As bullshit political theatre goes, Jason Kenney continues to exercise it to its fullest as he released an “urgent letter” to the federal government yesterday, co-signed by five other premiers (four of them conservative, one of them without ostensible party affiliation) to demand that both bills C-48 and C-69 be withdrawn, and warns of consequences to “national unity” if they are not. And it’s a bit galling to play the national unity card, considering that it’s both groundless and petulant – like a tantrum where a child threatens to hold his breath until he turns blue to teach his parents “a lesson.”

Nobody is going to pretend that these are perfect bills, but for the purposes of what is being argued, neither can do the harm that Kenney and his allies are claiming. For example, C-48 will not landlock their resources, and there has been expert testimony to say that it would have a negligible impact on the oil and gas sector because there are no pipelines along that route, nor are there any planned (thanks in large part to how badly the Conservatives botched the Indigenous consultations on the Northern Gateway project). And C-69 is not going to make major infrastructure projects impossible – if anything, it would have a better chance of streamlining environmental assessments by ensuring clearer lines and better scoping of those assessments, so that there can be more focused work with the assessments. But the status quo is simply a path of more litigation because the current system is badly flawed. The branding it as the “no more pipelines bill” is and always has been disingenuous and an outright lie, but that’s what this all boils down to.

Kenney and company have lied repeatedly about the current government’s environmental programme – abetted by the fact that this government can’t communicate their way out of a wet paper bag, and they somehow refuse to call Kenney, Scheer, and company, on their bullshit. And given that Kenney managed to win an election by whipping his electorate into a state of irrational anger with a diet of lies and snake oil – anger that won’t abate now that he’s in charge – the attempt to export that technique to the rest of Canada is dangerous, but they don’t seem to care. That is the real threat to national unity, and it’s Kenny and company who are stirring it up, and they should be called out for it.

Good reads:

• As expected, Justin Trudeau announced the government plans to ban certain single-use plastics by 2021. (Some examples of what could be banned are listed here).
• The bidding criteria for the replacement fighter jets emphasise ground strikes and strategic attack, which could favour the F-35s after all.
• The Parliamentary Budget Officer calculates that the CPP Investment Board has brought in $50 billion more revenue than it costs to administer.
• The Environment Commissioner and Finance Canada continue to be at odds in trying to come up with a definition of “inefficient subsidies” to the oil and gas sector.
• The chief military judge in the country is now on trial for an inappropriate relationship and two charges of fraud.
• Statistics show that sexual assault trials in military courts get acquittals more frequently than in civilian courts.
• The head of the Royal Canadian Air Force wants to offer signing and retention bonuses to help deal with the shortage of pilots and ground crew.
• Facebook launched their election ad transparency tools yesterday.
• Here’s an in-depth look at the delays in the criminal justice system, and why not enough is being done to address them.
• The House of Commons has advanced Bill C-88, reversing Harper-era changes to resource extraction in the Northwest Territories, to third reading.
• The bill to end cetacean and whale captivity in Canada has finally passed third reading, and is set to receive royal assent.
• Despite warnings by Marc Garneau, senators are drafting amendments to C-48 that would allow a “shipping channel” (which kind of defeats the point of the bill).
• A Nova Scotia NDP MLA has decided to sit as an independent and run for the federal Liberal nomination in her area.
• Andrew Scheer says he doesn’t think the term “genocide” should apply to missing and murdered Indigenous women, but another term should be found.
• Jagmeet Singh said the NDP would cap cellphone and internet fees.
• In Quebec, the race is on to pass their immigration and “secularism” bills before summer, but they are having a difficult time procedurally.
• Kady O’Malley’s Process Nerd column outlines the difference between time allocation and closure, and no, they’re not the same thing.
• Matt Gurney looks at the electoral calculus of keeping Doug Ford sidelined during the federal election.
• Chantal Hébert notes that Trudeau’s prevaricating on accepting the “genocide” label in the MMIW Inquiry report has the issue of making him look less serious.

Odds and ends:

Actor Kiefer Sutherland wants Doug Ford and the PCs to stop bringing up his grandfather, Tommy Douglas, to justify their cuts.

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