Tag Archives: Trade

QP: Conspiracies and conflicts of interest in the MPO

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The PM was in town but absent, possibly napping after arriving back home at 3 AM. Pierre Poilievre was present, and he led off in French, demanding that the prime minister cut all diesel taxes in the budget tomorrow. Steven MacKinnon reminded him that the price increases were because of the conflicts in the Middle East, while the Conservatives voted against help for Canadians. Poilievre then listed the perceived conflicts of interest around Telesat, and demanded an accounting for them. Mélanie Joly defended Telesat as a great Canadian company that needs support. Poilievre switched to English to repeat his performance about demanding the prime minister cut all diesel taxes in the budget tomorrow. MacKinnon got back up to point out that the Conservatives have systematically opposed measures to help Canadians. Poilievre went on a rant about American companies pushing biodiesel as part of his demand for an end to diesel taxes, as he continues to claim that clean fuel standards are “taxes.” Julie Dabrusin delivered the usual lines about helping Canadians, and noting that there is a biodiesel facility just outside of his riding that benefits the farmers in his riding. Poilievre returned to his line about there being two economies, and then repeated the accusations around Telesat. Joly got back up to praise Canadian companies like Telesat being key to our sovereignty. Poilievre claimed that they raise theatrical distractions if they get “caught with their hands in the cookie jar,” and repeated his accusations. Joly noted the long-standing poilcy around supporting firms like Telesat and wondered if Poilievre was in it for American firms.

Christine Normandin led for the Bloc, listed items that the government has capitulated on the Americans on, and wondered about if they are the “masters of our destiny.” Joël Lightbound listed projects like Churchill falls that the Bloc should support. Normandin listed further environmental capitulations and that “masters of our destiny” was supporting their own priorities. Lightbound listed benefit programmes that the Bloc have not supported. Jean-Denis Garon demanded compensation for Quebec for asylum seekers and to not re-index certain benefits, and Lightbound listed further supports for Quebec firms by the government. 

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Asking less and offering more?

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I don’t have much in the way of commentary to offer about the U.S. midterms because ultimately I don’t think it will change much for Canada. Democrats are still protectionist, there are unions in the States calling for tariffs to be maintained, and Trump still has veto power and tariffs he’s been using fall under executive powers thanks to the interpretations of his corrupt Supreme Court. Maybe I’m cynical, but Americans are still Americans, and one election does not undo the mess they made, nor can we trust that this will hold in any significant manner. We also cannot trust that Americans will ensure there are any consequences for the last two years, because most of the power brokers and players will want to “move on” and “find common ground.” 

I am very happy with these results, but there is no guarantee that the Dems will be able to constrain Trump.Expect government shutdowns, lots of vetoes, much trouble in foreign policy where he will have more latitude.On the other hand, the oversight hearings will be lit.

— Steve Cookie Monster 🍪👹 (@smsaideman.bsky.social) 2026-11-04T04:38:31.002Z

This having been said, there is chatter about renewed trade talks with the U.S., even though there is no realistic possibility of a deal to be had because as we’ve established, they don’t live up to any of their own deals. Prime minister Mark Carney told media at his Commonwealth meeting presser that the Americans have budged on some red lines, and are “asking less and offering more,” but unless anything is better than what we have under the existing New NAFTA agreement, why should we sign onto something that is demonstrably worse, which he won’t honour anyway?

Report: Canada still isn't taking you back

— The Beaverton (@thebeaverton.com) 2026-11-04T05:04:28.536Z

This of course makes the Conservatives’ current play—that the government needs to sign a deal right away, and that we cannot afford to hold out for another two-and-a-half years until the Trump regime has ended (maybe) to be curious. It’s apparently their assertion that we have no resilience, and that we should fold at the slightest bit of discomfort rather than doing something to help those who are suffering as a result of these illegal and unjustified actions against us. Of course, they also believe that tax cuts will “restore affordability” and that trickle-down economics will create “powerful paycheques,” so we should interrogate these beliefs as often as we can.

— Effin' Birds (@effinbirds.com) 2026-11-03T14:08:04.484Z

My Latest:

My (overdue weekend) column looks at how Danielle Smith is leaning hard on culture war bullshit to save her own hide. (Site issues prevented this being posted earlier).

