Tag Archives: Justin Trudeau

Roundup: Historical revisionism of federalism in the past decade

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Last week had largely been spent trying to determine what the love-in with the premiers all means, so much so that Danielle Smith is losing her grip on reality as she insists that she’ll convince BC premier David Eby to let another pipeline cross his province (in spite of there being no actual proposals for one), while also claiming that Albertans have the “lowest living standards in the world,” and I just can’t even.

Meanwhile, I’m seeing comments from the pundit class that I’m just finding hard to square with reality. This one quote from the weekend dispatch of The Line is a good example of these pundit narratives that are completely ahistorical.

The Liberals under Justin Trudeau were so fantastically uninterested in working with the provinces, and so relentlessly hostile to basic economic growth, that having a prime minister simply acknowledge (as Carney has) that we are in an economic emergency seems like a massive step forward.

Trudeau did work with the provinces a lot in his first parliament—he had the first face-to-face meeting with them as a group in years after Harper refused to, and they got big things done—the agreement on carbon pricing, enhancing CPP, a suite of health measures that Jane Philpott negotiated with the provinces. None of this was inconsequential, but there was a very different group of premiers in 2015 than there was in 2024. And let’s also be frank—the premiers didn’t want to work together with the federal government anymore. They wanted to gang up on him for more money with no conditions (those health transfers that Philpott negotiated didn’t go toward fixing anything), while the pleading that everyone was making around finding exceptions to the carbon levy was very unproductive (not that Trudeau did any favours in his “pause” on the price for heating oil rather than a better system of rebates in areas where energy poverty was a problem). But seriously, the premiers get away with blaming Trudeau for all of the things that they refused to do that were their responsibility, and somehow he was the problem?

As well, the notion that Trudeau was hostile to basic economic growth is, frankly, unhinged. How many trade deals did he sign or push over the finish line? What was the whole attempt to stand-up a North American EV supply chain? What were the billions spent to keep the entire economy afloat during COVID? If you’re going to cite the capital gains changes as being “hostile,” then congratulations—you’re a gullible numpty who bought the lines of people who engage in tax arbitrage and want that sweet roll to continue. If you think environmental regulation was killing economic growth, just wait until you see what climate change is already doing to the economy and is going to get exponentially worse. Just because Trudeau didn’t bow to the tax-cut-and-deregulate crowd, it doesn’t mean he was hostile to economic growth. Yes, he and his government had problems. A lot of them. But let’s not make up things that are blatantly ahistorical or outright fictional just to help put a shine on Carney.

— Effin' Birds (@effinbirds.com) 2025-06-07T21:10:14.180Z

Ukraine Dispatch

Russian drone and missile attacks killed four people in Kharkiv on Saturday. Russian forces claim to have crossed into the Dnipropetrovsk region, while a row is now brewing over an agreement to exchange bodies of dead soldiers, which Ukraine says they are not delaying. Meanwhile, a drone attack on a Russian electronics factory has forced them to suspend production.

https://twitter.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1931395337958084711

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Roundup: Another plan to save the CBC

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Day thirteen, and the campaigns were trying to get back to a message that wasn’t trade war-related, for what that’s worth in the current moment we’re in. Mark Carney was in Montreal, where he promised to protect CBC/Radio-Canada though a more accountable governance structure and more funding directed to local coverage, and to protect it by enshrining its funding in legislation…except that you can’t bind future governments by statute, and yes, the Supreme Court of Canada has said so. He also downplayed Preston Manning’s crybaby separatism comments, and reminded reporters of his western credentials. Carney will be in Oakville and Toronto today.

I should have been clear. This is from Carney's announcement this morning about funding CBC/Radio-Canada.

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-04-04T14:04:04.457Z

Pierre Poilievre was in Trois-Rivières, Quebec, to propose tougher bail conditions and sentencing for intimate partner violence (which is something to tackle! But sentencing is not the only solution). The Conservatives didn’t send out a notice as to where Poilievre would be today.

Jagmeet Singh was in Montreal to pronounce that they would crack down harder on offshore tax evasion, with some digs about Brookfield as though Carney was making all of its decisions (because apparently the NDP need to learn how corporate boards operate). They also promised they would tear up tax treaties with havens like Bermuda…except those treaties are vital for information sharing used to combat tax evasion. Because apparently the NDP really thought through that policy. Singh will be in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador this morning, and then off to Halifax for the evening.

