Roundup: 100 days without unicorns

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We have reached 100 days since the election, so expect to find any number of analyses and think-pieces about the “milestone,” like this one here from CBC. The Canadian Press had their enumerated list of what promises have been kept, what hasn’t (like promised gun-marking measures), and what’s in progress, which is handy to have. And while Trudeau has come out and said that perhaps they won’t meet the deficit targets made during the election, the economy being what it is, hay is certainly being made over it – particularly from the Conservatives, who have pounced on that singular National Bank forecast that said that perhaps the deficit will surpass $90 million over four years. Of course, nobody knows if that will be the case, particularly if the stimulus the government is pouring into the economy does manage to kickstart growth, and when the economy grows, deficits shrink on their own. That said, everybody leaping onto this report before we’ve even seen a budget is pretty ridiculous. The NDP’s release on the 100 days, however, was a bit more…fanciful. It contained a laundry list of woe, from their mischaracterisation of the tax cut, the fact that other promised spending hasn’t happened yet, the continued deliberate conflation of signing versus ratification of the TPP, the lack of new GHG targets or action on legalising marijuana – all giving the impression that such things can happen at the snap of a finger, without debate, without a budget, and apparently all by Order-in-Council rather than with legislation in many cases, is a bit ridiculous. The only valid point they do make is about parliamentary secretaries and committees (and as discussed earlier in the week, their own record of centralisation in this area is nothing to be proud of). The fact that they came out with such a list full of dubious complaints seems to be a return to true third-party status, where they can rail into the wind without the benefit of a reality check, belies a particular lack of lessons having been learned in the previous election or self-awareness about what they’re saying. Nobody is expecting them to roll over and applaud the government – but at least make the criticisms valid ones, rather than complaining that they didn’t have enough unicorns in the parade. The opposition has a serious job in holding the government to account. It’s a pity that our two main opposition parties seem incapable of taking that job seriously, as demonstrated yesterday.

Good reads:

  • Justin Trudeau had his meeting with Ban Ki-moon, who praised Trudeau’s promises, while Trudeau said Canada plans to get a Security Council seat.
  • Harjit Sajjan claims success in selling our new Iraq mission to our NATO allies,
  • The Liberals plan to whip the vote on the eventual assisted dying legislation, citing it as a Charter issue.
  • Justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould and her husband are walking the conflict-of-interest tightrope with his lobbying activities.
  • Dominic LeBlanc, meanwhile, has to avoid any decisions to do with the Irving Family, which basically means all of New Brunswick (as they own it all).
  • Speaking of the Irvings, their contract for building new warships is apparently under review.
  • There is a growing backlog of some 200 federal appointments that the government needs to make, particularly with the Immigration and Refugee Board.
  • Some NDP riding associations are returning to the Leap Manifesto as “radical change” that they think the party should embrace.
  • One economist proposes distance pricing as the solution to Canada Post’s woes.
  • The Canadian Press takes their Baloney Meter™ to the claim that the previous government built no pipelines in their mandate.
  • Chantal Hébert lambastes the Conservatives’ myopia in their recounting of their election loss.

Odds and ends:

John Baird is shrugging about his decision to appropriate Experimental Farm land for a new hospital.

NDP party president Rebecca Blaikie says that Mulcair needs to get at least 70 percent of the vote in the upcoming leadership review to stay on.

Quebec is not onside with the idea of possibly selling marijuana through provincial liquor stores.