Tag Archives: Justin Trudeau

Roundup: Demanding LNG with someone else’s money

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While the federal Conservatives continue to promote the fantasy notion that Canada can somehow supply Europe and Japan with LNG to displace Russian supply—something that was never going to happen because of the timelines for projects to be built and that they need to be in operation to make their money back—under the notion that Ottawa needs to “get out of the way,” again ignoring that there has been no market case for it, Jason Kenney is going one step further and demanding that the federal government to build LNG export infrastructure. Which is odd because the Conservatives howled with outrage when the federal government nationalized the Trans Mountain Expansion pipeline in order to sufficiently de-risk it for it to complete construction. If there’s no market case, why not get the federal government to do it?

But let’s also remember that the proposed Kitimat LNG facility on the West Coast, fully permitted and approved, is not being built, because there is no market case. Hence why Andrew Leach is calling out Kenney’s nonsense below, particularly the fact that Kenney is calling on the federal government to spend their money rather than Kenney spending his province’s own money. You know, like he did with Keystone XL, and whoops, lost billions because he made a bad bet and the American administration didn’t restore its permits. Funny that.

 

Ukraine Dispatch, Day 217:

UN human rights investigators have found that Russia has been violating international law when it comes to the treatment of prisoners of war during the invasion of Ukraine, which shouldn’t surprise anyone at this point. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has also asked for Canadian help in ridding his country of mines left behind by Russian forces. Meanwhile, there are reports that Russian conscription officers are at borders trying to intercept would-be conscripts from fleeing the country.

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Roundup: No breach of privilege for horse jokes

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Our long national horse-joke nightmare is over. The Speaker of the House of Commons ruled that said tweet didn’t impinge on Garnett Genuis’ ability to do his work, and was not a prima facie breach of privilege, and the matter is dropped. I’m just surprised that it took him three days to determine that, but here we are. I was able to return to the House of Commons without fear that I would be removed by security (because the privilege complaint got the Sergeant-at-Arms involved), and things went as they have for pretty much the past almost fourteen years. Sure, Andrew Scheer gave me a death stare, but he’s not going to keep me from doing my job.

https://twitter.com/acoyne/status/1574767434145447940

With that in mind, a few notes and observations—while I might have preferred a stronger statement from the Press Gallery executive, I have come to learn that there was a lot of backroom pressure being exerted by certain Conservatives, so the Gallery didn’t relent to that, which is a positive sign, but still worrying about the overall implications. I am under no illusions—this was a targeted attack on me, and this was a test case for what the Conservatives hoped they could get away with in their attempt to go to war with the media. They figured that I was vulnerable, because I’m a freelancer without a corporation and a newsroom backing me up, and I’m gay, and they hoped it would count against me. It didn’t. The Gallery rebuffed their attempts, and I wasn’t about to let the Conservatives bully or intimidate me. But this was pure intimidation, and We The Media can’t kid ourselves. I was one of the first, but I will not be the last. We’re going to need to get a lot better at solidarity in the months and years to come. Am I going to recycle this horse joke yet again? Probably not. But I’m not going to stop calling out their bullshit, either in print or over Twitter.

The bigger warning sign is about what this says about the state of politics. For Scheer and Genuis, this is just a game, and they are more concerned with scoring points than they are in doing the work of being an MP, whether it’s actual accountability, or policy work, or any of it. And the sad reality is that this is where politics has been headed under the current generation for a few years now. Friends of mine who used to be staffers got so discouraged by this attitude about point-scoring—and this is from all parties, not just the Conservatives—that they wanted out. Their going after me was just another attempt to score a point, and that’s why I’m not going to laugh this off and say “It’s just politics.” Because it’s not “just politics,” and this is not a game. We need to break this mindset, and return to this being a serious place with serious people. Garnett Genuis and Andrew Scheer are not serious people. Oh, and if they couldn’t parse the grammar of that tweet, then they have no business scrutinizing legislation.

And finally, a big thank you to all of my supporters and followers over the past week. It was very heartening to get your messages of encouragement throughout, even as I dealt with an influx of trolls who apparently have nothing better to do with their time than stalk my Facebook, or click on my YouTube videos in order to down-vote them. (Guess what guys—the algorithm counts those clicks, down-votes and shitty comments as engagement in my favour).

