Tag Archives: Inflation

QP: Just who is standing with Trump?

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The PM was in southwestern Ontario for his auto strategy announcement, while Pierre Poilievre was present, and he led off in French, with a somber delivery of his script on food price inflation, with the added accusation that the government gave us a weak dollar. François-Philippe Champagne said that it was the Conservatives obstructing their measures to grow the economy. Poilievre hit back that Champagne promised to stabilise food prices two years ago and they were still rising, to which Champagne quoted Poilievre’s own words around the past support for the previous GST rebate. Poilievre switched to English to denounce that auto production has fallen by half and decried that the government was subsidising American vehicles, and Champagne praised the “good news” of their auto strategy. Poilievre hammered that Champagne saw the loss of auto production and jobs, and wanted the government to eliminate the GST on Canadian-made vehicles. Champagne countered that he brought over a European auto manufacturer to Canada. Poilievre made the same demand, and Champagne patted himself on the back for their investments in the auto sector of tomorrow with EV supply chains. Poilievre pivoted and accused the government of letting Bishnoi Gang members into the country with no screening and letting them stay with refugee claims. Sean Fraser retorted that the Conservatives were obstructing lawful access measures (as well they should, because it’s unconstitutional!)

Yves Perron led for the Bloc, and he raised the Bloc’s issue of the week around the problems with pension payment software. Patty Hajdu read a script about the department working to rapidly resolve the issues. Perron tried again, and Stephanie McLean haltingly read her own statement of the same. Andréanne Larouche gave it another round of the same, and Hajdu defended her bilingualism before thanking the civil service for shrinking the backlog.

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QP: The economy is on “life support”?

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In spite of being in town and in the building, the PM was absent from QP, while Pierre Poilievre was also absent, though it sounds like this was when he and the PM were having their private meeting. That left Luc Berthold to lead off in French to read the same food price inflation script they’ve been reading all week. Steven MacKinnon pointed out that today, the House was set to pass the bill to enhance the GST credit (under a new and stupid name). Berthold insisted this credit would do nothing to lower prices, and Mélanie Joly repeated the praise for the credit, and thanked the Conservatives for supporting the bill. Mark Strahl took over in English and claimed that cutting imaginary taxes would lower prices (hint: it absolutely will not). MacKinnon repeated the same praise that the bill on the credit is due to be passed today. Strahl tried to again, and Patty Hajdu recycled yesterday’s line that the Conservatives used to always quote Food Banks Canada until they praised the GST credit plan. Scot Davidson claimed the economy was on “life support” before reciting the food price inflation points. Joly got back up to praise all of the new jobs that have been created, including in his riding. Davidson tried again, and Hajdu praised school food, child care, and noted the Conservatives stood against these.

Christine Normandin led for the Bloc, and once again, she raised the problems with the pension software, and Hajdu read a statement about how the new platform requires an adaptation period, and that anyone affected needs to contact Service Canada and her office. Normandin wondered if the government ordered civil servants to lie rather than fix the problems, to which Stephanie McLean read her own statement in French. Andréanne Larouche raised the same issue again, and Hajdu read her statement again in French.

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Roundup: Inventing a new grievance to get mad about

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Alberta premier Danielle Smith is at it again, by inventing a grievance regarding the appointment of judges, and is threatening the federal government to withhold funding for the justice system in the province if she doesn’t get her own way when it comes to having a say in who gets appointed, both with Superior Court and Court of Appeal appointments, but also with the upcoming appointment to the Supreme Court of Canada, as the vacancy opening up is a “western” seat on the bench. This is insane, it’s unconstitutional, and it’s possibly the dumbest thing to threaten. Her claim that she needs input because of the “distinct legal traditions” of Alberta is a load of absolute horseshit—Alberta has no distinct legal traditions. Quebec has a civil code which is separate from the common law that the rest of Canada employs, so yes, they have a distinct legal tradition. Alberta does not. It’s beyond risible that she is threatening to implode the province’s justice system over something that does not exist.

