Tag Archives: Marco Mendicino

Roundup: Delay to delivery?

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The new natural resource minister, Tim Hodgson, gave a speech in Calgary yesterday and everyone in the energy sector was all hot and bothered because he insisted that they were moving to a culture of delivery instead of delay. And you’ll have to forgive my cynicism, but that seems to completely ignore what the actual issues of delay have been, and if you say “Liberal regulation!” you’re going to get a smack. The premise of saying they need “one project, one review” ignores that that’s been the case for ages now—there are no duplicative reviews, because federal and provincial reviews look at different things, and on projects where they had shared jurisdiction, they set up a joint review panel so that it was *gasp!* one review. Anyone who says they were mired in duplication is frankly not being that honest.

The real issue has been proper consultation, which is what leads projects to wind up in litigation, particularly from Indigenous groups. Harper’s attempt to reform assessments to “streamline” them meant that most of those projects wound up in litigation because, well, they ignored their obligations. In some cases, like Northern Gateway, the Conservatives ignored the process that they put into place for meaningful consultation, and well, the project died on the vine as a result. And with BC and Ontario both pushing legislation to “streamline” projects which basically means bulldozing over environmental and Indigenous obligations, well, that’s all going to wind up in litigation too. This was the whole point of the Impact Assessment Act that Jason Kenney in particularly successfully villainized—it was to ensure proper consultation up-front, at the design phase of a project, so that the rest of the process would go faster because you did the hard work at the beginning. But it became the subject of lies and disinformation, and yes, the federal government’s attempt to exert jurisdiction over certain projects because the polluting effects cross borders didn’t convince the Supreme Court of Canada, but that didn’t render the entire statute or the issues of up-front consultation obsolete or moot, and nobody seems to want to explain that part.

One more thing about Hodgson’s speech was the he singled out Pathways Alliance as a project he wants to see move forward. I’m really hoping that this means he’s telling them to put up or shut up, because we know that they basically went dark because their claims about building a massive carbon capture and storage hub were overblown and they were about to face legal consequences for greenwashing thanks to new powers for the Competition Bureau. And frankly, the whole point of the emissions cap was to tell the energy sector to put up or shut up—that they have been boasting about how they’re going to reduce their emissions, so when the government basically told them to prove it, suddenly they started crying about how this as a “production cap” and it was unfair to them. Girl, please. You insisted you could do this, so prove it.

Meanwhile, we’ve had our first glimpse into Mark Carney’s PMO, and while he’s insistent on punctuality, business attire, and UK spellings (hooray!), and decision paralysis is not setting in (so far), he’s also starting to micromanage all kinds of things that he shouldn’t be, which sounds an awful lot like a Harper trait. Part of the problem so far is a lack of a proper chief of staff, and that ministers haven’t staffed up yet either, and yet he wants to operate at a breakneck pace. But there are other warning signs—because he doesn’t understand politics, he really hasn’t given thought to how to navigate a minority House of Commons, to say nothing of the Senate (ahem), and not knowing how to deal with Parliament could lead to a situation where the Conservatives can team up with the Bloc and the NDP yet again to start frustrating anything passing once again—and for all of their talk about working together and getting things done, don’t think for a second that they’re actually not more interested in scoring points and embarrassing the Liberals. Trudeau lost the ability to manage these things, in part because of disinterest, and we’ll see if Carney doesn’t make the same mistake.

Ukraine Dispatch

There was a massive missile and drone attack against Kyiv overnight, which has injured at least eight people (Photos). Ukraine and Russia exchanged 390 prisoners each on Friday, marking one of the largest swaps since the war began.

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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: Trudeau’s slow exit

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And Monday morning, the inevitable happened. Prime minister Justin Trudeau summoned the media outside of Rideau Cottage, and first announced that he had been granted a prorogation until March 24th, and then stated that he had told his children and the president of the Liberal Party that he intends to resign as leader and prime minister once a successor has been chosen in a robust national competition. While he was tinged with sadness, there were still some elements that rankled—he blamed the decision on “internal divisions” in the party rather than a self-aware recognition that he was dragging them down, and that his time had come (or had come months ago and he refused to listen). When asked about Chrystia Freeland, he implied that her version of events was not what happened and that he offered her a chance to work on the most important file but she turned him down (and no, a portfolio with no department, staff, or levers of power, is not a promotion). When asked about his biggest regret, he said that it was that he couldn’t implement ranked ballots (which he never actually tried to do during the whole bloody Electoral Reform Committee process).

holy shit, did I do this??

