Tag Archives: Trans Mountain

Roundup: Fantasy readings of court decisions

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In the wake of last week’s Supreme Court of Canada decision in the Impact Assessment Act, there has been a lot of fantasy being projected on what the decision said (hint: it’s not what most everyone says, no matter which sentence they’ve cherry-picked). There’s a lot of blame on the Act for projects not moving forward, as even though many of them had approvals in hand already and the economics for those projects didn’t make sense with current oil prices (as many were conceived of when there was a belief that we were reaching peak oil and that prices would start to skyrocket as a result—oops), or as with certain LNG projects that never got off the ground, they couldn’t get buyers to sign contracts for what they hoped to produce. That’s why the handwringing over Qatar supplying Europe with LNG is particularly funny, because we just don’t have the LNG capacity on the east coast—there is no ready supply of natural gas to liquefy, so without another massive pipeline project, it would mean importing product to liquefy and re-sell to the Europeans, which is not exactly a cost-savings for them when they can get it much cheaper from Qatar.

Meanwhile, here’s Andrew Leach calling out these kinds of fantasies, particularly when they’re coming from the Alberta government.

As a bonus, Leach also calls out the excuses for inaction on the energy transition:

Ukraine Dispatch:

No word on any fresh attacks against Ukrainian cities. Meanwhile, artefacts that were stolen from occupied territories were confiscated when they were attempted to be smuggled into the US, and have now been returned to Ukraine.

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QP: The first attempt to publicly undermine Speaker Fergus

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The prime minister and his deputy were in town but away, hosting CARICOM meetings instead, while the other leaders were all present. Speaker Fergus wanted to make a statement about decorum before things got underway, Pierre Poilievre decided to throw a tantrum because he started right now, and had Andrew Scheer fight on his behalf. There was a back-and-forth on the rules and consultation with the Table Officers, and Fergus trying to assert his authority as the Conservatives tried to undermine him publicly. Eventually, Fergus did get to his speech, and faced attempts by the Conservatives to interrupted him with points of order, and eventually he got to the point about excessive and loud heckling, while recognising that there is a place for witty comments as a feature of our system; the use of “provocative” terms that lead to tense exchanges, such as calling one another racists or shouting obscenities; and the tendency to the make personal attacks, including coming up with fake titles, or drawing attention to absences. He promised to use what tools he has to limit those attacks, reinforcing that he has the authority to preserve order and decorum. That would include refusing to recognise a member, or to name a member.

Poilievre finally led off in French, and he decried “inflationary deficits” with a couple of bespoke mentions of Quebeckers. François-Philippe Champagne trotted out the “take no lessons” line and decried the cuts the Conservatives would make cuts to services. Poilievre switched to English to worry about the “middle-class homeless,” and demanded an end to deficits, to which Anita Anand recited the points about the country’s Aaa credit rating and that the government invests in Canadians. Poilievre shrugged off the “incompetent ratings agencies” before worrying about homeless seniors with a specious connection to deficits. Mark Holland said that cuts to social programmes like Poilievre was peddling would make people worse off in the long-run. Poilievre boasted that the previous government balanced the budget will increasing healthcare (false), and Anand got back up to insist that they won’t balance the budget on the backs of Canadians. Poilievre retorted that the government runs massive deficits on the backs of people before turning to the hospital in Gaza, and demanded that they denounce terrorists for inflicting it. Karina Gould said that their hearts were broken for the innocent Palestinians affected and that they have denounced terrorism while they stand with Israel.

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, and he demanded Canada work with allies to get humanitarian aid to Gaza. Gould insisted that they were calling for a humanitarian corridor and to protect the lives of civilians. Blanchet was incredulous that Trudeau had not apparently spoken to Joe Biden since the attack in Israel, and Gould reiterated that they are in contact with allies and stakeholders. 

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and mocked Champagne’s inability to get answers on how the grocery chains were lowering prices, and wanted support for a motion to call them to committee. Champagne insisted that his summoning those CEOs was unprecedented. Singh got back up ask the question in French—because he needs clips in both languages—and Champagne says that he wrote to the chair of the committee to ask him to summon the CEOs, so he was glad the NDP was on board.

