Tag Archives: Jagmeet Singh

Roundup: Admitting to threats on the call with Trump

Posted on by

Day thirty-three, and while the leaders made their final pitches, the talk remained mostly about Poilievre’s own riding, whether the polls could be believed, or the fact that he scheduled a last-minute rally on the last night of the campaign there, or the fact that people from the war room who were supposed to be sent to Peterborough were sent there to canvas instead. So there’s that.

Mark Carney was in Port Moody, BC, and gave another BC-centric campaign pitch, where he faced questions about his call with Trump in March, and whether Trump did make 51st state comments. Carney admitted he did because this is Trump we’re talking about, but the rest of the discussion was about sovereign countries making a deal, and so he left it at that. That didn’t stop the Conservatives and NDP from howling about it, the Conservatives in particular going off about how Carney is a liar (erm, you have looked in a mirror, right?) and so on. From there, Carney headed to Winnipeg for a campaign event. Carney will be in Sault Ste. Marie this morning, and then heads to Georgetown, Cambridge, and London, Ontario.

Pierre Poilievre was in Halifax at an auto dealership to proclaim his promise to scrap the electric vehicle mandate, but made up a completely bullshit claim that said mandate would impose a “$20,000 tax on gas-powered cars,” which was ludicrously untrue. The Conservative platform also claims that they would somehow get billions in revenue from scrapping said mandate, but he also promised to uphold any of the deals with manufacturers or battery plants for EVs in Canada, so it’s another case of magical growth projections with no basis in reality. From there he headed to a rally in Saskatoon. Poilievre starts the day in Saskatoon, and heads to Nanoose Bay, BC for another rally.

https://twitter.com/maxfawcett/status/1915501642373640336

https://twitter.com/MikePMoffatt/status/1915428323624206805

Jagmeet Singh was in Winnipeg to declare that he would ensure that the government didn’t put a laundry list of things on the table as bargaining chips in trade talks, most of which they never would anyway, so it’s yet another example of empty posturing. Singh then headed to Toronto. Singh starts his day in Toronto, before heading to Hamilton and London, looking to hold onto their seats in those ridings.

In other campaign news, the CBC has a look at Calgary, where the Liberals have a chance to win as many as four seats. There is also talk about how the federal Conservatives fell out with their Nova Scotia brethren, which included a threatening call from Jenni Byrne. Meanwhile, Singh tells the Star that he didn’t go for an early election (in spite of the constant threats) to hand Poilievre a majority, even if it meant they could win more seats, and insists he has no regrets. This while the NDP are back to running phantom candidates in Quebec ridings, meaning they still have not grassroots in the province.

— Effin' Birds (@effinbirds.com) 2025-04-24T21:27:18.825Z

Ukraine Dispatch

The death toll from the massive attack on Kyiv has reached 12, with at least 90 injured, which also prompted Trump to react (but then said Putin’s concessions included not invading all of Ukraine, which…is not a concession). The missiles used in that strike were North Korean in origin.

https://twitter.com/ukraine_world/status/1915360570745786543

Continue reading →

Roundup: Singh says he’s not dead yet

Posted on by

Day thirty-two, and we are reaching the phase of the campaign where resources and people are being shifted to ridings that they are most concerned about, and the leaders’ stops will reflect this. There is also talk that the Conservatives are pouring resources into Poilievre’s own riding because it increasingly feels in jeopardy, in part because the Liberal challenger has been working the doors for four years.

Mark Carney was in Victoria, where he gave the BC-centric version of his campaign pitch, before making stops in White Rock, New Westminster, and Surrey, which is a direct play for the NDP seats in the area. Carney will start the day in Port Moody, BC, before heading to Winnipeg.

Pierre Poilievre was in Stoney Creek, Ontario, where he thanked police associations for their endorsement before reiterating his plan to give them new powers to dismantle tent encampments (as though that solves any of the underlying problems that has led to their rise). He then headed to Trenton, Nova Scotia, for a rally. Poilievre will start the day in Halifax before heading to Saskatoon, as he has not yet stopped in Saskatchewan this election.

Jagmeet Singh was in Edmonton to re-announce his “plan” for national rent control, which is exclusive provincial jurisdiction, and to declare that he’s not dead yet, and there are still five days left. He then headed to Winnipeg to shore up their two seats there. Singh participated in an AFN virtual meeting, where he made a tonne of promises he can’t keep.  Singh will start his day in Winnipeg before heading to Toronto.