— Effin' Birds (@effinbirds.com) 2025-01-06T17:19:31.856Z

All those Conservatives introducing Pierre Poilievre as "Canada's next Prime Minister" turned out to be wrong, if only on a technicality.

— Jason Markusoff (@markusoff.bsky.social) 2025-01-06T16:18:11.576Z

Response from other parties was quick. Jagmeet Singh was first out the door with a statement devoid of class or graciousness, and Pierre Poilievre soon followed on with the same. In a video message shortly thereafter, Singh said that he plans to vote non-confidence no matter who the leader is, but well, his mind changes with the cycles of the moon and the phases of the tide. Poilievre also delivered an absolutely psychotic video message about how the “dark days” are nearly over, and near sweet Rhea, mother of Zeus, that is absolutely divorced from reality.

Jagmeet Singh first out of the gate with a statement that lacks any semblance of class. #cdnpoli

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-01-06T16:32:04.683Z

And next up is Poilievre to also offer a classless statement. #cdnpoli

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-01-06T16:50:12.984Z

Like an absolute psychotic, Pierre Poilievre's opening remark is about the potential end of "a dark chapter in our history."

— Emmett Macfarlane (@emmettmacfarlane.com) 2025-01-06T16:59:17.610Z

And then it's a litany about how terrible crime is in Canada.FACT CHECK: Crime in Canada actually remains near historic lows.

— Emmett Macfarlane (@emmettmacfarlane.com) 2025-01-06T17:00:07.538Z

"Everything is out of control" Poilievre says.It's very depressing people fall for this fantasy shit. So many valid criticisms could be made about this listless government, and Poilievre is relying on 1980s-style Republican fear-mongering about crime and taxes.

— Emmett Macfarlane (@emmettmacfarlane.com) 2025-01-06T17:02:03.861Z

The party now has to come to decisions about the length of the contest, the rules, and how they plan to deal with the potential for any foreign interference that comes with such an open system that doesn’t even have paid memberships (which, I will reiterate, was always a stupid move, and the Alberta Liberal Party, which instigated this kind of scheme, is now pretty much extinct). Those rules will help determine the shape of the race, and who may throw their hat into the ring, to take what could very well be a poisoned chalice.

Here is a high-level look over Trudeau’s political career. The Star has assembled a list of possible candidates for the job, but that’s going to start changing rapidly. There are concerns about what this will do with the response to Trump tariffs.

In reaction, Emmett Macfarlane sees no issues with the prorogation call (which is not unexpected). Susan Delacourt looks back over Trudeau’s political career and the air of inscrutability he has cultivated around himself. Althia Raj wonders about where the party goes next after Trudeau, and if they have enough runway to make a difference. Paul Wells lays out the four main challenges that Trudeau’s announcement has unleashed.

In case you missed it:

My weekend column on Poilievre and the lessons he seems to be eager to take from the “tech broligarchy” that is flexing its muscles around Trump.

My column on how Poilievre’s plan for a “massive crackdown on crime” is predicated on repealing laws that don’t do what he claims.

My weekend column on why there’s no such thing as an “interim” prime minister, and how the Liberals need to consider their next steps in replacing Trudeau.

My Loonie Politics Quick Take points out that the Conservatives’ plan to use the Public Accounts committee to call for non-confidence is a non-starter.

My year-end column on the four main political lessons that we’ve learned (or in some cases, refused to learn) over 2024.

My weekend column on the considerations around prorogation, now vs 2008, and what’s changed and what hasn’t since them.

Happy to see two of my stories in the top ten!

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2024-12-31T20:05:37.785Z

Ukraine Dispatch

Russian forces claim to have taken the stronghold of Kurakhove, but Ukraine says they are still fighting. The fighting appears to have intensified in the Kursk region of Russia with a possible new Ukrainian offensive, and they are saying that Russia and North Korea has suffered 38,000 casualties, with nearly 15,000 of those dead.

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Roundup: The usual NATO meeting tropes

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In advance of the NATO summit happening today in Latvia, Justin Trudeau was in Latvia to announce that Canada would be doubling our military presence in that country by 2026, which is actually easier said than done with the current state of our Forces. This was, of course, superseded by news that Turkey has agreed to drop their objections to Sweden joining NATO (leaving Hungary as the last to sign off, though they insisted they won’t be the last). Here’s Stephen Saideman to parse what this means.

