Roundup: Mourning a fallen helicopter crew

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In light of the news of the downed military helicopter, prime minister Justin Trudeau’s daily presser took on a different format – he was in the West Block today instead of outside of Rideau Cottage, and this time flanked by the minister of national defence, Harjit Sajjan, as well as Chief of Defence Staff, General Jonathan Vance, and the deputy minister of national defence, Jody Thomas. They largely laid out what information they had and their condolences for the families and colleagues of those dead and missing. During the Q&A, non-crash questions largely revolved around the Parliamentary Budget Officer’s report earlier that morning on the projected size of the deficit given the various emergency measures, and given that so many of my media colleagues only have a certain number of pre-set narratives when it comes to the deficit, it went about as well as could be expected when Trudeau refused to bite.

On the subject of the deficit, here is a good thread from economist Trevor Tombe, as well as some additional thoughts from Kevin Milligan.

https://twitter.com/kevinmilligan/status/1255882692610027520

https://twitter.com/kevinmilligan/status/1255884110368669696

https://twitter.com/kevinmilligan/status/1255885291182669829

Good reads:

  • Here is what is believed to be the list of weapons the government plans to ban.
  • Caveats in the commercial rent assistance program that the provinces insisted on could mean that its take-up and effect will be far smaller than expected.
  • Surprising no one who has paid attention, public health data shows that most of the travel-related COVID-19 cases in Canada came from the US and Europe, not China.
  • Here’s a look at what the Procedure and House Affairs committee has been hearing from other parliaments about how they are meeting virtually.
  • New Elections Canada filings show that Peter MacKay has collected the most money in the leadership, but that Erin O’Toole has more donors.
  • Conservative MP Scott Reid is calling shenanigans on the leaks about the move in Ontario caucus to censure Derek Sloan, worrying about which candidate benefits.
  • Jason Kenney announced Alberta’s re-opening plan, and golf courses are among the first things to be opened, because of course they are.
  • Nunavut has its first case of COVID-19, which was probably inevitable.
  • Heather Scoffield tries to gauge the public mood between the Canadian Chamber of Commerce/StatsCan survey of business, and polls about post-opening plans.
  • Susan Delacourt plugs the idea that governments could forgive the student debts of front-line health workers as gratitude for their service in the pandemic.
  • Colby Cosh offers a rebuke at how bad our provinces are at gathering and publishing vital statistics – in this case around deaths – in a timely and comparable manner.

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One thought on “Roundup: Mourning a fallen helicopter crew”

  1. “given that so many of my media colleagues only have a certain number of pre-set narratives when it comes to the deficit, it went about as well as could be expected when Trudeau refused to bite.”

    Could be said about pretty much any other narrative cooked up in the media backrooms and in the swirling imaginations of the stale pale male punditry. I guess they’ll just have to go back to wasting pixels on angry op-eds about doughnuts, hairdos, panda bears, elbow bumps, and of course, socks.

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