Earlier this week, the Conservatives unveiled a new election policy, which was about removing the GST on home heating. For those of you who remember, this used to be an NDP policy that never went anywhere. It’s populist in that its economically illiterate and won’t help those who need it most, but gives a bigger break to the wealthy. But over the past couple of days, economists have been digging into just what this entails, so I figured I would showcase some of that discussion, to get a better sense of a promise that comes with few details about implementation. (Full thread here).

Am I right that @AndrewScheer policy is not taking gst off the bills, but providing a rebate of up to $200 for gst paid on bills? So, Canadians would have to submit their power and gas or oil bills to claim the rebates via PIT? Applies for investment properties owner by indivs?

— Andrew Leach (@andrew_leach) March 6, 2019

This is the extent of the backgrounder they gave to media. Not a lot of details. pic.twitter.com/3nVRcv0DtY

— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) March 8, 2019

https://twitter.com/kevinmilligan/status/1104084449522638848

https://twitter.com/kevinmilligan/status/1104087784933928960

https://twitter.com/kevinmilligan/status/1104089127048273925

https://twitter.com/kevinmilligan/status/1104090148663255040

I read that bit about "working with CRA" to mean "we'll design a new tax credit form that they will all have to issue"

— Alex Usher (@AlexUsherHESA) March 8, 2019

Heating and energy is oddly redundant. If it's just energy, a lot of households would have two bills, and so the cap almost certainly implies something more like the hrtc than like the gst rebate.

— Andrew Leach (@andrew_leach) March 8, 2019

Double-Hyphen Affair developments

There was a slightly unexpected development in the Double-Hyphen Affair yesterday when the Federal Court decision on SNC-Lavalin’s request for judicial review of the Director of Public Prosecutions’ decision not to offer them a deferred prosecution agreement was released, and to the surprise of nobody who has paid the slightest bit of attention, it was denied because this isn’t something that is reviewable by the courts. So that means the prosecution goes ahead, barring the Attorney General issuing a directive that would override the DPP’s decision. In related news, here’s a deeper look at just who SNC-Lavalin was consorting with abroad, and for all of his demands for Justin Trudeau’s resignation, Andrew Scheer says he won’t introduce any non-confidence motion. Hmmm…

And because the hot takes are still coming on this, Chris Selley wonders whether there will be utility to prosecuting a company if it takes four years to even decide whether to prosecute, during which time the company has undergone an ethics and compliance overhaul. Andrew Coyne wonders why any company would bother with the courts when they can lobby as effectively as SNC-Lavalin has (but perhaps it’s because SNC just plays that game better than anyone else). Martin Patriquin supposes that Trudeau may be playing this whole Affair that will benefit him in the long term. Colby Cosh (rightly) clocks the Liberals’ supposed commitment to internationalism also taking a beating in light of the Affair given that it is centred on SNC-Lavalin’s corrupt practices in Libya.

Good reads:

• Justin Trudeau made it up to Iqaluit to formally apologise for the treatment of Inuit with TB in the 1940s to 60s. (The media then got called out by the leader of ITK).
• Chrystia Freeland thanked American Senators for their bipartisan efforts in support of Canada during the Meng Wanzhou extradition drama.
• Opposition parties say they’ve lost confidence in the Clerk of the Privy Council in being able to lead any effort to warn of foreign interference in an election.
• A report from the Taxpayers Ombudsman shows inconsistencies in how CRA deals with collections and legal notices.
• Liberal MP Celina Caesar-Chavannes describes “hostile” conversations she had with Trudeau (who did apologise) when she said she wanted to leave politics.
• Jane Philpott was heaping praise on the prime minister’s gender-balanced Cabinet and its transformative effects (in spite of her recent resignation).
• Andrew Scheer claims he didn’t hear a question that invoked the “pizzagate” conspiracy at his most recent townhall. (Sure, Jan). And then came damage control.
• Kevin Carmichael worries about government complacency given the good jobs data released yesterday, given how concentrated the gains actually were.
• My weekend column looks at an incident in the Senate where Senator Harder’s ineptitude nearly led to procedural warfare, which portends ill for the future.

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