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Roundup: No resignation from Rota, chaos ensues

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The fallout from Friday’s incident in the House of Commons where Speaker Anthony Rota recognised a Ukrainian veteran who had served with a Nazi-affiliated unit was a complete and utter gong show yesterday, as Rota did not offer his resignation as he should have, and the day simply spiralled out of control. Both the NDP and the Bloc have called for Rota to resign, and the Liberals have been doing this weird hinting that he needs to “really think about” whether he can maintain confidence, without just coming right out and saying he can’t, while only the Conservatives have been de facto rushing to his defence by trying to blame Justin Trudeau and the PMO for what happened, in a stunning display of bad faith and mendacity, while also apparently trying to shield an incompetent Speaker whom they want on the job because he’s so lenient with them. The prime minister did make a brief statement about how this was an “embarrassment,” but didn’t call on Rota to resign either.

Much of the bad faith arguing was a deliberate conflation from every single Conservative between security screening and political vetting. The 98-year-old veteran was not a security threat. All security screening was followed. What he was not subject to was political vetting, as the Speaker is not subject to the PMO, and his office submitted their guest list to the Parliamentary Protocol Office who doesn’t share the list with PMO, and which doesn’t to background checks or vetting for political embarrassment, because that’s frankly not their job. The fact that there is a reporting relationship between the Parliamentary Protective Service and the Minister of Public Safety also has nothing to do with political vetting, as it’s not their job, and they don’t (and couldn’t) do background checks on everyone who visits the Hill, because that would be insane. Nor should PMO be doing this, as has been the assertion from a great many people who should know better, which is again utterly ludicrous.

Compounding the mystifying behaviour yesterday was Government House Leader Karina Gould trying to move a motion to strike the mention of said individual from the record, but also to have the audio-visuals scrubbed as well, which is weirdly Stalinist behaviour. While I get the impulse to try and remove the taint of his visit from the record, and that Parliament has done this in committee when Conservative MP read the manifesto of a mass shooter into the record, this was nevertheless fairly gross and disturbing, and the Conservatives objected (which also turned into an absolute gong show as this went down, and Rota was, yet again, out of his depth in the Chair).

So while we await Rota’s resignation, which cannot happen soon enough, we’re seeing Russian propagandists having a field day with this. But should Rota finally do the right thing and resign, the session will need to suspend, possibly for a day or two, so that the election of a new Speaker can take place. The likely two candidates are Conservative Chris D’Entremont and Liberal Alexandra Mendès, currently the deputy and assistant deputy Speakers, and we’ll see how this ends up. But Rota has to resign, immediately.

Ukraine Dispatch:

Russia’s early-morning attack on Odessa Monday has killed four people and caused significant damage to infrastructure at their grain storage facilities. There were early morning attacks today against the grain port at Izmail. Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials say that their attack on Russia’s Black Sea Fleet headquarters in occupied Crimea last week killed 34 officers including the fleet commander.

https://twitter.com/defenceu/status/1706193779940581503

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Roundup: Giving up on 24 Sussex?

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The big news that everyone was talking about yesterday was that the National Capital Commission is considering an alternate site for the prime minister’s residence than 24 Sussex, in part because of security considerations at the existing site (because apparently, we now also need to worry about reinforcing the roof with steel in the event of a drone strike). One of those sites could be in nearby Rockliffe Park, near the RCMP’s national headquarters, where something would need to be built from scratch, including the security arrangements. And before anyone suggests it, no, the prime minister cannot take over Stornoway because it would be even more impossible to secure than the 24 Sussex site is, and the RCMP would never allow it.

And because this was the story of the day, someone asked Pierre Poilievre about it, and of course, he gave the populist answer about how that would be the last thing on his priority list because he’s too busy worrying about middle class people getting houses. Obviously, that’s a rehearsed and tested media line, because his plans won’t actually get any more houses built than the current government’s plans, but hey, he lies about it with confidence, so people obviously believe him. He then went on to say that he would want something that’s able to be secured, but just “basic,” with possibly a separate site for hosting dignitaries, but let’s be real—we don’t really do luxurious official residences in this country, and the notion that we would be building some kind of lavish mansion is already pushing it.