Of course, as with any NATO meeting, we get the usual lazy tropes about Canada supposedly being a “freeloader,” because we don’t spend the minimum two percent of our GDP on defence. But that analogy doesn’t actually work because NATO isn’t a club where members pay dues and then it does stuff with them—it’s a military alliance that depends on the participation of member countries, and Canada participates. We participate more than a lot of other countries who have a higher percentage of defence spending than we do. And it bears reminding yet again that the two percent target is a stupid metric, because the fastest way to meet the target is to tank your economy and have a recession, and it’s easier for countries with a smaller GDP denominator to meet. But hey, the two percent target is easy fodder for media because they can make hay about it with little regard for the nuance, which is why it has been a fixation for years now.

And yes, one of our biggest issues when it comes to our military spending and capacity to spend is our ability to recruit, which we have had a hard time doing—it’s a very tight labour market, and it can take a long time for applications to be processed, by which time potential recruits are likely to have found new jobs. It also seems to me that the military has never adapted to the changes that happened about two decades ago, when they could no longer rely on economically-depressed regions (such as the Atlantic provinces) because of the rise of the oil sands and the ability for people to fly out to Fort McMurray on two-weeks-in-two-weeks-out shifts, that changed their fortunes. We’ll see if they can fix their recruiting now that they are allowing permanent residents to apply, but that is one of the major challenges they need to address.

Ukraine Dispatch:

Russia launched 28 drones over Kyiv and Odessa in the early morning hours, 26 of which were downed. Ukrainian forces also say that they have trapped Russian occupation forces in Bakhmut and that they are pushing them out. A statistical analysis shows that as many as 50,000 Russian men have been killed in the fighting to date.

https://twitter.com/ukraine_world/status/1678651881185243137

https://twitter.com/defenceu/status/1678332390052098048

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Roundup: It’s “grocery rebate” day

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Today is the day that the federal government’s so-called “grocery rebate” gets deposited in Canadians’ accounts, but it’s not really a grocery rebate, and once again, a defensible policy gets given a dumb and confusing label for marketing purposes, because that’s what this government does. This is just another GST rebate top-up like the one that happened last year to help deal with the rising cost of living for those who are on the lower-end of the income scale, but of course the government gave it a new name this year just to try and be cute about it.

https://twitter.com/LindsayTedds/status/1676243078833926145

https://twitter.com/LindsayTedds/status/1676243669685506048

You may also have heard complaints that this particular rebate is going to fuel inflation (which is coming down! It’s nearly at the outside band of where the central bank wants it to be!). This is also nonsense, because of how the programme is targeted, and Jennifer Robson has all of the receipts and data to prove it in the thread below.

Ukraine Dispatch:

Russians attacked a military funeral in Pervomaiskyi in the Kharkiv region, wounding 38 including twelve children.  Ukrainian forces targeted a Russian military formation in occupied Makiivka, which Russian officials say killed a civilian and injured others. Previously over the weekend, Russia launched its first overnight drone strike against Kyiv in twelve days, while a drone attack on the city of Sumy killed two and injured 19. Elsewhere, the reports from the counter-offensive are that it has been “particularly fruitful” over the past several days, with yet more gains around Bakhmut. There have been yet more warnings that the Ukrainians believe that the Russians will detonate something at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, while the Russians are also claiming the Ukrainians will do so in order to blame them (as though that makes any sense whatsoever).

https://twitter.com/kyivpost/status/1676258705422053378

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QP: The last big Poilievre/Trudeau show of the spring sitting

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The prime minister was present for what we all hoped was the final QP of the sitting. Hopefully. Some of the other leaders were present, but not others, which was very unusual for a Wednesday where they would normally use as many spots as possible for themselves.

Pierre Poilievre led off in French, and worried that some housing costs have doubled in Quebec, and blamed the prime minister and inflation (which is risible). Justin Trudeau said that if Poilievre was serious, he would support their policies like the housing accelerator fund, and working with municipalities to build more. Poilievre switched to English to worry that it would take twenty-years to save up for a down payment in Toronto, and again blamed deficits for this. Trudeau praised their job creation record and investments in growing the economy, before talking about his work with municipalities to build housing. Poilievre trotted out his “he’s telling people they’ve never had it so good” line and railed about housing costs, and again blamed the prime minister. Trudeau worried the Conservatives would cut the programmes that are helping Canadians. Poilievre insisted that the programmes were not working and blamed them for doubling housing prices, which again is laughable. Trudeau said that picking fights with mayors, like Poilievre is trying to do, would not solve the housing crisis. Poilievre worried that Trudeau says all the right things but doesn’t do them, and Trudeau insisted that he would take saying the right things as a vote of confidence.