NDP: We're going to cancel tax agreements with havens like Bermuda to stop tax evasion!Reality: Those tax agreements provide information sharing crucial to combating tax evasion.

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-04-04T15:10:14.685Z

In other campaign news, here is what we heard from the Radio-Canada “Five leaders” interviews, and how Poilievre is starting to moderate a few of his positions including on things like the digital services tax.

Ukraine Dispatch

A Russian attack on a residential area of Kryvyi Rih killed nineteen people including nine children, and yet they claimed they were targeting “gathering military,” which is obvious disinformation. Germany is funding Eutelsat to provide Ukraine an alternative to Starlink, with the hopes of sending between 5,000 and 10,000 terminals within weeks.

https://twitter.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1908205945790107887

https://twitter.com/ukraine_world/status/1908247091601711399

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Roundup: Return of the tariff threat

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It was day four of the election, and this was the day Trump made his comeback. Before that happened, Mark Carney was in Windsor, and with the Ambassador Bridge as his backdrop, promised a package of measures to help build up more of a domestic supply chain for the auto sector in the face of tariffs, as well as a $2 billion strategic response fund for the fallout of tariffs on the economy.

It was in the evening that Trump made his announcement that 25 percent tariffs would apply to vehicles and major parts not made in the US, which is pretty fuzzy when it comes to the integrated nature of the industry. This was just before Carney’s rally in Kitchener, but he found an appropriate backdrop, and with Unifor president Lana Payne (whom he had already been meeting with when Trump made the announcement) came out to call this a direct attack on the country, and vowed to have a response, but also stated that he would be returning to Ottawa tonight in order to meet with Cabinet and his Canada-US committee in order to determine next steps in the response.

/ April 3, 2025, will end a 60-year era of Canada-US free trade in autos, an era that started here:

— Alex Panetta (@alexpanetta.bsky.social) 2025-03-27T01:10:44.463Z

Pierre Poilievre was in Montmagny, Quebec, and laid out some measures to allow working seniors to keep more income tax free, keep savings in RRSPs longer, and now says he will keep retirement age at 65 if he forms government—a pander to wealthy Boomers. He also released his Quebec-specific platform that promised “responsible federalism,” and pledges to keep Radio-Canada intact (but outside of Quebec, they rely entirely on CBC infrastructure). He then headed to Quebec City for a rally, but when the Trump tariffs were announced, he made a statement that essentially blamed the Liberals for “ten years of economic weakness” and for “pushing” investment out of the country, and demanded that any counter-tariffs go to tax cuts (which is copying Trump). Today he’s off to Surrey, BC.

Jagmeet Singh remained in Hamilton, where he proposed his own tax cuts—increasing the basic personal amount, selective GST cut (which benefits high-income earners), restoring the capital gains increase, doubling the disability benefit (which will do little), and increasing GIS. It was entirely unspectacular, but that’s what we’ve come to expect from Singh. Post-tariff announcement, echoed Carney’s statement about it being a direct attack, then retreated to his previous canned line about needing to “fight like hell,” and complained that EI won’t do enough for any affected workers. He changed his plans to head to Windsor for the day after being called out by reporters.

Let me note that the NDP-proposed GST cut sends more dollars to "millionaires and billionaires" than middle-class Canadians. Let me further note that the BPA increase doesn't benefit the 31% of low-income taxfilers who have non-taxable returns.I get it–tax policy is hard. So maybe preen less?

— Kevin Milligan (@kevinmilligan.bsky.social) 2025-03-26T15:59:05.115Z

A couple of other election notes:

So far, in Canada, the magic money tree foreign aid budget will somehow fund a) a $14bn tax cut, and b) a $5-10bn Arctic military base. The core foreign aid budget is $7bn. It is not the fiscal equivalent of Mary Poppins' bag

— Lauren Dobson-Hughes (@ldobsonhughes.bsky.social) 2025-03-26T13:15:11.680Z

Also, 30% of Canada's aid spending goes to Ukraine, and another 23% to in-country refugee costs. So unless you're ending all humanitarian support to Ukraine, and ending all refugee applications, you're not axing the foreign aid budget

— Lauren Dobson-Hughes (@ldobsonhughes.bsky.social) 2025-03-26T13:16:21.962Z

The most surprising part of this election so far for me has been the way that the Conservatives are going hard against Brookfield engaging in capitalism. Did the sun become black as sackcloth of hair, the moon as blood? What is happening? #cdnpoli

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-03-27T02:11:49.097Z

https://twitter.com/MikePMoffatt/status/1904926061990735895

Ukraine Dispatch

Russia launched a mass drone attack on Kharkiv, injuring at least nine, with further attacks on Dnipro. Russia is claiming that Ukrainian drones attacked an electrical facility, while Ukraine says this is disinformation aimed at justifying continuing hostilities. Russia has attacked eight Ukrainian energy facilities since they said they were halting. Here’s an analysis of the Black Sea ceasefire, and how it is really a betrayal of Ukraine and of the US working in Russia’s interests.

