Tag Archives: Competition

Roundup: A relatively restrained update

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And so, the government tabled their Fall Economic Statement, and lo, it was relatively restrained. There was very little spending, most of it very targeted, nothing about booking particular promised but not yet delivered spending programmes (such as the disability benefit), and most of that spending was geared toward either housing, or some targeted tax breaks. Critics will point out that what is offered for housing is very little given the scale of the crisis, but we also have to remember that the federal government needs to be restrained in its spending so as not to juice growth too much and keep inflation high—several provinces are already doing that, which makes the Bank of Canada’s job much harder, and Freeland seems to be making the effort to do her part not to make things worse.

With this in mind, here are some of the stories that emerged:

  • A overall look, including the deficit situation.
  • Further promising changes to competition law.
  • Using part of the growth fund to guarantee carbon prices for major emitters (as insurance for investments against future government actions).
  • There’s a new voluntary “Mortgage Charter,” and measures to help CHMC revive projects that may have been shelved because of interest rates.
  • Debt-servicing charges are increasing mostly because of how much they needed to take on during the pandemic.
  • Enriching the payroll tax credit for media organizations.
  • The Canadian Press has a list of highlights and five key affordability measures in the update.

Meanwhile, here is some added reaction:

Ukraine Dispatch:

Russians hit a hospital in Selydove in the east, as well as a coal mine, as well as killing one while shelling Kharkiv. More than 10,000 civilians have been killed since the start of Russia’s invasion. The Russians claim to have scuppered more Ukrainian attempts to get footholds on the eastern banks of the Dnipro river. Two Ukrainian lawmakers are under investigation for trying to bribe reconstruction officials, one of them with Bitcoin.

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QP: Same scripts on demanding free votes for individual MPs

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While the prime minister was in town but not in QP, but most of the other leaders were absent as well, even when they just gave media availabilities in the Foyer. The PM’s deputy was present for a change, which has become something of a rarity. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, and he took shots at the Bloc for supporting the government’s carbon price plans, and that they planned to vote against their Supply Day motion on removing the carbon price on all home heating, and wondered what concessions the prime minister made to them. Chrystia Freeland said that the government was proud to follow in Quebec’s footsteps on child care and climate action, because Quebec was a leader on both. Poilievre stated that the question was for the prime minister, who was “hiding,” and repeated his insinuation that there was some kind of coalition deal with the Bloc, which is obvious nonsense. Pablo Rodriguez got up to worry that the Conservatives want to take Quebec backwards, whether it’s with women’s rights, gun control, or climate action, and declared the the Conservatives want to send Quebec back to the “Stone Age.” Poilievre switched to English to carry on with the empty chair gambit, said that Gudie Hutchings’ comments were “revolting,” and demanded a free vote on their carbon price motion. Jonathan Wilkinson somewhat wearily recited that the cost of heating oil is four times as much as natural gas and they have a plan for free heating pumps. Poilievre tried to pick off the two Alberta Liberals to demand a free vote, and Wilkinson again reiterated his same points. Poilievre insinuated that the prime minister was hiding and demanded more deee votes for more Liberal MPs. This time Chrystia Freeland got up to call out Poilievre for “hiding” on the Alberta pension issue, and that it took him 29 days to denounce the plan.

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, and demanded that the government safe television after all of the TVA layoffs. Pascale St-Onge rose to say that her thoughts are with those whose jobs were affected but the landscape in media has changed, which is why they need the cooperation of all parties to safe Canadian media. Therrien decried that television was in danger and demanded federal action, to which St-Onge again decried the Conservatives trying to block their abilities to help the sector.

Jenny Kwan rose for the NDP, and decried how much rent has increased (which is provincial), and demanded more investments in social housing. Sean Fraser said that he agreed with the slams against Poilievre and patted himself on the back for their investments to date. Daniel Blaikie got up to denounce the government in general and demanded that they support the NDP bill on competition reform. François-Philippe Champagne said that they should support the government’s bill on competition reform.