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, and he worried about small companies suffering from the wildfires, and wanted to meet about implementing solutions, and Trudeau read a script about standing in solidarity with them, and promised to work with provinces through the summer. Blanchet insisted that they needed an immediate answer, and Trudeau insisted that they are working with the affected provinces.

Lori Idlout rose for the NDP, and she blamed the government’s inaction on intergenerational trauma with Indigenous people. Trudeau noted that today was a celebration of Indigneous languages and cultures while also recognise the sins of past and continuing the path of reconciliation. Idlout demanded action and not empathy, particularly with Grassy Narrows, and Trudeau insisted that they are working on that solution. 

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QP: Some half-hearted swipes around the by-election results

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The prime minister was present for one of the final Question Periods of the sitting, but his deputy was away in Toronto, and only a few of the other leaders were present. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, claiming that trust in democracy has been “shattered” and that he has been working with opposition parties about a public inquiry, but demanded the inquiry be declared before he shared names for who to lead it. Justin Trudeau read a script about working with stakeholders and opposition leaders about next steps in this issue. Poilievre then pivoted and cited a letter to the Journal de Montreal about someone losing their house, and demanded a balanced budget, as though there were a correlation. Trudeau patted himself on the back for the “tangible investments for families” with things like dental care. Poilievre switched to English to worry about household debt and again demanded a balanced budget. Trudeau acknowledged that Canadians are struggling which was why they have supports for them, while the Conservatives only promise cuts. Poilievre reiterated the story of the woman losing her house, trying to tie this to the deficit, which is false, and demanded a balanced budget yet again. Trudeau again reiterated that the Conservatives only proposed cuts while Canada has the lowest deficit and debt-to-GDP in the G7, and then took a swipe at Poilievre’s underwhelming by-election results. Poilievre again tried to tie housing and rental price increase to deficits, which is specious, and Trudeau again took a swipe at the by-election results before patting himself on the back for his positive vision.

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, and as expected, he demanded a public inquiry immediately. Trudeau insisted that the opposition turned this into a partisan issue rather than taking this seriously. Therrien repeated his demands, and Trudeau repeated his same points about working to establish the next steps.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and he worried about the rental prices in Toronto and blamed corporate landlords—never mind that this is an issue of provincial jurisdiction. Trudeau recited the housing measures that they have taken or are planning to take. Singh insisted that they were not acting with urgency and in French, noted that July 1st is Moving Day in Quebec and that families were under stress. Trudeau reiterated that they are there with projects and plans to help people.

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Roundup: Four very different by-elections today

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It is by-election day in four ridings, and each of them is going to play out slightly differently. The Liberals are pretty much guaranteed to hold in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount in Montreal, where Trudeau’s friend Anna Gainey is running, but Green deputy/co-leader Jonathan Pednault is also running. There has been a particular dynamic at play there as well around the recently-passed official languages bill, where Anglos in Quebec are particularly concerned about their rights being under attack. They are also likely to hold in Winnipeg South Centre, where the late Jim Carr’s son is running to replace him.

Potentially up for grabs in Oxford in Ontario, where the former Conservative MP has thrown his support behind the Liberal challenger because of the way in which Pierre Poilievre and Andrew Scheer put their thumbs on the scale in the nomination race because they wanted to get one of their insiders a seat, even though he’s from Brampton. That has the possibility of working against them because sometimes these safe rural ridings will still reject a parachute candidate (as evidence by when John Tory tried to run in a safe rural seat in a by-election when he was Ontario PC leader and had his ass handed to him by the local Liberal who was a local). Sometimes rural ridings can be a bit Royston Vasey. And then there’s Portage—Lisgar, where Maxime Bernier is running against the Conservatives, and they are trying to crush him once and for all to prove they can again “unite” the right, and they’re doing that by invoking WEF conspiracy theories, and pandering to convoy supporters, homophobia and transphobia, and anti-abortion sentiment, because that’s exactly what’s going to unite the right.

