While at a feel-good announcement yesterday about the enhanced GST rebates going out to Canadians, Justin Trudeau told reporters that he was weighing “all options” on what to do about Doug Ford’s pre-emptive use of the Notwithstanding Clause, though federal options are extremely limited because it is a legitimate constitutional power under certain circumstances, and doing anything about that would require a constitutional amendment, which if Quebec or Ontario are not on board with, would be dead in the water. And disallowance is likely a Pandora’s box of federal-provincial warfare, which limits options.
Trudeau also said that Canadians themselves need to stand up to provinces using this power rather than waiting for the federal government to intervene (as the pre-emptive use pretty much rules out the courts becoming involved), because we shouldn’t underestimate the power of popular discontent—particularly for someone like Doug Ford, who doesn’t like it when people are mad at him. The powers are being invoked by populists who think they can get away with it by pandering to baser instincts, and of people put sustained pressure on those governments to let them know that no, using these powers are not okay, that could force them to back off, but that means actual sustained pressure, and not just the kinds of slactivism that we have become accustomed to. That is the kind of democratic power that still exists and holds sway, and we shouldn’t discount it.
Ukraine Dispatch, Day 255:
Russian authorities in occupied Kherson continue to attempt to evacuate civilians from the city, moving them deeper into Russian-occupied territory, but President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warns that Russia could be laying a trap to ensnare Ukrainian forces into intense urban warfare. Zelenskyy also said that Ukrainian forces have been holding their positions around Bakhmut and Soledar in the Donetsk region, while Russians send more troops into the “meat grinder.”
https://twitter.com/AnitaAnandMP/status/1588684951381508097
Good reads:
- Canada is sanctioning two senior Haitian officials over their alleged support of the gangs causing havoc in that country right now.
- Schools in Quebec are saying that federal immigration issues are rejecting as many as 90 percent of African students looking to come to Canada to study.
- Friday’s public inquiry hearings had organisers with faulty recollections, making outbursts and straying from the topic, and denials about being security leakers.
- Here is a wrap of the third week of testimony at the public inquiry and the latitude being given to occupation organizers by the Commissioner.
- NSICOP tabled a report on Global Affairs’ intelligence activities, and how there is a deficit of oversight for those activities in the department.
- The Supreme Court of Canada upheld a Harper-era sentencing rule that bans conditional sentences for certain offences.
- CUPE members in Ontario went on strike illegally to protest Ford’s effective pay cut of their already stagnant wages, and the use of the Notwithstanding Clause to do it.
- Shannon Proudfoot contrasts the testimonies of Tamara Lich and Pat King at the public inquiry and some of the broader narrative around it.
- Chantal Hébert worries that Doug Ford’s pre-emptive use of the Notwithstanding Clause may be what precipitates a national unity crisis with few federal options left.
- Paul Wells makes some pointed observations about the things Chrystia Freeland and Pierre Poilievre have been saying over the past week, and the space between.
- My weekend column calls out the premiers out for their lying ads about healthcare spending, and the federal unwillingness to expose it for what it is.
Odds and ends:
For Xtra, I look at the recent StatsCan report on bullying victimization for LGBTQ+ youth, and how it resonates with those who work with those youth.
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