Roundup: Fire which gatekeepers?

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It sounds like Pierre Poilievre is back on his bullshit again (do the kids still say that?) with his “gatekeeper” nonsense, as in releasing another one of his cringey videos where he promises to “fire the gatekeepers” in order to build housing. Except I’m not sure exactly which gatekeepers he’s proposing to fire, because the biggest impediments to building housing are NIMBY homeowners and neighbourhood associations that oppose any kind of densification, not to mention the elected city councillors who enable said NIMBYism. How, pray tell, does Poilievre propose to “fire them”? I’m sure he’ll tell you that he’ll threaten to withhold federal transfers to municipalities that don’t comply, but then you’ve got elected councillors beholden to voters in conflict with the dictates of a federal leader, so that’s going to be fun.

Poilievre also held a press event in Vancouver yesterday where he unveiled plans to consult on a proposal that would allow First Nations to keep more federal tax revenue from projects on their lands—which sounds like a great policy! But it’s vague, has no details, and is almost certainly going to be a hell of a lot more complicated than he’s making it out to be, especially if he’s going to insist that provincial royalties and taxes won’t be affected either. Listening to the language he used, it also sounds like he hopes that this will be the kind of thing that will ensure projects get built, as though the money from this tax revenue will make concerns over environmental or social impacts evaporate, and I suspect he’ll be surprised when they don’t.

Ukraine Dispatch, Day 336:

While Russian forces increase pressure around Bakhmut and Vuhledar, it is expected that Germany will announce today that it will send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, and allow other countries to transfer them as well. Meanwhile, more officials have been named and fired in relation to corruption allegations, as Zelenskyy’s government continues their pledge to clean up the graft in government so that they can attain EU membership.

https://twitter.com/cfoperations/status/1617887130625413123

Good reads:

  • Justin Trudeau says that no decisions have been reached on the order to repatriate four Canadian men from a Syrian detention camp for participation in ISIS.
  • The Cabinet retreat heard from economists and the Chief Statistician about projections for the economy.
  • Chrystia Freeland says victory in Ukraine will be good for the global economy, and pushed back against the assertions in that Business Council of Canada report.
  • Randy Boissonnault says the federal government has the fiscal room to go ahead with any future healthcare deal with the provinces.
  • Karina Gould says the passport backlog is 98 percent cleared.
  • Omar Alghabra is promising changes to air passenger protections in the spring.
  • Sean Fraser downplayed any hope that reforms to the Safe Third Country Agreement would happen by Biden’s planned visit in March.
  • Mary Ng is disappointed the Americans are continuing with softwood lumber duties.
  • Mélanie Joly says the peace talks in Cameroon are “messy” but should continue, but can’t explain that government’s denial that they asked for Canada’s involvement.
  • The Federal Court of Appeal rejected the Competition Bureau’s attempted appeal of the Rogers-Shaw merger decision.
  • While Danielle Smith appointed Preston Manning to her COVID panel, he already published a “fictional” report on the pandemic measures, which is deemed “bizarre.”
  • Althia Raj sees Trudeau’s recent declarations on Quebec’s pre-emptive use of the Notwithstanding Clause to be his attempt to outflank Poilievre in the province.
  • Colin Horgan calls out Peter MacKay’s “used car-salesman bullshittery” as he continues to revise history around the initial promised F-35 procurement.
  • Heather Scoffield bids farewell to journalism.
  • My column notes the dire state of the grassroots in the Ontario Liberal Party as the canary in the coal mine, and why this is a problem for democracy.

Odds and ends:

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