Roundup: Kenney would like his social licence

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Things are frantic on the energy file, as the Biden administration threatens to kill the Keystone XL pipeline project, and Jason Kenney is floundering. In one breath, he has been demanding that federal government do something – never mind that Justin Trudeau has been championing this project to his American contacts since he was first made Liberal leader, and brought it up on his first phone call with Biden after the election – and he’s insisting that this would damage Canada-US relations – as though it could be much worse than the last four years of inscrutable and random policy changes. But perhaps the most fitting of all is that everything that Kenney is now reaping what he has been sowing over the past number of years in terms of his insulting those close to Biden, and all of the environmental policies he has been denigrating and fighting in court are precisely the kinds of social licence that he needs to try and convince a Biden administration to keep the permit alive. Funny that.

Kenney has also threatened legal action if the permit is rescinded, but his chances of success on that venue look mighty slim.

The NDP and Greens, meanwhile, are cheering the planned cancellation, and insist that Canada should be focusing on creating green jobs instead – as though you can flip a switch and make it happen.

https://twitter.com/maxfawcett/status/1351354379853467649

Good reads:

  • This is your period reminder that most provinces are continuing to sit on rapid testing kits that the federal government procured for them.
  • There are questions as to just where the government’s promised Just Transition Act for oil and gas workers being put out of their jobs is.
  • Transport Canada has cleared the Boeing 737 Max for flight again, insisting they had a separate and rigorous process that includes ensuring pilots have needed training.
  • The federal privacy commissioner is “seized with the issue” of complaints against PornHub’s parent company.
  • Senator Peter Boehm recalls that at the G7 dinner when Canada hosted the summit in Charlevoix that Trump insisted that he was going to invite Putin when he hosted.
  • Navdeep Bains reflects on his time as industry minister, and the unfinished work of transforming the Canadian economy.
  • Erin O’Toole says he’s going to have Derek Sloan ousted from the party for accepting a donation from a white supremacist – but the party did the verifications.
  • Yves-François Blanchet’s penchant for blocking his critics on Twitter is raising the usual questions about freedom of expression.
  • Kevin Carmichael looks at the currency and inflation trends, and suspects that Canada may be one of the first out of the gates to start raising interest rates.
  • Heather Scoffield contrasts how the auto sector is pivoting to a greener future while the oil and gas sector is furiously trying to protect its dying scraps.
  • Paul Wells offers an assessment of Justin Trudeau as Maclean’s names him at the top of their “Power List.”
  • Colby Cosh wonders about the legality of Trump pardoning himself.

Odds and ends:

Maclean’s has released their 2021 “Power List,” and it has some interesting names on it, particularly in the political realm.

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One thought on “Roundup: Kenney would like his social licence”

  1. Enter Singh the spouter of the obvious, whose little party will never come to power with his mewling about Canada needing to create green jobs. All this in the middle of a world pandemic and in Canada where if it weren’t for Trudeau’s government we would be wallowing in the meanness of the CPC! What we need in Canada is a realization that when it comes right down to it Americans cannot be trusted except to do what is always in their best interests. This has always been the case. Take our resources at the cheapest price. Presidents have always talked out of both sides of their mouths. Governments here have lined up to hear honeyed words from every one of them then they went away feeling that smug emotion of having been honored while our national treasured are milked by the smiling Americans. Canada needs to wake up and decide if we want to be de facto Americans or do we at long last wish to chart our own course, Events of the past four years should have taught us something. In the next election I want to hear policies that protect our riches, a plan to end poverty, a plan to become self sufficient in as many ways as possible. I want the government to extract every dollar from every sector that the Americans need. This can be done under our so called “free” trade agreement. If you scoff, then understand that there is nothing the US wouldn’t do to us in their interest. Tariffs, Buy America, tax rules, new environmental requirements, just to name a few. It is time for Canadians to make our own way. It can be done it will require toughness and will.
    Ask yourself the question, if we fail to do so, what does the future look like. There is a burgeoning fascist groundswell brewing in the US fueled by the religious right, white uneducated, unsophisticated rabble making up nearly fifty percent of the voting public there.. One that doesn’t care a whit for Canada. On main media outlets these past two days there hasn’t been a whisper about Keystone. Most Americans wouldn’t know anything about it. Nor do they really care. Canada, wake up. There is a new reality upon us. Just today, in order to save face the Conservative leader is saying that he will remove MP Sloan, the very same who ran for the leadership of his party for taking support from a fascist. The same forces that at work in the US are well at work here.

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