Tag Archives: Keystone XL

Roundup: Jason Kenney is out of moves

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It was day two of Jason Kenney’s very public temper tantrum over the cancellation of the Keystone XL permits, with renewed demands that the federal government impose trade sanctions or invoke other reprisals under the New NAFTA agreement, which were going to be a tough sell regardless. And if the federal government doesn’t, Kenney is threatening to start talking about more of his “Fair Deal” nonsense, riling up the swivel-eyed loons in the province’s “separatists” as a way of creating more pressure – and to try and protect his own right flank, given that he’s already bleeding support.

But here’s the thing – this isn’t working for him. And Jen Gerson lays it out perfectly in this utterly devastating piece – that Kenney was the “emotional support pet” who said things people wanted to hear, who replaced a premier who was getting stuff done, and as a result, he has had nothing but losses. Not a single thing he can claim to be a win, but he’s going to keep doubling down on his failed policies and tactics, undeterred, because reasons. Kenney’s tactic of making people angry and pretending that he’s going to save them was never going to work – eventually, that anger has to go somewhere, and as we’ve seen over the anger of all of the hypocrites in his caucus buggering off to Hawaii or Mexico for the holidays, well, it comes back at you when you least expect it. Kenney has long deluded himself into thinking he’s both the gods’ gift to Alberta, and that he’s clever enough to set fires and then put them out once he has people’s attention so that he can look like a hero. Clearly, he is neither of those things, and the province is paying for that. Kenney has burned all of their bridges, and they have nothing left and nowhere to go.

https://twitter.com/jengerson/status/1352286840842199041

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Roundup: The politics of throwing tantrums

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The word of the day was tantrums. It started off with Ontario premier Doug Ford throwing one at the CEO of Pfizer when he called him up to demand answers on new vaccines. It seems, however, that it didn’t last long, because when Ford put out a press release – sans staged photo of him on the call – he didn’t say what he had been told. After his bluster about firecrackers the day before, it would certainly appear that he was chastened by said CEO that he couldn’t make magic happen, but Ford had to look tough for his audience.

Shortly thereafter, Erin O’Toole put out a press release demanding that Justin Trudeau also phone up the CEO to throw a tantrum about the temporary vaccine shortage, and then hours later, when it became confirmed that President Biden rescinded the Keystone XL permit by executive order, O’Toole put out a separate release that said that Trudeau hadn’t done enough to stand up for their energy sector, as though Trudeau needs to scream, cry, threaten, and hold his breath until he turns blue. And more to the point, I find it fascinating that the Conservatives keep insisting that Trudeau is all style and no substance, and yet the one thing they keep demanding of him is more political performance art. Then again, when you look back at their legacy in government, it was far more about optics over substance, whether that was over their unconstitutional tough-on-crime measures, or the GST cut – which went against all good economic sense. Signalling to their base seemed to be what they were really all about, to the detriment of sound governance.

And to top off the day of tantrums, Jason Kenney’s reaction to the Keystone XL cancellation was beyond precious, as he demanded that the federal government start imposing trade sanctions against the US for the move, which is utterly bonkers. It’s also pretty telling as to the state of delusion Kenney seems to occupy when it comes just what cards he has in his hand. Trying to start a trade war with the US would have far more devastating consequences for Canada, and Kenney should know that, but apparently the politics of throwing tantrums in public is too good to avoid. And this is the state of the discourse, apparently. I would very much like leaders who behave like adults to be in the room, but this is where we are.

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Roundup: Zero doses mean new histrionics

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News hit yesterday morning that some of those Pfizer shipments will be a little less than anticipated – namely zero doses, which had a bunch of people in a panic. Making things worse is the fact that some European countries will still get some doses while Canada isn’t getting any, which has even more people in a tizzy (never mind that most of those countries are far behind Canada in terms of their own vaccinations, while our provinces can keep on rolling out second doses). Ontario premier Doug Ford went on television to say some boneheaded things, including a public appeal to Joe Biden to send Ontario a million doses out of the goodness of his heart, and the media cycle went into full distraction mode.

Never mind the assurances from Justin Trudeau, Anita Anand, or Major-General Dany Fortin that with their retooled production lines, Pfizer would be able to deliver more doses faster in February to catch up with the missed shipments and keep the contracted doses for the end of the first quarter, no, the opposition parties all demanded serious accountings and timelines, as though this government could provide them – especially in light of just how fluid this situation has proved to be, and the fact that the zero-doses notice came that morning.

