The current dispute with China doesn’t seem to be getting better, as the canola issue is apparently about to be compounded with things like soybeans and peas, and word has it that the Chinese government has been compiling a list of Canadian targets within the country that could face further retaliation, because we all know that this is about the arrest and extradition of Meng Wanzhou. While Trudeau says that more help for canola farmers is coming “in a few days,” China is taking its time in visa approvals for the scientific delegation Canada is trying to send in order to get answers from them on the supposed pests they found in our canola shipments.
Enter Andrew Scheer, who has declared that Justin Trudeau hasn’t done enough, and he demanded that a new ambassador be appointed (because that can happen at the drop of a hat), that the government launch a trade complaint against China at the WTO, and that the government pull its investment from the Asian Infrastructure Bank (never mind that Canadian companies are starting to win bids through it). Because beating one’s chest is obviously the way to deal with China, and there would be no possible consequences for doing so.
https://twitter.com/StephanieCarvin/status/1123023732610613249
One gets the impression from watching this that Scheer – or whoever is advising him – has no serious ideas for how to deal with complex situations like this. I mean, Scheer has also insisted that he somehow could have gotten a better New NAFTA deal and that he could have somehow gotten the steel and aluminium tariffs lifted by now, which is ridiculous, and yet here he is, demonstrating how “serious” he is about foreign policy, this time with China. Even more risible is the way in which he characterises the current government’s position as “appeasement.” Erm, except appeasement would have meant that they would have freed Meng by now, or did that “crafty” thing about warning her before she could have been arrested so that she could have avoided the trip altogether (as certain former political players in this town later told the media that the government should have done). You would think that the person who wants to lead the country would try to be a bit more serious about his foreign policy, but this is where we are.
Good reads:
- Justin Trudeau was in Cambridge, Ontario, to announce that Toyota would start building Lexus SUVs (both standard and hybrid versions) at the plant there.
- The government’s promise to better manage case files for disabled veterans isn’t panning out, in part because they’re having a hard time hiring case managers.
- In case you didn’t realize, we are now officially in the Ugly Stretch before Parliament rises for the summer and the election.
- Documents show that Canada’s spending for the UN Security Council seat bid is increasing (and hello, cheap outrage and hairshirt parsimony!)
- A former Catalan separatist leader was denied entry into Canada, and the Quebec separatist group that invited him is complaining loudly about it.
- Here’s a look at how the Conservatives turned away from conservative policies like carbon pricing, thanks to their embrace of populism.
- The Conservatives had a record year for fundraising, incidentally.
- Bernier’s party is allegedly courting far-right groups (while they say they’re not), and former candidates are realizing the “party” is just a Bernier fan club. Shocking!
- A member of Alberta’s energy regulator quit before Jason Kenney could fire him, after Kenney singled him out during the campaign.
- Kady O’Malley’s Process Nerd column enumerates the five outstanding questions from the Double-Hyphen Affair.
- Chantal Hébert tries to get a handle on Andrew Scheer’s climate promises, and has her doubts that it will be saleable to a large cohort of voters.
- Colby Cosh has some thoughts on the Japanese monarchy and its importance, on the occasion of the abdication of the Emperor.
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Andrew Scheer has absolutely no idea about foreign policy as well as everything else. We all know that the easiest thing politicians can do is sit on the sidelines and say nasty things about the government. He. if elected would be overwhelmed by the issues as he has no policies. For Canadians to think otherwise is inviting a disaster. As for Scheer’s waffling on the climate issue, every day that passes shows through the floods that we need to change how our society operates, where and how we build our homes and businesses what infrastructure projects like flood mitigation we need to begin. In the riding of Chilliwack-Hope the government just gave 45 million dollars for flood mitigation along the Fraser river to protect not only the First Nations who live next to the river but the City of Chilliwack which would be completely flooded. The conservative MP here Mark Strahl also known as the “heckler on chief’ for Andrew Scheer did not attend the ceremony that was attended by the Minister and the Mayor of Chilliwack. 45 Million in infrastructure and Strahl didn’t show up. A call to his office was met with, Oh! he had another engagement, likely golfing!
On the same day his office sent out a blurb decrying the fact that the rebates on the “carbon tax” didn’t include the GST. Conservatives are living a dream world but like the right winger in the US they seem to be blind to reality but then again many are religious and this belief in magic continues to harm our society in so many ongoing ways. BC has had a carbon tax now for many years and is the first jurisdiction to say that all vehicles must be zero emissions by 2030. Soon the forest fires will begin again in BC and the province will have to spend another billion dollars while many people are again evacuated and cities and towns will suffer from the smoke for three months. When are the Tories going to “get It?”
If Android Sneer gets in, it won’t be because of any sense of savvy political acumen on his part or a nationwide embrace of Conservative values, but populist perfectionism on both the right and left, Koch-sponsored corruption, and a palpable Trudeau Derangement Syndrome cooked up by faux outrage over M$M-manufactured “scandals” and irrational personal venom. It’s worked against Democratic politicians in the US for years; recall the “swift-boating” of John Kerry in 2004, the Canadian equivalent term I guess being “swift-canoeing.” Isn’t Herr Harper buddies with Karl Rove and other GOP dirty-trick operatives? What the hell was he doing last summer during the NAFTA negotiations, meeting with Trump’s goons at the WH? Did someone buy JWR off?
The 2019 election is already tainted. Any Con “victory” will be illegitimate considering who they’ve cozied up to. But Canada appears to be an ungovernable country on the verge of collapse due to its own small-minded insecurity and perpetual copycat jealousy of its older brother, no matter how much Justin Trudeau and the Liberals try to counter the Cons’ bullshit with policies and facts. The weasely, illegitimate usurper with the demonic dimples and his cadre of Internet trolls will soon figure that out. Careful what you wish for, Andy Doody: Trump learned the hard way that governing is a lot harder than armchair complaining on Twitter. Took the Americans two years to get to this point; Canada usually plays catch-up a little while later, but the barrage of inquiries into their ties to Big Oil, the Kochtopus and courting of skinhead thugs will be a blast to watch. Prime Minister Freeland will spare no sympathy for these enemies of the state.
When the dust settles on this disgraceful clusterf**k of a character assassination, Justin Trudeau, by then Canada’s ambassador to the U.N., a star teacher at Oprah’s school for girls in Africa, or a well-regarded figure in the realm of private philanthropy (where he doesn’t have to worry about opinion polling among short-sighted, easily duped voters who hate him for no reason), will write a book, tell everyone where the bodies are buried, go on Colbert and Sam Bee and all the American talk shows in a country where he’s actually appreciated, and be vindicated by history. The CBC and the rest of the Postmedia garbage rags will be “sorry!” that they sucked up to the Cons, when they lose their jobs to funding cuts after Hamster the computer chipmunk replaces their irrelevant asses with juvenile Reddit forums. The free market at work, right? What is it the basement dwellers love to say? “Learn to code”? In that case, Andrew Coyne and Paul Wells better start studying HTML. If anyone will have reason to rejoice, it’ll be Campbell and Mulroney, because Andrew Scheer will nudge them up the list after he is remembered as the worst PM in 150+ years. As brief of a duration as Joe Clark and as reviled as his daddy Harper.
I look forward to Trudeau’s less “polite” revenge. In fact, I’m already going to start making “Miss Me Yet?” stickers in preparation for his inevitable book tour. A book I hope he simply titles, “No More Mister Nice Guy.” (Since “What Happened” is already taken.)
Bizarre.