And there is still one more to come, as Trudeau declared the Calgary Heritage by-election will be held on July 24th. This one had been delayed because of the Alberta election, given that it would be confusion for voters in the riding, and the fact you’re drawing from the same volunteer pool.

Ukraine Dispatch:

Amidst fierce fighting, the Ukrainians have re-taken the settlement of Piatykhatky in the Zaporishshia province. Ukrainians also say that they have destroyed a Russian ammunition depot in Kherson. The UK military assessment of the counter-offensive is that both sides are taking heavy casualties, but the Russian losses are probably at their highest since the peak of their attempt to take Bakhmut. One of the side-effects of the destruction of the Kakhovka dam in Ukraine is that it has uncovered some ancient Cossack archaeological sites that the Soviets didn’t care about flooding when they built the dam, but they will likely be flooded again once the dam is rebuilt.

https://twitter.com/ukraine_world/status/1670338729007874049?s=61&t=2SHRFoo_xxddaDpzippI_w

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Roundup: Hybrid sittings are now permanent, and Parliament will suffer

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I knew that this was now inevitable, but that doesn’t mean it’s still not infuriating. After invoking closure and ramming it through with little debate, the government has forced through the changes to the Standing Orders that will make hybrid sittings permanent. The government has ignored all criticisms about this move, and blinkered itself to the supposed benefits to this system that are largely a false economy, because it “feels progressive.” They tried to force this before the pandemic, and they certainly didn’t let a good crisis go to waste.

The biggest losers out of this are the interpretation staff. Working by Zoom is an absolute killer for them, both from acoustic injuries because MPs can’t be arsed to use their headsets properly most of the time, or simply ignore those rules when it suits them (as the Conservatives did when they pretended to have issues with their voting apps), and because the cognitive load from interpreting this way burns them out. The Speaker, meanwhile, can’t be bothered to enforce rules or guidelines, and merely gently chides MPs that they should be nice to the interpreters, but with no consequences, these behaviours continue undaunted. We’re now accelerating toward a crisis of bilingualism in Parliament because they can’t just hire more interpreters. They’re not graduating enough at a rate to overcome attrition even before the injuries, and fewer of them are going to stick around in order to expose themselves to injury and the possibility of permanent hearing loss. It’s morally repugnant and unconscionable that MPs behave this way, treating the interpreters like furniture, but they’re still in the fuck around stage. They’re going to find out really soon, and Parliament is going to be in a genuine crisis, because the Liberals and NDP in particular are too self-centred to look at the harm they’re causing.

Ukraine Dispatch:

Russian authorities say they’re staging elections in occupied territories as a sign that they’re in control, as the Ukrainian counter-offensive makes progress but faces “tough resistance,” according to president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Ukrainian officials also say they are still advancing on Bakhmut around the north and northwest.

https://twitter.com/ukraine_world/status/1669255405610909698

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QP: Gesturing to an empty chair

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The prime minister was in town but not present, while his deputy and most of the other leaders were also away. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, and asserted that Justin Trudeau has not fired his “misleading and incompetent” public safety minister because he also knew about Paul Bernardo’s transfer and did nothing about it, before he pretended that Trudeau was present and afraid to answer. Mark Holland dismissed the notion that anyone would have sympathy for Bernardo, and that Correctional Services were independent. They each went the same around in English, practically verbatim, before Poilievre insisted that the government had the power to block the transfer, somehow. Holland insisted that they should not politicise Corrections. Poilievre tried to call the absent Trudeau out, didn’t really get cautioned by the Speaker, and demanded that the government pass their bill on ensuring all mass murderers stay in maximum security forever. Holland again tried to insist that they not politicise Corrections. Poilievre gave another plea for unanimous support for that bill (which I doubt is even constitutional), and Holland says they are ready to have conversations about not politicising Corrections, and that they wait for the review of the transfer.

Christine Normandin led for the Bloc, and she demanded that they announce a public inquiry before the end of the sitting, to which Marco Mendicino said that he was encouraged by their willingness to work together. Normandin insisted that the Bloc would not let this go, and insisted that a public inquiry commissioner be approved by the House (which is a bad idea) and be completed in a few months (which is literally impossible). Mendicino recited that an option of a public inquiry is on the table.

Peter Julian rose for the NDP, and in French, he listed the number of ministers who are apparently unable to read their emails and worried about re-traumatising Bernardo’s victims. Holland reminded him that it’s important that Correctional Services remain independent. Julian repeated his question in English, and Holland gave him much the same answer.

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