1) This is blatantly unconstitutional2) Withholding funding from which judicial appointments? Provincial? Because federally-appointed judges get paid from the federal budget. That's why new judicial spots end up in federal budget bills3) Withholding any funding will make the justice system worse

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-02-03T21:57:28.042Z

Provinces are already underfunding their judicial systems (provincial judges, court houses, clerks, bailiffs, Crown attorneys, remand facilities, etc). If she wants to withhold more funding, and then claim the federal Liberals caused crime, well, that'll be a real choice on her part.

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-02-03T21:57:28.043Z

Also, this is just an other invented grievance, which conservatives in Alberta love to do, and then claim that they are being oppressed because they're not getting something that nobody gets in the first place. Call it out, as just that.

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-02-03T22:04:53.329Z

It’s almost certain that this is supposed to be some kind of a stunt to demand judges that are tougher on crime, and that she can somehow “direct” as she has been quoted as wanting to do, which is an affront to judicial independence and the very nature of the rule of law. And frankly, we don’t have a judicial culture in this country of ultra-conservative judges who throw the book at everyone like they do in the US, because those judges tend to be elected, so they go extra hard to win votes. That’s not how this works here. And frankly, the appointment of judges is for lawyers to self-nominate to a judicial advisory committee, who then vets them and then either recommends them to the minister or not. Smith trying to insert herself into this process is simply asking to undermine the process and to personally reduce confidence in the justice system. Just absolute lunacy.

She is her inventing a grievance to be mad about. There are no distinct legal traditions in the province. They are a common law jurisdiction like eight other provinces in the country. Quebec has a civil code, which is a distinct legal tradition, and Alberta does not.

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-02-03T22:06:57.965Z

Let’s call this out for what it is—Smith is quite literally inventing things to get mad about, and then throwing a tantrum about an imaginary problem that doesn’t exist, so that she can be performative in her “Western alienation” pantomime. None of this is real, but she has determined that constantly having everyone mad at Ottawa is her ticket to staying in power perpetually, but it’s a really stupid plan. That kind of anger is exhausting, and will lead to unintended consequences, but most of all, this is just more fodder for the separatists that she claims not to represent (even though we all know that she doth protest too much over that one). Now the question becomes whether anyone in the federal government will call this out, and point-blank say that this is just an invented grievance, or will they back down, and try and placate her in some manner? Because if it’s the latter, that’s a very big mistake.

— Effin' Birds (@effinbirds.com) 2026-02-03T15:08:06.097Z

Ukraine Dispatch

The attack on Zaporizhzhia on Tuesday killed two people and injured at least nine others, while a power plant in Kyiv was badly damaged. President Zelenskyy says that Russia used the US-backed “energy ceasefire” to simply stockpile more ammunition and drones, and launch another attack.

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QP: Asking for theories when we all know the data.

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The PM was present today, as was Pierre Poilievre, so there was a buzz of anticipation for this show-down after his convention (though really, nothing was going to really change). As well, Stephen Harper and several of his former ministers were in the gallery to watch the proceedings in advance of Harper’s portrait unveiling. Poilievre led off in French, and launched into his spiel about “hope” and his “theory” on “hidden taxes” on food price inflation, and wondered what the government’s theory was. Mark Carney said that the industrial carbon price worked out to zero, and there was no food packaging tax, but that the biggest problem was the currency exchange, tariffs, and climate change. Poilievre insisted that it couldn’t be the problem, because other countries face lower food price inflation, and Carney registered his points. Poilievre repeated his first question in English, and got much the same response with an added bit about the clean fuel regulations being good for the canola farmers in his riding. Poilievre again tried to contest these assertions, and Carney returned that he knows that Poilievre is “just visiting his riding,” and after things calmed down, he suggested that Poilievre spend time with the farmers in nis riding to see how the biofuel charge helps canola production. Poilievre retorted that Carney was just visiting Canada, and listed towns in his riding to ask people there about the charges. Carney said he would always be happy to go back to his home province. Poilievre returned to his “theory” and demanded Carney’s, and Carney said that the fall of the Canadian dollar, thanks to Conservative obstruction, was one of the drivers.

