Roundup: Bullshitting about pharmacare

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In a radio interview yesterday, Pierre Poilievre claimed that the proposed federal pharmacare programme would force people to give up their existing private insurance and onto a federal programme—something that is entirely no true, and boggling as to how he could think that, particularly because the government has been pretty clear that to start, the only thing it proposes to cover are diabetes medications and devices, and contraception. (This is, of course, subject to provincial approval, because the federal government can’t do this on its own).

In spite of being called out by health minister Mark Holland on the lies and “fake boogeymen,” Poilievre has gone on to try and shift the goal-posts on the different programmes that the federal government has been trying to roll out, saying things like dental care hasn’t cleaned a single tooth (not true—the initial tranche of the programme was apparently fairly well-subscribed, while the current programme only came into being in December and is still rolling out), or that the school food programme is just a press release (again, the programme is about enhancing existing programmes, not creating anything new). Regardless, there is a complete inability to be truthful about anything, whether it’s outright lies, or it’s bullshit (and there is a difference in there between them, even if the line is fairly narrow).

This should be a warning about the next election, where he will say absolutely anything, shamelessly, and media outlets will be scrambling to do any basic fact-checking, while mostly just both-sidesing the whole thing, because that’s what legacy media does best—especially in an election, where fact-checks can come days or even weeks too late, or the rather useless exercise the Toronto Star engaged in where they listened to each leader’s speeches for a week apiece, and tried to data-journalism it into a quantitative exercise when it’s fairly qualitative, and can require nuance about degrees of dishonesty or disinformation to appreciate how it’s working. Nevertheless, this is not a good sign of things to come.

Ukraine Dispatch:

Russian missiles attacked an apartment building and train station in Dnipro, killing at least eight people. Ukraine’s spy agency says that their attack on the airfield in occupied Crimea seriously damaged four missile launchers and three radar stations. Here’s a look at Russia’s tactic of making smaller attacks to keep exhausting Ukrainian forces ahead of a likely spring advance. A Polish man has been arrested on suspicion of gathering information on behalf of the Russians for a possible assassination plot against Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The burgeoning defence industry in Ukraine is looking for more certainty around orders as they deal with a lack of investment and needing to relocate production facilities to avoid being targeted by Russia.

Good reads:

  • The federal government is increasing foreign aid in the budget in advance of Canada’s G7 chairmanship, which goes against a global trend of cutting.
  • The federal government is planning to use federal penitentiaries for immigration detention for “high risk” migrants, after provinces said they would stop taking them.
  • Health Canada says they will reduce the restrictions for sperm donation from gay and bisexual men (but they won’t be completely eliminated).
  • The National Capital Commission is waiting for the government to make a decision—any decision—on 24 Sussex.
  • Here is a look at the complications around the upcoming sale of the Trans Mountain Expansion pipeline, now that its construction is at the finish line.
  • The head of the Canadian Labour Congress wants union leaders to expose Pierre Poilievre as a fraud when he talks about being a friend to the working class.
  • Nova Scotia’s justice minister was forced to apologise for downplaying domestic violence on the anniversary of the mass shooting in the province.
  • Eric Mathison pushes back against the claims that MAiD creates “perverse incentives” for patients.
  • Emmett Macfarlane considers the keffiyeh ban in Queen’s Park.

Odds and Ends:

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