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QP: Prisoners of Pessimism

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The PM was away at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Antigua and Barbuda, but all other leaders were present. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, noted the midterms in the U.S., and claimed that the PM was just “losing” against the Americans, and demanded a deadline for a new U.S. deal. Dominic LeBlanc insisted that they were negotiating to come to an agreement that was in Canada’s interests, which Poilievre would not recognise. Poilievre repeated the same in English, and LeBlanc was more pointed in saying that Poilievre would be the leading expert in the House of Commons on theatrics, and said that they did agree there was economic harm, which is why they were supporting Canadians rather than accepting a bad deal. Poilievre insisted that the government should be at the table right now, and again insisted the government was only offering theatrics, and LeBlanc repeated his same points. Poilievre raised a food bank report from Toronto and demanded to know when we would get a “good deal,” and LeBlanc again said that unlike the opposition, they were not neglecting Canadians who are affected. Poilievre then insisted that there are two economies—one who for people who follow the rules, and one who make them, and raised the issue of corporate-paid employees seconded to the Major Projects Office. Leblanc cautioned him not to invent conflicts of interest where none exist, and that those people are stepping up to serve the country. Poilievre railed about “corporate power brokers,” apparently confusing himself with the leader of the NDP, and lamented people skipping meals before he demanded help for them in the budget. Tim Hodgson listed the jobs that approved projects are supposed to create.

Marilyn Gladu is sitting in Carney’s seat, and I still can’t get my head around it. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-11-03T19:22:47.161Z

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, and he said that Carney has sold out to the Americans, whether it was selling out on the digital services tax or on the environment in service of American corporate giants. Joël Lightbound praised their cultural spending in the budget, and told him to wait for Thursday’s “excellent” budget. Blanchet demanded the GST credit be doubled again, or to lift the GST on second-hand goods, and Lightbound recited the tax breaks and benefits already delivered that the Bloc didn’t support. Blanchet demanded action on their list of budget demands (which is funny because the document is already printed), and Lightbound praised their cultural spending “historical” infrastructure agreement with Quebec.

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QP: Returning to bad-math gas tax demands

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The PM was absent, preparing to depart for the Commonwealth meeting in Antigua and Barbuda. Pierre Poilievre was present, and he led off in French demanding that the government eliminate all gas taxes in the budget. Julie Dabrusin noted that the heat pump programme will help people save money from coast-to-coast-to-coast, and that bio diesel will help farmers in Poilievre’s riding. Poilievre suggested that heat pumps help Brookfield and biodiesel subsidies aid American companies, and repeated his demand. Dabrusin wonders why Poilievre can’t help farmers in his riding provide canola for biodiesel. Poilievre switched to English to make the same demand again, and Dabrusin repeated her same points about canola and biodiesel, which is supported by the clean fuel standard. Poilievre called her out of touch, and wailed about the cost of diesel for farmers, and this time Wayne Long stood up to recite some good news talking points about Thursday’s budget release. Poilievre mocked the government’s record, with particular attention to food banks and housing, and Long repeated his same praise for the upcoming budget. Poilievre repeated his same faulty math about gas taxes, and this time, Tim Hodgson listed government support programmes that Poilievre voted against.

Christine Normandin led for the Bloc, and she listed agenda items on the Canada-EU talks that were in areas of Quebec’s jurisdiction and demanded a seat at the table. Steven MacKinnon praised how good this agreement is for Quebec and Canada. Normandin demanded some transparency about these items rather than just leave everything in the PMO, and MacKinnon said that transparency was having a meeting in Montreal attended by six former Quebec premiers, which…missed the point. Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe demanded the doctrine that claims to allow Quebec a seat at the table, and MacKinnon insisted that they are engaging all provinces with discussions in areas of their jurisdiction. 

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Poor oversight and vague outlines

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It was Auditor General Day yesterday, and there were a bunch of reports released, including three from the Environment Commissioner, who is in her office. And so, this is what they found:

  • The CBSA’s new digital management software, CARM, is still glitchy two years later and they spend a lot of time on manual workarounds.
  • FINTRAC continues to be plagued by reporting backlogs that aren’t going to be cleared until next year at least.
  • National Defence didn’t manage their ammunition inventory effectively.
  • Ways to improve the dental care programme after it exceeded its budget.
  • The government still won’t outline their plan to meet their 2030 emissions targets.
  • The procurement process for new call centre technology has been a mess.
  • Health Canada isn’t following up on high-risk pesticides identified with monitoring.
  • PHAC has not effectively managed their emergency stockpiles.
  • The government stopped work on banning thermal coal exports without saying so.

