Roundup: The premiers want their cut

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I have to say that it’s extremely precious to see the premiers getting bent out of shape because the federal government has started taking action on the housing crisis by dealing directly with municipalities and using the Housing Accelerator Fund to incentivise them to get rid of restrictive zoning practices that limit housing development. They’re claiming that the federal government is encroaching on their jurisdiction, but these very same premiers have abdicated this responsibility for decades now. They have the ability to eliminate these zoning restrictions with provincial jurisdiction, and they have time and again refused to. So, the federal government stepped in, and now they’re getting huffy about it. And to their credit, the federal ministers are pushing back on this, as well they should (especially because once again, they’re being blamed for the provinces’ failure to act on this crisis).

One of the excuses is that Quebec had a deal for money that flows to the province and not municipalities, because the province has legislation that forbids the federal government from cutting such deals. Okay, but what’s the motivation here? Are they sore because they’re not being invited to the photo ops when these deals are signed? Or are they sore because they can’t take a cut of those funds and use them for their own purposes, you know, like they have done with health transfers for decades now, or how they took funds meant for pandemic supports and simply applied them to their bottom lines so that they could run surpluses while letting their health care systems collapse around them? Because neither is a good look.

Even more to the point, the provinces keep insisting that Ottawa should be the one to pay for things cities need, like transit, or social housing, or major infrastructure, because they don’t want to have to spend the money. They keep crying poor and saying Ottawa has all of the money, but that’s also bullshit because the provinces have the same ability to raise revenues as the federal government does, but they choose not to because they don’t want to be the bad guy by raising taxes, even though it’s all the same taxpayer in the end. But this is how federalism has degenerated in this country, and it’s time people start holding the premiers to account for their failures (for a change).

Ukraine Dispatch:

Ukrainian forces say that they repelled more pushes along the various front lines and in particular around Avdiivka. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is calling for unity as he dismisses the notion of wartime elections, and when he has been publicly disagreeing with his top general about the current phase of the war.

https://twitter.com/ukraine_world/status/1721960135759741409

Good reads:

  • Officials say that 75 Canadians were able to leave Gaza via the Egyptian border.
  • Jean-Yves Duclos says that the Canada Lands Corporation has stuck a deal with developers to build more than 2800 homes on federal properties by 2029.
  • François-Philippe Champagne won’t say if new military aircraft procurements will be sole-source or not.
  • Sustainable Development Technology Canada is disputing the investigation into their conduct, saying it had factual errors and missing evidence.
  • The government hired KPMG to tell them how to reduce their reliance on outside contractors (because of course).
  • The government is delaying the unveiling of the “Victims of Communism” memorial to do more due diligence (as in ensuring it’s not honouring any Nazis).
  • The environment commissioner released a series of reports yesterday, among them being one that says that the government’s 2030 plan won’t get them to their goal.
  • The reports also looked at the distribution of EV charging stations around the country, and that the Fisheries and Oceans is doing a poor job monitoring industry.
  • NSICOP says that the RCMP isn’t able to fulfil its federal policing responsibilities, and requires serious reform.
  • Conservatives on the trade committee are objecting to the language in the updated Ukraine treaty about carbon pricing and other “wokeness.” No, seriously.
  • Ukrainian children who had been abducted by Russian told the Commons subcommittee on human rights about their ordeals in getting home to their parents.
  • Danielle Smith will share the stage with Tucker Carlson in Calgary in January, because of course she will. This is the base she’s pandering to.
  • Alberta finance minister Nate Horner now claims he was “only joking” about subsidizing people switching to heating oil to avoid the carbon price.
  • A medical journal has found that a government report on safe consumption sites in Alberta was essentially pseudo-science and should be withdrawn.
  • Matt Gurney recounts what he saw in the video the Israeli consulate provided from the October 7th massacre.
  • Justin Ling points out that Saudi Arabia is hosting the Internet Governance Forum, because the Canadian government didn’t even  bother to put in a bid to host.
  • My column despairs at the utter nihilistic futility that Question Period has descended to, because apparently we now live in hell.

Odds and ends:

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