While there was suspicion that the announcement was timed as a pivot from the past two days of bad press – Liberals insisting that his has been planned for days – Justin Trudeau was in Toronto yesterday for a morning of meeting people on the streets before he announced his long-awaited additional gun control measures which are guaranteed to please nobody – a total ban on semi-automatic assault rifles (never mind that there’s no actual definition of an “assault rifle”) with a buy-back programme, and the ability for cities to make additional regulations around handguns (as in, allowing them to attempt to ban them), plus some additional offers around licensing and the ability to forbid the purchase of new weapons after certain red-flags. The measures are not enough for those who want a national handgun ban, too far for certain gun enthusiasts, and almost certainly going to be useless because the problem of illegal guns is that the vast majority of them are smuggled from the US, which these measures largely won’t address (I didn’t see any promise for more resources for CBSA in the backgrounder). In other words, it’s a political play, trying to balance the need to be seen to be doing more about gun control for big cities where it’s a problem, while not alienating their rural voters (again), while also being hemmed in by jurisdictional considerations (Doug Ford, for example, has said he won’t go along with any kind of handgun ban that would fall under provincial jurisdiction). Nevertheless, the symbolism of banning AR-15s is something they hope to capitalise on, while they castigate Andrew Scheer for his promise to relax some gun control regulations, so that may be enough for them in the election in any case.

https://twitter.com/CochraneCBC/status/1175047467265642497

Speaking of, Andrew Scheer was in Saint John, New Brunswick, to promise that a Conservative government would spend $1.5 billion to get provinces new MRI and CT machines in an effort to reduce wait times (structural issues? What structural issues?) – never mind again that it’s provincial jurisdiction and he may have a hard time getting them to actually spend dollars that he’s earmarked for said purchases. Scheer also clarified that oil and gas subsidies would not be part of those he plans to eliminate – try to look surprised, everyone!

Jagmeet Singh was in Windsor to talk up the party’s pharmacare plan, and answer yet more questions on the Blackface issue, citing that he didn’t want to be complicit in Trudeau’s public exoneration. (And yet, the media is demanding this kabuki theatre to play out).

Other election stories:

• In more fallout from the Blackface issue, Trudeau has asked to meet with Jagmeet Singh, but Singh says he would only accept if it’s a private meeting.
• Meanwhile, one of the Sikh men he posed with didn’t consider it racist.
• Here’s a running list of election promises to date.
• Here is an enumeration of things the Liberals have done with regards to racism in the country.
• Here’s a fact-check on the ability of a government to “fast track” pipeline issues to the Supreme Court of Canada.
• Brampton is going to be a battleground in the GTA, and may yet be affected by this week’s events.
• There is a surprising Brad Trost connection to how the debate commission arrived at their decision to give Maxime Bernier a spot.
• There is more back-and-forth as to whether Justin Trudeau had drinks with Faith Goldy – in 2012.
• The Liberals are outspending the Conservatives three-to-one on social media ads.
• Trying to crunch the numbers on the Conservatives’ spending plans to date finds no obvious path to a balanced budget within five years (unless there are drastic cuts).

Good reads:

• Elections Canada says they’re trying to rectify the mistakes they made in 2015 with voting in remote First Nations communities, some of whom ran out of ballots.
• BC has yet to sign onto a $900 million compensation package for victims of sexual misconduct in the military, as the federal government wants a waiver on healthcare.
• Economist Kevin Milligan offers (yet another) reminder about the state of the deficit, and why the apocalyptic language around it in an election is wrong.
• Sarmishta Subramanian offers the best piece on this week’s events around racism and the conversations we won’t have in favour of ritual self-flagellation.
• Chris Selley suggests that Jagmeet Singh’s response to the Blackface controversy has been spot on.
• Kevin Carmichael worries about the politicization of central bank governors, and if there isn’t a way to insulate the Bank of Canada governor through Parliament.
• Colby Cosh reads through the Ontario Court of Appeal’s decision regarding Doug Ford halving the size of Toronto city council during its election.
• My weekend column wonders if doing the work of costing party promises isn’t hurting the PBO’s credibility in the long run.

Odds and ends:

Here’s my recap video for week two of the campaign.

Want more Routine Proceedings? Become a patron and get exclusive new content.