In other campaign news, the after it was pointed out that the Conservatives left out their promise to “fight woke ideology” from their platform document, they said that was a publishing error and put it back in. The Logic has their longread profileof Poilievre. Mélanie Joly has openly called for a majority parliament while Carney has been cagey, so cue the tut-tutting about “arrogance” and so on. The Star fact-checks Carney’s statements last week (and this remains the dumbest possible fact-check methodology).

Poilievre says he doesn't watch TV, but "a little bit of UCF on my YouTube." That…tracks, actually.

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-04-23T14:54:48.403Z

Ukraine Dispatch

A massive missile and drone strike hit Kyiv overnight, killing nine and injuring at least 63. Russian drones killed seven in a strike on the city of Marhanets, while an energy facility in Kherson was destroyed by Russian artillery and drone attacks. A Ukrainian drone strike damaged a Russian drone production site in Tatarstan. President Zelenskyy is rejecting any “peace” proposal that would surrender Crimea to Russia permanently.

https://twitter.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1915005378225373500

Continue reading →

Roundup: A “fun with numbers” platform

Posted on by

Day thirty-one, and the Conservatives swallowed up the news cycle with the release of their “costed” platform at long last, and well, it soon became clear as to why that was the case. (Some campaign photos here). Mark Carney was in Quebec City to reiterate his plans focused on Quebec in particular, especially as they relate to Quebec identity and the economy, before lambasting the Conservatives’ “costed” platform (more on that below). Carney then had stops in Shefford, Saint-Bruno, and Laval.

Pierre Poilievre was in Woodbridge, Ontario, where he finally unveiled his “costed” platform, and the term is used very loosely because hoo boy. It was mostly full of magical mystery math that books phantom revenues—including from resource projects that don’t exist and likely won’t exist in a four-year timeframe—and from cuts to things like consulting services or government IT, which rarely actually delivers real savings. Oh, and it doesn’t actually eliminate the deficit like they’ve been touting, even with the overly optimistic phantom revenues. (For contrast, the Liberals’ platform doesn’t include revenue assumptions). There was a promise to hold referendums for tax increases, which a) neuters the role of Parliament, b) has blown up in the faces of those who instituted this in places like California, and c) is empty posturing because you can’t bind a future government, so the law is easily repealed. And then, to distract from the faulty promises and bad math, Poilievre veered into a performance about a document from Policy Horizons Canada which he claimed were doomsday forecasts when they are actually a number of largely implausible scenarios to force policy-makers to consider some various worst-case scenarios, and are not in fact forecasts at all, not that he would tell you differently. (Write-ups from CBC, The Star, The Logic, the National Post, CTV, and the Globe and Mail). At some point in the day, Poilievre attended a “virtual forum” with the AFN, but remained cagey about his criticisms of UNDRIP. Poilievre later held a rally in Vaughan. He’ll be in Stoney Creek, Ontario, this morning, before heading to Trenton, Nova Scotia.

The Conservative plan is out and, ooof, is this costing a disaster.There's a whole bunch of phantom revenues booked here, and the GST housing pledge is costed at under $2B. Given their proposed eligibility criteria, it should be more in the 4-6B range.

— Dr. Mike P. Moffatt (@mikepmoffatt.bsky.social) 2025-04-22T14:40:58.000Z

The Conservative plan books extra revenue from economic growth caused by their policies. The idea that economic growth will lead to improved finances isn't unreasonable. Budget 2024 shows that 100 bps of economic growth is worth $5B a year to the federal budget.

— Dr. Mike P. Moffatt (@mikepmoffatt.bsky.social) 2025-04-22T17:51:23.000Z

The Conservatives are booking anywhere from $3B-10B of additional revenue each year from economic-related growth. The average year sees an additional $6B+ in revenue, associated with 128bps in economic growth.This is a near doubling of TD Econ's growth forecasts.

— Dr. Mike P. Moffatt (@mikepmoffatt.bsky.social) 2025-04-22T17:51:29.000Z

The CPC platform books *extra* revenue of about $13B from their new capital gains deferral idea.But allowing people to defer capital gains will *cost* revenue.I'm guessing they assume *huge* new economic activity will be generated? You'd maybe need about $100B in new GDP to do that. Interesting.

