Tag Archives: Gregor Robertson

Roundup: A committee prepares to express its dismay

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The Commons’ transport committee will be meeting sometime this summer over the BC Ferries decision to buy new electric ferries from China and not Canada, never mind that no Canadian company bid on the project (likely because the major shipyards are already full-up on the naval and Coast Guard orders that will keep them occupied for years to come, which was the whole point of the National Shipbuilding Strategy). Of course, because this decision is actually in provincial jurisdiction, as transport minister Chrystia Freeland said time and again in Question Period before the House rose for the summer, the Conservatives on the committee needed to find a different angle of attack.

Enter the Canada Infrastructure Bank. It provided a loan to BC Ferries before the deal was signed, that covers both a portion of the capital costs, as well as electrification infrastructure for the ships themselves. Never mind that the Bank operates at arm’s length from government—the fact that it still reports to Parliament via a minister, Gregor Robertson in this case, means that Robertson and Freeland are going to be summoned to explain themselves, even though they have no hand in these decisions, no should they. The federal funds that go to BC Ferries is for operations and not capital costs, btu the Conservatives seemed to think that this should somehow be weaponised as well. (Oh, and BC premier David Eby said that he wants the committee to look at how unfairly the federal funding is allocated between BC and the Atlantic provinces, never mind that the Atlantic ferries are mostly interprovincial, which makes them a federal responsibility as opposed to BC’s, which is solely within the province’s jurisdiction).

So, what exactly do we expect to happen? I can pretty much guarantee that every party, the Liberals included, will spend the meetings expressing their dismay at BC Ferries’ decision, even though no Canadian firm bid on this contract. The ministers will express dismay, the MPs on the committee will all preen for the cameras, each expressing their dismay and sometimes outrage that these jobs are going to China and not Canada (never mind that no Canadian firm bid on this contract). It will be one big circle-jerk of dismay, while the CEO of BC Ferries will probably appear to say that the Infrastructure Bank loan is a loan that needs to be repaid, and that no Canadian firms bid on this contract. And everything will be done in service of clips for social media, because that’s all Parliament is any more.

Ukraine Dispatch

There is at least one dead and over 71 wounded in drone attacks on Kharkiv, as well as a death following an attack on Odesa and more injuries following a drone strike on Zaporizhzhia. Many of those attacks continued to be aimed at military recruitment offices in order to disrupt intake of new fighters. Trump says he’ll start sending more weapons to Ukraine, but who knows how long it’ll last this time.

https://twitter.com/ukraine_world/status/1942141632620495134

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QP: Gas-powered nonsense

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With the G7 still ongoing in Kananaskis, minus Trump, things continued apace back in Ottawa as the government continues to bulldoze through its One Canada Economy bill (which remains a very big problem). Andrew Scheer was once again present but silent, leaving it up to Chris Warkentin to lead off, who raised the party’s Supply Day motion about ending the government’s supposed ban on gas-powered vehicles, which is not a ban, but it’s not like they have any real compunction to tell the truth. Julie Dabrusin boggled that the Conservatives would attack the auto industry like this. Warkentin shot back with claims that a report said that there could be 50,000 job losses in the auto industry because of trade uncertainty (read: Trump’s capricious tariffs), and he demanded the government “end the insanity” of the supposed “radical” ban on gas-powered engines. François-Philippe Champagne insisted that they would take no lessons from the Conservatives, and he praised the record investment in the auto sector and the EV supply chain. Rachael Thomas took over, and she demanded freedom of choice for vehicles people drive, and that EVs don’t fit the needs of Canadian families. Dabrusin said that she would stand up for the auto industry and for being climate-competitive, as EV sales are up globally. Thomas gave another overwrought plea to “stop making the vehicles auto workers are producing illegally,” and claimed that farmers can’t use EVs (which is complete bullshit). Dabrusin reminded her that the characterisation is wrong, and that they are not banning gas-powered vehicles (and it only took her until the fourth answer to point this out), but this was support for the EV sector, which has seen growing demand. Luc Berthold read the same mendacious script in French, and worried about the lack of snowmobiles, ATVs and F-150s. Champagne patted himself on the back for bringing Quebec into the auto industry and that they are creating jobs in the industry of the future. Berthold worried that cold weather cuts battery power of EVs, and Dabrusin praised the EV industry and Quebec’s adoption.

