Roundup: Projecting demagoguery

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Pierre Poilievre held a press conference on Parliament Hill yesterday, and said a number of bizarre things such as personally blaming Justin Trudeau for the housing crisis and as the reason why prices have doubled, but then used an example of how a permit was being held up at Ottawa City Hall by a planner who was on holiday for two weeks. The federal government has precisely zero levers when it comes to the human resources practices of Ottawa City Hall and the vacation days of its planners. Furthermore, he insisted that Canada is the only place in the OECD where this kind of thing happens, as though the whole of Europe doesn’t exist, and most especially France where nothing gets done in the entire month of August. But remember, this is entirely Justin Trudeau’s fault.

What as perhaps more telling was when he was asked about immigration levels and if he would make any changes if he were to form government. Poilievre said that Trudeau—whom he has just personally blamed for the housing crisis—“wants Canadians to forget all that and blame immigrants; he wants to divide people to distract from his failings,” and then said that “this is what demagogues do.”

Apparently, irony died, because Poilievre has been behaving like a demagogue this entire time, and has raised immigration before as part of the crisis—and has refused to elaborate or give any targets, nor will he denounce any of his followers who have been treating the immigration issue as a dog whistle and excuse to concern troll about immigration. He has done absolutely nothing to curtail that, except to project it onto Trudeau, and then on top of that, claim that it’s the Liberals who are “nasty” and “mean” on issues like climate change and gender identity. No looking at his own followers, who spend their days online taunting Catherine McKenna as “climate Barbie,” or calling gay people “groomers” or “paedophiles.” Nope, that’s all the Liberals and their supporters. It’s projection, and it’s bullshit, because that’s what the discourse has degraded to.

Ukraine Dispatch:

Ukrainian authorities say that they have repelled Russian attacks in the East around Kharkiv, and reclaimed some ground as well this week. As Russian missiles have been falling on the northeast region of Kupiansk, there are orders to evacuate civilians but many don’t want to leave. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was in Denmark to thank them personally for their support, and for the future transfer of F-16 fighter jets. He then headed to Greece to thank their government, and will attend a summit of Balkan leaders. Meanwhile, the head of Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau says that ending corruption is no longer just a crime, but a matter of national security, especially because Western partners need assurances around military aid and reconstruction dollars. Kyiv is filling up with destroyed Russian tanks as the city prepares to celebrate their second wartime Independence Day this week.

Good reads:

  • Justin Trudeau says that they are committed to a public inquiry on foreign interference, but they are still working out the details (like who is going to run it).
  • Trudeau also gave his own denunciation of Meta/Facebook blocking news in light of the wildfires, and says he’s ready to move on post-separation.
  • Sean Fraser says the government wants to do more on housing, and will consider capping international student visas (which will absolutely screw universities).
  • Nearly a quarter of all federal Governor-in-Council appointments are vacant or past expiry of term because this government can’t manage their appointment process.
  • The Commissioner of Elections fined a former PMO staffer $1500 for voting in a riding she didn’t live in, even after she was warned not to do so.
  • We got a look at the charges being laid against the former Mountie accused of conducting foreign interference on China’s behalf.
  • After Montreal’s mayor told developers to build make units affordable or pay a fine, they’ve all paid the fine and it’s not enough to actually build affordable housing.
  • BC Wildfire Service says that some critical equipment keeps being moved or stolen.
  • NWT premier Caroline Cochrane was personally helping search to ensure that homeless people were found and evacuated from Yellowknife.
  • Paul Wells takes stock of the Liberals’ plan to define Pierre Poilievre eleven months after he became leader, and how well it’s going for them. (Spoiler: Not very).

Odds and ends:

For National Magazine, I look at how some courts in Canada have issued practice directives mandating disclosure of when lawyers use AI in their submissions.

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One thought on “Roundup: Projecting demagoguery”

  1. Poilievre is using liespeak to full advantage while Trudeau and his government are trying to work with all jurisdictions to fight the climate change crisis of fires across our land. Oblivious to the suffering of the Canadian proles this right wing wannabe dictator uses fogspeach to confuse the proles and if polls could be trusted his nonpolicy messages are getting Polly a lead. While Trudeau has the proles welfare at heart, the heartless Polly stokes the
    insane hatred of Trudeau. L.B. “Little Brother”speaks much and says nothing, doublespeach and liespeach reigns in our land while fires rage and people suffer and hatespeach aimed at Trudeau burns hot.

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