Ukraine Dispatch, Day 216:

Russia is claiming to have won overwhelming majority votes in their sham-referendums (conducted at gunpoint) in occupied regions of Ukraine as a pretext for annexation, which no Western country is going to view as legitimate. Meanwhile, Russian men at risk of conscription are fleeing the country, and a Russian-backed disinformation network trying to spread propaganda about the invasion has been shut down.

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Roundup: The aftermath of Fiona

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In the wake of Hurricane Fiona battering the East Coast, Justin Trudeau has cancelled his trip to Japan for Shinzo Abe’s funeral, and has been convening meetings of the Incident Response Group in order to coordinate federal efforts for assistance. Provincial requests for military assistance have all been approved, and there are constant assurances that yes, the federal government will help rebuild, and there are already provisions in place for that to happen.

Meanwhile, thousands have been without power, and at least one fatality has been recorded. It is expected to be a slow recovery because of the scale of the damage (some photos here).

 

Ukraine Dispatch, Day 214:

While Russia’s sham referendums continue in occupied territories in Ukraine, they have resumed shelling civilian targets. Meanwhile, president Volodymyr Zelenskyy is calling Russia’s decision to mobilize reserves and conscripts as a sign of weakness, and offers safety to those who surrender. Protests are continuing in Russia against the mobilization.

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Roundup: Still nothing to say

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Oh, nothing. Just a few more selected tweets as this situation continues. Don’t mind me.

https://twitter.com/acoyne/status/1573395492259729408

https://twitter.com/acoyne/status/1573412911065841687

https://twitter.com/acoyne/status/1573414167989698565

https://twitter.com/Garossino/status/1573514485998161921

Ukraine Dispatch, Day 212:

Russian-occupied regions in Ukraine were subjected to sham “referendums” yesterday, to provide a paper cover that claims these regions want to “overwhelmingly join Russia,” which of course is not true and will not be internationally recognized, because everyone knows it’s a sham. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged Ukrainians in these occupied regions to undermine these sham referendums, and to share information about those caught up in said farce. Meanwhile, a UN commission of inquiry on the invasion of Ukraine has found evidence of war crimes committed in Russian-occupied areas, which should surprise no one.

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Roundup: A tale of two rage-farmers

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Yesterday during Question Period, I made an unoriginal joke about Garnett Genuis’ terrible performance. But we live in Extremely Online times, and so Andrew Scheer decided that he was going to do something about my lame joke. He claimed that I called for Genuis to be shot—which I most certainly did not—and began the process of online intimidation through rage-farming. Of note, Scheer tried this previously against Gerald Butts for using the term “defenestrated,” and that whipped up a huge frenzy, because of course it did. While a handful of randos started the process of harassing me, a short time later, the Canada Proud account decided to pick up on it, putting out a wholly unoriginal shitpost declaring me to be a “Liberal journalist” who owes Genuis an apology for advocating he be shot—which again, I did no such thing, and I owe him no apology. If anything, he owes everyone an apology for subjecting us to his attempt to be clever with the lyrics of “Bohemian Rhapsody.” And lo, more of Jeff Ballingall’s winged monkeys tried to harass me online, with one or two Conservative MPs chiming in, insisting that I “crossed a line,” which again, I did no such thing. I fully expect Pierre Poilievre to put out another wounded-sounded fundraising email about me by tomorrow.

The point here is that this is how the intimidation game is played, and why they think that journalists are uniquely vulnerable. If you are critical about anyone on their team, they declare that you are biased, even though you are critical about every team. They howl and moan, in the hopes that you either apologise and retract, and then they know that you’re weak, and that they can silence you through these kinds of tactics. It’s partially why so many journalists have resorted to scrupulously both-sidesing all of their lies—because they screamed and moaned about being treated unfairly, and insisting that they were “insulted” when they were called out for their blatant falsehoods, and yes, this has absolutely happened—until those reporters and their editors stop calling them out, and instead, just both-sides what is said. Both-sidesing in turn allows them to lie with impunity, because they know they won’t be called out for it, lest they begin this cycle again. And now, our political discourse is completely fucked as a result. So no, I’m not going to let Scheer or Ballingall intimidate me, and their winged monkeys don’t scare me.

