There are some pretty questionable narratives that circulate in Canadian media for a lot of very dubious reasons, and we had another winner yesterday, when Justin Trudeau was on Peter Mansbridge’s podcast. Bafflingly, he was asked if he needed to go through an election to get a “mandate” to implement his upcoming budget, and I cannot even.
I. Cannot. Even.
Trudeau – semi-correctly – noted that he does not because he already one.
This notion that we somehow have “mandates” in our system is completely divorced from reality. We don’t have mandates – governments operate on the basis of confidence. They are appointed by the Governor General based on their ability to maintain the confidence of the Chamber – they are not popularly elected. They do not need to solely operate on what was in the election, because a) events, dear boy, events, and b) they operate on the basis of confidence. If the legislature has a problem with the government’s agenda, they will let them know. It’s also incredibly difficult to claim a “mandate” in our electoral system given that we operate by plurality, and even more especially when we have a hung parliament. (More on this from Philippe Lagassé here).
https://twitter.com/LagassePhilippe/status/1374805012120014862
Even more to the point, why the gods damned CBC would write up 800 words on this interaction for a dynamic that does not exist in a Westminster parliamentary system like ours is boggling.
Good reads:
- During his interview with Peter Mansbridge, Justin Trudeau said that the pandemic plus a more aggressive China have contributed to the rise in anti-Asian racism.
- While the EU is preparing more vaccine export control legislation, Anita Anand assures us that Canada is not the target of these measures.
- Canada has imposed sanctions on nine high-ranking Russian officials over the poisoning of Alexy Navalny.
- Today is the day that the Supreme Court of Canada will rule on the constitutionality of the federal carbon price.
- RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki says it’s her goal to change the culture of the Force – but I doubt an “equity, diversity and inclusion strategy” will cut it.
- The Acting Chief of Defence Staff has ended Operation Honour, and says they will come up with a new plan to combat sexual misconduct.
- The Royal Canadian Navy closed an investigation into sexualized comments before they had even spoken to all of the people involved.
- The Commons unanimously supported a motion to have the federal government recognise Emancipation Day across Canada.
- Conservatives who attended last week’s virtual convention are being warned of a phishing scam being directed toward them.
- Jagmeet Singh says he “disagrees” with NDP MP Matthew Green’s post that Quebeckers are racist, but he won’t make him apologise for it.
- NDP MPs want the Procedure and House Affairs committee to look into the Ontario court ruling striking down the misinformation section of the Elections Act.
- Ontario released a mediocre budget that effectively cuts post-secondary education and does very little for childcare, which is necessary for the economic recovery.
- Alberta’s justice minister is threatening to disband the Lethbridge police unless they outline reforms after they were caught spying on a Cabinet minister.
- Susan Delacourt recaps Justin Trudeau’s interview with Peter Mansbridge, and his waiting to get his vaccine for when it can be symbolically most effective.
Odds and ends:
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I listened to the interview, and was saddened by when he said that Margaret was experiencing heightened health struggles, not only the mental health issues she’s been very up front about but some unspecified physical issues too.
Today, Skippy is going to demand more “scrutiny” for his pet circlejerk conspiracy theory, that had him and Charlie all but framing her as an attention-seeking crook who rode the coattails of her husband and son’s name.
Persecuting a sick old lady is SOP for the Cons. So much for O’Toole’s “moderate” schtick. Not as long as sadist Skippy is really the pipsqueak in charge. But the NDP really needs to drop the BS act that they’re the “conscience of parliament” and Trudeau is the one who doesn’t care about the well-being of Canadians. They’ve spent a whole year now lying about one man who they’ve failed to defeat twice with these same Republican style tactics, and attacking an elderly mental health advocate.
Not to mention their shameful and offensive hyperbole that he’s Hitler with nice hair, as they lied to some desperate disabled people while seeking to deny freedom of choice to others. On the same kind of paternalistic grounds of dubious “morality” as the most rabidly religious extremist Cons. Now as one Dipper blurted out on your Twitter feed, he’s no better than Thatcher or a Dixieland Confederate either, because he’s not going to singlehandedly overhaul the constitution to eliminate capitalism or whatever. That person can’t be alone in their thinking.
This is the new “Hitlery Rotten Clinton” meme for the NDP. Their Very Online cult is OK attacking Margaret and in fact actively encourages it, because their myopic Bernie Bro “class consciousness” gives them a free pass to do so on account of “she’s rich”. So if you’re anything but destitute, you don’t have human feelings anymore? “Let the hate flow through you” — Palpatine populism sure is a helluva drug.
I’m disgusted by the opposition. This is a new low even for them. They’re obviously not going to get some worthwhile policies, obviously, but they really do need to get a life.
I think Canadian media would LOVE an election – they’re getting bored with the endless pandemic stuff and the dull “governing” stuff, and they can’t gin up any scandals to talk about, and its spring, and what-the-hell.