— Kevin Milligan (@kevinmilligan.bsky.social) 2025-04-22T15:38:08.921Z

Or the whole debacle when the established Shared Services and cut their budget by the projected savings before they had done any of the enterprise transformation work.

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-04-22T15:33:29.326Z

A couple of other thoughts:-Repealing Bill C-75 won't do much for bail other than roll back tougher bail conditions for domestic violence-Repealing Bill C-83 will do nothing about Paul Bernardo because the bill was about solitary confinement-Repealing Bill C-5 won't stop auto theft.

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-04-22T19:13:59.627Z

https://twitter.com/maxfawcett/status/1914778670381838356

In all seriousness, I haven't seen "fun with numbers" costing like this in a Conservative platform since the 2014 Ontario PC campaign.

— Dr. Mike P. Moffatt (@mikepmoffatt.bsky.social) 2025-04-22T14:52:57.000Z

Jagmeet Singh was in Vancouver, where he mostly shit-talked Brookfield and Carney before begging people to vote NDP in order to prevent Carney from getting a “supermajority” (which is not a Thing in Canadian politics). Singh then headed to his home riding of Burnaby, and then to Edmonton. Singh remains in Edmonton this morning before heading to Winnipeg.

In other campaign news, Elections Canada says that a record 7.3 million people voted in the advance polls over the Easter long weekend. Former PBO Kevin Page rated the Liberal platform more favourably than the Conservatives’ (for fairly obvious reasons). Here are two more longread profiles of Carney, this time from the Globe and Mail and The Logic, and each covers different aspects of crises he’s faced in the past.

https://bsky.app/profile/blakeshaffer.bsky.social/post/3lnh54yn6gk2i

Ukraine Dispatch

Three people were injured in the Russian drone attack on Odesa overnight Monday. One woman was killed and some 26 others were injured in a guided bomb attack on Zaporizhzhia yesterday. President Zelenskyy indicated that Chinese nationals are working in Russian drone factories, and that Russia may have stolen Chinese drone technology.

Continue reading →

Roundup: Reiterating promises in battleground ridings

Posted on by

Day thirty, and so much of the campaign was drowned out by the news that Pope Francis passed away after meeting with JD Vance (because clearly, after meeting with Vance he lost his will to live). Both Mark Carney and Pierre Poilievre are Catholics, and both responded do his passing. Much of the discussion of Francis’ legacy in Canada was around his apology for the Church’s role in residential schools.

Mark Carney was in Charlottetown, PEI, to reiterate his promises around working with provinces on healthcare (note that distinction), and also promised reduced tolls on the Confederation Bridge. He then headed to Truro, Nova Scotia, and Fredericton, New Brunswick. Carney will be in Quebec City this morning, followed by stops in Shefford, Saint-Bruno, and Laval.

Here are Debt/GDP ratios for three scenarios:1–PBO baseline.2–LPC platform (costed by themselves)3–CPC platform (costed by LPC)I'll happily update with CPC platform numbers if CPC releases them. But until then it doesn't seem fair that they escape scrutiny. So, I'll go with what I have.

— Kevin Milligan (@kevinmilligan.bsky.social) 2025-04-21T20:02:12.728Z

Here is the LPC's costing of CPC platform.liberal.ca/pierre-poili…Why is CPC projected debt/GDP so high?-> promised to uphold big social programs-> promised $140B or so of new spending and tax cuts-> Haven't mentioned any new revenue sources.I await with interest to see their own numbers.

— Kevin Milligan (@kevinmilligan.bsky.social) 2025-04-21T20:06:30.676Z

Pierre Poilievre was in Scarborough, Ontario, where he reiterated the party’s promises around building housing, and says the platform will be released today. Poilievre will be in Woodbridge, Ontario, followed by Vaughan.

https://twitter.com/maxfawcett/status/1914421261041840549

Why do both the Liberals and Conservatives keep promising to build 500,000 homes a year? It's a bad promise because:1. It's not feasible, particularly given the current market.2. We don't actually need *that* many homes.

— Dr. Mike P. Moffatt (@mikepmoffatt.bsky.social) 2025-04-21T13:46:00.000Z

We absolutely have a housing shortage that we need to fill. But can someone explain to me why as an aging country with a 350,000 person immigration target, that both the Liberals and Conservatives believe we need 500,000 new homes every year? That math doesn't math.