There is a common theme about a lack of oversight in many of these reports, and while a lot of these issues are from the Trudeau era, I have observed that there was an issue with a lack of proper management of government departments, where the attitude seemed to be that these civil servants were left to manage their own affairs, which they didn’t necessarily do effectively. Whether that’s because ministers didn’t feel they were qualified to because they were constantly reporting to the Centre (meaning the chief of staff) was a possibility, or perhaps it was because they didn’t realise that it was their responsibility to do so. I wonder if it will get worse under Carney, however, as ministers are preoccupied with trying to use digital asbestos to “find efficiencies,” or because major projects and decisions are being shunted off to Crown corporations to manage them instead, which are more arm’s-length, and as a result get less scrutiny. We’ll have to see, but the trend is not encouraging.

The government also released their first National Security Strategy in twenty years, and it was a slim, high-level document that had very few details, but outlined five broad themes, including a focus on economic security. There is also concern outlined about “frontier” digital asbestos being a major threat. Philippe Lagassé considers the defence-related items, while Stephanie Carvin has her initial thoughts here.

Carney says we are "forging new partnerships with allies that are anchored in our common values."What are our "common values" with China, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Türkiye, and Modi's India? If the common value is making money, then he should just come out and say so.

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-10-30T00:54:22.514Z

— Effin' Birds (@effinbirds.com) 2026-10-29T19:08:01.843Z

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Cringe-worthy Seinfeld exchanges over Europe

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The PM was absent, off in Montreal for a digital asbestos announcement and the start of his EU summit. Pierre Poilievre was present, and he led off in French, and he accused the PM of trying to distract Canadians who can’t afford food or housing with the “associate member” conversation with the European Union, which got “rejected,” and noted that nine members of the EU haven’t ratified the existing trade agreement and wants an assurance that they will do so. Steven MacKinnon good up to praise the summit with EU leaders, and said that they were hoping to collaborate on a number of areas beyond trade. Poilievre switched to English to make the same accusation with the dated accusation that it was a “Seinfeld summit—a meeting about nothing.” (Who makes Seinfeld references anymore?) MacKinnon said the only one who knows about Seinfeld is Poilievre who wakes up and lives the same day every day, before praising the summit and the cooperation beyond trade. Poilievre insisted that the recurring nightmare was what Canadians live when they can’t afford to live, blamed government spending on inflation (false), and said the PM acts like George Costanza, running around the office trying to look busy. MacKinnon says that Poilievre acts like Kramer who just walks into the room and says something weird, before he praised free trade and collaboration with Europe, particularly on defence and procurement, as well as cooperating on democracy. Poilievre then got up and smirked, said everybody loves Kramer, and says that what’s weird is the EU’s carbon border adjustments and demanded that our goods not be subjected to them. MacKinnon noted that among the cooperation includes energy and patted himself on the back for west coast LNG going to Germany. Poilievre went into a rant about affordability and called this agreement another PR stunt, to which MacKinnon reminded him that the trade agreement with Europe is in effect even if not completely ratified, and that we are on track to doubling our non-US exports. Poilievre accused then of hubris for praising announcements they have not kept, and he then railed about beef and pork exports and called the summit a “nothingburger.” MacKinnon listed areas of cooperation and threw in a few Carney slogans along the way.

Christine Normandin led for the Bloc, and she too worried about the carbon border adjustments and how the federal abandonment of climate policy could negatively impact Quebec. MacKinnon insisted this was misinformed and listed the areas of cooperation once again. Normandin repeated her concerns that even if Quebec continues its carbon prices, their exports could still be exposed to those tariffs. MacKinnon praised how green Quebec’s aluminium sector is, and suggested that if they were concerned about GHGs, they should support high-speed rail. Mario Simard raised the auditor General’s report on pesticide management and how this too could impact trade with Europe. MacKinnon ignored this and just praised areas of collaboration.