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, and after an acknowledgment to Harper, he asked about the expropriation in Quebec as it related to Mirabel. Carney also acknowledged Harper before saying high speed rail is a national project that is getting consultation. Blanchet railed about the “trauma” of the expropriation related to Mirabel and wondered if he was aware that high speed rail would do the same. Carney insisted that they were cooperating closely with the constituents there about a small corridor and not a huge airport. Blanchet said that C-5 and C-15 were “heartless” bills, and Carney wondered if Blanchet was actually in favour of high speed rail.

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Roundup: Some noticeable omissions from the GDP concerns

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The latest GDP data was released on Friday, when the House wasn’t sitting, so the Conservatives spent yesterday making up for it, both with concern-trolling questions during QP, plus a lengthy statement about their concern about the “grim picture” of the Canadian economy. Yes, real GDP was flat in November, but that seems to be about as far as they are willing to read, because if you scratch the surface, one of the biggest drags on the economy was the fact that those motor vehicles and parts numbers were down 6.4 percent as a result of the global shortage of semiconductors. That is most assuredly not the fault of the Liberal government. Without that drag, it’s likely that the GDP would have been in the positive for the month, in spite of the other economic drags.

All of these words from the Conservatives, and none of them point out that Trump's trade war is the primary cause of this economic malaise (for which we have been surprisingly resilient to date). No, it's all the Liberals' fault.

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-02-02T21:38:44.075Z

The thing is, much as with Poilievre’s big speech on Friday, there is absolutely no mention of Trump in their statement like there wasn’t in the speech. Trump and his trade war are having a deleterious effect on our economy, because we grew over-reliant on them as an export market because they’re right there, and they were a willing market that was simply too easy to trade with. Disentangling parts of our economy from theirs is going to take time, and we are taking damage from it, but to be frank, most economists figured we’d be in a recession by now as a result of Trump, and we haven’t been, showing that we had some more resilience than they initially thought. But the fact that the Conservatives cannot acknowledge the reality of the situation in order to blame the Liberals is sad and pathetic.

And it’s not just the GDP data. They’ve been doing this with food price inflation, and putting out a bunch of absolute nonsense to “prove” that their obsession with imaginary “hidden taxes” and environmental laws are the real problems, not climate change, not Trump, not factors beyond our control. Nope, it’s all Liberals and their deficits. And because they get so little pushback on it, from either the government or the media (though, to be fair, David Cochrane was actually producing data to push back on Power & Politics yesterday), they get away with this false version of reality and people believe them. It’s a problem, but nobody wants to actually acknowledge it because that seems like work, or math, which they are allergic to.

— Effin' Birds (@effinbirds.com) 2026-02-02T14:08:02.462Z

Ukraine Dispatch

Russia is once again attacking Kyiv, Kharkiv, and other major centres, destroying energy infrastructure after a “ceasefire” for a whole couple of days. Russia also claims to have taken another settlement in Zaporizhzhia region.

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QP: Delusions about the trade war

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The PM was in town but otherwise occupied, allegedly, nor Pierre Poilievre was present, even though his caucus was chuffed from his leadership review results over the weekend. In his stead, Melissa Lantsman led off, reading an angry script about food price inflation. François-Philippe Champagne was thrilled about the good news that they agreed to fast-track the GST rebate to help Canadians. Lantsman took a swipe at Champagne for failing to bring food price stability when he was industry minster, and Champange kept up his praise for the rebate. John Barlow called the Liberals the “literal definition of insanity” before reciting the food price inflation talking points, and this time Patty Hajdu listed organisations like Food Banks Canada and others who praised their measures. Barlow recited the Risible nonsense about imaginary “hidden taxes,” and Hajdu sang the praises of the various measures the Liberals put into place help families. Pierre Paul-Hus took over to read the French version of the same script, and Champagne returned to his praise for the rebate and the fast-tracking of the bill. On another round for the same, Champagne listed the other measures they are taking for the food supply chains.