— Dr. Mike P. Moffatt (@mikepmoffatt.bsky.social) 2025-04-21T22:12:26.000Z

"Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is claiming the Liberals will impose a tax on Canadians' home equity if they're re-elected as the federal election campaign enters its final week."So they're trotting out this bullshit yet again, even though it's never happened (and never will)?

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-04-22T02:35:04.593Z

Jagmeet Singh was in Nanaimo, BC, where he lambasted the Liberals for not promising to further expand pharmacare, and promised that more NDP MPs could force him to do so. (Erm…) He also urged “strategic voting” to keep incumbents in their seats. He then headed to Comox and Port Moody. Singh will be in Vancouver, followed by his home riding of Burnaby today, and then head over to Edmonton.

In other campaign news, Conservative incumbent Larry Brock is apologising for circulating a clearly faked document and claiming the Liberals were using it to try to sway prisoners to vote for them. An election worker in King—Vaughan was reassigned to administrative duties after trying to sway people to vote for the Conservative candidate. Reproductive rights groups are concerned by the lack of details in the Liberals’ pledges on the matter. The Canadian Press has their own profiles of Carney and Poilievre.

Ukraine Dispatch

Russia launched a mass overnight drone attack on residential areas of Odesa.

Continue reading →

Roundup: Nonsense about inflation, again

Posted on by

Day twenty-nine, and in spite of the holiday, there were again campaign events from all of the main parties, as they begin their last-minute stops through battleground ridings across the country. Mark Carney was in Ottawa, where he warned about the “$140 billion in divisive cuts” in Poilievre’s promises, which they have tallied up as Poilievre has still not released his full platform. Carney will be in Charlottetown, PEI, today, followed by Truro, Nova Scotia, and Fredericton, New Brunswick.

Pierre Poilievre was in Surrey, BC, where he promised to cut government spending in order to reduce inflation…which is already at target, and government spending hasn’t fuelled inflation, because the last spike was caused by global supply chains breaking down in the pandemic, and the effects of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But because he has to stick to his branding, he’s also trying to all inflation a “tax” and claim that it benefits Brookfield, which in turn benefits Carney, which is not only convoluted logic, but pretty stupid. Poilievre also repeated the falsehood that inflation is being driven by “printed money” (and for the love of Hermes, could a media outlet actually refute that claim, because it’s entirely false. FFS!) Oh, and the cuts will only be on “consultants,” because that’s another magical money tree. Poilievre will be in Scarborough, Ontario, today. And maybe he’ll finally release his costed platform like he says he will.

Jagmeet Singh was in Victoria, BC, where he made a bunch of commitments as to what will appear in the first budget in the next Parliament, and it’s laughable because the NDP will be lucky to get official party status, let alone any influence on just what is in the budget. Singh will be in Nanaimo, BC, followed by Comox and Port Moody today.

In other campaign news, Correctional Services found no evidence that a (clearly faked) document was circulating in prisons that several Conservatives purported was from the Liberals to try to get prisoners to support them in the election. Shocking, I know. Poilievre dodged questions about whether he would repeal the Liberals’ handgun ban. While certain Conservative-aligned chuds have been flooding social media with conspiracy theories about Elections Canada offering pencils instead of pens or sharpies at ballot boxes, Elections Canada reminds you that you can use either. (Said chuds should also be charged).

Speaking of Poilievre's economically illiterate announcement today…

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-04-20T18:21:38.960Z

Ukraine Dispatch

After the “Easter ceasefire,” Kyiv and half of Ukraine are under air raid alerts. Ukraine lists some 2935 violations of Russia’s own “ceasefire,” including blasts reported throughout Russian-occupied Donetsk region.

Continue reading →

Roundup: Two platforms released

Posted on by

Day twenty-eight, and two of the parties had platform releases, while one of them played silly games with media (and I’ll let you guess which is which). We also heard from Elections Canada that a record two million people voted in the advance polls on Friday, (but nobody knows what it means). It also looks like nobody will be downing tools for the holiday today, so there’s that.

