Roundup: Both-sidesing Moe’s legal fictions

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The playacting around Scott Moe’s threat about not remitting the carbon levy continues to play out in the media, and once again I will point to University of Alberta’s Andrew Leach calling out the media for how they are framing this, which is poorly.

Today’s example is the CBC, once again egregiously both-sidesing this in the construction of their reporting. On a plain reading of the law, the Saskatchewan government can’t engage in the legal fiction of registering as the distributor of natural gas in the province, and a competent journalist should be able to say as much, but they won’t. The demands of both-sidesing means that they have to get someone else—“some experts”—to couch it so that they can’t possibly be accused of bias or an agenda, even when it’s the plain reading of the law. And this is exactly why parties, particularly on the right in North America, have learned that they can get away with outright lying about absolutely everything—because they won’t be called out on it, and when your reporters couch the language in “some experts” saying it’s a lie, and your populist schtick is to denounce experts as being the enemy of the “common people,” then that expert commentary is immediately dismissed, and the lie carries on without consequence. You would have thought that the past few years, particularly given how the American media entirely shat the bed with trying to cover Trump, that they might have learned something, but nope. CBC and The Canadian Press in particular will continue to egregiously both-sides Poilievre and his myriad of lies, much as they are with Danielle Smith and Scott Moe, and those same leaders will continue to lie with abandon because they will continue to get away with it.

Ukraine Dispatch:

Russia has launched more heavy waves of missiles at Ukraine, killing four civilians early Monday.

Good reads:

  • Justin Trudeau attended a Flight PS752 memorial in Richmond Hill and said they are looking at ways to designate the IRGC as a terrorist entity (which would be illegal).
  • Steve MacKinnon has now been sworn-in as the new Government House Leader until Karina Gould’s expected return in July, while Ruby Sahota is now chief whip.
  • Just minutes after being sworn-in, MacKinnon had to defend Trudeau’s Christmas vacation, saying all rules were followed.
  • Honda has been meeting with government officials about opening an EV plant in Canada near their existing auto plant.
  • Health Canada is promising “swift action” to prevent Florida from doing bulk imports of pharmaceuticals from Canada after their rules were changed to allow it.
  • Two years later, the government’s promised national assessment of infrastructure still isn’t off the ground, and they’re still choosing an advisory council.
  • Here is a look into the government’s pending decision around allowing MAiD for psychiatric illness as the sole basis.
  • The Canadian Forces say they’re trying to make it easier for men who face sexual violence to come forward and get supports, which have been a major challenge.
  • The RCMP have blown past the deadline for their “public strategy and action plan” in responding to the Mass Casualty Commission Report (which is not a surprise).
  • Davie Shipyard in Quebec is suing the federal government to prevent the release of any details of their contracts under Access to Information laws.
  • The Insurance Bureau of Canada says that severe weather and natural disasters caused over $3 billion of insured damages last year, the fourth-highest on record.
  • The astroturf Canadian Taxpayers Federation has lost their appeal about being fined by Elections Alberta for not registering as a third party advertiser in 2018.
  • The NDP say they’re on track to pay off their 2021 election debt and can start working on their war chest for the next election.
  • Paul Wells reflects on changes in police behaviours to protests, and why that can wind up being extremely unsatisfying in many circumstances.

Odds and Ends:

The Big Story podcast talks to Amarnath Amarasingham about the mainstreaming of conspiracy theories and how this is fitting into right-wing populism.

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