The more salient point is that Poilievre’s populist noise is why we can’t have nice things, and why 24 Sussex was allowed to fall to such disrepair as to reach the point of total failure. We keep dining out on cheap outrage and hairshirt parsimony, and we pander to the too-large portion of the commentariat who thinks that if Ritz crackers and ginger ale are good enough for a church social, they’re good enough for international diplomacy. We keep increasingly marginalising ourselves on the global stage with our rinky-dink backwater antics like this, and we’ve allowed the official residence of our head of government fall to pieces because everyone is too afraid of the headlines (while self-righteous media outlets see absolutely nothing wrong with what they’ve enabled). What an absolute embarrassment we’ve allowed ourselves to become.

Ukraine Dispatch:

At least four people died in the Kherson region in the south as a result of mines and other explosives left behind by Russians; the commander of the southern front also reported continued progress pushing southward. The Russians claim that they destroyed a Ukrainian drone over the Black Sea.

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Roundup: Ford’s Greenbelt corruption

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The long-awaited Auditor General’s report into the Greenbelt scandal was released yesterday, and it outlined some utterly bald-faced corruption as Ford’s sudden desire to develop the Greenbelt saw the chief-of-staff for the housing minister meeting with developers who had just bought these un-developable tracts of land and persuaded him to make those tracts developable, to the tune of an $8.3 billion benefit to them. That’s billion with a b. The process was flawed and contravened pretty much every rule. (The ten take-aways are here). But this all having been said, the Auditor General seemed to also credulously believe that Ford and the minister had no idea that this was going on—which…is hard to believe, considering how many of these developers were at events related to Ford’s daughter’s wedding. And while I can see Ford not knowing the details, because he’s a retail politician and doesn’t care about details, he’s nevertheless responsible for this as premier, and that responsibility absolutely extends to chiefs of staff when they “go rogue.” The report makes fifteen recommendations, which Ford says they’ll follow—except the one about stopping the process of developing the Greenbelt, because apparently his mind is made up.

But in spite of the outright corruption that happened, don’t expect any particular consequences—at least not in the near future. While the OPP’s anti-racket division is looking into this, the “rogue” chief of staff is keeping his job, and so is the minister, because we no longer care about ministerial responsibility when you have corruption to the tune of $8.3 billion. Ford says the buck stops with him, but he spent the afternoon rationalizing and insisting that this is necessary for housing (it’s not), and then blamed the federal government for high immigration numbers (which Ontario has been crying out for), never mind that Ford and company have been ignoring the recommendations of the very task force that they set up to look at the housing situation. And Ford will skate, because he’s not only Teflon-coated, but possesses the Baby Spice Effect™, except instead of her cute smile, he just says “aw, shucks, folks,” and everyone’s brain melts and he gets away with murder. (Well, negligent homicide as the pandemic showed).

https://twitter.com/EmmMacfarlane/status/1689294359441604608

https://twitter.com/MikePMoffatt/status/1689323838343979031

In pundit reaction, David Moscrop demands resignations, firings and further investigations for this blatant corruption. Martin Regg Cohn points to the bitter irony of Ford riding into office alleging corruption everywhere only to be engaging in it much more blatantly here.

Ukraine Dispatch:

There was a Russian missile attack against Zaporizhzhia that hit a residential area, killing at least two. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that they have reached an agreement to get more Patriot systems from Germany.

https://twitter.com/zelenskyyua/status/1689329656481103872

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QP: What about the sky in New York?

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While the prime minister was on the Hill earlier for the Pride flag raising, he was not in the Chamber for QP, nor was his deputy, or most of the other leaders. Melissa Lantsman led off worrying about the Bank of Canada raising interest rates, and blaming the prime minister for it, and demanded to know what the Department of Finance figure show about how much mortgages will go up as a result. Terry Beech pointed out the strength of the economy, that we have lower inflation and interest rates than comparator countries, and that we can get through global inflation by working together. Lantsman demanded to know how many people would lose their homes because of rising interest rates. Beech reiterated that the Conservative only want to cut instead of help people. Lantsman then pivoted to news that David Johnston fired Navigator and state that they had also been hired by Han Dong, and demanded to know what the hell is going on. Marco Mendicino got up do praise Johnston and demand that Pierre Poilievre take the security briefing. Gérard Deltell got up next to worry about Quebec families who may not be able to keep their homes because of rising interest rates, and demanded a balanced budget. Rachel Bendayan noted that Poilievre talked for hours last night and said nothing about an economic plan. Deltell insisted that they had a plan, and again demanded a balanced budget, to which Bendayan said they found a balance of helping people in need while being fiscally responsible. 

