Roundup: Negotiations and narratives

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It was another day of NAFTA developments, or rather the hints thereof, since Chrystia Freeland repeatedly said that they weren’t going to negotiate in public – just that they were making progress, and that they would go all night if they had to. Justin Trudeau said that they could reach a deal by Friday, but kept insisting that Supply Management would not be given up, and on the campaign trail in Quebec, Premier Philippe Couillard warned of “serious political consequences” if it was touched. Trudeau, meanwhile, will have a call with all of the premiers today in order to discuss what’s going down with the deal, so it may actually be getting close. Maybe. Of course, the Friday deadline appears to be more bluster, so we’ll see how it all plays out.

Meanwhile, closer to home, the Conservatives have tried to ramp up their narrative, and are insisting that all of the talk about the Canadians having been “sidelined” in NAFTA talks, and that we were now cornered into accepting a bad deal was indicative that Trudeau had “failed” – somehow, based on no information on mostly Trump talking points that don’t match reality.

You’ll notice a couple of things – one is that the “Trudeau” + “failed” in every tweet is part of their overall ham-fisted narrative-building strategy, and I’d imagine that every time they deploy it, campaign director Hamish Marshall gives them a cookie. Scheer is also going to town on this line from his convention speech about needing to be the “grown-ups in charge” again, which is tough to swallow given how little foreign policy depth their bench actually has, or even had in the previous government. And while there is room for the opposition to critique a government’s performance and holding them to account, coming up with false narratives, snide commentary, and shitposts in the middle of trade negotiations don’t exactly scream “grown-ups in charge.” And speaking of false narratives, the data show that the Conservative doomsaying about investment fleeing the Canadian economy isn’t holding water. Shocking, I know.

Good reads:

  • Dominic LeBlanc says that he expects the provinces won’t put up too much fight when it comes to reducing interprovincial trade barriers.
  • Catherine McKenna is warning provinces that if they don’t follow up on carbon pricing, that they’ll lose their share of federal funds for green programmes.
  • Saskatchewan, incidentally, will be a case in point, as they continue to refuse to implement a carbon price.
  • Following outrage, Seamus O’Regan says he’s reviewing the decision by Veterans Affairs to give PTSD treatment a convicted murderer (whose father is a veteran).
  • The Health Minister has approved the import of EpiPen alternatives from the US, given the shortage of EpiPens.
  • The US International Trade Commission overturned duties on Canadian newsprint, which was not unexpected given how arbitrary the duties were.
  • The Canadian commander of the NATO training mission in Iraq says he’s confident they can screen out war criminals and hardcore militia members.
  • Post-convention, here is some discussion on where the Conservatives believe they have room to grow, and how they want to build on momentum in Quebec.
  • Supply management opponents at the Conservative convention claim plenty of new support for Maxime Bernier’s new party, but won’t name any names.
  • Éric Grenier looks at how the loss of so many NDP incumbents could impact them during the next election.
  • Kady O’Malley isn’t convinced that publishing mandate letters is actually transparent given their boilerplate language and press release nature.
  • Colby Cosh offers his take on Tesla’s successful lawsuit against the Ford government, and adds some caution about where it may lead.
  • In light of the birth tourism debate, Andrew Coyne looks at just how arbitrary citizenship really is.

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