Roundup: The big endorsement

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All three leaders were in Quebec yesterday, being one of the most important battleground provinces when it comes to getting out the vote. Justin Trudeau started off his day in Montreal to again make the pitch that voters need a progressive government and not a progressive opposition, and saying that this was the “dirtiest” campaign ever because of things like disinformation. From there, he made several stops on the way to Sherbrooke. The big news in the afternoon, however, was a tweet from Barack Obama, giving an endorsement for Trudeau’s re-election, citing the need for a progressive voice on the world stage (and taking some of the wind out of the sails of the Conservative claim that Trudeau has been some kind of “embarrassment” on the world stage).

https://twitter.com/b_momani/status/1184550642225991685

Andrew Scheer started his day in Saint-Jérôme, Quebec, then headed to Essex, where he promised higher penalties for ethics violations (possibly flirting with constitutional challenges of what constitutes an administrative monetary penalty versus a criminal sanction), and headed into Ontario, eventually making it to Hamilton, where he was in the riding of the Liberal incumbent who was at her mother’s funeral that day – to which Scheer insisted it was okay because he made a charitable donation. (We also found out that he switched the location he planned to make the stop, and the pub owner of the first location was brassed off because he spent $700 preparing food for the stop and putting more workers on staff).

As part of his Quebec tour, Jagmeet Singh was in Hudson, Quebec, the birthplace of Jack Layton, to make his pitch of trying to claim Layton’s legacy. Throughout the day, he started making more untenable promises, like reopening an emergency room in Winnipeg – something that is explicitly provincial jurisdiction, while hand-waving about “levers” he can use, which he actually has none – particularly not in the Canada Health Act. But hey, he wants people to “dream big,” and never mind the Constitution or the clear division of powers therein.

Other election stories:

  • Scheer refuses to say how he travelled to the US if he hasn’t renewed his American passport, as it would be illegal for him as a dual citizen to do so.
  • CBC’s fact-checkers evaluate Scheer’s promise around interprovincial free trade (and lo, it’s doomed to fail).
  • The Star makes some wild speculation about which Conservatives could populate a hypothetical Conservative Cabinet.
  • The Green Party candidate in Edmonton Strathcona decided to cease campaigning and endorse the NDP cadidate, and was subsequently booted from the party.

Good reads:

  • Canadian diplomats are trying to explain this election, which has seen the government’s fortunes decline despite good economic outcomes.
  • Here’s a profile of the alleged RCMP spy and his career trajectory.
  • Here’s a deeper dive into Alberta’s oilsands emissions, and some of the inconvenient truths behind the stories that companies are telling about their operations.
  • Kevin Carmichael parses yesterday’s inflation data and how Canada is bucking the international trends.
  • Colby Cosh suggests that perhaps it’s a sign of our success as a country that we haven’t made foreign policy an election issue, and it’s a compelling argument.
  • James Bowden looks at the use of Governor General Special Warrants, and how they create a limit for how long the PM can go without recalling Parliament.
  • Susan Delacourt warns of what may come if leaders start agitating to open the Constitution after the election.

Odds and ends:

I was on CPAC’s Have Your Say yesterday, for the first hour.

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One thought on “Roundup: The big endorsement”

  1. The govt’s fortunes have declined because of a relentless smear campaign against the incumbent — which includes backstabbing from two rogue narcissists within his own party. Fake scandals and dirty tricks all around. Lies on all sides, and that includes the petty, jealous Dippers. Just look at Jughead whining that Obama didn’t endorse the “real” progressive leader. He’s become as much of an insufferable a*hole as Scheer. He’s the Bernie Sanders of this campaign, offering pie-in-the-sky BS and undermining Hillary at every turn for not being “good enough.” Setting up the long game to be the only “progressive” alternative, thereby getting rid of the competition. Then you have the media putting their thumb on the scales overemphasizing “flaws” rather than emphasizing achievements.

    Trudeau is so correct that the Cons and their enablers — including the NDP, in a twisted enemy-of-my-enemy horseshoe dynamic — have run a dirty campaign and Obama knows it. They’ve been nothing but dirty for the past 4 years. It’s disgusting, really. So much for may the best candidate win — it’s more like “who’s the unfairest of them all.”

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