Roundup: Khera can’t defend the budget betrayal

Posted on by

It’s strange and uncomfortable to watch a minister of the Crown absolutely shit the bed on national television, and yet disabilities minister Kamal Khera did just that on Power & Politics yesterday when she was put up to defend the absolutely inadequate Canada Disability Benefit announcement in the budget. Khera had about three talking points prepared for the interview—and they weren’t short talking points, but they were talking points nevertheless—and she kept repeating them no matter what question was asked, remixing them slightly every time to make it look like she was not just saying the same thing when she was in fact doing just that. It was grating and painful to watch, and in the end, you have to wonder just whose idea it was to put her up to subject herself to that.

I get that there are probably reasons why things rolled out the way they did—not good reasons, but reasons nevertheless, which would likely be something to the effect of they gave themselves a June deadline and had no ability to actually meet it, especially as they hadn’t even managed to get assurances from the provinces that they wouldn’t just claw back their existing benefits with this new money, and they simply decided to do this bare minimum an insist that this was “just the beginning,” and that “more was coming,” and so on, but as is so often the case with this government, there is no candour, and just an attempt to feed us happy-clappy pabulum instead, Which is what Khera tried to do yesterday, and destroyed her own credibility on the file in the process.

Now the government has betrayed the disabled community and broken their trust, and it’s going to be an even tougher hill to climb going forward because they couldn’t just be honest and say that hard things are hard, they needed more time, and maybe that they were worried about their deficit figures rather than simply insulting everyone’s intelligence like they did here.

Ukraine Dispatch:

A Russian drone attack on Odesa has injured seven, while a missile strike took out a TV tower in Kharkiv region. And while Russians claim that they have overrun the village of Novomykhailivka, Ukraine says that they still control the territory. Ukrainian military sources say that the Russians have amassed a force of 20,000 to 25,000 troops for their push toward Chasiv Yar. While US aid and armaments could come shortly, Ukraine’s has a manpower problem on their front lines, which gives Russia the opportunity because it will take months for Ukraine to train their newly mobilised conscripts.

Good reads:

  • Justin Trudeau and other political leaders all condemned pro-October 7th messages at a demonstration in Ottawa, that has now attracted a police investigation.
  • The federal and Ontario governments are poised to announce plans by Honda to building more electric vehicles and batteries in Ontario.
  • Seamus O’Regan has called for an inquiry into the underlying causes of BC’s port strike last summer.
  • Here is more about Stephen Guilbeault’s task in negotiating a global plastics treaty starting today in Ottawa.
  • There are concerns about the non-Canadian mothers of Canadian children in Syrian detention camps whom the government seems to have no interest in repatriating.
  • CTV talks to an expert developer about the state of 24 Sussex and the costs of renovation (if they go ahead and finally make the decision).
  • Senator Yuen Pau Woo thinks Canada needs to do more to engage its own diaspora communities around the globe than just airlift them in times of crisis.
  • Jagmeet Singh continues to waffle and deflect on questions about his plans for the future of carbon pricing.
  • Singh also insists he hasn’t decided about supporting the budget because he thinks it makes him look tough, when he’ll look ridiculous swallowing himself whole later.
  • Justin Ling looks at the climate action backlash happening in Canada.
  • Paul Wells takes a deep dive into the budget’s chapter on funding for research.
  • My (belated) weekend column looks at how both Rideau Hall and the government opened up the Governor General to attack from bad faith actors.

Odds and Ends:

Want more Routine Proceedings? Become a patron and get exclusive new content.