Christine Normandin led for the Bloc, and she once again raised the problems with federal pension software, and Stephanie McLean read, in halting French, that the department is working to address any problems clients may encounter. Normandin took a swipe at the software contract, and Hajdu read her own assurances that 98 percent of recipients have gotten their payments, and for anyone who has an issue to come forward. Andréanne Larouche  recited the same again, and McLean haltingly read more assurances about the software and the benefits seniors receive. 

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Roundup: Another meeting that ends in all smiles

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The premiers’ meeting went off as expected—all smiles and talk of unity ahead of the New NAFTA review, and hey, Mark Carney even announced the launch of the Team Canada Trade Hub to provide coordination for trade diversification efforts as certain premiers go on their own trade mission abroad. There were also some timelines around certain trade barriers like credentials recognition and harmonization of health and safety requirements, even if those timelines may not be until next year. (But that’s something, right?)

In his remarks to the premiers, Carney invokes Sir John A Macdonald and the railway, before talking about "how we build," and being in "true partnership" with Indigenous people.The railway *might* not be the best example of "how we build" (600+ deaths) or partnership (dispossession of land).

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-01-29T15:19:08.664Z

There was some added side drama as Danielle Smith said that they may be taking Kitimat off the table as the destination for the hoped-for pipeline, but that doesn’t necessarily open up better options on the northwest coast of BC, given that it was determined that it was too dangerous to put a pipeline to Prince Rupert, even though a bunch of people seem to think that’s where it should have wound up in the first place. (Again, this is why Poilievre’s “approve a pipeline today” cries are so ridiculous, because there is no actual route even planned yet).

The other thing on everyone’s mind was the piece in the Financial Times that confirmed that the Alberta separatists were in meetings with the State Department in the US, and David Eby referred to their actions as “treason.” (Incidentally, this activity doesn’t meet the Criminal Code definition of treason). Smith, however, refused to condemn them because they’re politically useful to her, and Carney sidestepped any kind of denunciation, saying that the topic hadn’t come up in his conversations with Trump, when what he should be doing is summoning the ambassador and threatening to PNG him.

— Effin' Birds (@effinbirds.com) 2026-01-29T22:27:01.937Z

Ukraine Dispatch

A Russian drone strike killed three in Zaporizhzhia, while Trump says Putin agreed not to attack Kyiv for a week due to the cold (and I’ll believe that when I see it). An exchange of war dead was carried out, with 1000 Ukrainian bodies turned over for 38 Russians. The Kremlin says they invited Zelenskyy to Moscow for “peace talks.”

"Kremlin says Russia has invited Ukraine's Zelenskyy to come to Moscow for peace talks."Guys. Come on. www.reuters.com/world/europe…

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-01-30T05:36:13.695Z

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QP: Thursday scripts with Friday faces

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It was an unusual Friday-on-a-Thursday QP, with the usual Friday start time, thanks to the Conservatives having their convention this weekend, and with the PM meeting with the premieres and Poilievre having already left for Calgary, it was going to be the b-team in play. That left it up to John Brassard to led off and accuse the prime minister of “seducing” Canadians with their own money, and accused the supposed “hidden taxes” of raising food prices. Peter Fragiskatos dismissed this and accused the Conservatives of being unserious. Brassard tried again, and Fragiskatos listed this as a populist distraction tactic. Rob Moore read the same script, and Evan Solomon recited talking points about the GST rebate and how the Conservatives are blocking their plans to build. Moore tried again, and Solomon repeated his same points. Gérard Deltell took over in French to read the same points, and this time, Marjorie Michel pointed to the previous tax cut and the GST rebate. Deltell raised food bank line-ups, and was reminded that they are following Food Banks Canada’s suggestions. 

