front lines, long-range attacks back-and-forth carry on, with the Russians having acquired ballistic missiles from North Korea, while Ukraine has launched drone attacks both against military targets in occupied Crimea and the around the Russia city of Belgorod. A Ukrainian parliamentary committee is debating changing the rules around mobilisation, and increasing sanctions for draft evasion.

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QP: The plan to phase-out heating oil

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The prime minister and all other leaders were present, albeit temporarily. Before things got started, Speaker Fergus gave another exhortation to improve their decorum, following a disruption during Members’ Statements. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, and he talked about the so-called “second carbon tax” that doesn’t exist, and switched to English halfway through to call on the PM to denounce what Gudie Hutchings said on the weekend. Trudeau read a script in French to praise their programme to help people switch to heat pumps, including free pumps for low-income households. Poilievre was fully in English to denounce the so-called “two classes of Canadians” that this heating oil pause created, and demanded the whole price be cut. Trudeau insisted that this was a step toward getting everyone off heating oil and onto heat pumps. Poilievre insisted that this was an attack on national unity, to which Trudeau denounced this as disinformation, and pointed out that most people get more in a rebate than they pay in carbon prices. Poilievre then misquoted the PBO on the costs of the carbon price, and mischaracterised what Trudeau said about the heating oil pause, to which Trudeau tried to more emphatically insist that they wanted to get free heat pumps to low-income households in provinces where they have an agreement. Poilievre insisted that he wanted to get rid of the price for all people in all places, and wanted it paused until the next election so it could be put to the public. Trudeau insisted that the Conservatives have lost three elections in a row on denying climate change and that the Liberals would show them that once again.

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, and he wanted a concession on reducing immigration targets, given that it was the subject of the Bloc’s Supply Day motion. Trudeau launched into a paean about how great and necessary immigration is for the country. Blanchet demanded support for their motion, and Trudeau talked about how they engage with stakeholder, and indicated their support for the motion (which is surprisingly considering that the motion is entirely concern trolling).

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and he demanded the government remove the GST on all home heating—a programme that is largely unworkable and disproportionately benefits the wealthy. Trudeau talked about how years ago they agreed to phase out coal, and now they are doing the same with heating oil. Singh repeated the question in French, and got much the same response. 

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QP: A committee chair tells on himself

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The prime minster and all other leaders were present today, which is nice to see. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, and he raised that the Parti Québécois “independent budget” and that they claim that Trudeau is leading Canada to financial ruin. Justin Trudeau said that he would get to the questions in a moment but took the opportunity to pay respects to the shooting in Sault Ste Marie. Poilievre insisted that separatism was off the table under the Harper years because of low taxes, which is risible, to which Trudeau shrugged it off and praised his government’s actions to help people. Poilievre switched to English repeated his same claim about separatists before pivoting to the carbon price and blaming it on inflation, shrinks-flatiron, and “skimp-flatiron.” Trudeau suggested that Poilievre was guilty of conflation, and noted the Conservatives only want to cut. Poilievre went on a tear about the RCMP Commissioner being shut down at committee and the ArriveCan investigation, and cried corruption. Trudeau said that if the Conservatives were digging up matters that were settled years ago, they were desperate. Poilievre then pivoted again and demanded to know if the PM believed Israel fired on the Al-Ahli hospital in Gaza. Trudeau said that they needed to ensure they had the facts, and the best evidence was that Israel did not do it.

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, praised Poilievre for bringing separatism back to the floor of the Commons, before turning to discussing with the US about a truce in Gaza. Trudeau said that he did speak to Biden over the weekend and they were working to a humanitarian solution. Blanchet wanted to know what happened to the idea of party leaders getting together to speak on this with a single voice, and Trudeau said that time will be set aside for such a meeting.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, raised the dubious story about the Calgary senior whose mortgage went from $1000 to $2600 per month (which is impossible), and demanded help for Canadians. Trudeau said that he was just in Singh’s hometown of Brampton to announce more housing plans. Singh switched to French to raise the tent encampment in Gatineau while the prime minister was hosting a fundraiser there, to which Trudeau praised the signature of a housing agreement with Quebec, details to be forthcoming.

