Roundup: Attacking his own plan

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Andrew Scheer’s sudden denunciation of the planned clean fuel regulations got some reaction yesterday, partly from the government, and partly from economists who deal with this kind of thing for a living. Scheer’s labelling it a “secret fuel tax” is more than a little odd, because it’s exactly the kind of thing he’s proposing by removing the transparent federal carbon price and replacing it with more costly regulations, which would get passed onto consumers in a hidden way without any of the rebates that the current federal backstop programme provides – in other words, doing exactly what he’s accusing the Liberals of doing. The government noted that Scheer’s 4¢/litre figure are just a guess because the regulations haven’t been finalised yet (though some economists say it’s about right based on current projections), but again, it needs to be driven home that this is exactly the kind of thing that Scheer himself is proposing, but without the added “technology is magic” sheen attached.

To that end, here’s economist Andrew Leach’s mock open letter to Scheer.

Meanwhile, Heather Scoffield points out that this latest attack by Scheer risks boxing him in, and attacks his credibility on the climate file.

https://twitter.com/robert_hiltz/status/1148609609424429057

Good reads:

  • Most of the premiers met with First Nations leaders in advance of the Council of the Federation meeting, with the AFN ending their boycott after Bill C-92 passed.
  • John McCallum is telling the Chinese media that China should ease up on Canada, lest a party less favourable to China get elected. (Oh, dear…)
  • The Vice-Chief of Defence Staff announced his sudden resignation, citing the plans to replace him with VADM Mark Norman (before he got a settlement and retired).
  • In order to maintain access to American markets, Canadian fisheries officials are trying to prove that they are taking sufficient steps to protect whales in our waters.
  • The federal government is hoping to get some buy-in from provinces to ban “conversion therapy” as they explore how to amend the Criminal Code to ban it.
  • The government has released more details on the Critical Election Incident Public Protocol, in the event of substantial election interference.
  • In case it wasn’t sufficiently clear to anyone, the media bailout is not going to do anything at all to help freelancers, who are a vital part of the industry. Wheee!
  • Here is a look at the severance that MPs get paid when they don’t run again (which I don’t have a problem with, to be clear).
  • The chair of the Commons national security committee has agreed to hold an emergency meeting on the Desjardins hack, but says there are no magic fixes.
  • A former PQ health minister has officially announced his intention to run for the federal Liberals (and says he’s “turned the page” on sovereignty).
  • At the Calgary Stampede, Maxime Bernier was photographed with members of an alleged hate group, leading people to wonder if this is now a deliberate strategy.
  • Jean Chrétien was hospitalised in Hong Kong for kidney stones.
  • Quebec’s intervention at the Supreme Court in the carbon price case is to say that while they support carbon pricing, they think it’s exclusive provincial jurisdiction.
  • Lawyers in Quebec are now in court to argue that their “secularism” law be stayed because it causes irreparable harm.
  • The National Observergot information on the 227 clean energy projects that the Ford government cancelled when they killed cap-and-trade.
  • In Alberta, oil tanker rail cars are sitting idle because of production curtailments, while oil execs wonder if they can’t start lifting them to fill that capacity.
  • Kady O’Malley’s Process Nerd column looks at things that the government can and can’t do now that we’re in the pre-writ period.
  • Kevin Carmichael makes the case for Trudeau and his government to lobby to make Mark Carney the next head of the IMF.
  • My column looks at how this government, like the previous one, is corrupting the role of MPs by having them announce spending instead of ministers.

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