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QP: Complete fictions about inflation and interest rates

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The PM was finally present for the first time in two weeks, and all of the other leaders were present. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, and he blamed “out of control” government spending for rising inflation which is why the Bank of Canada raised interest rates, which is not what the Bank said at all. Mark Carney thanked him for that lesson on monetary policy and pointed to the Bank’s statement that the inflationary factors were coming from outside Canada, and then pointed to projected growth rates. Poilievre insisted that this as an admission that Carney’s policies caused inflation, and that Canadians are the most indebted in the G7, so they would suffer under higher rates. Carney said they needed to reconcile the discrepancies between their statements, and repeated the Growth projections. Poilievre switched to English to repeat his same pronouncement that government spending and deficits were fuelling inflation, and that was the reason rates were rising. Carney repeated that the Bank was clear the causes were global and he cited the various cuts his government has made to spending. Poilievre again proclaimed the falsehood that spending was driving inflation, and Carney repeated the levels of his cuts. Poilievre selectively cited the Bank’s statement and blamed the clean fuel standard, and Carney again pointed out that the Bank’s statements were all on the record, and spoke about the price of diesel. Poilievre again insisted that Carney was out of touch, listed food banks and housing reports, and railed about affordability. Carney responded by listing measures for Canadians that Poilievre voted against. 

Poilievre is blaming government spending on the inflation that raises interest rates. The Bank of Canada was clear that this is because of global forces, especially gas prices. Too bad Carney can’t spell that out. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-10-28T18:36:00.472Z

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, and noted that while Carney was hosting the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi while the UAE funds the conflict in Sudan, and compared this to the premier of Quebec not being allowed to speak at the EU summit. Carney noted that he gave PSPP a chance to greet the dignitaries and to sit at his table. Blanchet listed other countries with human rights abuses Carney was doing business with but wouldn’t deal with PSPP. Carney insisted they were doing business and raising issues. Blanchet started off on the wrong question, stopped, and restarted by demanding PSPP be allowed to speak at the summit. Carney said that the Quebec delegation already had four meetings, and that this was just the beginning of talks. 

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QP: Bringing up PSPP’s bellyaching

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The PM was in the building after a signing ceremony for another “strategic partnership,” this time with the Crown Price of Abu Dhabi, but once again not in the House for Question Period. Pierre Poilievre led off by declaring we already have a trade deal with Europe and a defensive alliance with NATO, but worried that we would be ceding sovereignty to the EU and its “costly policies” of taxes, immigration, and regulation, and that it would infringe on provincial jurisdiction, and turned this into the bellyache from the premier of Quebec that he’s not being allowed to speak at the Canada-EU summit in Montreal later this week. Joël Lightbound noted that the EU is 450 million consumers and 18 percent of the world’s GDP, and that Canada is negotiating an agreement that is interests of Canada and Quebec, and thanked the Quebec delegation’s work in Brussels. Poilievre noted that CETA still is not fully ratified, before he pivoted to inflation “skyrocketing” (Note: it absolutely is not) and railed about the federal debt. Lightbound noted the increase in exports out of the US, and then noted that when he speaks about “inflationary programmes,” does he mean the children who benefit from the Canada Child Benefit? Poilievre switched to English to continue his nonsense point about inflation, and the size of the federal debt. Wayne Long trotted out his talking point about the fact that Poilievre has not accomplished anything in twenty years while the PM has A Plan. Poilievre insisted the PM should be standing up to talk about his record, and he repeated the claim that interest on the federal debt costs each family $6000 per year. Long said that real leaders have a plan, like theirs does, unlike the Conservatives. Poilievre switched topics to housing, and the response to an Order Paper question staying that starts will go down, and that the government is blaming immigration. Gregor Robertson got up to say that he would “reprimand” the leader of the opposition—got drowned out—and eventually said that everyone comes from immigrant stock, so nobody should blame immigration for housing shortages. Poilievre waved the Order Paper question response in the air to say that the government themselves blamed immigration, and Robertson started saying something to the effect of the difference between immigrants and immigration, before he again got drowned out, before he got out the fact that the leader of the opposition demonises immigrants before he again got drowned out.

Yves-François Blanchet then led for the Bloc, and he too whinged that the prime minister isn’t letting the new Quebec premier speak at the Canada-EU summit. Lightbound reminded him of how many Quebec Liberals got elected and patted himself on the back for the increased trade with Europe, in collaboration with the provinces. Blanchet continued to bellyache on PSPP’s behalf, and Lightbound insisted that Quebeckers want the government to carry on with their trade plans. Blanchet got increasingly pissy about the supposed snub, and Lightbound said an invitation was extended for him to greet dignitaries and to be at the dinner, and he hoped the premier would be there.

https://twitter.com/hassinhadi/status/2115122619578290472

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QP: One national credit card or three?