Something else I found a bit off-putting throughout this was media personalities trying to demand that the prime minister personally get on the phone with the CEO of Pfizer to demand that something must be done. I fail to see what this could possibly accomplish other than the theatrics of hysterically demanding, nay, weeping into the phone in desperation as though that were the key to making Pfizer’s retooling happen faster, or more doses appearing by magic, because apparently, we deserve them more than countries who are further behind in their vaccinations than we are – but that seems to be what everyone is demanding. We have become so inundated with pandemic theatre, with demands that won’t meaningfully have any impact, or dramatically introduced half-measures that aren’t doing enough while infections continue to climb. To demand more theatre seems to me to be an indication of the state of debasement we find ourselves in, but when all you worry about is optics over substance, then I suppose it makes a certain amount of twisted logic.

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Roundup: Kenney would like his social licence

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Things are frantic on the energy file, as the Biden administration threatens to kill the Keystone XL pipeline project, and Jason Kenney is floundering. In one breath, he has been demanding that federal government do something – never mind that Justin Trudeau has been championing this project to his American contacts since he was first made Liberal leader, and brought it up on his first phone call with Biden after the election – and he’s insisting that this would damage Canada-US relations – as though it could be much worse than the last four years of inscrutable and random policy changes. But perhaps the most fitting of all is that everything that Kenney is now reaping what he has been sowing over the past number of years in terms of his insulting those close to Biden, and all of the environmental policies he has been denigrating and fighting in court are precisely the kinds of social licence that he needs to try and convince a Biden administration to keep the permit alive. Funny that.

https://twitter.com/maxfawcett/status/1351220724921475074

Kenney has also threatened legal action if the permit is rescinded, but his chances of success on that venue look mighty slim.

The NDP and Greens, meanwhile, are cheering the planned cancellation, and insist that Canada should be focusing on creating green jobs instead – as though you can flip a switch and make it happen.

https://twitter.com/maxfawcett/status/1351354379853467649

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Roundup: O’Toole plays the victim

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After about a week of news articles, columns and op-eds opining on the fact that Conservatives in Canada need to let go of Trumpism, and essentially imploring Erin O’Toole to seize the opportunity to do so, O’Toole came out with an aggrieved press release on Sunday to complain that he feels like he’s being unfairly tarnished with the far-right brush, and tried to list his and his party’s progressive bona fides, but there are some very curious omissions in there, such as the fact that some of those bona fides on his personal part have been qualified, that the ones for his party were pretty much all from the Progressive Conservative party, which is extinct and not the modern Conservative Party of Canada (indeed, two former PC prime ministers say they no longer have a party), and O’Toole conveniently ignores the ways in which he has been employing the same tactics as Trump and elements of the far-right movement, be it his reliance on lies and shitposts to undermine trust in government, the party’s conveniently looking away from racists and white supremacists when they think they can use them to score goals, and his hiring people like his shitposter in chief, who is one of the minds behind The Post Millennial, which has a large far-right following.

O’Toole also claims that there is “no place for the far-right” in his party, and yet we have yet to see him make any kind of denouncement of his MP Derek Sloan for his blatant Trumpism, including during his leadership campaign, and we certainly haven’t seen any disclaiming of the kinds of things that Leslyn Lewis has been saying, particularly in op-eds in the National Post, which have been unhinged Trumpist screeds – but because she’s a Black woman, O’Toole will keep excusing her because he thinks her inclusion is good for the party. (I would also point out that when O’Toole claims he immediately and forcefully denounced the Capitol Hill attack, he did no such thing – his personal statement spoke about “sadness” that it was happening, and it wasn’t until the next day that Michael Chong actually denounced the attack, and he’s someone that the party has largely marginalized as Liberal-lite™).

