Erin O’Toole gave his keynote speech at the Conservative convention, and it was…serviceable. It was no rhetorical or oratory feat, but it wasn’t the stumbling, breathy mess that Andrew Scheer tended to deliver either, so there was that. But while he laid out his “five-point plan” for economic recovery, it was mostly hand-wavey and gave no real indication of just what exactly he planned to do, or how. Or, as one description put it, it was all tell and no show. But for as much as saying that the country has changed and the party needs to doesn’t really say how. Reaching out to private sector unions? Okay, sure, but just telling a bunch of blue-collar workers that you’re not “woke” isn’t going to cut it when you’re arguing against better wages and benefits. Trying to appeal to Quebec by out-Blocing the Bloc? I’m not seeing exactly what kind of broader, more inclusive party he’s trying to build other than his usual lip service about wanting more Canadians to see a Conservative when they look in the mirror.

https://twitter.com/robert_hiltz/status/1373031101963382790

While you can see my thread responding to his speech here, the party put out a backgrounder on their “Canada Recovery Plan” shortly after the speech, it’s still pretty hand-wavey. In short:

1. Jobs – What government doesn’t promise jobs? O’Toole promises to recover the million jobs lost by the pandemic, just as Trudeau has, and while O’Toole says that includes women and youth, he literally spent the rest of the speech deriding the Liberals’ inclusive growth plan as being “picking and choosing who gets ahead,” and a “re-imagining of the economy.” Pick a lane.
2. Accountability – Promises for new anti-corruption laws miss the point. Stephen Harper rode in on the white horse of accountability, and all it did was drive away talent from political staff jobs. Trudeau’s “ethics scandals” have largely been penny ante, and stem from a belief that so long as they mean well that the ends justify the means. Even more laws aren’t going to change that, and this is just populist noise, trying to rail against “elites.”
3. Mental Health – I will give O’Toole props for mentioning that this will require the cooperation of the provinces, but he’s also already promised increased health transfers with no strings attached. So, again, pick a gods damned lane. As for his “incentives for employers to provide mental health coverage,” we all know that means another tax credit. As for the national three-digit suicide prevention hotline, the Liberals already started this process, but it’s going to take up to two years to implement.
4. Secure the Country – Partner with pharmaceutical companies to increase capacity for medicines and vaccine production? Erm, what are you willing to capitulate to them? Blow up PMPRB? Give them longer timelines for intellectual property to keep out generics? These kinds of measures would increase drug prices, and would hugely impact provinces and health plans. More domestic production of PPE? You’re talking about subsidising industries to do that, which doesn’t sound very Conservative, and it sounds like picking winners and losers.
5. Economy – Winding down emergency supports and targeting stimulus are pretty much exactly what the Liberals are promising. There is no daylight here. As for promising to “grow the economy again” and claiming there was slow growth under the Liberals is 100 percent fiction – the Liberals needed to provide some kind of economic stimulus because Conservative austerity was dragging economic growth. This claim is complete bullshit.

Meanwhile, Paul Wells is heartened that O’Toole has woken up to the reality that his party can no longer continue being a cargo cult for Stephen Harper – but also notes that his plan is light on calories, for better or worse at this stage.

Good reads:

• Justin Trudeau says he is open to amending his (useless) gun control bill after complaints from École Polytechnique survivors and families.
• Trudeau also warned China that their continued detention of the two Michaels was not just an attack on Canada, but also on our western Allies.
• CRA auditors are going through the social media accounts of influencers to ensure that they are properly declaring their earnings from sponsorships.
• The Canada Infrastructure Bank is set to launch a $1 billion fund to spur investment in First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities.
• Here’s a look at how problematic Canada’s foreign aid spending tends to be (probably because we are deeply unserious about most foreign policy).
• Erin O’Toole is now borrowing NDP lines, saying that the Liberals helped well-connected insiders and that he wants to make the richest “pay their fair share.”
• At their convention, the Conservatives have voted to change their leadership contest rules, breaking the deal that Peter MacKay and Stephen Harper made in the merger.
• Among other resolutions debated, one was about a policy declaring that climate change is real; another was about avoiding a repeat of Andrew Scheer’s expenses.
• Ahead of their own policy convention, the NDP grassroots is getting embroiled in a conflict over how they want to define anti-Semitism.
• Heather Scoffield notes that the government’s rapid housing initiative has proven both successful and shows promise as a way to help the economic recovery.
• Kevin Carmichael reflects on our telecom oligopolies, what to do about them, and how Cogeco is trying to secure regulated access to incumbent networks.
• Jen Gerson does her level best to get to what it is that Jason Kenney lost his mind about over that Bigfoot Family animated film.
• My weekend column looks at how the Parliamentary Budget Officer is turning himself into a pundit, and why that’s a very bad thing for parliament.

Odds and ends:

As a founding member, Canada has supported the work of the United Nations for generations.

Current 🇨🇦 envoy @BobRae48 was immersed from an early age.

His father, Saul Rae, was Canada’s ambassador to the UN in New York (1972-76) and Geneva (1962-67)

See for yourself🎥 pic.twitter.com/OKbTDJWS93

— Canada Mission UN (@CanadaUN) March 19, 2021

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