Jason Kenney is in town on his shock-and-awe tour, with eight ministers and countless staff in tow, intent on making the province’s “Fair Deal” case to their federal counterparts – while those federal ministers smile and nod and say “yes, dear.” Meanwhile, certain credulous journalists and columnists are swallowing Kenney’s presentation whole, as he brings charts and graphs and rattles off figures that they don’t bother to question, never mind that he has a well-known and well documented propensity for lying with these very same facts and figures – and then gets terribly indignant if you call him on it, and will keep reiterating them, bulldozing over his doubters. And we’re going to get even more of that during the media rounds later today – mark my words.

To that end, Kenney’s ever-evolving list of demands continue to be largely unreasonable (as said credulous journalists and pundits nod and say “They’re perfectly reasonable” when they’re not) – things like demanding a solid timeline for the completion of the Trans Mountain pipeline (impossible if there are further court challenges, and Kenney is lying when he says there are mechanisms), along with bringing in First Nations as equity partners (there is little point until the project is completed, which was the whole point of buying the pipeline in the first place – to adequately de-risk it); his $2.4 billion demand for “fiscal stabilization,” some of which he plans to put into remediating orphan wells (never mind the Supreme Court has ruled that these are the responsibility of the companies who owned them); substantial repeals of environmental legislation (because the failed system under Harper that only resulted in litigation worked so well); changing rules so that oil and gas companies can raise revenues (reminder: flow-through shares are de facto federal subsidies); and recognising Alberta’s efforts at methane reduction (I’m going with “trust, but verify” on this one, because Kenney likes to lie about the province’s other carbon reduction efforts). So yeah – “perfectly reasonable.” Sure, Jan.

Bill Morneau, for his part, says he’s willing to talk to his provincial counterparts at their upcoming meeting about fiscal stabilization, but isn’t making promises. While the premiers all signed onto this notion at the Council of the Federation meeting last week, it was because it’s federal dollars and not dealing with equalization which could affect their bottom lines – and Kenney’s supposedly “conciliatory” tone in which he says he’s willing to accept fiscal stabilization changes over equalization is likely a combination of the realization that he’s getting to traction from the other premiers, whose support he would need to make any changes, and the fact that Trudeau publicly called Scott Moe’s bluff on equalization reform when he said that if Moe can bring a proposal forward signed off on by all of the premiers then they would discuss it – something that isn’t going to happen. This all having been said, it also sounds a lot like Kenney wants the rest of Canada to bankroll the province for their decision not to implement a modest sales tax which would not only have solved their deficit but would have provided them with the fiscal stability to help weather the current economic hard times – but that’s an inconvenient narrative. Better to drum up a fake separatist threat and try to play the hero instead.

Good reads:

• Justin Trudeaus said that UN vote he’s being criticized over was not anti-Israel, but merely restated Canada’s traditional position of pushing for a two-state solution.
• Trudeau also had a call with New Brunswick premier Blaine Higgs, during with the closure of the Fredericton abortion clinic was discussed.
• Chrystia Freeland has been dispatched to Mexico City amidst rumours that the US and Mexico have come to an agreement on finalising the New NAFTA.
• Bill Morneau has moved the Ways and Means motion on their planned increase of the basic personal income exemption – their latest Middle Class™ tax cut.
• There are concerns that the low profile of Canada’s feminist foreign aid policy leaves it vulnerable to future cuts, especially as Conservatives campaigned on it.
• The CRTC is calling on telecom companies to do more to combat spoofed calls from scammers.
• Former Conservative senator Hugh Segal questions Andrew Scheer’s competence as a leader, but also confirms they’re no Red Tory organizing in the works (currently).
• In an attempt to quell “bozo eruptions” from riding association board members, the Ontario PCs have proposed fairly draconian measures to assert control.
• WestJet’s CEO won’t countenance any separatism talk or self-pitying from Alberta, as he makes the case for why the company remains headquartered in Calgary.
• Kady O’Malley’s Process Nerd column looks into the parliamentary hows and whys of today’s Supply Day motion and eventual vote.
• Paul Wells considers the state of federal-provincial relations, and why they’ve changed over recent decades.
• Colby Cosh disassembles the recent round of “retirement” rumours about the Queen, and the problems with talk of regency.

Odds and ends:

In the National Post, I write about the appointment of a new Canadian Secretary to the Queen, and what signals it may be sending.

Need a copy of my book #UnbrokenMachine, or want to give it to someone as a gift? Get it 30% off until December 15 when you order directly from the publisher. https://t.co/AjSQtq0hwz

— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) December 3, 2019

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