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Roundup: An unearned victory lap amidst the Court’s repudiation

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Yesterday morning, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the federal Impact Assessment Act is partly unconstitutional, and that the federal government was over-broad in the criteria they used to trigger a federal environmental assessment. Ironically, while Jason Kenney and the federal Conservatives liked to call the legislation the “No More Pipelines Bill,” the section that governs pipelines was found to be entirely constitutional, so it was fairly laughable as they started crowing over social media about their supposed victory. It might have helped if they had actually read it and not just the headlines.

The more important part of the decision, however, was the fact that while it did find part of the federal legislation ultra vires Parliament, it also explicitly repudiated the arguments that the Alberta government and the Alberta Court of Appeal were making, in claiming that the province somehow has interjurisdictional immunity for so-called “provincial” projects. That’s not true, and the Court said so, which means that when Danielle Smith and Pierre Poilievre were claiming that the Supreme Court “affirmed” that provinces have the exclusive right to develop their own resources, that’s wrong. It’s not what the Court said, and in fact they said the opposite of that. Alberta’s “victory” was a pretty hollow one because the Court affirmed the federal role in environmental assessments and that they can assess whatever they want once their ability to make said assessment is triggered—the only real issue was the criteria for the trigger, which needs to be narrowed. The federal government has pledged to do just that, and because this was a reference opinion by the Court and not a decision on legislation, it has not been struck down. In fact, because there don’t seem to be any projects under assessment that would be affected by the decision, it seems to show that the law is carrying on just fine, and that the amendment will be a fairly surgical tweak (and yes, I spoke to several legal experts to that effect yesterday).

Meanwhile, the reporting on the decision largely ignored this repudiation of the provincial argument. The Canadian Press, the National Post, and the Star all missed that point entirely in their reporting. Only the CBC caught it—in the main story it was given a brief mention amidst the egregious both-sidesing, but Jason Markusoff’s more nuanced analysis piece did get a little more into it, but again, it did not really point out that Kenney’s crowing over social media was for naught, and that Smith’s victory lap was not really deserved. (Smith later went on Power & Politics and lied about what projects that the Act supposedly impacted, such as the Teck Frontier mine—that project was assessed under the Harper-era regime, and was shelved because the price of oil couldn’t justify the project’s viability). It would be nice if we had more journalists actually talking to more experts than just one while they both-sides the ministers and Smith, because they would find that they missed a pretty significant part of the decision. (My own story that does precisely this analysis was delayed in publication, so it should be up on Monday).

Ukraine Dispatch:

Russian forces pounded Avdiivka in the Donbas region for a fourth day in a row as they try to make gains in that area. Ukrainian authorities say that Russians have destroyed 300,000 tons of grain since they started attacking Ukrainian port cities in July (because they’re trying to weaponise hunger).

https://twitter.com/ukraine_world/status/1712871747672744431

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QP: Lying about the price of lettuce

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Before things could get underway, a whole batch of new MPs needed to be brought in to take their seats—Liberals Ben Carr and Anna Gainey, and Conservatives Arpam Khanna, Branden Leslie and Shuvaloy Majumdar. When things got underway in earnest, Pierre Poilievre led off in French, blaming the prime minister of causing “housing hell” and demanded action to fix it. Justin Trudeau recited some pat talking points about helping Canadians and calling grocery CEOs. Poilievre quoted John Manley in claiming deficits were driving inflation, and demanded the government end the so-called “inflationary deficits.” Trudeau read the talking points about helping to build more apartments while repeating his boast about the grocery CEOs. Poilievre repeated his first question in English, and this time Trudeau read some good-news talking points about the deal in London, Ontario, which was the first deal but not the last. Poilievre repeated his second question in English with an added factoid about housing starts being down, and Trudeau read some good-news talking points about Calgary agreeing to federal conditions for more dollars. Poilievre again demanded a balanced budget, and Trudeau accused him of empty slogans and cited his record of bungling housing when he was minister, and then recited some points about the policy convention votes.

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, he demanded solutions and not “scapegoats,” and accused the government of withholding $900 million from Quebec. Trudeau praised their Accelerator Fund and removing GST on new apartments, but didn’t address the allegation. Therrien repeated the demand, and Trudeau said the Bloc are only there to squabble, and repeated his same pabulum points.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and he railed that the government was not punishing grocery CEOs, to which Trudeau insisted that they were making corporations pay their fair share, and Trudeau again raised the meeting with the CEOs and upcoming changes to competition legislation. Singh switched to French to accuse the government of allowing a loss of affordable housing units under their watch, and Trudeau repeated his same points in French.