Mark Carney was in Whitby, Ontario, where he unveiled his “costed” platform, which did talk a lot about the scale of the challenge facing us with decoupling from the US, but remained vague on a lot of details. (Costing details here). One of my biggest issues, upon first reading, is the assumption made throughout that it’ll be easy to work with provinces on things like credentials recognition when we have been trying this for decades with little progress. Yes, the moment is different, but these things have been slow to change for a reason, so essentially promising to get this done in a few months is dubious at best. I am also incredibly dubious with the reliance on AI as the way to “increase efficiency” in the civil service, as though AI has ever shown itself to be reliable. (Write-ups from The Logic, the Star, CTV, CBC). There are also the start of some threads below that are worth clicking through. Afterward, Carney stopped in Newcastle and Peterborough. Carney will be in his home riding of Nepean today.

Here's the costing on the Liberal housing promises. Thoughts:1. Limiting the GST cut to first-time homebuyers really does render it near-useless. Very few $s.2. Reintroducing MURB really is a big deal.3. No way municipalities agree to halve DCs in exchange for 1.5B.

— Dr. Mike P. Moffatt (@mikepmoffatt.bsky.social) 2025-04-19T16:37:19.000Z

Finally got a chance to read the Liberal platform. On Defence, some of this stuff was already in process such as reforming recruitment, but more can be done. So, quickening clearances is a good thing. More pay, better housing/health care/childcare all easier ways to spend more 1/

— Steve Saideman (@smsaideman.bsky.social) 2025-04-19T20:30:14.086Z

A few comments on the @mark-carney.bsky.social platform released today. You can find it here: liberal.ca/cstrong/.I provided some 'sounding board' advice here and there to those working on the platform. As always: I disclose, but you can decide what weight to put on that.Thread below…

— Kevin Milligan (@kevinmilligan.bsky.social) 2025-04-19T18:04:43.522Z

tl;dr for this thread.1. The LPC platform would re-orient Canada in the face of epoch-defining US aggression. 2. Strength is focus on investment while aiming at fiscal sustainability.3. Weakest parts are i) reliance on spending restraint to make numbers work ii) blowing $22B on a PIT tax cut.

— Kevin Milligan (@kevinmilligan.bsky.social) 2025-04-19T19:32:20.492Z

$25 million won't do much if provinces continue to dismantle their universities.

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-04-19T17:03:06.508Z

 

Pierre Poilievre was in Richmond, BC, where he promised mandatory drug treatment for people with addictions, which is both against the Charter, and is hard to square with a party who thought that vaccine mandates were too much of an imposition on their personal liberties. They also refused to take questions from national media and took questions from local media who looked to have had planted questions, because of course they did. Poilievre will be in Surrey, BC, today.

Jagmeet Singh was in Burnaby, BC, to release their, well, not platform but “commitments,” including their costing, since they’re not going to form government. But of course, so many of those commitments are also in provincial jurisdiction, so it’s not like they would be able to achieve any of them anyway, so this is mostly just fairytale maths. (Write-ups from the Star, CTV, CBC) Singh will be in Victoria and Nanaimo today.

Here's the NDP housing plan costing. 7B a year. Not much to say on this one. Unclear to me how the Homes Transfer and Community Fund are meaningfully different from the government's Housing Accelerator and Housing Infrastructure Fund.

— Dr. Mike P. Moffatt (@mikepmoffatt.bsky.social) 2025-04-20T00:40:37.000Z

In other campaign news, the Star has pre-election profiles of Carney, Poilievre, Singh, and the Elizabeth May-Jonathan Pedneault team-up. Here is a look into Poilievre’s promise to fight “wokeness” in universities (just like Trump).

Ukraine Dispatch

Russia claimed they would have an “Easter ceasefire,” but kept up their attacks, particularly on the front lines, because of course they did.

Continue reading →

Roundup: Ranting about plastic packaging

Posted on by

Day twenty-seven, and in spite of it being a statutory holiday, all of the leaders were out campaigning while the advance polls opened (and there was no irony lost in the fact certain Conservatives were howling about how insulting it was to Christians that the polls were opened on Easter weekend, while their leader was out campaigning). There were also reports of long line-ups at the advance polls, so that could be a sign that this is an election with higher turnout because of the level of early engagement.

Mark Carney was in Niagara Falls, and had a media availability before heading to Colborne and Brantford, Ontario, apparently not announcing anything other than saying he can stand up to Trump (but also made statements about being clear-eyed about China and pointing out that they are helping Russia), or releasing the platform as we are waiting for. Carney will unveil that platform today in Whitby, Ontario, before heading to Newcastle and Peterborough.

