Tag Archives: Public Health

Roundup: The disinfo is coming from inside the house

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Happy New Year!

I’m going to ease us back in with a reminder that yes, the far-right extremists, grifters, conspiracy theorists and grievance tourists who occupied Ottawa last winter were not an imported phenomenon, but have firm roots in Canada and the discourse here. Yes, some of it does get imported, where it finds fertile soil, but we do export our share of it too, which is one of those fundamental things that our policy-makers are going to have to grapple with in the coming year.

https://twitter.com/StephanieCarvin/status/1609902285156646913

https://twitter.com/StephanieCarvin/status/1609902289443229698

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https://twitter.com/StephanieCarvin/status/1609908494853103623

In case you missed it:

  • My column on the problems with the federal ethics regime and why the Liberals have such a problem with it.
  • My column on the government being very slow to pass bills over the past session, as their ambitious agenda stalls.
  • My column on why decades of austerity is one of the reasons for why people are complaining that Canada is supposedly “broken.”
  • My Loonie Politics Quick Take on why Bill C-22 is one to watch over the New Year.

Ukraine Dispatch, Day 314:

Russian forces did not slow their attacks on Ukraine over the Christmas and New Year period, and president Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that Russia is planning a protracted drone strike campaign to “exhaust” Ukraine. Ukrainian forces struck Russian positions in Donetsk, which Russians claim killed 63 soldiers, one of the deadliest attacks since the invasion began, as ammunition stored at the area of the strike exploded.

https://twitter.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1609268349447331840

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Roundup: End of the 2022 fall sitting

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Yesterday was the last sitting day of 2022 for the House of Commons, and as is common at this time of year, everyone is cranky and ready to go home and have a nap, and this year is no different. This being said, Question Period has been pretty sedate overall the past few weeks, and there have been pre-Xmas QPs in years past that were rancorous, and we haven’t had that. Nevertheless, the government is in definite need of time to go regroup after the way they utterly ballsed-up their own gun control legislation, as well as some of the other problems with bills like their broadcasting and online news legislation. Hopefully some time away will help them get their priorities straight, and to fix the mistakes they made by either being too clever by half, or by sheer incompetence (and sometimes it’s a tossup as to what the problem was indeed).

I will note that there was an outcry over Twitter from members of the disability community that the Canada Disability Benefit legislation didn’t pass before they rose, and an NDP MP tried to pass a motion to give emergency funds in the interim, as though that were remotely feasibly and wouldn’t result in provinces clawing back their own meagre benefits. (Seriously, CERB was not magic.) The thing that needs to be remembered is that the CDB bill is just a framework—even if it passed yesterday, it wouldn’t pass the Senate in time, and when it does pass, it needs to go through a massive regulatory process to fill in the benefits, which also needs to be done with provincial negotiations so that we don’t wind up in a situation where provinces either claw-back benefits or funding so that these people are worse off than they were before, or where things wind up in a situation where other supports are withdrawn because they were means-tested and the federal benefit moves them out of reach of those thresholds, which again, will disadvantage those who need it. None of this is happening overnight, and it’s a process. So frankly, the fact that the bill didn’t pass before Xmas this year is not surprising, and wouldn’t have an immediate impact in any case.

Ukraine Dispatch, Day 295:

Ukrainian authorities say that they intercepted and destroyed thirteen explosive-laden drones headed for Kyiv yesterday, but the wreckage still damaged five buildings. Meanwhile, Russia has said there will be no Christmas ceasefire in Ukraine, which isn’t surprising (though the only thing even less surprising would be them agreeing to it and then reneging). In the meantime, they have shelled the regional administrative centre in Kherson, because.

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Roundup: The ideas guy versus the kludge

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The rules around the kludge that is being called dental care are released, and lo, it’s about as bad as was expected, possibly even worse, because the CRA was always the worst way possible to deliver this benefit (particularly after some of the trust-but-verify problems surrounding pandemic benefits that the Auditor General illuminated earlier in the week), and ye they bullied ahead with it because the NDP didn’t care about implementation, so they put an unrealistic timeline in their agreement with the Liberals to prop up the government, and an expectation that this should be a federally-administered programme rather than an agreement with provinces like every other federal programme (most recently with early learning and child care).

