Roundup: A carbon reality check

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A couple of weeks ago, Paul Wells did one of his CPAC interviews with Elizabeth May, the transcript of which is now available, and she talked a lot about how she thinks Canada can transition to a cleaner economy, and said a bunch of things about the oil and gas industry as part of that. The problem, of course, was that she was wrong about pretty much all of it, as energy economist Andrew Leach demonstrates.

Leach, meanwhile, also takes Jason Kenney’s rhetoric about carbon pricing to task in this Policy Options piece, and lays out the danger of that rhetoric, which has a high probability of blowing up in Kenney’s face. And as a bonus, he proposed a tool for conservatives to check their policy instincts against.

Good reads:

  • With Trump increasing Buy America restrictions, here’s how it could affect Canadian industry, particularly steel.
  • The government awarded $1 billion in ship maintenance contracts to Davie Shipyard and Seaspan, with another contract on the way for Irving.
  • Marie-Claude Bibeau says that compensation for dairy farmers will be outlined before the writs are drawn up.
  • Canada has serious concerns about NATO ally Turkey buying weapons systems from the Russians.
  • CSE and CSIS are concerned about foreign agents embedding themselves in Canadian companies, given that economic espionage is a huge threat to Canada.
  • Ontario’s cuts to legal aid are going to cause more delays with the Immigration and Refugee Board, as they try to pressure the federal government to cover those costs.
  • Hasan Diab wants the government to publicly release the report they commissioned on his extradition. (Lametti’s office says it’s in translation and will be released soon).
  • Members of the Attawapiskat First Nation want the Canadian Forces’ DART to come in with their clean water technology as they declare a state of emergency.
  • Jagmeet Singh is spending the week touring Quebec, hoping to shore up support in an attempt to stave off an electoral wipeout in the province.
  • Shannon Proudfoot has an interesting exploration of class and the denial thereof in Canada (as political parties all vie for the mythical Middle Class™ votes).
  • James Bowden explains why the prime minister needs to appoint a new lieutenant governor for Saskatchewan post-haste.
  • Heather Scoffield parses the latest StatsCan data on economic mobility.
  • Kevin Carmichael explains the significance of the Bank of Canada moving to take over overnight lending in this country.
  • Chris Selley makes the case that it’s finally time for governments to stop subsidizing Bombardier.
  • My column gives some thought as to what would have to give if MPs ended up cancelling Friday sittings and not redistributing the hours.

Odds and ends:

Programming note: I’m going to be away for the next week, so blogging will be pretty much non-existent for the duration. Most of my other releases – columns, and content for Patreon subscribers – should be largely unaffected. See you upon my return!

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