Roundup: Three Amigos without much outward progress

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Well, that was the Three Amigos summit, and it doesn’t sound like there was any outward progress on Canada’s biggest request, which is getting rid of that electric vehicle tax credit that would essentially crater Canada’s auto sector (and the nascent electric vehicle industry) in spite of decades of cross-border integration of our supply chains. But that progress may yet happen because the Canadian delegation was not solely focusing on the White House – where Biden was non-committal – but also engaging congressional leaders who have the real power in this situation, so there remains time to see if that credit will survive the tortuous and nonsensical budget bill process in their system.

Meanwhile, the Conservatives have declared that Trudeau’s approach to relations with the American administration “isn’t working,” and I’m not quite sure what they’re really on about, because there is a massive power imbalance here, and we can’t forget that we are largely an afterthought to the Americans, who are far more concerned about their southern border than the northern one. Softwood lumber has been an irritant for decades, and I distinctly recall the sector was unhappy with the agreement that the Harper government signed (which has since expired). Buy American? Again, this happens under every administration, and is not unique to the current government. Measures targeting agricultural exports? Erm, some of us recall the problems with country-of-origin-labelling that the Conservatives couldn’t make any progress on. Action against pipelines? Seems to me that Harper didn’t have any luck there either, even after plastering Washington DC with billboards and posters declaring that Keystone XL was a “no brainer.” Yeah, that didn’t work.

So what exactly does Chong propose? Performative temper tantrums for the benefit of the media? That seems to be the Conservative demand for most files, but there were two former diplomats on Power & Politics last night who basically said that if you want progress with the American government, you need to do it behind closed doors and not be seen to be pinning someone down, because they don’t respond to that well at all. But we also need to remember that the Conservatives also seem to think that diplomacy is the cookie you get for good behaviour rather than how you deal with problems, so it’s not unsurprising that this demand for performance is how they think this needs to be dealt with.

Good reads:

  • The government is set to announce approval of Pfizer doses for children aged five to eleven, as well as easing some border testing restrictions.
  • The government is promising a “tougher” conversion therapy bill, which means it won’t get swift passage and will see tougher Conservative resistance.
  • Statistics Canada says that they had a national response rate of 98 percent to the census, and that 84 percent of Canadians completed it online.
  • HMCS Fredericton suffered an engine fire of the coast of Norway, but it was put out with no casualties.
  • There is some confusion around Senator Denise Batters’ status, as she allegedly remains part of the Conservative senate caucus, but nobody will explain how.
  • Erin O’Toole continues to play coy with how many of his MPs are unvaccinated.
  • Carissima Mathen points out the danger of the Toronto School Board undermining the role of defence lawyers in our system, as they rejected Marie Henein’s book.
  • Jason Markusoff previews what can be expected at the UCP annual convention this weekend, and those who hope that Kenney can turn around a miracle.
  • Matt Gurney makes the salient point that our military is being increasingly asked to do more domestic work with not enough resources or personnel, and it’ll cost us.
  • Robert Hiltz notes the underlying cultural schism in the Conservative ranks as Erin O’Toole fights for his leadership.

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One thought on “Roundup: Three Amigos without much outward progress”

  1. The cons wanted Trudeau to roll over and play dead with Trump. Now they’re mad he won’t get tough on Biden? Pick a lane already. Oh wait, they already have: inconsistency, cognitive dissonance and hypocrisy are virtues if it means riling up hate against Trudeau.

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