The NDP decided that the bilateral meeting between Justin Trudeau and Joe Biden was the perfect time to take to shitposting about it, in the form of a juvenile mock-up of the agenda items, and making their remarks on them. Because this is where we’re at in this country – our two main opposition parties have decided that the online tactics of shitposting are definitely the way to win the hearts and minds of Canadian voters.

Such a serious party. https://t.co/RqWZjRJMG4

— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) February 23, 2021

In the NDP’s case, this is not only about trolling Trudeau, but also Biden, because they have made a concerted effort to appeal to the Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez/Bernie Sanders fanbase – consistent with their lifting their policy ideas wholesale, no matter whether or not they have any relevance in the Canadian context. This tends to involve a certain amount of trying to “win the Internet,” whether it’s with Jagmeet Singh adopting TikTok memes, or the culmination of this attempt to co-opt American Democrat cred when Singh and Ocasio-Cortez played Among Us over Twitch as part of a fundraiser. As a more centrist, compromise candidate, Biden is seen as a betrayal of the progressive wing of the Democrats, and you can bet that the Canadian New Democrats trying to appeal to them is going to cash in on that as much as possible.

None of this should be too surprising, however – the NDP have long-since abandoned any real sense of ideology for the sake of being left-flavoured populists, running after flavours of the week and pursuing policies that don’t actually make sense for their own purported principles (like their demand to cut the HST off of home heating, which would only disproportionately reward the wealthy). In this way, they have been more like the Conservatives than unalike for a while now, but with this full-on embrace of shitposting (as opposed to simply the mendacious omission of jurisdictional boundaries in their demands) just drives that point home.

The Conservatives are right-flavoured populists, and the NDP have become left-flavoured populists. https://t.co/oAzu2oSRSE

— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) February 23, 2021

Good reads:

• Justin Trudeau had his meeting with Joe Biden, and Biden talked about the Two Michaels in his remarks, but Buy American was not addressed in the readout.
• Trudeau also had a call with Australian PM Scott Morrison, and one of the things they talked about was working together to regulate web giants like Facebook.
• Anita Anand says that Johnson & Johnson is wary about giving any timelines for when it might deliver doses, should they get Health Canada approval.
• Treasury Board President Jean-Yves Duclos is taking time off to recover from a pulmonary embolism.
• The government has agreed to support one of the Senate amendments on the assisted dying bill, and to modify a second one.
• The PBO estimates that it could cost $15 billion to compensate First Nations children and families affected by the child welfare system and Jordan’s Principle.
• The Correctional Investigator says that the second wave hit federal prisons twice as hard in the second wave than the first, and vaccinations are needed.
• Lawyers and other advocates say that the criminal justice reform bill doesn’t go far enough in tackling systemic racism.
• The sentencing hearing for the man who invaded Rideau Hall grounds took place, and the Crown was asking for six years in jail to send a message.
• The National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians is undertaking a review of the RCMP’s operations.
• Kady O’Malley’s Process Nerd column looks at the ground being laid for a contempt of Parliament charge if the vaccine contracts are not released to committee.
• Kevin Carmichael parses Tiff Maklem’s statement that he might let the economy run hotter than usual to get more women and minorities into the workforce.
• Heather Scoffield has hopes that the planned $100 billion in post-pandemic stimulus will be able to do something about narrowing income inequality.
• Susan Delacourt gives her impressions of what we saw of yesterday’s Trudeau-Biden bilateral meeting.
• Rupa Subramanya calls out the performative genocide vote, and why it’s just about symbolic politics while meaningful action remains on the table.
• My column looks at the polls, stories and bills that have been tabled in the weeks since Payette’s resignation, wondering if we can have an adult conversation about it.

Odds and ends:

The Line gives a good recounting of just why mainstream media is dying, and it’s not for the reasons people like to give.

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