Prime minister Justin Trudeau was back to his daily presser yesterday, at the slightly earlier time slot to accommodate the “virtual” committee meeting that would come an hour later, and he had an announcement – that they were finalizing agreements with the provinces for wage top-ups for essential workers, to the tune of some $4 billion in federal dollars. But this is money going to the provinces to administer as they see fit, and to define essential in their own ways, because federalism. During the Q&A, Trudeau also had to annunciate that no, he doesn’t think that oil is “dead,” and that the sector needs to be an essential part of the transformation to a green economy (while Jason Kenney was having a performative meltdown about what Elizabeth May and Yves-François Blanchet said a day earlier).

Throughout the rest of the day, both in the “virtual” committee and in the media rounds, the same thing kept being asked both with this wage top-up and the commercial rent assistance programme – why isn’t the federal government doing more? Or, why did they choose the restrictions they did (and a number of scurrilous allegations were lobbed along with that). The reality of the situation is that these are areas of provincial jurisdiction, and the federal government has few levers to offer. Trying to attach strings to federal dollars going to provinces is difficult at the best of times, and in a time of a global pandemic where everyone is making an effort to play nice, and where the government’s motto appears to be “we don’t want to fight over jurisdiction,” getting into a drag-out fight over tying strings to funds. And when it comes to the commercial rent subsidy, the ministers said on day one that the restrictions were because that was what the provinces would agree to – because it’s their jurisdiction. My frustration, however, is that the ministers won’t repeat that when they get asked for the eleventieth time. Rather, they stick to talking points about how concerned they are, and how they hope that landlords will take up the programme, and so on. Because even in a global pandemic, this government’s ability to be frank and forthright is nearly always subsumed by their inability to communicate their way out a wet paper bag, mouthing pabulum designed to sound soothing and happy. They’re making it worse for themselves, and they just can’t help it.

Good reads:

• The Canadian Forces have deployed nearly all of their finite medical personnel to deal with the COVID-19 outbreaks in long-term care facilities in Quebec and Ontario.
• Harjit Sajjan says it could take over a year to investigate the cause of the Canadian Forces Cyclone helicopter crash, as the wreckage is 3000 meters below the surface.
• Apparently there is a form on Service Canada sites that can be a bit of a bypass from the overloaded call centres.
• Firearms groups are launching a Charter challenge against the assault gun ban, and good luck with that because the Supreme Court says there’s no right to bear arms.
• Greyhound is suspending all of their operations because of low ridership in the pandemic, calling on more federal and provincial support.
• Heather Scoffield notes that confidence is the most important thing that people will need to have if we are to re-open the economy, and we’re not there yet.
• Susan Delacourt dismisses the idle talk that the government might try to capitalize on their sudden good poll numbers with a fall election (as she should).

Odds and ends:

It’s the 75^th anniversary of VE Day, celebrating the end of the Second World War. Expect a televised address by the Queen this afternoon to mark the occasion.

Hey tweeps! Want to read #UnbrokenMachine while you’re social distancing? Here’s your chance to get it at 25% off. https://t.co/PpC4ovVe7S

— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) March 23, 2020

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