Roundup: Six months later

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The Liberal government is now six months old, so everyone is checking in on the list of their promises kept and broken. This one list, compiled from the “Trudeau Meter,” however, is a bit nitpicky on some of those “broken” promises, calling them broken because there was no mention in this year’s budget when there are three more years of budgets left in the current mandate, and it’s pretty hard to expect everything to have happened in the first six months of a government, when there are a lot of moving pieces to keep track of. In other words, give them a little more time before you declare all of these promises broken. The deficit figures for this year continue to look better than anticipated as the Fiscal Monitor shows continued surpluses into the spring months (which the Conservatives will be insufferable about in QP next week, I can promise you), but that may be because CRA is apparently having a banner year in terms of collecting lapsed taxes, up to an extra $1 billion so far. So there’s that. The Conservatives, meanwhile, have the challenge of trying to stay united during this period of transition for their party, particularly as the leadership contest starts to intensify. As for the NDP, they’re now struggling to remain relevant six months later. So there’s that.

Good reads:

  • Some Conservative MPs want the party to modify their constitution to let Rona Ambrose run for permanent leader, but that’s not going to happen.
  • Kevin O’Leary says the Conservatives are doomed to opposition forever unless the people in charge start rethinking their strategies.
  • Nathan Cullen recalled the time he was nearly taken hostage while a student aid worker in Ecuador.
  • Documents show why the government has softened its tone on the F-35s, which basically has to do with aerospace contracts.
  • A New Brunswick judge has ruled that it unconstitutional to bar taking alcohol over provincial borders, and everyone is overjoyed by it.
  • Bombardier refuses to give up its dual-class shares if they want money from the federal government. Andrew Coyne disapproves of giving them money period.
  • Here’s a look at those vying to become next party president for the Conservatives.
  • Andrew MacDougall suggests that Conservative leadership campaigners are going about it in the wrong way, and suggests Michelle Rempel as leadership material.
  • Laura Payton writes about everyone trying to disqualify Rempel’s feminism because of her political affiliations, never mind the actual context.
  • Matt Gurney takes umbrage with how the whole Lake Shoal 40/VICE documentary was handled, especially by PMO.
  • Susan Delacourt warns the Liberals that things that sound good for fundraising are in fact terrible ideas for actual policy.

Odds and ends:

Here is the short list of 12 names the Bank of Canada has compiled that could be included on the next series of bank notes.

To mark Trudeau’s six months on the job, the National Post has a photographic record of Trudeau’s hugs, and a generic Trudeau speech to use.

One thought on “Roundup: Six months later”

  1. The list of broken promises was made up by the NP which is suspicious. I can see there the hand of the CPC. Unfortunate that newspapers think that taking a partisan stand helps their readers, it does not. People will read the list and conclude that nothing works and disconnect themselves from political discourse.
    You say Nathan Cullen was nearly taken hostage, some papers reported it as was taken hostage or was a hostage. The word nearly changes everything, image building for Cullen in portraying him as better than he is?

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