The other thing that O’Toole’s whinging press release smacks of is “victim-claiming,” which is a new term that I learned, where the conservative movement in particular frames themselves in a light intended to garner sympathy from non-victims, and portray themselves as vulnerable. We see this a fair amount, particularly online, where they take great pains to portray themselves as the victims of scurrilous attacks against their character, and ignore the attacks they themselves perpetrate or encourage. Michelle Rempel Garner is a favourite user of this tactic – and while she is absolutely on the receiving end of horrific death and rape threats, she is also an instigator of online mobbing (who in turn give death and rape threats to her targets), and when called out on it, she retreats to her own victim status. Nobody is a winner here, but there is a complete lack of self-awareness that is particularly galling, and yet this is where we find the discourse. I don’t think O’Toole deserves a pass until he acknowledges the things he and his party do that fall into the kinds of tactics employed by the far right, but I doubt we’ll get that, because he will fall back to this refrain of “look how progressive I really am,” and keep silent on all of qualifications, the winks and nods,  everything else that demonstrates that words and actions don’t necessarily align. You know, the kind of personal responsibility that conservatives like to preach.

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Roundup: More pandemic theatre

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The horror show of COVID infections continues apace in Ontario, and premier Doug Ford has decided to get really serious and issue a “stay-at-home” order, which amounts to little more than the mockdown that is currently in place already. In spite of his promises of an “iron ring” around long-term care facility, there are now outbreaks at forty percent of facilities. Ford won’t do anything about the sick days that are necessary for people to stop spreading infections at workplaces, and he won’t do anything about evictions from commercial landlords. So he’s totally handling this with aplomb.

So really, what Ford is offering is more pandemic theatre – the close cousin of security theatre. And most of the restrictions and exemptions don’t actually make sense. They’re not going to do enough to curb transmission – especially as newer variants start making their way into the community – because he won’t do the hard work of closing the large workplaces where spread is happening, because that would be harming the economy – as though rising infections and deaths won’t do worse economic damage. Ford continues to shirk his responsibilities and let this pandemic get worse, and more deaths to pile up, as he tries to shift blame and try and to get people to blame one another than acknowledge his own culpability. The “Uncle Doug” schtick isn’t working, and he keeps hoping it will, and here we are, waiting for things to get worse before he institutes more half-measures. Welcome to Ontario – yours to discover.

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QP: The PornHub panic

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While the prime minister was on the Hill and just gave a press conference to announce that vaccines would likely be arriving in a week following Health Canada approval, neither he nor his deputy were at QP. Candice Bergen led off, giving selective information about vaccination roll-outs in other countries, and then said that the announced first batch of the Pfizer vaccine wouldn’t be enough. Anita Anand insisted that this was a wonderful day, and that the light at the end of the tunnel was clear. Bergen then moved to the PornHub story in the New York Times, saying he was allowing rape and sexual exploitation to happen in his own backyard, to which David Lametti reminded her that there are laws in place, including for Internet service providers, and that they were taking this seriously. Bergen insisted that there has been no action, as though there was a magic wand that was not being used, and Lametti repeated his points before declaring his pride in the Digital Charter. Stephanie Kusie then took over in and French to demand refunds for airline consumers, to which Chris Bittle stated clearly that there would be no sector-specific aid without refunds. Kusie worried that any plan would bar executive compensation, and Bittle reiterate the importance of ensuring refunds. Claude DeBellefeuille led for the Bloc to demand increased health transfers with no strings attached, to which Patty Hajdu read in halting French about how much the federal government had transferred to the provinces since the pandemic began. DeBellefeuille was not mollified, and repeated her demand, for which Hajdu read another set of talking points. Jenny Kwan demanded more safe places for women in Vancouver’s downtown east side, to which Maryam Monsef said that she has been working with the advocates in the area. Leah Gazan demanded action on the report from the MMIW inquiry, to which Carolyn Bennett assured her that they were working on this with a new $751 million funding commitment.

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Roundup: Our loss of vaccine manufacturing capacity

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The talk of the day was vaccines, and when Canada might see them – which might be later than some other countries because we lack domestic manufacturing capacity in this country – and this made everyone go crazy. That, and the fact that they are howling that the Americans may start getting vaccinations immediately after the FDA is set to decide on vaccine trials on December 10th – which is a pretty big assumption that they will get approval on that day. (We’ll see about how much longer it takes Health Canada to complete their own authorisation process, though they are currently engaged in a “rolling authorisation” process on the three main candidates). And they are still negotiating final rollout with the provinces, who also don’t seem to have their distribution plans finalised either.