Good reads:

  • Elections Canada is hiring 200,000 temporary positions for the election.
  • An Access to Information request shows how Justin Trudeau was preparing for his first call with Trump after he won the election.
  • The summary of the Bank of Canada’s deliberations show that they were prepared to pause any rate cuts, had it not been for the tariff threats.
  • The Atlantic published more screenshots from the group chat that their editor was inadvertently added to, in order to prove their veracity and classified nature.
  • The Globe and Mail’s sources™ say that Chandra Arya’s nomination was revoked because of ties to the Modi government, and some “troubling inconsistencies.”
  • Justin Trudeau is renting a home in the same neighbourhood as Rideau Hall, while his children finish out the school year, but plans to return to Montreal.
  • In Avalon, the Conservatives overrode an ongoing nomination race to appoint a candidate who had to resign from a city job over harassment allegations.
  • Two former Conservative MPs are joining a group of traitors citizens heading to the US to try and talk about statehood for Alberta post-independence referendum.
  • Dominic Cardy’s vanity “Canadian Future Party” is sliding into further obscurity.
  • Scott Moe is aiming to remove his province’s industrial carbon price, which is jumping the gun of the election outcome (and starting the race to the bottom).
  • BC has introduced new framework legislation for Indigenous consultation on mining claims…which First Nations leaders say is insufficient.
  • A US physician who moved to Canada and now practices here describes the differences in our systems that are less obvious than just for-pay.

Odds and ends:

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Roundup: No reporters on the plane

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The Conservatives have declared that there will be no media contingent on their campaign plane or busses, while still mouthing words like claiming they’ll be the “most transparent” campaign out there. (Full letter here). They won’t be, of course, because not allowing journalists on the plane/bus means that they can’t see unscripted moments (from their limited vantage point), but stage-management is much of what this is really about—giving that added bit of message control that the Conservatives are very desperate to maintain.

The claim they are advancing is that they’ll give two- or three-days’ advance notice of stops so that local media can be there, or that national media can fly (last minute, driving up costs), and that people can use “technology” to connect to the campaign, but that generally means relying on the party’s infrastructure and feeds, which allows for greater chances of manipulation (especially if they delay their feed). And before you say it, yes, media do pay for seats on that plane/busses. Thousands of dollars. For comparison’s sake, the Liberals’ proposed fees for the campaign were $1,500 per day; $6,600 per week; or $33,500 for the full campaign. Those fees cover travel, food, access to filing rooms, and Wi-Fi (but not hotels). So let me reiterate—this isn’t about costs, it’s about control. And because the Conservatives claim that they will balance local and national coverage at events, we’ve seen what this means in recent press conferences, where they refused questions from English-language national media, and only took questions from local ethnocultural outlets, and so-called “independent” faux-news outlets like Rebel “News” or Juno.

Ukraine Dispatch

Putin claimed he was willing to engage in a thirty-day ceasefire on energy infrastructure only (which doesn’t mean much given that this is the time of year Russia would be letting up on attacking those targets—they prefer to do so in the winter to freeze out the Ukrainians), and lo, continued to bomb other civilian targets. Some “ceasefire.” Ukraine then stopped an attempted Russian incursion into the Sumy region, because of course.

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Roundup: PM Carney’s first day

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At around 1030 yesterday morning, Justin Trudeau formally submitted his resignation to the Governor General, and for the next thirty or so minutes was the interregnum period during which *gasp!* His Majesty had nobody to advise him. Shortly after eleven, Mark Carney took the oath, and became prime minister, followed by oaths sworn by his entire Cabinet (save Mélanie Joly, who was still at the G7 ministerial, and would be sworn-in later in the afternoon, missing the “family photo.”) (Photos of the Cabinet arriving at Rideau Hall here).

It’s now official. Carney is the PM.

