Roundup: Leitch keeps digging

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So many hot takes on Kellie Leitch and her need to keep digging when it comes to her “Canadian values” test proposal. Leitch continued to insist that this is a topic worthy of discussion, and proposed yet more “Canadian values” to back up her claim, and this time, those values include “equality of opportunity, hard work, generosity, freedom and tolerance,” with a focus especially on the tolerance part. She also denies that this targets Muslims in any way and doesn’t think that characterisation is fair. So there’s that. Oh, and you can add Deepak Obhrai to the list of leadership candidates opposing Leitch’s position, and Maxime Bernier gave a somewhat muddled response that he believes there are Canadian values but you just can’t test for them.

In terms of pundit reaction, Michael Den Tandt seems to think that Leitch is going nativist for the sake of deepening her fundraising coffers, while Matt Gurney sees Leitch’s proposal as unworkable, but not really offensive per se. Susan Delacourt sees problems for Leitch from the perspective of a party that doesn’t seem to want to embrace a young female leader, though she may have tapped into an anti-immigrant sentiment within the ranks, while Madeline Ashby looks at the inherent contradictions in Leitch’s position. My own Loonie Politics column on Leitch’s campaign looks at the ways in which she and some of her fellow campaigners are picking and choosing which intolerances to run on, and her own tone-deafness about it (which, given today’s added comments, seem to really fit the bill).

In other Conservative leadership news, Brad Trost thinks that he can unite the party around his economic ideas while still running as a social conservative, and Deepak Obhari has filed his papers and is officially in the race.

Good reads:

  • In case you were worried, Trudeau not only raised human rights concerns in China, but was honest about our own country’s challenges on that front.
  • The fact that Trudeau wasn’t included in a meeting about Ukraine at the G-20 is not a snub, Trudeau’s former foreign policy advisor insists.
  • That court case on private healthcare in BC has begun, and Jane Philpott has come out against it.
  • Here’s a look at the problems associated with vacation-shaming our political leaders.
  • An anti-poverty charity is taking the government to court over the restrictions on political activities that charities are under, and I’m really not sure about this one.
  • The RCMP are officially closing the books on the Senate investigations.
  • Our Aurora surveillance aircraft continue to be of tremendous use in the anti-ISIS bombing campaign in Iraq.
  • The new Cyclone helicopters are supposed to be fully in service by 2025 – seven years after the Sea Kings are supposed to be finally retired. Oops.
  • Despite some hints of trouble, it seems that the NDP finances are indeed in the black, but with the leadership contest stalled, they’re not taking in too many donations.
  • Here’s an interesting look at the canola issue, and whether Canadian farmers have become too dependent upon it, which is inviting the fungal infection.
  • Maxime Bernier’s latest policy plank is eliminating the “supply management” system on maple syrup and breaking that particular cartel.

Odds and ends:

Here’s a look at some potential replacements to Peter Mansbridge.

A very cool Queen of Canada statue has been approved for Queen’s Park for 2017 – assuming they can get enough donors.