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, and wanted agreement that hydrocarbons cause forest fires. Steven Guilbeault said there was an undeniable link between them, and that they would support the Bloc’s Supply Day motion. Blanchet demanded the government end all direct or indirect funding to oil companies and to send that money to provinces instead, and Guilbeault said that they can walk and chew gum at the same time, and that they are phasing out subsidies while investing.

Alexandre Boulerice rose for the NDP, worrying about the air quality in New York and that climate change has no borders and demanded action from this government. Guilbeault reminded him they are eliminating subsidies and have been commended as an example to follow. Boulerice railed about Trans Mountain and water bombers not being built in Canada, and demanded investments in renewable energy. Guilbeault reminded him that they already are.

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QP: Blaming the wrong things for the rate hike

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Another day of smoke blanketing the nation’s capital, and another day of all of the leaders being present in the Chamber for Question Period. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, decrying the Bank of Canada’s rate increase, blaming deficits for fuelling inflation (which is, of course, economically illiterate). Justin Trudeau says that he has heard from Canadians about their concerns over cost of living, and while the Bank of Canada does their work, the government is doing non-inflationary work to help Canadians like the grocery rebate and dental care. Poilievre misquoted the governor of the Bank of Canada about deficits—which he said nothing at all about—and Trudeau repeated that they are helping Canadians in a non-inflationary way. Poilievre switched to English to call the rate hike a “sucker punch,” and gave a series of misquotes before demanding to know how much average mortgage payments would go up over three years. Trudeau repeated his line about the Bank of Canada doing their job while the government does their, and that austerity is not the answer. Poilievre insisted that Canadians are feeling austerity in their households while the government was rolling in cash, worrying about household insolvencies. Trudeau insisted that Poilievre wants to do less for Canadians who need it, while the government supports people in targeted, non-inflationary ways. Poilievre quoted John Manley to denounce the government’s spending, to which Trudeau gave a paean about dental care, which the Conservatives voted against.

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, and worried that Erin O’Toole’s testimony contradicted things in David Johnston’s report, and because it was incomplete, Johnston needed to go. (Not sure the logic flows there). Trudeau noted that Blanchet had the opportunity to read the full, classified briefing, but he refuses to. Blanchet said that he refuses to see in secret what everyone should see (which is not how intelligence works), and demanded a public inquiry. Trudeau repeated that Blanchet was abandoning his responsibility to Canadians in refusing to see the classified information. 

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and in French, noted that it was Clean Air Day, with all of the smoke outside, and demanded the government immediately save the environment. Trudeau noted the irony of the day, and that it will likely get worse in years to come because the Conservatives are still debating on whether to act on climate change instead of how to act. Singh repeated the question in English, and this time, Trudeau patted himself on the back for the work the government has done.

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QP: Setting the stage for a filibuster

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While the prime minister was in town, he was not at Question Period, but his deputy was. Most of the other leaders were present, and just hours before, the Conservatives announced their plans to filibuster the budget with every tool in the book until they got their demands about a balanced budget and an end to increase on carbon prices. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, worrying that the budget adds fuel to the “inflationary fire” (it actually doesn’t), and demanded a plan for a balanced budget. Chrystia Freeland said that this shows they are completely irresponsible and trying to pick partisan fights, as they are trying to suppress the help that Canadians need, such as the Workers’ Benefit. Poilievre worried that Canadians were the most heavily indebted in the G7 ands worried about higher interest rates. Freeland considered this an adolescent position, and listed actions in the budget to help Canadians. Poilievre switched to English to repeat his first question around deficits and demanded a plan to balance the budget, and Freeland said that she was “truly appalled by the reckless and irresponsible behaviour” of the Conservatives, preferring adolescent partisan games instead of help for Canadians, adding in a line about “Parliamentary childishness.” Poilievre said that what was reckless as high inflation and interest rates before repeating his demand. Freeland suggested that someone who told Canadians they could opt out of inflation by crypto was in no position to offer advice on finances. Poilievre returned to French to worry about Quebec families impacted by forest fires, and wanted an update on the situation. Bill Blair said that there are 370 forest fires, with 217 out of control, and noted that Canadian Forces are involved in three provinces.