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Roundup: Bad behaviour on committees for clips

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The Commons Access to Information, Ethics and Privacy committee released their report on foreign interference yesterday, and much of it was marked by recommendations to do things like finally implement a foreign agent registry (which the government is working on and has been undertaking consultations), and to fix issues that were the subject of leaks from national security agencies. The Conservatives, however, were not on board with the recommendation for web giants like Google and Meta to be held accountable for the spread of disinformation on their platforms, much in the way that the European Union has been doing. The Conservatives claim they are concerned about free speech and journalistic independence, but I have my doubts about that, because cynically, I suspect it’s in their self-interest to be able to continue spreading their own disinformation over these platforms and they don’t want to be accountable for that. Predictably, the Conservatives also used their dissenting report to demand forensic audits of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, even though there is no avenue for the government do really do this as it’s an independent non-profit corporation, and the initial endowment from the government is not at issue in all of the various conspiracy theories that the Conservative shave been pursing.

As for their concern about journalistic independence, they told on themselves some more as their fight to try and haul CBC management to answer questions on their coverage of Hamas and the use of the word “terrorist” took over the Heritage committee with a heated exchange, and Conservative MP Rachael Thomas vowing to make it “hell” for the chair if she didn’t get her own way. Peter Julian kept trying to tell her that the president of CBC, Catherine Tait, is already scheduled to appear next week on other matters, but Thomas kept up this dog and pony show so that she could get clips of her being “shut down” by the committee. But seriously, it is not up to Parliament to make demands of CBC’s coverage, and for the party to claim they respect journalistic independence while pursuing this vendetta just shows how much they are invested in their bullshit, and how willing they are to erode democratic norms (like the independence of the public broadcaster) in order to score a few points.

This use of committees as clip-gathering for social media was also on full display at Status of Women, as MP Michelle Ferreri staged another such stunt, by demanding a study on violence against women on transit as an “emergency,” while Liberal MP Anita Vandenbeld objected because the study she had been trying to launch for months now on the mental health of women refugees who faced sexual violence would be pushed back yet again. Ferreri claimed that she wasn’t doing this for clips—and then put out a shitpost attacking Vandenbeld. It’s shameful that committees are being used like this.

 

Ukraine Dispatch:

Russian forces continue to pound Avdiivka in the east, while Ukrainians say their defensive line is holding. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that they will continue to put their own pressure on Russian-occupied Crimea, and that increasing strikes have force the Russians to pull out their fleet as they are no longer to safely operate it from there. Elsewhere, Ukraine’s justice minister says he’s willing to go after the country’s oligarchs for embezzlement, fraud, and money laundering.

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QP: An apology, but apparently not the right apology

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The prime minister gave the media a warning that he would be offering a public apology in the House of Commons for Friday’s incident, as had been demanded over the past several days, as this was his first day back in the Chamber since it happened. Deputy Speaker Chris d’Entrement was back in the big chair, and he started off with a mild admonishment about some of the charged language used yesterday, but didn’t demand an apology for it. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, and declared that it was the prime minister’s personal responsibility for inviting Zelenskyy to Parliament, and insisted that his office should have vetted everyone in the Chamber—which is absolutely absurd. Trudeau got up and read that he apologised sincerely for what happened on Friday, and that it was terrible that the person received applauses in the Chamber. Poilievre switched to English to repeat the same misleading question, and Trudeau read the English version of the same apology script, but when he read that he apologised on behalf of everyone in the House, the Conservative benches objected to it not being on his behalf alone. Poilievre demanded to know if everyone was vetted by his office that day, and Trudeau rightfully stated that doing so would be a grievous violation of Parliament’s sacred privileges. Poilievre played outrage that this was some apparent violation, conflating security and political risk. Trudeau insisted that the facts were well known, and that this was entirely the outgoing Speaker’s responsibility, and that the opposition is misleading to score points. Poilievre again repeated the falsehood that PMO should have vetted everyone, and accused Trudeau of “hiding in his cottage” for three days. Trudeau stated that Poilievre has defended Parliament’s privileges before, and how he’s pretending that PMO should have some kind of oversight over the Speaker.

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, and asked if he has called Zelenskyy and if he has a strategy to combat Russian propaganda. Trudeau mouthed some pabulum about propaganda and defending Ukraine, but didn’t really answer the question. Blanchet took from the answer that he hadn’t called Zelenskyy and repeated the question. Trudeau said that they had sent several direct messages, before condemning Russia’s invasion.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and he declared that “real damage” had been done by the incident on Friday, and wanted “concrete action” on cleaning up the mess. Trudeau recited that they stand with Ukraine, for as long as it takes. Singh repeated his same question in French, and Trudeau repeated his same response. 

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