And to be a bit more clear, we have some vaccine manufacturing capability in this country, but not the kind for the kind of vaccines that Pfizer and Moderna are set to produce – and yes, this government has invested in boosting that capacity in Canada, including building a new facility at the University of Saskatchewan, but those take time to get built and up to speed. But as this was being discussed, I was reminded that well over a decade ago, Canada had proposed to build a new vaccine pilot lot production facility as part of the Canadian HIV Vaccine Initiative, in partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. And then there was political interference in the Harper Cabinet, in particular from Vic Toews, who wanted a Level-5 Lab built in Winnipeg instead, and then neither happened, and all of the Gates Foundation money got pissed away funding small projects here and there that didn’t amount to any meaningful contribution overall. (My reporting on Toews’ interference here, as well as the refusal by Toews and two other ministers to appear at committee to answer questions on what happened with the killing the CHVI, while officials gave contradictory evidence here). And this kind of facility would definitely have been of use for the kind of situation that we find ourselves in, but lo, the Conservatives killed it (and the Gates Foundation covered for them after they did). And here we are, building this capacity over a decade too late.

In other COVID news around the country, after sitting on their new rapid testing kits for weeks, the Ford government in Ontario has finally decided how they’re going to roll them out, which you would think they should have thought of beforehand. Over in Alberta, Jason Kenney announced – after a long preamble about how hard it was to make this decision – a state of public health emergency and some tougher restrictions in the province which are not a full lockdown, and which doctors are already saying won’t do enough to curb the exponential growth of new infections. In other words, Lockdown Lite™ or Mockdown (credit to Lindsay Tedds for that one). Because Kenney insists the consequences of a lockdown are worse than all of the deaths that are happening, and a bogus reading of the Charter implications (which clearly allow for these kinds of restrictions in a time like this). That means that Alberta’s infections will keep rising because Kenney refused to take appropriate action, and he’ll blame Ottawa, and everyone else for his inaction, because that’s what Jason Kenney does.

https://twitter.com/LindsayTedds/status/1331385270529269762

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QP: O’Toole with the follow-up

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Wednesday, proto-Prime Minsters Questions Day, and all of the leaders were present. Erin O’Toole led off, with his script on the mini-lectern in front of him, and not only declared that Canada would not get vaccines until other countries do, and demanded the “real” vaccine plan. Justin Trudeau assured him that Canada has one of the most robust vaccine plans in the world. O’Toole was not mollified, and again demanded the plan, to which Trudeau gave some bland platitudes before he said they had a numerous plans for distribution in the works. O’Toole complained he wasn’t getting a real answer, wondered about American “emergency” approvals for drugs, and accused the government of not having a plan. Trudeau gave a weary sigh and noted that people don’t care about what they hear in QP, but that they wanted the government to get stuff done, and they were. O’Toole switched to French to complain that the government was been mean to Quebeckers by not applying the province’s Bill 101 to federal workplaces, and Trudeau assured him that they were committed to protecting the French language in Quebec. O’Toole then mischaracterised comments by MP Emmanuella Lambropoulos as being “contemptuous” of Quebeckers, and Trudeau assured him that she had apologised for the her remarks. Yves-François Blanchet picked up on this line and decried the decline of French, and Trudeau repeated that they respect French and were working to strengthen it. Blanchet ratcheted up his rhetoric for his follow-up, and Trudeau wondered why the Bloc was trying to start a fight over something the government agrees with. Jagmeet Singh was up next, and in French, he accused the government of doing less in the second wave than they did in the first to which Trudeau listed measures that they have taken to assist the provinces. Singh then switched to English to repeat the accusations, and Trudeau repeated his response. 

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Roundup: Getting to COVID-zero

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The pandemic continues to grow exponentially, and people are wringing their hands about what to do, the notion of getting to COVID-zero is circulating again, after certain jurisdictions – Australia, New Zealand, Slovakia – managed it. So here’s Dr. Isaac Bogoch to explain it.

We can barely get premiers to institute some reasonably tough measures as it is, which is going to make anything required to actually crush the virus almost impossible – especially if we’re relying on their political calculus that closing businesses is worse for them than the hundreds or thousands of deaths that will happen otherwise.

For a bit of a reality check on the feasibility of this, Chris Selley explains why some countries’ systems for locking down COVID wouldn’t work in Canada, either because they were draconian or we are too far behind the curve to make it happen.

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