Roundup: A lack of precognition

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We’re now on day one-hundred-and-seven of Russia’s invasion of Ukriane, and I couldn’t find any stories to link to on Canadian sites, as everything was about the January 6th committee in the US, because priorities. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s agriculture minister told the Canadian House of Commons agriculture committee that Russia has been raiding Ukraine’s grain stores, and then selling it on the world market using falsified documentation. As well, the RCMP say that they have cracked down on $400 million in Russian assets and transactions from sanctioned individuals.

https://twitter.com/Ukraine/status/1534832733637287936

https://twitter.com/EuromaidanPR/status/1534808012962947072

Closer to home, the Bank of Canada released their Financial Systems Review yesterday, and made remarks about some of the vulnerabilities in the economy, such as high consumer debt levels and variable rate mortgages rising precipitously in the next few months as interest rates continue to rise in order to get inflation under control. They are confident the economy and households can handle the higher rates because the economy needs them.

This being said, I have to take some exception to the commentary happening on Power & Politics last night, and from the host in particular, who was expounding upon how central bankers got it “wrong” about inflation. Apparently they are supposed to have the power of precognitition and could accurately predict the fact that global supply chains would take longer to untangle than previously thought because China went into some serious lockdowns under a COVID-zero policy, that fuel shortages would drive up world oil prices before the Russia invaded Ukraine, and they were supposed to have properly foreseen said invasion and could adjust their inflation expectations accordingly. There have been an increasing number of unlikely scenarios that all pretty much happened across the world over the past two or three years, and you’re ragging on central bankers for not having properly tried to head it off? You can argue that they were too late to ease off on stimulative measures, even though their actions were largely in line with the advice and the data they had at the time, but going after them because they didn’t accurately predict a pandemic and a war? Sit down.

Good reads:

  • At the Summit of the Americas, Justin Trudeau announced a new partnership with California around GHG reductions.
  • The budget implementation bill for the December fiscal update finally got royal assent yesterday, meaning the tax credits for teachers and farmers can go ahead.
  • Mélanie Joly announced an expert advisory committee to help the government build its new Indo-Pacific strategy.
  • Marco Mendicino says the government is on “high alert” for Russian cyberattacks, and that they may make it mandatory for companies to report cyberattacks.
  • CBC obtained documents about serious misconduct by CBSA officials, and no, the agency still does not have any independent oversight.
  • Here’s a look at the difficulties LGBTQ+ Afghans face in trying to flee to Canada.
  • A senior military member had to apologise for a childish campaign of trying to defend RMC over social media in the wake of the Arbour Report.
  • The Star has been collecting data on police abuses of Charter rights in Canada, and the fact that they don’t stop when the courts call them out on it.
  • After six years in the works, the case against the civil servant who allegedly leaked shipbuilding documents was dropped on day three of the trial.
  • The Ottawa City Manager told MPs about some of the complications around transferring Wellington Street on Parliament Hill to federal control.
  • Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith is considering a run for the provincial Ontario Liberal leadership (which would be a tremendous loss to Parliament).
  • Former Liberal MP Raj Grewal is on trial for breach of trust charges, and the court heard about his “agitation” over blackjack losses at the casino in Gatineau.
  • Patrick Brown says he’s unlikely to run for a federal seat if Poilievre wins the Conservative leadership over him.
  • The Star has a somewhat flattering look into Doug Ford’s election back room and how they won the provincial election.
  • Heather Scoffield ponders how inflation can become a self-fulfilling prophecy, as fiscal policy-makers try to tame expectations in the hopes of avoiding that outcome.

Odds and ends:

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