Roundup: Militarizing borders and needling protectionism

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I’m not sure that anyone knew what today’s outburst of insanity was going to be when Justin Trudeau held his daily presser, wherein he reiterated the approval of the new emergency response benefit, spoke about the G20 conference call earlier that morning, the formal appointment of Kirsten Hillman as Canadian ambassador to the US, warning of a text message scam posing as the government offering benefits, and the invocation of the Quarantine Act. It wasn’t until the questions that the day’s obsessions came to the fore. One of them – what the government could do about credit card interest rates during this crisis – was fairly tame (for which Trudeau stated they were talking to the banks), but two other stories in dominated. The first was news that the Americans wanted to deploy some 1500 troops near the Canada-US border, to which Trudeau said that they were aware of the discussion, but he had vigorously opposed any such move to militarize our border – something which would make no sense to do. (The Americans later dropped the idea).

The other story that carried through the day was one (which I shall not link to because of the underlying Sinophobia) about Canada’s decision to send medical equipment to China back in February, when they were trying to contain the spread of the outbreak there. It was the perfectly sensible thing to do, we lived up to our global obligations, and the focus at the time was very much trying to contain the spread, while we maintained proper stockpiles within Canada at a time when the risk of transmission was low. Add to that, China has since sent more supplies to Canada than we sent to them. But that didn’t stop hay from being made by Conservatives, both from Andrew Scheer himself, as well as the guy running Erin O’Toole’s campaign, and it’s troubling how these kinds of narratives can turn toxic. “Canada First” is the kind of thing that becomes dark really quickly, and we should try to discourage this kind of thing before it goes septic.

Chris Selley, meanwhile, asks some salient questions about the underlying equipment supply problems in Ontario after it congratulated itself on being so prepared, and why there seems to be such a reluctance on the parts of governments (not just Canadian ones) to at least look like they’re angst-ridden about the overreaches they’re asking for.

Good reads:

  • The emergency legislation passed on Wednesday contains provisions that allow some pharmaceutical and medical device patents to essentially be suspended.
  • CRA is already facing capacity issues in advance of the expected surge once the new benefits portal goes online.
  • With our borders now closed to asylum seekers, the US says they plan to deport any to their countries of origin if caught (which will absolutely result in deaths).
  • Unsurprisingly, Service Canada is closing their in-person service delivery because of the pandemic. This will simply drive more people to their MPs’ offices.
  • Here’s a look at the challenges facing thousands of Canadians trying to get home from abroad as more countries close their borders and go into lockdown.
  • Canada will be withdrawing most of its training forces in Ukraine over pandemic concerns, leaving only a skeleton crew behind.
  • The Supreme Court of Canada has agreed to hear the challenge around premier Doug Ford’s decision to cut the size of Toronto City Council during its election.
  • The Conservative Party has (finally) suspended their leadership race, and will meet to reconsider timelines on May 1st – after three candidates didn’t make the deadline.
  • The price of a barrel of Western Canadian oil is now worth less than a Barrel of Monkeys toy, and they’re going to have to cut production again as storage runs out.
  • Matt Gurney wonders what the post-mortem of the pandemic will reveal when it comes to signs that we missed or ignored.
  • Dylan Robertson has a good thread about where this government is ballsing up its communications during this critical period, and why they need to brief journalists.

Odds and ends:

Harry and Meghan have decamped from Canada to set up house in LA on a permanent basis, and we all feel a little used by it.

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2 thoughts on “Roundup: Militarizing borders and needling protectionism”

  1. Your clarification of the exchange of supplies between Canada{when the virus first began} and China{after they had reduced the virus to low levels} was really great. I wish that mainstream media would highlight this for Canadians. This will never happen because media report the flash but rarely give insight, thus we have dictators and those who wish to join them to rely on the ignorance of the public. The conservatives ar masters of using flash to feed their base with half truths and ongoing urban myths. This is their power because they have little in the way of policies so they rely upon a shaded message to the people. Thank you!

  2. Re: Sinophobic narratives and the moral bankruptcy of the conservative press. This is why the Liberals shouldn’t have to be held “accountable” to these racist, irrational saboteurs, the CPC should be disbanded and not one dime should be given to the right-leaning rags in the bailout. Let them fail and learn to code. M$M in Canada is in total hock to this stochastic-terrorist GOP North hate group masquerading as a political party, and downplays or ignores the ugly underbelly that powers it, because their main concern is “fiscal discipline” at whatever cost. They legitimize them as credible “opposition” because their bank accounts depend on it. Shame on them all.

    That the paper that first spread this incendiary Yellow Menace nonsense is the same one that first reported the overblown nuclear hit job that was the Multi-Hyphenate Benghazi Affair, and their chief muckraker was recently seen retweeting trashy gossip rags that fed nasty conspiracy theories about the PM’s wife, is no accident either. As the Russians used to say, there is no truth in the news and no news in the truth. Maple Pravda is no different.

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