Ukraine Dispatch, Day 210:

Russian president Putin announced a partial mobilisation of Russian reserves to fill positions in the army, if that’s any indication of how well this is going for him. Meanwhile, president Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a video address to the UN General Assembly, assuring victory for Ukraine, but also calling for punishment for Russia, including stripping them of their permanent seat on the Security Council.

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Roundup: Kludging together dental care

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Parliament resumed sitting yesterday, and the first thing the government did was tabled two bills related to their recently announced affordability measures. While the GST rebate is a fairly straight-forward mechanism that mostly just needs a royal recommendation to ensure that funds are available for it, they also tabled their bill on dental care, or rather the funds to be used for dental care in lieu of a full-on programme because it’s going to take a while to figure out how best to do it. And thus far, it looks like the kludge is to use the CRA as the delivery mechanism and who would eventually follow-up to see that it was properly administered and not improperly claimed. But that’s going to be a problem. And the worst part of this is the reminder that the NDP want this to be a fully federally-administered programme, when it’s an issue within provincial jurisdiction, and there is no federal system they can realistically build off of. The CRA to transfer funds to families is a kludge, and not a great one, but the NDP have demands and an inane belief that the problem just requires enough political will. This can only end in tears.

Ukraine Dispatch, Day 209:

While Ukrainian forces bolster their lines with captured Russian tanks, shelling around the Enerhodar nuclear plant has resulted in damage to the facility, as they target other power plants and dams as though that would make it easier for slaves to do the work.

On the Russian side, it looks like the regime is trying to speed ahead sham referendums to justify formally annex those territories, but nobody should be fooled. As well, the Duma is considering legislation that would crack down on soldiers who disobey orders, as well as deserters, which could be indicate a real problem for Russia when it comes to maintaining their military.

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Roundup: The funeral in London, and the memorial in Ottawa

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The funeral service for the Queen went ahead in Westminster Abbey yesterday, before she was laid to rest at Windsor Castle. Canada had one of the largest contingents there, including horseback Mounties leading the procession (and perhaps that is all the Mounties should be after they are dismantled). I will note that it was amusing how many UK and American outlets were confused by the presence of Sandra Oh at the event as part of the procession of honours recipients, along with Mark Tewksbury to represent Canada. A non-scandal has also been erupting in certain media outlets where the prime minister *gasp!* sang at a piano in his hotel lobby a couple of nights ago. *yawn*

https://twitter.com/Canadian_Crown/status/1571838803945443329

In Ottawa, the national memorial ceremony for the Queen took place in Christ Church Cathedral down the street from Parliament Hill, and as attended by most MPs and senators, with former Governor General Adrienne Clarkson and former prime minister Brian Mulroney speaking (and yes, there was a public appearance by the Canadian Secretary to the King). It also featured a couple of musical interludes, including Rufus Wainwright singing Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah, which is probably really appropriate for a memorial for the Queen (seriously, guys, it’s a song about sex), but it was a lovely service nevertheless.

https://twitter.com/Yasir_Naqvi/status/1572039552394575877

Ukraine Dispatch, Day 208:

A Russian missile struck 300 metres away from the Pivdennoukrainsk nuclear plant in southern Ukraine, so that’s concerning.

https://twitter.com/ZelenskaUA/status/1571855017816072195

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Roundup: Gatherings in advance of the funeral

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As Canadian officials were in London over the weekend in advance of the Queen’s funeral, a number of meetings took place between the prime minister and King Charles III, and the King also met with the Governors General of the Realms. Trudeau also met with the new UK prime minister, Liz Truss and other world leaders, while back at Canada House, Mary May Simon invested Stephen Harper into the Order of Canada, while former prime ministers and Governors General took some time together.