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, offering cooperation on forest fires and climate change. Pablo Rodriguez gave a paean about the efforts of firefighters assisting Quebeckers. Therrien then turned over to David Johnston preemptively hiring Navigator, suggesting that he knew off the top that the fix was in. Dominic LeBlanc dismissed this, and said that Johnston did his job thoroughly and reached an independence conclusion.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and he cited a survey about people struggling to make housing payments, and demanded steps to bring down the cost of rent (never mind that this is provincial jurisdiction). Chrystia Freeland patted herself on the back for the top-up provided to renters in last year’s budget. Singh railed both the possibility that the Bank of Canada raising rates, and corporations, to which Freeland assured him that the government was on the side of Canadians.

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QP: Freeland finally takes the budget questions

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The prime minister was making a stop in Alberta to survey the wildfire situation before heading off to South Korea, but his deputy was present for a change, as were most of the other leaders. Before things got underway, the Speaker asked MPs to listen during Members’ Statements rather than talking amongst one another so that they don’t inadvertently laugh during sad statements, or anything like that.

Pierre Poilievre led off in English, and tried point to contradictions in things Chrystia Freeland said, and demanded they stop “inflationary” taxes and deficits. (Taxes actually fight inflation). Freeland got up to accuse the Conservatives of talking down the economy, and praised the country’s Aaa credit rating. Poilievre repeated the question in French, and Freeland said it’s important to understand the data, and listed items to show how well Canada is doing among the G7. Poilievre said that the prime minister had fled the country rather than defend the budgets and tried to call out Freeland as well. Freeland noted that she was with G7 finance ministers in Japan, and said that if Conservatives think that they shouldn’t go to these meetings, they should say so. Poilievre returned to English to mock the “important meetings with important people” rather than common people, and accused her again of fuelling inflation. Freeland took exception to the notion that government travel was somehow elitist. Poilievre hammered away at this, to which Freeland reminded him that he lives in Stornaway with a chef and driver and has only lived on taxpayer dollars his entire life.

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, and railed that the prime minister called by-elections rather than a public inquiry into foreign interference. Marco Mendicino recited the well-worn pabulum about measures they have taken and waiting for David Johnston. Therrien tried again, and this time Dominic LeBlanc says that he shares the concerns about protecting by-elections, and said that they have implemented measures.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and he blamed the government for Stellantis blackmailing them over a battery plant, and Freeland insisted that the government always fights for workers and jobs by things like the New NAFTA, the EV tax credit incentives in the US, and the Volkswagen plant. Singh switched to French to complain about rising rents in Quebec. Ahmed Hussen recited his housing benefit talking points in English.

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Roundup: Threats against MPs becoming routine

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Every now and again we get reminders that these are not normal political times, and that older political norms are starting to slip away as the memification of politics takes over, and polarization has been made worse. Threats against MPs are far more prevalent than they ever were, and lo, Liberal MP George Chahal posted some of the threats his office received last week.

It’s grotesque, and even more the point are those in the comments who defend these kinds of messages and actions as somehow being justifiable or justified. Nothing can justify it, and unfortunately, this state of affairs is being worsened by the fact that our norms continue to be eroded, because they drive clicks and get fundraising dollars. This is the kind of thing that everyone should be standing against, but I fear that at best, we’ll get a tepid denunciation of this from political leaders across the board, even though some should be most emphatically making the point that this kind of thing isn’t okay.

Ukraine Dispatch:

Ukrainian forces have been advancing in two directions toward Bakhmut, but are not ready to take the city centre yet, apparently. This while there was a massive overnight barrage of drones from Russia, damaging an energy facility in Khmelnytskyi region, killing two civilians in Kostyantynivka, and shelling in the Kharkiv region. Meanwhile, president Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with the Pope at the Vatican and sought support for Ukraine’s peace plan (for what good that does). Zelenskyy also made stops in Paris and Berlin, where he said that a counter-offensive will not strike into Russian territory because their sole aim is to reclaim their own territory from Russian occupation.

https://twitter.com/zelenskyyua/status/1657501338719199233

https://twitter.com/zelenskyyua/status/1657875550361272321

https://twitter.com/defencehq/status/1657643236989517825

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