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-03-14T15:31:46.298Z

The Cabinet was indeed decidedly smaller, and not quite gender-balanced—thirteen men, not counting Carney, and eleven women, and there was no one from Alberta or PEI in Cabinet, with only two ministers west of Thunder Bay—Terry Duguid and Jonathan Wilkinson. Carney also did not include the Leader of the Government in the Senate (which is a mistake), and the fact that he jammed Women and Gender Equality under Stephen Guilbeault in “Canadian Identity” sends a signal, as does putting both labour and employment under “Jobs,” considering that they serve very different interests. Chrystia Freeland was given the post of transport minister and internal trade (now that Anita Anand has done the heavy lifting on that file), while Karina Gould was excluded. There was some rumbling that Carney was signalling a more rightward shift with these choices, but Nate Erskine-Smith is definitely very progressive, as is Patty Hajdu.

https://bsky.app/profile/jrobson.bsky.social/post/3lkdzo5jjqc2o

During his brief media scrum after the swearing-in, Carney resurrected the hateful phrase from Stephen Harper, circa 2006-08 of “Canada’s New Government™.” Nope. Stop it. He was asked about his assets and he only confirmed that they are in a blind trust, and pivoted to pointing out that much of it came from work in the private sector, which Poilievre hasn’t done, and later pivoted another response to Poilievre’s lack of a security clearance. Carney also confirmed that he will be heading to London and Paris early next week to meet with European allies and not to Washington to meet with Trump, but would not confirm when he plans to call the election.

Oh no, Carney has resurrected "Canada's New Government™".

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-03-14T17:11:58.369Z

From there, the Cabinet headed to West Block for a meeting, during which Carney put on a show of signing a piece of paper that claims to effectively end the consumer carbon levy, ostensibly by signing an Order-in-Council to set the rate to zero…but that was not an Order in Council. So, our oh-so-serious banker is performing stunts for the camera. *siiiiiiiiiiigh* He also said the rebates would still be going out for this quarter, but the whole thing has been vague (just like Carney’s entire leadership campaign). Carney claimed that the levy “failed,” but it didn’t. What failed was the government’s ability communicate their way out of a wet paper bag in that they couldn’t defend it against either the lies of the Conservatives, or the shitty job of the Parliamentary Budget Officer in his reports (that bordered on mendacity), or in getting an actual message across to the media rather than expecting the media to learn the policy and fact-check the lies, which they were absolutely never going to do. So now we will have a costlier and less efficient climate policy that will pass along costs to consumers who won’t get a rebate. Brilliant job, everyone. Slow clap.

I have questions.

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-03-14T20:39:22.943Z

Here are some quick quotes in reaction to the transition. The Conservatives’ front-bench spent the entire day shitposting and trying to make mean memes, because that’s where we are in Canadian politics, in spite of everything that is going on around us. Oh, and Scott Moe forwarded a list of demands to Carney, because of course he did. Zeus help us.

Ukraine Dispatch

A Russian missile attack hit a residential area of Kryvyi Rih, injuring at least a dozen people. After an appeal by Trump, Putin says he’ll spare any Ukrainian soldiers still in Kursk region if they surrender (and we know how well Russians have been treating their prisoners, and how readily he’ll keep his word). Ukrainian drones hit two Russian gas compressor stations.

Many concessions have been made to Putin. Yet he still won't agree to a ceasefire. Read @mcfaulmike.bsky.social

— Anne Applebaum (@anneapplebaum.bsky.social) 2025-03-14T20:20:53.920Z

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Roundup: Positive feelings about a useless meeting

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We seem to be caught in a pattern where Donald Trump will invite a world leader to the White House—yesterday it was NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte—and he goes on an unhinged rant while they’re sitting there, trying to avoid saying anything that will set him off. And yesterday’s rant included a full-on threat to annex Greenland (while Rutte tried to downplay NATO’s involvement in any way, which is true to the extent that it only operates by consensus), and went on an extended rant about Canada not working as a real country, and made up the lie that America pays for our military (not true in the slightest), before repeating the falsehood that the US subsidizes us.

Half-point to #CBCNN for not both-sidesing that caption.