Christine Normandin led for the Bloc, and accused the government of using the G7 as a distraction as they ram through Bill C-5, and that this was something so heavy-handed that it would embarrass Stephen Harper. Mandy Gull-Masty insisted that there would be “exhaustive” consultation with Indigenous people as part of this. Normandin hoped that there were more Liberals who were uncommitted with this bill and what it represents, but Stephen MacKinnon insisted that they got elected to do just this. (Erm…) Patrick Bonin took over to also decry that the Henry VIII clause in the bill is so open-ended that they could suspend any law. Dabrusin said that Canadians asked the government to build a strong economy, and to embark on projects of national importance while they still protect the environment.

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QP: Attacking Gregor Robertson’s real estate holdings

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While the G7 summit was happening in Kananaskis, things in Ottawa were heating up over a closure motion on the One Canada Economy bill. Andrew Scheer was here but didn’t lead, and left it up to Melissa Lantsman to lead off, and her decried environmental legislation that is supposedly killing energy projects, and demanded that legislation be repealed. Tim Hodgson urged her to pass the One Canadian Economy Bill. Lantsman urged him to repeal all environmental legislation, and Hodgson said that industry and unions supported their bill. Jasraj Hallan took over to also demand that “radical” environmental laws be repealed, and this time Julie Dabrusin took over and said that becoming an energy superpower needs to ensure projects are low cost, low risk and low carbon. Hallan tried again and got much the same answer. Gérard took over in French to also demand that environmental legislation be repealed, and this time Steven MacKinnon noted that their electoral platform was predicated on passing this bill. Deltell tried again, and got much the same answer.

Christine Normandin led for the Bloc, and she decried the “gag order” in Bill C-5 that gives the prime minister exclusive power to define projects in the national interest, and said this as much like Poilievre got elected. François-Philippe Champagne stood up to praise the bill. Normandin again sniped that this was essentially like getting the Conservatives elected, and MacKinnon got up to insist that everyone was behind this bill. Patrick Bonin repeated the same concern about the bill, and had to be warned about unparliamentary language. MacKinnon got back up to essentially taunt that the Liberals won the election.

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Roundup: A single mandate letter for Cabinet

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Prime minister Mark Carney released his “mandate letter,” singular, yesterday following the “Cabinet planning forum,” which is how he’s re-branded a retreat—because nothing says Canada’s New Government™ like renaming everything. And the thing is, it’s not much of a mandate letter at all­, but rather a press release that lists seven priorities that essentially tasks ministers to figure out how their files fit into these priorities and do them, which are sufficiently broad that makes it hard to actually hold anyone to account, which was supposed to be the whole reason why Justin Trudeau made the mandate letters public in the first place (though his too were full of repetitive boilerplate language and values statements, but they did at least have some specific items for each minister).

Note: Apologies for this being late/incomplete, but I’ve been really sick the last couple of days, but I at least wanted to put something out before all of the links went stale.

In case you missed it:

  • My National Magazine profile of new justice minister Sean Fraser.
  • My weekend column that points to the big decisions that Mark Carney is going to have to make about the Senate.
  • My column demonstrates why we’re not really headed toward a two-party system in Canada, because it’s largely based on a false premise.
  • My Loonie Politics Quick Take on Carney’s creeping presidentialism with those “decision notes” he’s been signing for the cameras.