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Roundup: The sound and fury of a special committee

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NDP MP Niki Ashton sent out a press release yesterday calling on the minister of national revenue to create a special committee to crack down on tax avoidance by billionaires. I have my doubts about just what a parliamentary committee could do on its own. Asking them to recommend solutions seems like a fairly inefficient way to go about it because there are changes put forward every year to close loopholes, and the tax avoidance experts find new ones. 🎶It’s the circle of life! 🎶

My deeper suspicion is that this is mostly just about performing for the cameras, which MPs are increasingly using committees to do rather than doing serious work, and Jagmeet Singh was trying to get in on that in a big way over the past few months, such as his little dog and pony show with the stack of papers that were supposedly all questions he was going to ask Galen Weston, and then promptly did not. Additionally, however, parliamentary resources are constrained because of hybrid sittings, and the injury and burnout rate for interpretation staff, and in the most bitter of ironies, Ashton is one of the worst offenders for abusing hybrid rules, and has pretty much opted to almost never show up in Ottawa. (She may deign to visit once every six to eight weeks, and only if she is required for some kind of media event).

Because economist Lindsay Tedds is one of the foremost tax policy experts in the country, I pointed this out to her, and well, she had thoughts.

https://twitter.com/LindsayTedds/status/1695109929902993636

https://twitter.com/LindsayTedds/status/1695104974353842372

Ukraine Dispatch:

Ukrainian officials say that Russian forces are regrouping in occupied territories in the country’s east, and will likely try another offensive push. Ukraine is also saying they hit a Russian military base deep in occupied Crimea as part of their operation earlier in the week. The Ukrainian government has also dismissed the head of its State Emergency Service after an inspection, but haven’t said what the reason was.

https://twitter.com/ukraine_world/status/1695094695855116732

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Roundup: It’s “grocery rebate” day

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Today is the day that the federal government’s so-called “grocery rebate” gets deposited in Canadians’ accounts, but it’s not really a grocery rebate, and once again, a defensible policy gets given a dumb and confusing label for marketing purposes, because that’s what this government does. This is just another GST rebate top-up like the one that happened last year to help deal with the rising cost of living for those who are on the lower-end of the income scale, but of course the government gave it a new name this year just to try and be cute about it.

https://twitter.com/LindsayTedds/status/1676243078833926145

https://twitter.com/LindsayTedds/status/1676243669685506048

You may also have heard complaints that this particular rebate is going to fuel inflation (which is coming down! It’s nearly at the outside band of where the central bank wants it to be!). This is also nonsense, because of how the programme is targeted, and Jennifer Robson has all of the receipts and data to prove it in the thread below.

Ukraine Dispatch:

Russians attacked a military funeral in Pervomaiskyi in the Kharkiv region, wounding 38 including twelve children.  Ukrainian forces targeted a Russian military formation in occupied Makiivka, which Russian officials say killed a civilian and injured others. Previously over the weekend, Russia launched its first overnight drone strike against Kyiv in twelve days, while a drone attack on the city of Sumy killed two and injured 19. Elsewhere, the reports from the counter-offensive are that it has been “particularly fruitful” over the past several days, with yet more gains around Bakhmut. There have been yet more warnings that the Ukrainians believe that the Russians will detonate something at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, while the Russians are also claiming the Ukrainians will do so in order to blame them (as though that makes any sense whatsoever).

https://twitter.com/kyivpost/status/1676258705422053378

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Roundup: No, it’s not another carbon tax

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Pierre Poilievre is currently on a tour of Atlantic Canada, braying about the increase in the carbon price, and the incoming clean fuel standard regulations, which he has mendaciously dubbed “Carbon Tax 2.” Poilievre claims will be a combined hike of 61 cents per litre of gasoline. He’s wrong—the figure comes from future carbon price increases plus a dubious Parliamentary Budget Officer report on the clean fuel standard pricing effects, which were based on a lot of assumptions that may not happen, and the figure from that report that Poilievre is citing was an estimated price effect from 2030, which again, he falsely implies is coming right away.

While I’m not going to say much more, because I will probably write about this later in the week in a more comprehensive way, it was noted that a columnist at our supposed national paper of record not only fully bought into Poilievre’s bullshit, but he couldn’t even be bothered to check his facts on these prices. Here’s energy economist Andrew Leach setting the record straight:

As a bonus, here is Leach throwing some shade at Michael Chong as he tries his own brand of bullshit about what is happening with Norway.