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-03-13T18:09:44.596Z

Meanwhile, Dominic LeBlanc and François-Philippe Champagne had their meeting with Howard Lutnick, with Doug Ford along for the ride as he continued to try and make himself the main character (and I watched Conservative talking head pundits also putting forward this distorted view of reality). Ford came out of the meeting, effusive about how “positive” it was and how they were going to have more meetings next week (and was later corrected that officials were going to meet, not him), while the two ministers basically talked a lot and said nothing, because nothing could be accomplished here. But they had to pretend that something came from this meeting when obviously nothing did, as there were no changes to any tariffs, and Ford’s pressure tactic around the electricity “surcharge” remains off the table again.

https://bsky.app/profile/emmettmacfarlane.com/post/3lkc6vantcc2f

https://bsky.app/profile/emmettmacfarlane.com/post/3lkc76do6g22f

Elsewhere, Trump’s pick for US ambassador to Canada had his Senate confirmation hearing, and when asked, he said that Canada is a sovereign country, and tried to claim that Trump’s expansionist rhetoric is about “negotiation tactics,” but it certainly doesn’t seem to be. And yeah, he said the bare minimum to ensure that he wasn’t PNGed before he could even arrive in the country. Closer to home, Scott Moe continues to call for capitulation to China regarding their tariff fight, because of course he did, and claimed it was about protecting Quebec’s industries over Saskatchewan’s, except Quebec doesn’t really have much of an auto sector, but Moe’s brain is pretty smooth, after all.

Ukraine Dispatch

An overnight attack on Dnipro injured three women and damaged apartment buildings. Ukrainian forces are in retreat in parts of Kursk region, which means losing a bargaining chip in possible peace negotiations. And Putin has all kinds of conditions on a possible ceasefire, because he’s not serious, and Ukraine only went along with the plan to call his bluff.

Surprise! The Russians, who have repeatedly said they don't want a ceasefire, have once again said they don't want a ceasefire

— Anne Applebaum (@anneapplebaum.bsky.social) 2025-03-13T11:42:16.938Z

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Roundup: Carney’s transition races out of the gate

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The day after the leadership race concluded, the transition began. Mark Carney had meetings with Justin Trudeau, and met with the caucus, albeit fairly briefly, as things got underway. We learned that he’s chosen MP Marco Mendicino as his chief of staff, which sounds like it’s on an interim basis (because Mendicino apparently has designs on running for mayor of Toronto), but so long as it means Katie Telford is out of the job, that’s what matters. Carney promised the transition would be swift, and it sounds like he wants a pared-down PMO. We also learned that Carney has already put his assets, minus personal real estate, into a blind trust and submitted all of his disclosures to the Ethics Commissioner, well ahead of schedule, which blunts the Conservatives’ attacks on his wealth. (To be clear, the rules state he has four months to disclose after being sworn-in, and he’s now disclosed even before being sworn-in). The one thing I found surprising was that Carney has reached out to Jean Charest to offer him some kind of senior role, including possibly a ministerial portfolio, and that Charest declined, with talk from the reporters saying that he may also be reaching out to Christy Clark.

As for Trudeau, he held his final Cabinet meeting, and was photographed carrying his chair out of the House of Commons (as the rules allow MPs to buy their chair when they leave politics).

Photo du jour. Crédit : Reuters.

— Louis Blouin (@icilouisblouin.bsky.social) 2025-03-10T19:00:30.490Z

On the trade war front, Doug Ford went ahead with the 25 percent “surcharge” on electricity exports (but it’s not a tariff, because that would be a federal trade power), and insists he’s looking into turning off the electricity if things get worse (which may actually be impossible given the interconnection of the grids). In response, Trump’s commerce secretary continued to threaten further tariffs on steel and aluminium, dairy, lumber, and “reciprocal” tariffs where they misunderstand that the GST is on all goods and not just imported ones. BC premier David Eby wants the federal government to drop their tariff fight with China, citing farmers and BC industry being hit on both sides (but seriously, do you think China is a good-faith actor here?).

Ukraine Dispatch

Russia has launched airstrikes overnight in Kyiv, while their troops are attempting to break through in the northeastern Sumy region, across the border from Kursk. In Kursk, Russian forces continue to advance, but Ukraine’s top general insists they are not at risk of being encircled. Ukraine claims that they have hit oil refineries in two Russian regions.

https://twitter.com/ukraine_world/status/1899104651527524818

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Roundup: Carney chosen, now the transition begins

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The Liberal leadership race has concluded, with Mark Carney winning by 85.9 percent on the first ballot, winning in every riding including those held by Chrystia Freeland and Karina Gould. The results were announced after Justin Trudeau’s farewell speech, and a barnburner from Jean Chrétien, and then Carney delivered an utterly bland speech, which has become par for the course. (Another Carney bio is here).