Christine Normandin led for the Bloc, and she raised the problems with the OAS payment system and said it was worse than claimed. Steven MacKinnon said that one error was one too many, and encouraged people to reach out to Service Canada if they have an issue. Normandin tried again, and MacKinnon again offered bland assurances that the modernised services were positive on the whole. Andréanne Larouche took over to ask the same again, and MacKinnon gave his assurances for a third time.

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QP: Another round of same “gas tax” nonsense again

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The PM was in town and in the building, but was meeting with premiers instead of being at QP, which was mighty unusual for a Wednesday, but that’s Mark Carney for you. Pierre Poilievre was also absent, so it was up to Gérard Deltell to lead off in French, where he listed the nonsense “hidden taxes” as it relates to food price inflation, and François-Philippe Champagne responded with praise for their GST rebate and the other investments promised in the same announcement. Deltell reiterated the nonsense about the “gas tax,” to which Champagne praised the government’s actions, while the Conservatives only have rhetoric. Tim Uppal took over in English to make the specious arguments, and Julie Dabrusin noted that Poilievre represents one of the biggest canola-growing ridings in the country, and noted how much they stand to benefit from clean fuel regulations and biofuels. On  another go-around, Champagne admonished them to support their benefits. Lianne Rood read another tired script of the same, and Patty Hajdu noted that the Conservatives liked to raise the plight of food banks, they are now fighting against supports for them. Rood accused the government of “gaslighting” (that’s not what that means, guys), and Hajdu raised the other support for families like child care and the school food programme. 

Yves-François Blanchet rose for the Bloc, and said that the promised lifting of Chinese tariffs on pork has not happened, and worried the government created false hopes. Anita Anand said they were working with partners and diversifying trade relationships. Blanchet was not mollified by this answer, and demanded more specifics. Anand said that discussions were ongoing with China, including pork, and they they are working in Canada’s interests. Blanchet then wondered about action on forestry, and Champagne said they are working with the industry and have invested hundreds of millions of dollars.

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QP: Pushing a bananapants bill

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The PM was actually present today, on the day the Conservatives have their Supply Day motion to pass Pierre Poilievre’s bananapants bill, so that was going to be a…stupid dynamic from the get-go. Poilievre led off in French, and went on a tangent that there were no prices visible at Carney’s grocery store event, and demanded they lower prices. Mark Carney wondered if this was the new spirit of cooperation, and praised his meeting with Doug Ford yesterday as cooperation. Poilievre chirped that Carney only has meetings with no results, and denounced Carney’s record on food prices. Carney insisted that they have done a lot, such as cutting taxes, making the school food programme permanent, and their new GST credit. Poilievre repeated his first question in English with added smarm, and Carney repeated his lines about cooperation with Ford. Poilievre repeated his line about meetings without delivering results, and listed his “hidden tax” nonsense. Carney praised the job numbers, wage statistics, and their tax cuts before returning to the GST rebate proclamation. Poilievre then pivoted to demanding they government pass his bananapants bill, and Carney said that how they move projects forward is collaborating with the provinces, and pointed out that the premier of Nunavut was present—and got warned by the Speaker he’s not allowed to do that. Carney insisted there were no shovels in the ground, and again demanded they pass his bullshit bill. Carney praised his MOU with Alberta and insisted it would build a pipeline to tidewater (which seems very presumptuous).

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, and he was worried there was no movement on negotiations or tariffs with the U.S. Carney declared that the world and Washington have changed, there is nothing normal in the U.S., and that he had a thirty-minute conversation with Trump last night. Blanchet said that he knew that the world changed, and they wanted diversified trade, but that they are still exposed to the U.S. market. Carney said they are all committed to NAFTA negotiations in a few weeks. Blanchet took a dig at Carney’s understanding of history before wondering about Chinese tariffs on Quebec pork. Carney said that things are in the works and those tariffs are to be lowered, and praised the agreement for canola.

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