Roundup: Poilievre’s fictions about crime

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Pierre Poilievre held a press event in Edmonton yesterday, and it was…quite something. From the bullying of the Canadian Press reporter, the doublespeak and particularly notable omissions in his “defund the CBC” shtick, the economic illiteracy, the complete fiction he was peddling about violent crime, it was just another sign of how things are degenerating in our political discourse. The name of the game is flooding the zone with bullshit, and being an odious troll. Much of his base knows that he’s lying and they love it because he gets away with it, sticking it in the faces of people who care about things like facts or the truth (while the ignorant portion of said base laps up everything he says uncritically, which he also likes because they’re easily manipulable). It’s corrosive to political norms that we rely on, and he doesn’t care. This can’t end well, and I worry things are going to get worse.

https://twitter.com/EmmMacfarlane/status/1646585470866915354

Ukraine Dispatch:

Russian forces have been shelling Bakhmut unrelentingly, and have also fired on the southern city of Kherson. Here’s a look at LGBTQ+ soldiers fighting in Ukraine, and the added challenges they face while doing their part to defend their country.

https://twitter.com/ukraine_world/status/1646534358415671302

Good reads:

  • While on his budget sales tour in Regina, Justin Trudeau stated the obvious in that he and Katie Telford have discussed foreign interference “many times.”
  • Trudeau also linked recent cyber-attacks by Russia to Canada’s support for Ukraine.
  • The government keeps giving itself extensions on its 2017 pledge to create a peacekeeping “rapid response” force, and the pledge is effectively dead.
  • The government has hinted about new privacy rules for political parties, but the Liberals are also fighting BC’s privacy commissioner from imposing provincial rules.
  • The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security is warning that Russian hackers did have the ability to damage our pipeline infrastructure.
  • The RCMP have been forced to apologise and say they’ll update prisoner-handling policies after a woman was held on bylaw infractions for a week. (They won’t).
  • The Supreme Court upheld an acquittal where the police didn’t have a breath sample device when they demanded a sample, and the delay was unreasonable.
  • As rural Nova Scotia communities rethink their relationship with the RMCP, there are calls to rethink the way we do policing altogether in the wake of the MCC report.
  • Theo Argitis sees the deficit becoming structural, at least to a small degree.
  • Kevin Carmichael delves deeper into the Bank of Canada’s hints as to their thinking on this week’s rate pause decision.
  • My Xtra column notes the promise buried in the budget to create an Action Plan to Combat hate, and wonders just what it will actually entail.

Odds and ends:

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4 thoughts on “Roundup: Poilievre’s fictions about crime”

  1. Our Politicians in general have omitted any mention of the Coronation of King Charles III who is our Head of State in Canada. No stamps, no coins, no celebrations, no special flags etc. Many are trying to get info from Heritage Canada, the Mint, Post Canada, GG’s Office, everyone says the same thing, we do not know or it is all in the PMO’s Office. Canada must be the only country in the world that refuses to celebrate its new Head of State. Sad situation.

    • There are some things in the works, which should be announced shortly, but it’s pretty muted.

  2. As for Canada’s reluctance to join the needless celebration of the crowning of the English king, I for one hope the government completely ignores the event or at best sends a boilerplate note of recognition. In reality we will kowtow to the monarchy as so much economic backlash would come from the Brits if we didn’t. The royal family in my opinion has no relevance to Canada. Our diverse population is uninterested and those Canadians who are thoughtful realize that Charles and his disturbed family are not the paragons of virtue that they would lead us to believe. Charles’ disgusting cuckolding of Diana, the profligate sexual shenanigans of many in the “inner circle” serve to show a weakness that is not a standard that the populace should continue to embrace. Of course in todays world the hoi polloi are eager to bow to profligate liars, accused rapists, twisters of words and cheats, so it is not surprising that the royals, not unlike faith leaders and other fakers would expect and even demand the worship of the masses.

    • “No relevance.” It’s only the central organizing principle of our entire constitutional order, and quite frankly, constitutional monarchy is a far better system than virtually every comparable republican system on the planet. Monarchs are not supposed to be saints. Expecting them to be is a mug’s game.

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