Roundup: Stupid polls about the monarchy

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It appears to be the season for reporting on really stupid polls, because there was yet another one yesterday, saying that an increasing number of Canadians want to “reconsider” our ties to the monarchy, which is already a misleading turn of phrase because we have a domestic monarchy, and have since 1931. Yes, we time-share their natural persons with the UK and thirteen other realms, but the Canadian monarchy is a Thing, and it’s not a gods damned foreign imposition.

What makes this kind of polling even more irresponsible is the fact that there is simply nothing in there about what they expect to replace it with, because there are myriad options, and absolutely no exploration of any of them. It’s also extremely relevant because that’s how Australia’s republican movement faltered—voters were not in favour of the appointed head of state option presented in the referendum, and since its failure, support for the monarchy in that country has increased. (Better the devil you know, and all of that. On top of that, getting rid of the monarchy would require a wholesale rewrite of our constitution (because it’s the central organizing principle), and would abrogate all of the treaties with First Nations, because they are all with the Crown, which would add a whole other layer of complexity for our relationship and reconciliation. (In fact, there is a compelling argument that ending the monarchy would simply mean completing the colonial project).

There is no simple yes/no choice for the future of the monarchy in Canada—it’s yes/which model to replace it with (because you can’t not have an organizing principle for executive power, and you really want to have some kind of a constitutional fire extinguisher available), and how to go about doing it, and stupid poll questions like this just elide over that reality in a completely misleading way.

Ukraine Dispatch:

A Ukrainian attack on a shipyard in occupied Crimea has damaged two Russian ships undergoing repairs at the facility and caused a fire. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has vetoed an anti-corruption bill that contained a loophole that allowed people to forgo disclosing assets for another year. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen also praised Ukraine’s progress toward EU membership, but said that they still have more work to do.

https://twitter.com/ukraine_world/status/1701984458960765381

Good reads:

  • After promising news on housing, Justin Trudeau and Sean Fraser re-announced a Housing Accelerator Fund project in London, Ontario.
  • There are allegedly “robust” discussion happening at the Liberal caucus retreat, including some stark warnings from pollsters about their sagging numbers.
  • It sounds like the Indian government offered Trudeau use of one of their executive aircraft to get his delegation back to Canada, but they refused (but won’t say why).
  • The government has settled a class-action lawsuit involving veterans’ disability payments in certain circumstances, and they can expect top-up payments.
  • Here is a look at how the long procurement process for fighter jets delayed the ability to replace the planes used by the prime minister and GG.
  • Defence and security experts point out how destructive to culture change in the Canadian Forces the Conservatives’ platforming of the fragile ex-general is.
  • The CMHC released a report saying that the country will be short 3.5 million homes by the end of the decade compared to what is needed to restore affordability.
  • UNESCO has produced a report on the threats facing Wood Buffalo National Park.
  • Quebec’s education minister wants an expert panel to look at issues around gender identity, and not a legislative committee because of politicisation (no kidding).
  • The Ford government sat on a climate change impact report for eight months and then didn’t announce when it was released.
  • Here is what Ford’s 2018 mandate letters said about the Greenbelt, and his demand for savings by year two. Some of the full letters can be found here.
  • Ontario education minister Stephen Lecce has ordered school libraries to stop culling books after Peel region was found to be culling all books older than 2008.
  • Here is a timeline of the E. coli outbreak in Calgary daycares.
  • Keldon Bester explains the stakes of the American antitrust case against Google, and why Canada needs to step up its own investigations.
  • Stephen Saideman gives a failing grade to the op-ed from the fragile former general, who went after him for criticising his politicising the military.
  • Paul Wells previews his conversation with former Vancouver mayor Kennedy Stewart, and provides some context on opioid-related deaths in other jurisdictions.
  • Colby Cosh has an interesting look at the revelations of why over-the-counter cold medication is useless, thanks to paranoia about meth makers.

Odds and ends:

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