Roundup: What our diverse Cabinet isn’t thinking enough about

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It’s one of those mid-August “let’s quote a random academic” stories, but this piece on the added diversity in the Cabinet shuffle did get me thinking about a slightly more serious topic than perceived tokenism and need to ensure that these new ministers are adequately supported. Part of my thinking was simply the fact that I have interviewed some of the previously-new Cabinet ministers from after the previous election, and a recurring theme was that having more diverse voices around the Cabinet table is a net benefit, and that they have a lot of really enriching conversations as a result. Which is fair!

But the other thing I got to thinking about was intersectionality, and how such a diverse Cabinet should be getting better at it—but this is still a PMO with a strong central impulse (because the PM’s circle of trust is so small and too many things funnel through his chief of staff, Katie Telford). This is something that they should be better at, and should be more aware of, but perhaps this is one more of Trudeau’s blind spots, where he believes that simply paying lip service to the existence of intersectionality is enough, rather than actually doing the work.

And with that in mind, here’s economist Lindsay Tedds, who is actually doing the work of intersectionality, and is calling on the government to get their act together.

https://twitter.com/LindsayTedds/status/1689841585746579456

https://twitter.com/LindsayTedds/status/1689841590423224321

https://twitter.com/LindsayTedds/status/1689841594617434112

https://twitter.com/LindsayTedds/status/1689841599197671426

https://twitter.com/LindsayTedds/status/1689843815614664705

Ukraine Dispatch:

A Russian missile struck a house not far from the Polish border, killing an year-year-old boy. Meanwhile, all of the heads of regional army recruitment centres have been fired as part of ongoing battling of corruption within the country, after audits found abuses within those centres.

Good reads:

  • The PMO finally announced the panel to find the next Supreme Court of Canada justice, to be headed once again by former PEI premier Wade MacLauchlan.
  • Mark Miller says we can’t solve the housing crisis without more immigrants in skilled trades (which they have opened up pathways for).
  • The pace of arrivals at Roxham Road has slowed down absolutely, but there is an increase in asylum claimants at airports (who were able to get visitor visas).
  • There is some constitutional debate about the government’s clean electricity regulations and whether they are a valid exercise of federal powers.
  • The Canadian Museum of History says that some of the missing artefacts flagged by the Auditor General have been located, and most other will likely be soon.
  • Some forty-five Black politicians from all levels of government met in Ottawa over the past coupel of days to discuss issues that affect their communities.
  • Conservatives are trying to get the Procedure and House Affairs committee back to resume their study on foreign interference (but so far have no support to do so).
  • Doug Ford refuses to back away from his Greenbelt plans, and is now contradicting previous statements, and generally lying about everything. (And he’ll still stake).
  • Shannon Proudfoot calls out Pierre Poilievre’s class tourism and working-class cosplay, and suspects that the “common sense” people don’t buy it either.

Odds and ends:

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