Roundup: Cancelling trips never contemplated

Posted on by

At the risk of this becoming a media criticism blog, I have to take exception to the big Globe and Mail story that they were pushing all weekend, about how Justin Trudeau was not going to attend the Trump inauguration in January.

I. Can’t. Even.

Seriously. Canadian prime ministers never go to inaugurations. The protocol people in Washington make it pretty clear that they don’t want heads of government or heads of state to attend. This is not a scandal. Nor does it have anything to do with Trudeau’s decision to go on his little cross-country tour. The rest of the piece is fairly hysterical about the tour, and Trudeau not going to Davos, Switzerland either, and then meanders into the fact that the US ambassador was recalled on inauguration day.

Um, guys. This is routine. They are almost always recalled, and then it takes them months and months to get new ambassadors approved by the US Senate. Remember how it took Obama nine months to get Ambassador Jacobson here? And how we were worried that it meant that he was mad at us or something? And then it took another several months between Jacobson and Heyman? Yeah. This is not out of the ordinary. Yes, Heyman has been very popular, but did you honestly think that Trump would keep an Obama fundraiser in the post after he took office? And more to the point, would it kill our political reporters to have a sense of history and perspective in their stories, rather than trying to make everything some kind of proto-scandal? It’s not only wrong, but it’s dull. We can do better.

Good reads:

  • Liberal MP Hedy Fry suggested that if the fentanyl crisis was hitting Ontario harder that the federal government would take swifter action.
  • Veterans Affairs remains woefully understaffed despite Liberal promises to hire more case workers.
  • Our immigration department is still committed to resettling Yazidi refugees despite the fact that a key group helping to identify and screen them was shut down.
  • Here’s a look at how CBSA has lost someone due to be deported after they already lost track of him once before.
  • Here’s a look at Arctic research funding, and possible government plans once the current round expires in 2018.
  • Deepak Obhrai is taking shots at Kellie Leitch for her new plan to make immigrants (but not refugees) pay for their own values screening.
  • Kellie Leitch’s latest attempt to get journalists to tweet about her is her message about “draining the Canal” in Ottawa. Yawn. This is getting kind of sad now.
  • Paul Wells notes Trudeau’s upcoming “ordinary Canadians” tour is about reigniting the populist sentiment after the allegations of entitlement.

Odds and ends:

The Queen has recovered from her heavy cold. Sigh of relief, everyone.