With Carney now having won the contest, now the transition begins, which won’t happen overnight, and he won’t be sworn in as PM at Rideau Hall for a few days, while this gets sorted. That won’t stop the constant drone of the concern trolling that he’ll be PM without facing an election (because apparently nobody knows basic civics in a Westminster parliamentary system), and because they want to argue in bad faith about what this means. If you need some convincing, here is a look back at previous prime ministers who didn’t have a seat in the House of Commons when they took office (though two examples were senators at the time).

In reaction, Susan Delacourt points out that Carney also has the job ahead of reinventing the Liberal Party for the next generation, as has tended to be the case for most leaders. Paul Wells muses about Carney’s brand of change, and the what it says about his competition with Poilievre to lead the country in the upcoming federal election, whenever it kicks off. Colin Horgan looks back to Carney’s past performances, particularly when he got outflanked by Poilievre at a committee appearance. As well, Trudeau’s official photographer for the past 15 years, Adam Scotti, reflects on the journey.

Ukraine Dispatch

Russia launched another heavy aerial attack on Saturday that pounded Dobropillya in the Donetsk region, killing at least 22 people. There were another 14 killed and at least 37 wounded in Kharkiv the same night. Russian forces have also recaptured three settlements in the Kursk region, trying to drive Ukrainians out. Ukrainian drones made a long-range strike against an industrial facility overnight Saturday.

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Roundup: First day retaliation

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[Clone Wars newsreel voice] Trade war! The American president has unleashed 25 percent tariffs across the board against allies Canada and Mexico, in violation of existing trade agreements. Retaliatory tariffs have been levied in response, and Canadian leaders are expressing their shock and dismay at what is clearly a plan to weaken our economy for annexation. But the retaliation is also coming with threats of further escalation…

It was indeed unprecedented in our lifetimes for a Canadian prime minister to stand up and blatantly call out an American president for the outright threat of annexation, and for his cozying up to Putin. Trudeau busted the notion that this was ever about the border or fentanyl, and promised further non-tariff measures to come.

On counter-tariffs. Yes they hurt one's own country more than the other country.But that's not the right way to think about it. The point is to inflict pain on the other country to make them stop their tariffs, even if self-painful.I don't like broad counter-tariffs, but use 'em where painful.

— Kevin Milligan (@kevinmilligan.bsky.social) 2025-03-04T16:41:41.923Z

https://bsky.app/profile/jrobson.bsky.social/post/3ljkwaokc3c2w

Provincial premiers each lined up to offer their own retaliation, much of which came in the form of removing American booze from liquor store shelves, but Doug Ford threatened export taxes on energy, and Danielle Smith (who is in a state of shock for being “betrayed” by Trump) said she wouldn’t do that…but they don’t have the power to levy them or not, because that power is federal. I’m sure they think that these performances make them look serious and tough, but would it kill a single premier to learn what their actual constitutional powers actually are before they start talking in front of the cameras? (And for everyone who is once again a newfound fan of Ford because of said performance, give your heads a shake).

Federally, Jagmeet Singh called for Parliament to be summoned for an emergency session, but offered no guarantees about how long he would let it last before he decided to vote non-confidence, and the real kicker there is that implementation for any measures they want voted on takes time, which is a concept the NDP have never been able to actually grasp. As for Pierre Poilievre, his own speech largely consisted of him insisting that he’s not MAGA, blaming the Liberals for getting us to this point, and repeating his same slogans and policy demands that he’s always made, and insisted that any funds from counter-tariffs go to tax cuts, which is Trump’s whole plan for tariffs. It’s the exact same plan, but he’s totally “not MAGA,” and is proving it in a very weird way. Oh, and no, building more pipelines and refineries isn’t going to solve any problems, guys.

Consider this a reminder especially for the NDP, who seem to think that once a bill is passed, implementation happens instantly.

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-03-04T19:09:05.571Z

There is little distance given that he expressly said he intends to use tariff revenue to fuel tax cuts in Canada. He is nothing more than mini-Trump.

— Dr Lindsay Tedds (@lindsaytedds.bsky.social) 2025-03-04T18:57:36.457Z

Tax cuts do little to aid those who are already and will lose their jobs. Tax cuts were what PP offered as a solution to the pandemic. Look back to March 2020 when he offered that as the solution to the pandemic. Like it or not, we don't need tax cuts, we need employment support programs.