Ukraine Dispatch:

The counteroffensive moves “slowly but surely,” not only in regaining a cluster of villages in the southeast, but also around Bakhmut, while Russians are bringing in their “best reserves.” Ukrainian forces also have to contend with low-cost suicide drones that are difficult to defend against, as these drones target valuable equipment. Meanwhile, in a speech to parliament, president Volodymyr Zelenskyy ruled out any peace plan that would turn the war into a frozen conflict.

https://twitter.com/zelenskyyua/status/1674074924124631041

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Roundup: Keeping up the blame-shifting

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Another day, another reminder that the premiers are engaging in blame-shifting around rising crime rates, while they pretend that this is all the fault of the federal government allegedly making changes to the bail system a couple of years ago. It’s wrong—the uptick started before that bill passed, and that bill merely codified Supreme Court of Canada rulings while actually increasing conditions and added a reverse onus for domestic violence accusations.

The federal justice minister, who has committed to some targeted changes to bail laws, keeps pointing out that this is a more complex issue, much of it revolving around mental health. And guess whose job that is? The provinces! Not only have they been under-funding it, but they largely didn’t use the last mental health transfer, negotiated by Jane Philpott, on mental health, which is why Carolyn Bennett has seen the promised mental health transfer be part of the bilateral agreements with provinces on increased health spending that will have more strings attached. To add to that, provinces are also under-funding their justice systems, and you have provinces like Manitoba where the Crown prosecutors are grieving with their employers because they’re short-staffed, over-worked and under-paid. That’s not the federal government’s fault.

But premiers don’t like to be reminded that this is their failure. They’re eager to try and cast the blame elsewhere and count on credulous media to both-sides their claims so that they won’t actually be called out on their bullshit, and the federal Conservatives are happy to amplify their blame-shifting because it gives them an issue to fundraise on. We have problems in our system, but we also have solutions, but those responsible for implementing them would rather pretend it’s not their problem. We shouldn’t let them get away with it.

Ukraine Dispatch:

Russian missiles are again being fired at Ukrainian cities early in the morning, and Ukrainian air defences around Kyiv appear to be holding. Over in Bakhmut, Russian forces are claiming four more blocks of territory, but Ukraine still controls the key supply route into the city. Two Ukrainian drones destroyed the fuel depot at Sevastopol in occupied Crimea, giving another sign the counter-offensive is near. Meanwhile, president Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that he carries a pistol with him, and was prepared to fight to the death if Russian forces had taken his headquarters.

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QP: Declarations of guilt versus more flailing and backpatting

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In the wake of MP Han Dong’s exit from the Liberal caucus following anonymous allegations in the media, and in advance of US president Joe Biden’s arrival, Question Period got underway without either the prime minister or his deputy present. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, and he started immediately with the ordeal of the two Michaels, and raised the allegations made against Dong and his allegedly advising the Chinese government to not release them as doing so would some how benefit the Conservatives (and no, none of these allegations make any actual sense). Poilievre demanded to know when the PMO knew of these allegations, and Mélanie Joly insisted that the release of the Michaels was the priority of the government and everyone in the House. Poilievre repeated the same again in English, and Joly repeated that releasing the Michaels was everyone’s priority, and thinking otherwise was false. Poilievre again demanded to know a third time when the prime minister was made aware of these allegations, and Joly praised the date that the Michaels were returned to Canada, and that their priority was always to stand up against arbitrary detention. Poilievre insisted the non-answer was “troubling,” and re-asked a fourth time. This time, Joly praised the friends and allies who helped to advocate the case of the Michaels. Poilievre insisted that the prime minister must have known that Dong was working to keep the Michaels in China, and Joly again insisted that the prime minster ensured that everyone was standing up to China to get the Michaels home.

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, and took a swipe at a David Johnston before demanding an public inquiry immediately, and Dominic LeBlanc insisted that Johnston’s appointment was part of the suite of measures to strengthen the response to foreign interference. Therrien took up the concern about the report about Dong, and Joly got back up to praise the efforts to bring the two Michaels home.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and he too insisted that the prime minister must have known about the allegations about Dong, and demanded the government vote for their motion on a public inquiry, and LeBlanc said that while he appreciates the concerns about not stigmatising communities, they have been taking foreign interference seriously. Singh repeated the demand in French, and LeBlanc repeated his same response.

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