And no, this is not something that could simply be added into existing healthcare systems because that would require provincial buy-in, and every premier who was asked about this balked, some of them because they have existing programmes for low-income households, and all of them because they really, really do not want another federal programme to manage and contribute to, or be on the hook for when a new government comes to power and starts to axe it.

But remember, the NDP are the “ideas guy,” who never worries about implementation, and who takes credit for the work the other guys did, because he came up with the idea, don’t you know? This is all going to go so badly because it was rushed and had really stupid conditions imposed on it, but they can crow that they got dental care.

Ukraine Dispatch, Day 290:

It looks like Russian forces may have kidnapped two senior employees of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant as part of ongoing pressure tactics to get them to sign the plant over to Russian authorities, which they have refused to do. Meanwhile, Belarus told the UN it would allow passage of Ukrainian grain through its territory to Lithuanian ports without conditions, but given that Belarus is a Russian puppet stage, we’ll see how much they actually uphold the deal.

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Roundup: A couple of not-that-scathing reports

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The Auditor General released two reports yesterday on pandemic befits programmes and vaccine procurement, and they were…not explosive. Really. There were weak spots from the government, in large part because of the haste in which these programmes were designed because of the pandemic, and some inefficiency, but on the report about vaccines, part of the problem with wastage is because of a lack of provincial data, because the federal government hasn’t been able to sign agreements with the provinces. And as we’ve seen all too often, this is the fault of the provinces.

Nevertheless, the Conservatives were salivating over this release and put on a whole dog and pony show to decry that this was a sign that this government’s “wasteful spending” is what is fuelling inflation, which isn’t true, but this is the narrative they have been trying to push, and these numbers were ripe for the plucking. And as they do with every other officer of Parliament, they misconstrued the report, cherry-picked figures, and cranked up the hyperbole, and lo, this was scandalous. But that’s not what the report found. And it also ignores that they voted unanimously to design the benefit programmes this way because it was more important to get the money out the door.

Anyway, here’s Jennifer Robson’s read of the report, and it’s worth your time.

 

Ukraine Dispatch, Day 287:

Another drone strike within Russia set a third airfield ablaze, though the Ukrainians have not claimed responsibility for the attack. (Video here) More Russian missiles did strike civilian targets in Ukraine, but they were said to be less severe than other attacks in recent weeks. The strikes against Russian airfields have Russian bloggers questioning the competence of their government’s defences.

https://twitter.com/dgardner/status/1600135762179018752

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QP: Cherry-picking data to fit a narrative

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The prime minister was off in Montreal to open the COP15 biodiversity summit, his deputy was off in Toronto, and that very morning, the Auditor General released two reports on COVID measures that the government took, and boy, did the Conservatives care about these reports in a way they absolutely did not about her reports just a couple of weeks ago. Pierre Poilievre led off, and he first raised the anniversary of École Polytechnique, saying that they commit to ensuring it will never happen again, asking the government for what they are doing on this file. Pascale St-Onge rose to say that they are all sending thoughts to the families of the victims, and that they want to do more to protect women, which is why they have their bill to limit assault rifles and invited all parties to work with them to strengthen the bill and protect women. Poilievre, still in French, raised the AG report on “horrific” waste, wondering why the government wasted money to “create inflation.” (It did not create inflation). Diane Lebouthillier said that the government acted quickly to help Canadians, and thanked the Auditor General for confirming that their COVID measures were targeted and effective, that those benefits helped the economy get back on its feet, and that they would continue to protect Canadians. Poilievre switched to English to reiterate the same allegations of waste, listing more dollar amounts than he did in French, incredulous that 1500 prisoners got CERB illegitimately. Carla Qualtrough pointed to the good points that the Auditor General found, that the programme did its job, and that they prevented people going poor or businesses going under, and noted that Parliament approved the attestation approach with verification later. Poilievre listed a bunch of non sequiturs that he equated to government waste, and the government supposedly “taking from the have-nots to give to the have-yachts.” Lebouthillier repeated that the Auditor General’s positive aspects, and noted that the recovery process can take years, while the Conservatives just gave crypto currency advice. Poilievre switched back to French to list people who got CERB without qualification and again railed about waste, and this time Lebouthillier referred to an article where a Conservative MP noted that recovery is a process that can take years, and wondered if Poilievre agreed with his MP.