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The PM was in town meeting with premiers and First Nations leaders, but not in the House of Commons. Pierre Poilievre was present and led off in French, worrying about a Quebec headline about rising food bank use, and blamed it on government spending and inflation. (Note: While headline inflation is elevated on oil prices, core inflation is on target). François-Philippe Champagne noted how many Canadians and Quebeckers benefitted from their programmes and that the Conservatives voted against it. Poilievre railed about national debt and inflation and that taxpayers were servicing the debt instead of paying for hot meals, to which Champagne again pointed to the benefits delivered to Canadians and wondered if Poilievre would cut them. Poilievre switched to English to repeat the nonsense that the debt was “out of control,” that this would fuel inflation, and that it was all on the “natonal credit card.” Champagne cited that we have the most educated workforce in the world, we have the ability to build everything, and they are doing everything to build the country. Poilievre accused the government of “cooking the books” and spouted some utter nonsense about the spending being split between “three credit cards,” referencing operational spending, investment, and Crown corporatios, which doesn’t actually make any sense whatsoever. Champagne accused him of talking the economy down and repeated some Build Canada Strong™ talking points. Poilievre decried how much was being spent on interest on said debt, to which Tim Hodgson listed the jobs created by major projects. Poilievre continued to rail about debt interest, and claimed to break it down to how much in taxes a family has to pay for that interest. Champagne suggested he read the Fiscal Monitor to see how our public debt charges are still near historic lows.

Marilène Gill led for the Bloc, and she turned to the party’s usual denunciations of C-39. Dominic LeBlanc accused her of characterising decisions in an inaccurate way, and insisted that moving faster doesn’t mean that standards or consultations aren’t being respected. Gill raised the lawsuit by “youth” about the environment and suggested the government not fight them but move in the right direction. Steven MacKinnon said that young people in Quebec dream about jobs, that they will build with projects like Churchill Falls. Andréanne Larouche then raised the labour provisions of C-39, and MacKinnon dismissed these concerns.

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Canada’s reputation up for sale

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Prime minister Mark Carney is currently in Türkiye to sign a new “strategic partnership” with the Erdogan regime, and once again pretend that there are no human rights concerns in that country, or that the government of a supposed democracy hasn’t been acting in an autocratic manner and delegitimizing its opposition parties, and civil society groups including a recent crackdown on LGBTQ+ groups in the country. Even when a number of European countries put out a statement about the crackdowns, Canada refused to sign on because we’re trying to sign a bilateral trade deal with Türkiye before the end of the year.

In case it hasn’t become perfectly obvious, the government’s line that “Where we have differences of opinion, we discuss those in private” is clearly not good enough. What the public silence means is that a country like Canada doesn’t have a problem with what they’re doing, so it becomes a signal that they can continue such behaviours without repercussions. I’m sure a private scolding is really going to make them sorry! It’s also a tacit signal that our reputation as a defender of human rights is now up for sale. If countries with horrific records (China, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and now Türkiye) want Canada to shut up about it, well, all they have to do is wave some dollar signs in front of Carney’s face, and suddenly he’s their best friend, and touting “pragmatism” and “realism.” This kind of transactionalism isn’t values-based (which, remember, Carney claims to care about), nor is it “realistic” or “pragmatic.” It’s crass, money-grubbing, and a betrayal of the things that Canada has at least publicly claimed to stand up for over the past number of decades (even if we had our own issues).

https://bsky.app/profile/emmettmacfarlane.com/post/3myirjyqqu22o

There is a whole other discourse around this about Canada doing business with unsavoury regimes rather than just democracies, because that’s somewhat limiting, but even if that’s the case, it doesn’t mean that we need to be silent and tacitly endorse the things that they’re doing. We can publicly say we’re going to trade with you, but we want to actually engage on human rights. We’ve done it before, and had a whole human rights agreement as part of the free trade deal with Colombia that included reporting mechanisms. The silence is damning, and if Carney wants to at least pretend that he’s a Liberal, he should actually say something out loud for a change.

— Effin' Birds (@effinbirds.com) 2026-10-22T19:08:02.001Z

My Latest:

  • My column worries about the fact that Mark Carney has signalled an openness to constitutional negotiations with some bad actors among the premiers.
  • My Loonie Politics Quick Take points out that it’s going to be impossible to deprive Alberta separatists of oxygen if we keep treating the false grievances as real.

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