There were surprising economic numbers out yesterday – record job creation, and historic unemployment rate lows in Quebec, and nearing lows for youth unemployment. The government had obviously been preparing for the threshold of a million jobs created since they took office, because once it happened with this morning’s release, they were all over it, and everyone of them was pushing insufferable memes over their social media channels, and trying to wedge it into QP when they got bored of the Mark Norman scripts. And before you ask, no these jobs weren’t all in the public sector, but the majority were in the private sector and were full-time jobs, and were broad across different sectors that tested well, meaning that the data has less chance of being suspect as the month-over-month data can be.

This will set up a few different narratives as we careen toward the election – from the Liberals, it will be seen as proof that their plan for “investing in the middle class” is working, which will be key for their re-election message. While Andrew Scheer has attempted to claim that there was a jobs crisis in this country on several occasions – based in part on deliberately misconstruing StatsCan data – it’s never really stuck. Likewise, this pours a lot of cold water on the claims that the federal carbon price is a job-killer (though they would say that it remains too soon to tell). It also is on the road to completely disproving that said carbon price will drive the country into recession – in fact, it looks like the economy is picking back up steam after the slowdown related to the most recent oil price crash (which the Bank of Canada had always stated was due to temporary factors, though it spread a bit further than initially anticipated). That these job figures had other strong indicators like good wage growth in them, it bolsters the picture of that recovery, which should be back to solid growth by the time of the election. Of course, the Conservatives will try to point to the fact that the Americans are showing bigger job growth than we are, but it also bears reminding that they’ve juiced their economy with a trillion dollars in annual deficit spending, which puts Trudeau’s very small deficits in favourable comparison.

https://twitter.com/MikePMoffatt/status/1126925907908808704

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I’m not sure that this will undo all of the damage the Liberals have been doing to themselves, and they’re going to inevitably be arrogant in how they communicate this economic good news, but they can at least point to good numbers.

https://twitter.com/SkepticRod/status/1125431876670255104

Good reads:

• Justin Trudeau made a clear link between the canola issue and China’s trade tensions with the US, while he made a second call to Trump about the China issue.
• Trudeau also said that the report on money laundering out of BC is “alarming” and said that Bill Blair is on the case.
• Another Grassy Narrows protester showed up at another Liberal fundraiser, and this time Trudeau invited them to stay.
• Bill Blair blasted the Ford government for not doing enough for asylum claimants, while the federal government will give money directly to Toronto and Ottawa.
• Bernadette Jordan says the federal government is looking at funding rural municipalities who want to create their own internet service providers.
• The government has unveiled their final steel safeguard to prevent dumping in the Canadian market, based on the trade tribunal’s findings.
• The National Post offers some tips on how to spot which uniforms are German ones in future Veterans Affairs social media videos after this week’s gaffe.
• The RCMP have defended their investigation into VADM Mark Norman, but Norman’s defenders point to the places where they seemed to drop the ball.
• Whichever new fighter jet wins the Canadian procurement process will need American sign-off for security interoperability – which could invite them to reject it.
• Public service union PSAC has rejected the government’s offer for compensation related to the Phoenix pay system, and is setting up for a strike later this year.
• The Supreme Court of Canada ruled that those in immigration detention can ask the courts for a habeas corpus ruling if their incarceration is lengthy and indeterminate.
• At a Senate hearing on the Criminal Code reform bill, the head of the MMIW Inquiry said that there should be harsher sentences for those who kill Indigenous women.
• Martin Patriquin looks at how Quebec’s “secularism” bill will box in the three main federal parties as they look for votes in the province.
• Chris Selley, similarly, traces the bill back to the infamous Bouchard-Taylor Commission on “religious accommodation,” an how the rhetoric has metasticized.
• Andrew Coyne thinks that Andrew Scheer’s series of policy speeches may be a way to reach centrist voters, provided that he can actually provide something for them.
• Chantal Hébert wonders if the Greens may be trying to replace the NDP as the conscience of Parliament, at least where climate is concerned.
• My weekend column plumbs deeper as to whether we should pay more attention to the issue of the state of civilian oversight of the military post-Mark Norman trial.

Odds and ends:

Colby Cosh explains the history of the “hidden” royal surname of Mountbatten-Windsor, now that Prince Harry’s son sports it.

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