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc to note the École Polytechnique anniversary and wanted cooperation on amending the gun control bill, and asked for two additional committee meetings about it. St-Onge got back up to reiterate that they are willing to work together to pass the bill. Blanchet made the same request for two more meetings, and St-Onge reiterated her same points about cooperation.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP and demanded the prime minister “show leadership” and call for an emergency meeting with premiers to solve the healthcare crisis (because the premiers have no responsibility here, apparently). Adam van Koeverden read actions that the federal government has taken to help the situation. Singh switched to French to repeat the demand, and this time Dominic LeBlanc got up to point out that they are having discussions with provincial minsters and they are increasing transfers. 

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QP: Legitimate points lost in the partisan noise

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While the PM was off at a photo op in London, Ontario, to praise the rollout of the kludge they are calling dental care, only two other leaders were present in the Chamber. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, and he raised the increase in violent crime statistics, and wondered why the government wasn’t investing in police or CBSA and were banning hunting rifles instead with an estimate that the buyback could cost an additional billion dollars. Marco Mendicino offered the bland reassurance that their legislation doesn’t target farmers and hunters, but targets assault weapons like have been used at mass shootings. Poilievre switched to English to list some of the rifles in the list to be banned, insisting they were about ducks and vermin on farms, while Mendicino insisted that the goal was to target assault-style rifles. Poilievre cited a statistic that 82 percent of guns used in crimes in Toronto were smuggled across the border, and accused the government of targeting hunters. Mendicino accused Poilievre of spreading disinformation (though there is some grey area here because there are concerns about some of the guns listed), and accused the Conservatives of not voting in favour of supports for CBSA. Poilievre switched topics, worried about particular survey results about housing affordability, and wondered how people can’t afford housing in the country with the second-largest landmass on the planet (which is a really, really stupid talking point because we’re not building residential subdivisions on Baffin Island or in the middle of the Canadian Shield and he knows full well that’s the case). Ahmed Hussen pointed to their funding for municipalities to help accelerate their processing and permitting, along with other measures like their rent-to-own programme. Poilievre switched to French to decry this same shortage of housing, along with some disinformation about inflation, but somehow managed to blame the federal government for preventing housing from being built, which is utter nonsense. Hussen repeated his points, with the added jab that the Conservatives don’t have their own housing plan.

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, and worried about Chinese interference, along with his particularly odd accusation about Chinese money flowing into the prime minister’s riding. Marco Mendicino got up to recite the lines about creating the two independent panels and their conclusion that there was no interference. Blanchet demanded an inquiry into his allegation about the money going to the prime minister’s riding, and Mendicino shrugged it off with some more talking points about the two panels.

Alexandre Boulerice appeared by video to lead for the NDP to worry about the state of hospitals, demanding the government act, somehow. Adam van Koeverden read a script about the federal government working with provinces. Charlie Angus demanded that the government end the underfunding of Indigenous children in care, and to end the court challenge, to which Patty Hajdu reminded him that they have put forward a record sum of money in partnership with First Nations leaders.