Ukraine Dispatch

https://twitter.com/ukraine_world/status/1925153620225310721

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Roundup: Signing decision notes as performance art

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It was Mark Carney’s first Cabinet meeting yesterday after the election and the shuffle, and hoo boy, is there a lot to talk about, starting with the fact that Carney once again called the media into the Cabinet room so that they could film him signing a “decision note” about implementing his planned tax cut. This is pure theatre—essentially this note is to instruct the civil service to prepare the legislation that will make this happen, but having the media witnessing him signing a document is both very Trumpy, and also a continuation of Trudeau-era politics by comms exercise. It’s not how things work in our system, and this is a very bad sign about how they’re doing things “differently” from Trudeau.

I have to say, I'm really not a fan of this new performance art of calling the media into the Cabinet room so that Carney can sign a mysterious document in front of them, Trump-style.

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-05-14T17:29:26.165Z

Oh, look, it's another "Decision Note." Glad that this is now a vehicle for policy performance.

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-05-14T17:40:41.329Z

And then there was the gauntlet of ministers saying things unfiltered to the press, with no message discipline. On the one hand, it’s pretty glorious to finally have ministers unleashed. On the other hand, the kinds of trouble that they are inviting is exactly why iron-fisted message discipline has been implemented for the past two decades. First up was François-Philippe Champagne saying that there won’t be a budget tabled in the short spring sitting, but that there will be a “comprehensive” fall economic update. He could have articulated that there simply isn’t time for the civil service to put one together in those four weeks or to talk about how the private sector forecasts are pretty much unusable in the current trade war uncertainty, but he went on about the Speech from the Throne, because reasons.

New Secretary of State Wayne Long says that it sounds like government is going to be run “like a corporation,” and I cannot even. This kind of thinking never, ever works out in government because it doesn’t have a bottom line to deliver to shareholders—it has to do the things that companies won’t, and government is set up to be held to account, whereas corporations are explicitly set up in a way to limit accountability and liability.

There was Gregor Robertson who stumbled on his very first outing, saying that housing prices don’t need to come down and that more supply will make housing affordable—except the math on that one is that it would take 20 to 40 years to do so. This is a tightrope to walk because of the number of people who have their nest eggs in their home equity, but he’s going to have to do better than what he answered.

The Housing Minister suggested that home prices don't need to go down to restore affordability. We examined this, and it's technically true. They don't. However, in large parts of the country, it would take 20-40 years to reach affordability.Read here: www.missingmiddleini…

— Dr. Mike P. Moffatt (@mikepmoffatt.bsky.social) 2025-05-14T15:50:37.000Z

And Steven Guilbeault. Oh, boy. Guilbeault was asked about Carney’s comments around building more pipelines, and Guilbeault—whose new job is “Canadian identity” (and good luck to him on that Pandora’s box)—said that we should actually use our existing capacity for building more. And he’s right—but he got the current TMX values wrong. He also pointed out that both the Canadian Energy Regulator and the International Energy Agency have said that peak demand is going to happen is around 2028-29 (so it may not make sense to build a bunch of assets to be stranded), but man, did this go over like a lead balloon. And of course, Danielle Smith pounced on it, while every TV pundit declared that Guilbeault should have just shut up since it’s not his portfolio anymore. But he has a point—there are no pipeline projects waiting to go ahead, and there is no demonstrable market demand for more, so everyone is getting hot and bothered over a fantasy or a dead letter (such as Energy East), which absolutely nobody is asking for. We’re twisting ourselves into absolute knots over imaginary projects.

https://twitter.com/maxfawcett/status/1922731670043517191

https://twitter.com/maxfawcett/status/1922722025291858017

Feds bought & built TMX. Complain about the cost but it’s operating. They delivered. This was supposed to be a bargain. Tidewater in exchange for meaningful reductions in GHGs.Has the oil industry delivered there? That’s the starting point for discussions about further pipelines. #ableg #cdnpoli

— Martin Z. Olszynski (@molszyns.bsky.social) 2025-05-15T00:21:34.144Z

Ukraine Dispatch

A Russian missile killed three people in Sumy. President Zelenskyy looks to still be headed for Istanbul to continue to call Putin’s bluff on “peace talks”, and it looks like Trump won’t be there either.

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