— Dr Lindsay Tedds (@lindsaytedds.bsky.social) 2025-03-04T19:01:41.462Z

And then, toward the end of the day, Trump’s commerce secretary says that they might come to some kind of compromiseon the tariffs later today. Maybe, and it “won’t be a pause.” Because they all think they’re playing 3D chess here.

Ukraine Dispatch

Ukrainian drones hit an industrial target in the Russian city of Syrzan. Reuters has a look at the effect of the halt on US’ military aid for Ukraine, and the aid that other allies have provided (to date).

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Roundup: Implicating the King, and trying to cause a crisis

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Following the sickening ambush at the White House on Friday, president Volodymyr Zelenskyy flew to London for a conference on security in Europe now that it’s clear that the United States is no longer an ally, and prime minister Justin Trudeau also flew to London to attend. In advance of the conference, Zelenskyy met with King Charles at his Sandringham residence (which touched off some grousing online in Canada—more on that in a minute). At the conference,  UK prime minister Keir Starmer seemed to try to play up that the US was still a “reliable ally,” but I’m not sure anyone else in Europe (except maybe Hungary) actually believes that, nor should they. Following the conference, Trudeau was adamant about supporting Zelenskyy, and also had a one-on-one with Starmer, where no doubt the topic of Starmer throwing Canada under the bus came up for discussion, even though the readout of the conversation was very, very diplomatic in the choice of words.

President Zelenskyy has begun his meeting with King Charles III. The meeting is taking place at Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, following the London summit. The topics of their discussion have not been publicly disclosed.

— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) 2025-03-02T18:06:16.102Z

Some pretty diplomatic language in this readout of Trudeau's meeting with Starmer.

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-03-02T22:56:46.924Z

Meanwhile, back in Canada, CTV seemed to be doing their absolute utmost to create a constitutional crisis because they contacted Buckingham Palace to see if the King would say something about the “51st State” threats, and surprising nobody who has a clue about constitutional monarchy, they would not comment. BECAUSE OF COURSE THEY CAN’T WITHOUT THE ADVICE OF THE GOVERNMENT. But that didn’t stop absolutely everyone from deciding that they were suddenly an expert on constitutional monarchy and what is and is not permissible for a monarch to say without the advice of the government, and the absolute worst part was that CTV took the opportunity to start both-sidesing those reactions, because who needs fact-based journalism when you’re trying to stir up controversy in order to get clicks for the attention economy?

Could a single Canadian journalist learn how constitutional monarchy fucking works?

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-03-01T21:35:05.483Z

By "those days are over," do you mean having an apolitical head of state, or do you mean a monarchy that accedes to the will of Parliament as they have since 1688?

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-03-02T04:05:14.317Z

https://bsky.app/profile/emmettmacfarlane.com/post/3ljekymxfv22f

Before he became King, everyone was worried that Charles would be spouting opinions all the time. There was no shortage of plays, novels and TV series whose plots revolved around him acceding to the throne and needing to abdicate for being too opinionated.Honest to Zeus, people…

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-03-02T04:25:39.959Z

This should be basic civics—something people learn about in grade five, and then again in grade seven or eight, and again in high school. But nobody has a clue how this is supposed to work, most especially the people who should know, including former ministers of the Crown. This in turns leads to a whole lot of people insisting that an apolitical monarchy isn’t good for anything, and people who were already small-r republicans are using this as an excuse to agitate for an end to the monarchy, and good fucking luck to them, considering it would require a) a coherent plan to replace it, and b) the unanimous consent of the Commons, the Senate, and all ten provinces in order to rewrite the entire constitution, because that’s not something you can just search-and-replace.

Trudeau is having a meeting with the King this morning before he leaves London, and it’s possible that he will advise the King to make some kind of statement, particularly now that sentiment has been stirred up because people who should now better have implicated the King when it was Starmer who threw us under the bus in his own moral cowardice, but it never should have come to this.

Ukraine Dispatch

Late Sunday, a Russian drone hit an apartment building in Kharkiv, injuring at least eight. Meanwhile, Zelenskyy says he can salvage his relationship with Trump, though I’m not sure Trump actually wants that because he’s not a good-faith actor in this, and he is looking for any excuse to abandon Ukraine.

https://twitter.com/zelenskyyua/status/1896321455606173969

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