Pierre Poilievre stayed in Montreal and appeared at a plastics recycling facility, and he promised to repeal the single-use plastics ban with a bunch of completely false claims about just what was banned, and how it was increasing food costs so that he could claim that this was aa “food packaging tax,” which obviously it is not, but he needs to keep desperately cranking on that wedge. Poilievre will be in Richmond, BC, today.

Jagmeet Singh starts the day in Yamachiche, Quebec, where he unveiled the party’s Quebec-only platform, which mostly consisted of patting himself on the back for things from the last parliament, promising intrusions in provincial jurisdiction while simultaneously promising asymmetrical, cooperative federalism (really?!), and promising greater protectionism. (French-only release, because they did not put one up in English on their site). He then ended the day in Burnaby, BC. Singh will be in Burnaby today, and is apparently also releasing his “platform” (such as it is).

In other campaign news, Carney is defending the existence of the Leaders’ Debates Commission, while Blanchet thinks it should be abolished (and for everyone who says Blanchet and Singh have no place there, people are electing a parliament and not a prime minister, because we’re not America). Here are five things the different leaders are consistently getting wrong as they campaign. The Star has clipped nine moments from the English debates.

Ukraine Dispatch

Russia missiles struck Kharkiv, killing one and wounding at least 112 others when they struck homes. As well, a drone attack on Sumy hit a bakery preparing Easter cakes, because Russia is such a great “Christian” nation (if you believe the far-right who have swallowed that propaganda).

https://twitter.com/ukraine_world/status/1913161923475992770

Continue reading →

Roundup: A disinformation fest in the English debate

Posted on by

Day twenty-six, and the second day of debates. Both Mark Carney and Jagmeet Singh had photo ops in Montreal before the debate, while Pierre Poilievre stayed quiet. And it looks like no one is downing tools today, in spite of it being a statutory holiday—Carney will be in Niagara Falls, followed by Colborne and Brantford. I didn’t get Poilievre’s itinerary, while Singh starts the day in Yamachiche, Quebec, and then ends the day in Burnaby, BC.

In other campaign news, the Conservatives had other incumbents release the second part of their Arctic defence policy, and it appears that they didn’t consult with any Northerners or Inuit for this part either.

And then the English debate, or as it should more properly be called, a disinformation fest. The sheer volume of utter horseshit uttered was absolutely astonishing, and yet nobody was challenged or called out on hardly any of it. Steve Paikin as moderator had a fairly light tough for much of it, and allowed a lot of talking over one another, but did keep things moving at a fairly good clip in order to have a couple of rapid-fire rounds at the end, though near the end, there was a “Leader’s Choice” segment where each leader could ask a question of one another, and everyone chose Carney to attack (quelle surprise), while Carney picked Poilievre, and returned to the security clearance issue (which Poilievre yet again lied about). I also note that at the top of each thematic section, Paikin asked a different question of each of the leaders, so they weren’t answering the same and made it hard to compare them.

https://bsky.app/profile/emmettmacfarlane.com/post/3ln2atae4lk2y

Poilievre is again lying about "printing money" and inflation. Carney: "I know you want to run against Justin Trudeau. Justin Trudeau is not here." #debate

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-04-18T00:41:27.247Z

Poilievre lying about being "gagged" if he gets his security clearance. He would merely need to be responsible in his commentary, which he refuses to do. #debate

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-04-18T00:46:11.096Z

As for the leaders themselves, Carney again kept his cool, even when constantly being talked over, and just kept trying to make his point with “If I may,” before they shut up. I also noted that he would keep saying how many points he had for responses before listing those points, but he also did have the occasional misspeak (for example referring to TMX as “Keystone.”) Poilievre pretty much spent the whole exercise lying about absolutely everything, shamelessly, and was not challenged on about 99 percent of it, which doesn’t help the average viewer. Singh was a little less hyper than last night, and we avoided any tantrums tonight, because the moderator did give him the chance to talk about healthcare, but also challenged him on it about the jurisdictional issue, which Singh, of course, talked around rather than answering. And as for Blanchet, he kept trying to make a pitch for a minority parliament where he can exert influence. He also demanded that whoever becomes prime minister call the other leaders to meet one week after the election in order to discuss the various crises we’re facing. (Here are the recaps from The Canadian Press, CBC, National Post, and the Star, and six takeaways from the debate).

