Roundup: Scott Moe challenges Trudeau to a (metaphorical) duel

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Because the fallout over the decision to pause the carbon price on heating oil gets dumber by the day, Saskatchewan premier Scott Moe has decided that if he doesn’t get other heating sources similarly treated that he’s going to order the province’s provincial Crown Corporation that delivers natural energy to stop collecting the federal carbon price, which would be illegal, and which would expose the CEO of said Crown corporation for some potentially serious liabilities including possibly jail time, so one has to suppose that’s not going down very well. Nevertheless, this was entirely predictable and Trudeau should have chosen another course of action with the heating oil transition, but he didn’t, and this bed he made is getting really, really uncomfortable for him to lay in.

Of course, this has ramped up a bunch of other stupidity from political leaders, like Jagmeet Singh reviving his party’s long-time call for GST to be removed from home-heating, never mind that it would be impossible to disentangle for those who have electric heat, and that this kind of policy disproportionately benefits the wealthy who have larger houses. BC premier David Eby also wants relief for heating bills, but the province has their own carbon price separate from the federal one, so complaining to Ottawa isn’t going to help.

Ukraine Dispatch:

Russian shells killed a 91-year-old woman in the southern Kherson region when it struck her apartment building, while two others were killed in shelling in the region when a shell struck a bus. Ukrainian forces say they are switching from defensive to offensive positions around Bakhmut. Russians claim that they shot down 36 Ukrainian drones in the eastern part of the country.

Good reads:

  • Justin Trudeau is inviting the two top European leaders to visit St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, in late November to talk clean tech.
  • At a foreign policy speech, Mélanie Joly called for a “humanitarian truce” in Gaza to allow food, water and fuel into the regions, and to get Canadians out.
  • The government has reiterated their calls for Canadians in Lebanon to get out while they still can, as tensions in the region escalate.
  • Anita Anand announced a ban on WeChat and another suite of apps from a Russian developer from government-issued phones.
  • The federal government is expanding their drug overdose prevention strategy to help fill gaps that have been identified.
  • The government plans to deport an Egyptian refugee claimant who has been sentenced to death there (which seems to be contrary to Canadian law).
  • Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem told a committee that federal and provincial spending aggregates could make it harder to bring inflation down.
  • Families of Israelis held hostage by Hamas were in Ottawa to ask for help in getting their family members returned.
  • It could take a week to clear the backlog of ships halted by the strike along the St. Lawrence Seaway.
  • Air Canada appears to be boasting that the changes to the Air Passengers Bill of Rights will barely make a dent in their bottom line.
  • Critics of the government’s AI legislation say that it doesn’t go far enough in terms of necessary protections, particularly around human rights or workers’ rights.
  • The Federal Court dismissed an attempted action against the federal government’s 2020 regulations banning assault rifles.
  • The foreign affairs committee hard that Canada and its allies have considered sanctioning Azerbaijan, but are worried about undermining the peace with Armenia.
  • It turns out that Doug Ford had met with certain developers he claimed he didn’t, and that developer guests at his daughter’s wedding got fast-tracked approvals.
  • Internal documents also show how the Ford government’s political staffers were directing bureaucrats on municipal boundary changes.
  • There was a Speech from the Throne in Alberta, promising referenda on tax increases in the future (because that didn’t screw California. Cripes, you guys).
  • Former national security advisor Vincent Rigby argues that we need a proper strategic plan for dealing with an increasingly chaotic and unstable world.
  • Paul Wells delves into the Liberals’ history of soft-pedalling the carbon price and how that has caught up with them in their bid to save their electoral fortunes.

Odds and ends:

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