Roundup: The ugly discourse that won’t be disavowed

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As the housing debate rages on, there is a particularly ugly strain of the discourse that is revealing itself throughout, which has to do with the rapid immigration increases in relation to the housing crunch/crisis, and that there is no real way for there to keep pace. This has led to some people lamenting that it’s too bad that the decades long, multi-party consensus on immigration is unravelling because governments haven’t been serious about housing. I’m not really buying it, though. My sense is that a lot of this is just dog-whistling and concern trolling—that these are largely the people who opposed immigration to begin with and who are taking the opportunity of the housing crisis to have a “legitimate” reason to blame immigrants for something.

Mark Miller is pushing back on this narrative, at least somewhat, pointing out that demographically and economically we can’t really cut back on immigration levels, adding that “The wave of populist, opportunist sentiment that does at times want to put all of society’s woes on the backs of immigrants—I think we need to call that out when we see it.” And he’s right. But he also needs to be far more vocal on the kick in the ass to provinces and municipalities about building more housing (which is their jurisdiction), because they also need these immigrants and have the responsibility of ensuring they have places to live.

What I think has been particularly telling is that Pierre Poilievre has been hinting at this, saying that the immigration system is “broken,” but he also won’t say what he would do differently, or what he would adjust the levels to. It’s the same kind of stupid game he’s trying to play on all of his files—saying just enough about a particular issue that the loudmouths and far-right extremists can read into it the awful things they think, and Poilievre will do almost nothing to dissuade them, so as to get them to think he’s on their side (even though, deep down, he’s not really, and some of them have already figured that out) and to hopefully cash in on their votes. And when you try to corner him on these issues, he will fight straw men or make the attacks personal instead of answering. It’s some of the most cynical of ploys, it’s absolutely corrosive to democracy, but he seems to think the ends justify the means, so he’s going to go for it, consequences be damned.

Ukraine Dispatch:

Russian drones have pounded grain storage and facilities at the Danube river ports in western Ukraine, which puts further grain shipments in jeopardy. Ukrainian forces say that they have reclaimed the village of Urozhaine in the southeast, but are admitting that the front in the north eastern region near Kupiansk is becoming more difficult.

Good reads:

  • Steven Guilbeault is headed to China at the end of the month for climate talks—the first Canadian Cabinet minister to visit since 2018.
  • Mark Holland is promising pharmacare legislation before the end of the year (which won’t actually do anything about implementation without nine more premiers).
  • Mark Miller is hinting that there may be more flexibility for Afghan refugee claimants as the programme nears its target.
  • The promised bill on Indigenous policing is being held up as the government and the Assembly of  First Nations can’t agree on rights and jurisdiction questions.
  • Here are some more details about the plans for a voluntary code of conduct for generative AI, which the government is currently consulting on.
  • The Taxpayers Ombudsman plans to look into why CRA’s call centre wait times are far longer than they are advertising or anticipating.
  • China has left Canada off of its approved list of travel destinations, potentially in retaliation for our investigations of foreign interference allegations.
  • Jagmeet Singh and Elizabeth May are now security cleared to get secret briefings on the foreign interference allegations. (Poilievre and Blanchet have refused).
  • As wildfires approach Yellowknife, the city has begun a phased evacuation.
  • The BC government has changed its tune, and will now welcome a cross-border investigation into potential selenium contamination of waterways by coal mines.
  • Paul Wells explores the whole Poilievre/WEF conspiracy theories issue, and pays particular attention to some of the choices that have been made along the way.

Odds and ends:

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