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Roundup: Trudeau takes the stand

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It was prime minister Justin Trudeau’s long-awaited appearance on the season finale of the Emergencies Act public inquiry, and he defended the invocation of the Act, and he sat and answered questions for over five hours, and from the sounds of it, managed to acquit himself fairly well. He seemed to have a much better memory of events than beleaguered RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki, and dismissed the so-called plan that was in the works on the 13th before the Act was invoked as not being an actual plan. There was a detour through the sub-drama about Candice Bergen, and Trudeau produced a transcript of the call where she did express concerns about setting a bad precedent around demands he meet with the occupiers—Bergen had previously told the media that the PMO description of the call was different than she recalled. (Bergen? Not being honest? Perish the thought!) In all, Trudeau says that he’s “serene” with his decision, and now it’s up to the Commissioner if that’s enough.

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And with that, the testimonies portion of the inquiry wrapped. The parties all gave closing summaries of their arguments (though the one lawyer representing the occupiers’ read like it was coming from an alternate reality and ended with a demand for Trudeau to resign), and the judge gave his thanks to all of the participants.

Additionally, Shannon Proudfoot offers her sketch of the day’s events. Paul Wells runs through Trudeau’s testimony and sees particular places where he seems to be trying to be clever about certain things like the dismissal of the previous plan, and it’s a good read throughout.

And then, by sheer coincidence, it also happened to be the night that Trudeau made his appearance on Canada’s Drag Race, and yeah, as with any political appearance on the show, it was slightly cringe and not terribly critical, but that’s pretty much how these shows happen these days. Still, good on him for making the appearance at a time when drag is being heavily politicised (though drag is by its nature political), and where it is under attack in certain American states. Having a world leader show support does help.

https://twitter.com/canadasdragrace/status/1596332148297912320

Ukraine Dispatch, Day 276:

Russians bombarded Kherson again, killing ten civilians and wounding more, damaging more power stations, though most were back online in much of the country by the end of the day.

https://twitter.com/kovaliv_y/status/1595861029514256384

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Roundup: Benefits based on political rather than economic need

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Alberta premier Danielle Smith paid for television airtime last night to announce that she would be making “inflation-fighting measures,” which are mostly cheques to people, but targeted payments rather than just the old model of money to everyone. Of course, where she blamed the cause of inflation is pure fiction, so that was classic Smith, and common among populist “conservative” parties these days. There were some good measures in there like re-indexing several social programmes (the decision not to index them being purely spiteful legislated poverty).

This being said, the targeting is done pretty deliberately, and it’s not entirely based on need, unless you count her political need as what she’s addressing. Money for relatively affluent seniors, and to families with children are politically motivated—seniors vote, and suburban mothers are a highly desirable demographic because women are less likely to vote conservative, and while Smith is likely to clean up in rural ridings by default (because this is Alberta), her problem are the urban ridings (and when I say urban, I really mean suburban because again, this is Alberta and its cities all have miniscule urban cores surrounded by endless suburbs). And while it wouldn’t be a political party pandering or bribing voters by ensuring that singletons get nothing, as usual, this is done with a little more intention than the usual policy objectives of appealing to families. It’s about buying the votes she needs to hang onto power in the spring, and it’s so blatantly obvious that it’s pretty insulting.

Ukraine Dispatch, Day 273:

Fighting continues near Bahkmut, and Russians accused Ukrainians of targeting power lines in Donetsk (but they also are masters of projection, so take that as you will). Meanwhile, the government has begun evacuating people from Kherson to prevent them from freezing to death over the winter, and to prevent any losses of life due to the cold. As well, Ukraine’s counter-intelligence forces searched an Orthodox Christian church in Kyiv, shortly after its priest was speaking favourably of Russia, and they wanted to ensure that there are no Russian operatives working out of the church.

https://twitter.com/KyivIndependent/status/1595260762532229121

https://twitter.com/CFOperations/status/1594799007750295552

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Roundup: The full closure of 24 Sussex

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News that has been years overdue arrived yesterday that the National Capital Commission is finally—finally!—closing 24 Sussex to personnel, so that they can begin abatement of things like asbestos at the site, which they’d need to do even if they decide to tear it down at some point. But no, there hasn’t been an actual decision on its future, because of course there hasn’t been, but at least they have reached this step, seven years later. But who is still there if the prime minister and family have been at Rideau Cottage the whole time? Well, for one, the prime minister’s chef still operates out of 24 Sussex (and the food is transported over by staff), likely because the kitchen in Rideau Cottage is too small for both the chef and the family, based on what glimpses we got of it during the pandemic; one assumes likewise with any other household staff. They are being relocated to another NCC property, but they won’t say where.