https://bsky.app/profile/emmettmacfarlane.com/post/3ln2afzfgac22

Poilievre's dodge on Indigenous incarceration was astounding. Just absolutely amazing that he could get away with that. #debate

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-04-17T23:42:39.614Z

Paikin actually corners Singh on how he would deal with provinces who don't want to spend his healthcare dollars the way he wants. Singh just talks around it, doesn't actually say how he would force the provinces. #debate

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-04-18T00:19:58.773Z

https://bsky.app/profile/emmettmacfarlane.com/post/3ln2bndu4ds2h

The other notable part of the evening was that the post-debate scrums were cancelled, because of an ostensible safety issue after Rebel media started trying to accost other journalists, including trying to interrupt CBC’s broadcast before the debate. The fact that the Debate Commission’s chair didn’t even realise that Rebel and Ezra Levant had registered as third party advertisers with Elections Canada should have meant an automatic disqualification, but he said he was so afraid of losing another lawsuit meant he just caved to their demands, which is yet again another sign of democracy being under assault in this country.

Debates Commission has cancelled the post-debate scrums after this English leaders debate. This cancellation follows an altercation prior to the debate involving Rebel News and other journalists. #elxn45

— davidakin (@davidakin.bsky.social) 2025-04-18T00:23:05.379Z

Ukraine Dispatch

Russian missiles struck Kharkiv, killing one and injuring at least 57, as president Zelenskyy notes that Russia has shifted from targeting energy facilities to civilian targets. Russians on the front lines appear to be shifting to using mass-assault tactics as they try to advance. Ukraine says they have signed a memorandum as a first step toward a mineral deal with the US, which would involve setting up an investment fund for Ukraine’s reconstruction.

https://twitter.com/KyivIndependent/status/1913102312286900366

Continue reading →

Roundup: No blows landed in the French debate

Posted on by

Day twenty-five, and right as the day got started, the Greens were disinvited from the leaders’ debates because they had told the media that they held back several nominations for “strategic reasons,” and the commission could no longer say that their not meeting the candidate threshold was for “innocent” reasons like not getting enough signatures in time. The Greens complained that it wasn’t democratic and that it favoured parties that already had “their turn,” but seriously? You made that choice.

Mark Carney had a photo op in Montreal where he got some poutine to “fuel up” for the debate, while neither Pierre Poilievre nor Jagmeet Singh had public events, and it looks like it’ll be more of the same today before the English debate.

In other campaign news, the Conservatives unveiled a fisheries policy,

And then the French debate.

It was…fine. There really wasn’t much in the way of standout moments, and it was relatively well-behaved, barring one or two exceptions, and the moderator was the one punctuating it with a few editorial comments and jabs. Carney showed greatly improved French, and he was frequently brief and concise on some issues, but at others he went into details (albeit slowly) and got cut off for it. But he didn’t really screw up on anything and came away unscathed. Poilievre was frequently a robot with a rictus grin, reciting his pre-prepared talking points about his platform plans, and occasionally trotting out the swipes at Justin Trudeau, which Carney shrugged off, and ultimately, Poilievre wasn’t able to land any punches. Yves-François Blanchet would frequently take over and dominate conversations, and on several occasions would “speak for Quebec,” never mind that he certainly doesn’t speak for much of the province in spite of claiming to. Singh, in spite of his being under the weather, was the one constantly interrupting and demanding attention. He kept trying to bring healthcare into the debate, in spite of it not being a topic, and got cut off at one point when he didn’t stop, and toward the end, he threw a tantrum and attacked the moderator because he *gasp!* tried to do his job and keep the leaders on topic, and not bring up something unrelated. Imagine that.

(Recaps from The Canadian Press, CBC, National Post, and the Star, and here are seven notable moments).

Trying to nail Poilievre down on whether he'd force pipeline through provinces or First Nations, Poilievre keeps refusing to admit that anyone would refuse. It's a bit weird. #debate

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-04-16T23:05:51.576Z

He says he wouldn’t subsidize a pipeline and says red tape reduction would stimulate investment in them. That is…a whopper lol.