Ukraine Dispatch, Day 207:

While the counter-offensive remains paused to allow supply lines to catch up and the units to recuperate, discoveries continue in cities and villages recently liberated. Beyond the mass grave found in Izyum, torture chambers have been found in Kozacha Lopan near the border. Russian forces continue to target civilian infrastructure, and have stepped up attacks since being forced from recently liberated areas. Meanwhile, Kharkiv is celebrating Pride, which is an accomplishment in a country still largely hostile to LGBTQ+ rights, as they are being invaded by a country that has been weaponising homophobia.

https://twitter.com/maksymeristavi/status/1570891880178786304

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Roundup: The Convoy Party of Canada

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The CBC did the work of comparing the names on the leaked GiveSendGo data around donations to the occupation of Ottawa from back in February and compared it to the publicly available donor database from the Conservative leadership campaign, and lo, there was a lot of overlap, to the tune of $460,000 from 3,100 donors to both (a likely underestimate as they ignored close names and postal codes), and most of that went to Pierre Poilievre’s campaign. A lot of these names had never donated federally before, which shows that the occupation has galvanised a political movement. Now, this was only 4.2 percent of the donors to the leadership overall, but this gives you a sense of why Poilievre has decided to give up on the political centre and focus his hopes on these fringe elements who had previously been disaffected, hoping that they will be what is able to push him over the edge in the next election.

https://twitter.com/StephanieCarvin/status/1570804839663415296

https://twitter.com/StephanieCarvin/status/1570805416250187776

This was something that I discussed with Stephanie Carvin in a previous video we did, and wrote a column about—this kind of political movement is catnip to parties, and they will try and ride this tiger in order to benefit from it, either in votes or donations. But that’s the thing about riding the tiger, is that almost all of the time, you can’t actually do it, and it will turn around eat you, and that’s exactly what Poilievre has risked his entire political party to do. And rest assured, a fringe group who are not rational actors will be very hard to control, and they risk easily turning on him when they find out that he can’t do most of the things he promised them he would, or that his economic theories are based on utter nonsense, and that his entire platform is built on a foundation of sand. We watched this happen when the Republicans in the US embraced the Tea Party, and it drove them further to extremism and to Donald Trump. Justin Ling details that, and other examples, in this op-ed, and the fact that Poilievre and his camp believe they’re cleverer than all of those other parties who tried to embrace the fringe and were consumed by it. That’s probably the most chilling part, because Poilievre is certainly not cleverer, and he has a higher opinion of himself and his abilities than anyone who has watched him for any length of period would see. Jason Kenney also suffers from the same affliction, and look where it got him. We are entering into dangerous territory.

Ukraine Dispatch, Day 205:

Attention in the conflict remains on the discovery of the mass graves in Izium, where more have been discovered, and many with hands tied behind their backs and showing signs of mistreatment before they were killed. Meanwhile, it has been decided that president Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s wife, Olena Zelenska, will travel to London for the Queen’s funeral.

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Roundup: Stop saying “woke”

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The first Monday after the Conservative leadership contest, and already shots are being fired between Poilievre and Trudeau. Poilievre kicked off the day, first by meeting with his Quebec caucus alone to reassure them and ask them to rally around him in unity, and then addressed the caucus at large with a public speech in which he decried Trudeau’s “radical woke coalition,” and then spouted a bunch of nonsense about inflation.

From his caucus retreat, Trudeau responded with a quick congratulation to Poilievre for his victory, before calling out his reliance on “buzzwords, dog whistles and careless attacks,” as well as his “highly questionable, reckless economic ideas.” While this is happening, it sounds like a few Quebec MPs told Radio-Canada that they want the party to move more toward the “Centre” (which is odd, because they never really left it, and no, they have not actually taken a sharp leftward turn), and wants them to be “less woke,” which again, is a strange turn of phrase because I’m not sure what it’s supposed to mean. Should they be openly racists or homophobic? Is that what they think will win them votes? Is attempting to be inclusive so terrible? Really?

Ukraine Dispatch, Day 201:

The Ukrainian counter-offensive carried on in the country’s northeast, clearing out much of the Russian occupiers that have been in place since February, and it was done with such speed in part because Russians were simply surrendering in large numbers. Many of these prisoners are intended to be swapped with Russia for captured Ukrainian troops, so we’ll see how that progresses in the near term.

https://twitter.com/TheStudyofWar/status/1569393669484036096

https://twitter.com/cmhwee/status/1569324523891363840

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