When this news broke, my Twitter feed was full of people outraged that the leader of the opposition has a nicer house than the prime minister, and demanded that the PM take over Stornoway instead. The reason Stornoway is in better shape was because Preston Manning refused to move in when he was opposition leader, so the NCC took the opportunity to do needed renovations that 24 Sussex never had, and no, the prime minister is never going to take it over because the property is too vulnerable, and would be a security nightmare. Never going to happen. As for those who wonder why our opposition leader even has an official residence, I say that it’s because it reflects the importance of the position in a Westminster democracy like ours, and should have status appropriate to that importance. It doesn’t matter that other Westminster countries don’t also follow that—Canada chose to value its opposition leader in such a way, and it is important, so let’s treat it as such.

Ukraine Dispatch, Day 268:

There were more Russian missiles targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, leaving some 10 million people without power as winter sets in, while fighting intensified in the east as Russia tries to secure its hold on Donetsk. In liberated villages near Kherson, there are survivors talking about beatings and torture by Russians, and more graves have been found with bodies bearing signs of being tortured.

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Roundup: Auditor General day passes with little notice

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The Auditor General released a series of reports yesterday, but you almost wouldn’t know it from the dearth of coverage. Yes, The Canadian Press did cover them, and CBC did somewhat, but most of those stories were not headline news, and barely made a splash. The reports didn’t come up in QP save for two NDP questions near the back third of the exercise, and Power & Politics gave it seconds worth of mention in their “five things” segment (while they also spent three blocks on their Power Panel, a block on their ridiculous “Quote of the Day,” and ran the segment on Donald Trump’s pending announcement twice). Power Play did slightly better by actually having the Auditor General on to discuss the reports, but gave her a mere 3 minutes and 42 seconds of airtime, and only a couple of the items actually got mention.

The reports:

  • We don’t know if the federal government’s plan to reduce chronic homeless by 50 percent by 2028 is working because they don’t have enough actual data.
  • Indigenous Services’ handling disasters like fires and floods remains reactive rather than proactive, even though this has been highlighted for a decade now.
  • Federal departments need to do more to ensure secure storage on cloud servers given the rising threat of cyberattacks (which is pretty alarming, really).
  • Our aging aircraft and icebreakers mean we can’t effectively monitor Arctic waters, and there are no plans to replace RADARSAT capabilities by 2026.

Is any of this earth-shattering? Maybe not, but it’s still important and a big part of the way we’re supposed to be holding the government to account, which should be important. There was once upon a time, not that long ago, when Auditor General Day was a big deal in the spring and the fall, and it was a media circus. And now? It barely makes a dent in the news cycle. It’s a pretty sad indictment of where we’re at in terms of our national political media, and how little we’re paying attention to the things that are supposed to matter.

Ukraine Dispatch, Day 266:

Russia fired a large number of cruise missiles at civilian infrastructure throughout Ukraine, and throughout this, a pair of missiles appear to have crossed into Poland and struck a farm near the border, killing two people. While everything is being verified that these were in fact Russian missiles (and not, for example, Ukrainian missiles that missed intercepting the Russian missiles), NATO leaders are thus far keeping cool and trying to keep the situation cool, but this is almost entirely unlikely to trigger Article 5. Instead, it’s likely to trigger Article 4, and ramping up their investment into giving more equipment to Ukraine faster, including the plan from Poland to deliver its old MiG fighters to Ukraine.

https://twitter.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1592647150504407042

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