— David Moscrop (@davidmoscrop.com) 2025-04-16T23:06:00.095Z

And we're into Century Initiative bullshit.*sigh* Will anybody challenge it? Of course not. #debate

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-04-16T23:24:23.826Z

A couple of the exchanges stood out, one being the moderator asking the leaders which American products they’ve given up, and it just turned into interminable jokes about strawberries, after the issue during the Cinq chefs interviews a couple of weeks ago, where the interviewers asked Carney if he buys American strawberries and he didn’t have an answer for them. There was also a question that asked whether the federal government should create its own health programmes or just increase transfers to the provinces, and it was a lot of back-and-forth that said very little, and as you might expect, there was absolutely nothing about holding any premiers to account for their allowing healthcare to collapse.

After the debate were the scrums, and it turned out that Rebel “News” had bullied the debate commission into letting them bring five reporters, each supposedly representing a “division” of the organisation, whereas legitimate organisations each got one reporter and one cameraman. It’s an admission that bullying and lawfare works, which it shouldn’t, but here we are.

Ukraine Dispatch

Glide bombs and artillery struck Kherson Wednesday morning, killing one and wounding nine. There was a mass drone attack on Dnipro overnight, killing three and wounding at least thirty.

Continue reading →

Roundup: Letting a hockey game take precedence

Posted on by

Day twenty-four, and the announcements didn’t really matter because the only thing anyone was concerned about was the fact that tonight’s French debate was at the same time as a Montreal Canadiens hockey game, and the Bloc and NDP demanded the debate be rescheduled (but when exactly, given that it’s Easter weekend and that’s when the advance polls are open). So, the organizers and the networks agreed to change the time to 6 from 8, which means that it’ll be on at 3 for anyone out in BC. Yeah, that’s going to get viewership by francophones in the west. We are such a parochial country sometimes.

Mark Carney was in Saint-Eustache, Quebec, and announced a plan to provide more assistance for job training or retraining in certain priority areas, with some additional promises for those whose jobs are affected by the tariffs. Carney will have a photo op in Montreal around noon before the debate, now two hours earlier.

Pierre Poilievre was in Montreal, and he announced plans to crack down on people who scam seniors, which means forcing phone companies and banks to have mandatory “scam detection systems,” which sounds a bit like a magic wand given that the field is constantly changing to keep one step ahead. I also fail to see what tougher penalties will do given that the vast majority of these scams operate overseas. Poilievre will hold a press conference this morning, in advance of the debate.

Do we need to have a conversation about why those prices are up? -Beef continues to rise because drought has meant culling herds, which raises prices-Eggs are up because we have bird flu outbreaks, albeit not as bad as the US-That fruit figure is mostly oranges, because the FL crop was devastated

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-04-15T19:02:03.936Z

Are the Conservatives planning to do anything about climate change that has meant more droughts on the prairies? Nope. Part of what devastated the Floria orange crop were hurricanes, which are exacerbated by climate change. Again, do they want to do anything about that? Nope.

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-04-15T19:02:03.937Z

Now, have the Liberals pointed any of this out? Of course not. They're too busy patting themselves on the back for killing the consumer carbon levy, and pretending that it was imposed by some mysterious force. We have real issues to discuss in this election, but they're not being discussed.

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-04-15T19:02:03.938Z

Jagmeet Singh was also in Montreal, where he promised to restore the changes to the capital gains inclusion rate, under the rubric of making the ultra-wealthy pay the price, and promising to use these revenues to fund all of his promises (good luck with that magical money tree), but didn’t actually spell out the actual issue of tax arbitrage and fairness for all different types of capital gains to be taxed at the same rate. Singh’s only engagement today is the debate.

In other campaign news, Poilievre is now saying there’s no timeline for defunding CBC after previously saying he wants to do so as soon as possible. Carney says that he wants the F-35 review to go swiftly, but DND is still establishing the parameters of said exercise. And the White House confirmed that annexation talk is still on the president’s mind.

This election is *really* testing my limit.

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-04-15T21:35:48.964Z

Ukraine Dispatch

Russian drones hit homes on Odesa overnight, injuring at least three. This after NATO secretary general Mark Rutte was in Odesa to reaffirm “unwavering” support for Ukraine. Meanwhile, life in Sumy is carrying on after Sunday’s deadly attacks.

https://twitter.com/ukraine_world/status/1912116063560495426

Continue reading →