Roundup: Possibly a criminal leak

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The day got off to a very brow-raising start when someone – meaning almost certainly a minister’s office – leaked StatsCan jobs data ahead of its official release to soften the narrative around it, given that the predicted number of job losses were twice as many as what wound up being reported. This is a big deal – it’s market-moving information that should have criminal consequences for leaking, and yet here we are. And what is particularly galling about this is that I have my suspicions about which minister’s office leaked the information, and it’s one that has been showing a particular pattern of impunity, which is a very bad sign for how this government works – and not to mention how it communicates. Because they can’t communicate their way out of a wet paper bag, someone took it upon themselves to leak sacrosanct data (which, it needs to be reiterated, should not and cannot happen in a gods damned G7 country) in order to spin the narrative. Heads should roll for this.

And then prime minister Justin Trudeau had his daily presser, acknowledging the jobs numbers before he announced that the government would be extending the wage subsidy beyond June in order to keep the (eventual) economic recovery strong, while also announcing that Navdeep Bains would be leading a new industry strategy council. During the Q&A, Trudeau also had to face questions about why nobody can say “Taiwan” when it comes to thanking them for donations of personal protective equipment, so Trudeau did just that, so I guess certain MPs will need to find something else to have a meltdown over next week.

And for the 75th anniversary of VE Day yesterday, the Queen made a televised address in the footsteps of her father.

Good reads:

  • The government has had to halt shipments of N95 masks coming from one Montreal distributor after millions of masks from China are deemed unsuitable.
  • The Star looks into some of the areas where this pandemic has exposed weaknesses in our systems, and what needs to be done to address them.
  • Maclean’s talks to a couple of the workers affected by the mass outbreak at the Cargill meat-packing plant in High River, Alberta.
  • The Commissioner of Canada Elections is investigating an anti-abortion group for the aid it provided to 50 candidates in the last election.
  • There are questions as to whether the troubled procurement history of the Cylcone helicopters contributed to last week’s fatal crash off the coast of Greece.
  • Senator Patricia Bovey defected from the ISG to the Progressive caucus (and my column earlier in the week has all the backstory).
  • Another attempt at booting Derek Sloan from the Conservative caucus was apparently made, but he worked the phones and got several MPs to back off.
  • There are concerns that François Legault is trying to pick fights with Ottawa as a way of deflecting from his province’s handling of the pandemic.
  • Kevin Carmichael offers a reminder of what government bailouts for the auto sector looked like in 2008-09, as the oil industry starts looking for them now.
  • Heather Scoffield digs through yesterday’s job numbers to find the narratives around women and the effect the pandemic has on them disproportionately.
  • Susan Delacourt charts the changing relationship between government and business leading up to the pandemic, and in the weeks that followed.
  • Paul Wells weaves together the issues with ATIPs, the leak of StatsCan data, and the Harrington Lake renovations to showcase Trudeau’s transparency problems.
  • My weekend column looks at why the “virtual” special committee is failing to live up to its promise, and why we’d be better off with the in-person sittings.

Odds and ends:

For the CBA’s National Magazine, I wrote about yesterday’s Supreme Court of Canada decision, and what it means for insolvency and litigation funding.

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One thought on “Roundup: Possibly a criminal leak”

  1. Harrington Lake shouldn’t be a kerfuffle. There are far more important things to write columns about, and yet the punditry is so small-minded and populist they apparently want the leader of a G7 country to live in a van down by the river. Or account for every nickel and dime that goes into the upkeep of official government residences and transportation, right down to the cup holders in the aircraft and the coasters on the household coffee tables. Gee, it’s not like he pilfered from the Liberal coffers to send his kids to Brebeuf.

    This is Trudeau derangement syndrome rearing its ugly head again, Obama’s “elitist Dijon hamburger” redux and the “Trudashian” narrative that’s been leveled at PMJT practically since he became an MP. It’s not entirely about “transparency” or “spending” either. There’s tabloid fodder about his personal life going around the conspiracy corners of social media that they’re really digging at. It’s the equivalent of royal-watching, and it’s awful. He wants to talk crisis aid, and jobs; they want to talk about his hair (again) and his (not even “his”) “lakeside mansion.” Trudeau Trump Tower. Absolutely pathetic that Canada’s “senior political analysts” have sunk to the level of TMZ. But then, wasn’t this same Ottawa bureau chief retweeting Murdoch tabloid rags to gin up vulgar “Margaret and the Rolling Stones” insinuations about Sophie when she was sick?

    I can only imagine the outrage if he had bought gourmet doughnuts for the construction crew without a “proper debate in Parliament.” I mean what do they expect, for him to show up to a conference in a Winnebago or a U-Haul wearing a barrel for a wardrobe? Then they’d bark at him to put on a shirt!

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