Roundup: Barely a first step

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With the excitement around Thursday’s announcement on removing HST from purpose-built rental homes, there is a lot more work to do, most of which needs to be done at the provincial and municipal level, but the federal government is starting to step up with more than some funds, which is something. I do worry that a number of provinces will decide that because the federal government is doing something, that they can step back—you know, like a number of them did with healthcare spending where they reduced their own spending by the same amount as an increased federal transfer, which defeats the whole purpose.

So yeah—I’m not popping any champagne just yet that we have some incremental moves. Meanwhile, here’s Mike Moffatt on what needs to happen next.

Ukraine Dispatch:

Russian drones attacked the central Khmelnytskyi region, likely attempting to hit the Starokostiantyniv air base, where the attack on the shipyards in occupied Crimea had been launched. Meanwhile, a Ukrainian sea drone damaged a Russian missile ship off of occupied Crimea. Meanwhile, a pro-Russian former government minister has been detained for 60 days with no option of bail for suspected treason.

https://twitter.com/defenceu/status/1702649870736105582

Good reads:

  • Mélanie Joly levied more sanctions against Iranian officials to mark the anniversary of the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody.
  • Joly also plans to spend next week at the UN building momentum against the use of arbitrary detention (and hostage diplomacy) by countries like China.
  • François-Philippe Champagne has summoned the grocery oligopoly CEOs to his office on Monday morning to demand price stabilization…or else.
  • Mary Ng has postponed the trade mission to India she’s been touting for the past four months, and won’t publicly state the reason why.
  • The Post got some reaction to the announcement about changes to the Competition Act, and what it could mean more broadly.
  • A group of tech innovators is calling on the government to expedite the AI regulation process, but to keep it broadly within the norms of other established regimes.
  • Some Atlantic Liberal MPs are trying to convince the government to create some more rural carve-outs of the carbon price for their provinces.
  • Blaine Higgs stated that he’s not leaving, and plans to run again in the next election.
  • It has been revealed that Doug Ford’s mandate letter to his environment minister was to essentially repeal laws to blunt the impact of laws on business. (Of course).
  • Other mandate letter revelations include health and education, and transit.
  • Emmett Macfarlane decodes the “rights talk” around those transophobic pronoun policies in several provinces, with an eye to what is actually constitutional.
  • Macfarlane also talks to the Centre for Constitutional Studies about Alberta’s risible “Sovereignty Act” and what it actual does or does not do.
  • Paul Wells has a low-key devastating look at the Global Progress Action Summit this weekend and the underlying mindset of the Liberals with events like these.
  • My weekend column looks at the theatre that are the private members’ bills that Jagmeet Singh and Pierre Poilievre are tabling next week.

Odds and ends:

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