Roundup: Straying far out of their lane

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After their big song and dance about wanting the federal government to stay in their own lane, the premiers decided to start weighing in on defence spending—an explicitly federal jurisdiction—yesterday, trying to insist that Canada should meet its NATO spending target sooner than the outlined plan. I’m really not sure how this is exactly the premiers staying in their own lane if they expect the prime minister to stay in his, but they certainly made no shortage of ridiculous excuses for their demands, such as this being about trade with the Americans and so on, but come on. Justin Trudeau did write a letter in response to Tim Houston and Doug Ford, saying the federal government is only trying to help the provinces improve the lives of Canadians, and that maybe they should sign on rather than be obstructionist.

Also from the meeting, Manitoba and Newfoundland and Labrador expressed an interest in resettling some the asylum seekers who landed in Quebec, but that hasn’t stopped Doug Ford from demanding more money for resettlement, nor has it stopped David Eby and Danielle Smith from demanding money for “newcomers,” when the specific issue is just what obligation the federal government has for asylum seekers before their refugee claim is approved, at which point they genuinely become a federal responsibility. This isn’t about helping to settle economic migrants or other mainstream immigrants, which aren’t the federal government’s sole responsibility, but they want to pretend that it is because they want to whinge for more money when what they’re trying to conflate has nothing to do with the actual obligations of the federal government. Again, it’s not really that tough to understand, but these premiers are going to be obtuse and engage in sophistry along the way.

Meanwhile, because several of the premiers are talking equalisation again, I cannot stress enough how badly the CBC described the programme in their article today. Provinces do not write cheques for equalisation. Not province transfers money to another province. It is paid for out of the federal treasury from the income taxes collected from all Canadians, and distributed to those provinces who fall below the threshold of fiscal capacity to have equal programming. Even more to the point, while not raised in the CBC piece, fiscal capacity has nothing to do with whether or not a province is running a deficit, because that would be absolutely absurd and no province would run a surplus if they thought they could get equalisation dollars if they didn’t. Regardless, this was extremely sloppy journalism from the CBC and reads to me like the reporter just relayed how one of the premiers described how the programme works rather than actually looking it up or asking someone who has a clue (and that’s not any of the premiers). Hermes wept…

Ukraine Dispatch

Russia and Ukraine exchanged 95 prisoners of war each yesterday.

https://twitter.com/zelenskyyua/status/1813524697964823028

Good reads:

  • Justin Trudeau announced the details of a previously promised $30 billion-over-ten-years transit fund, that won’t start paying out until 2026.
  • Four sources™ told the Globe that Trudeau spent Sunday trying to convince Mark Carney to join the government but Carney is non-committal. (Just stop, guys).
  • Mark Holland says the government was blindsided by the US’ new rules on dogs crossing the border, while they try to work out a solution.
  • Randy Boissonnault’s former business partner admitted he lied to journalists about text messages, but won’t name the person he was texting.
  • The military may be thinking of retiring the Snowbirds’ jets, given that they are beyond their usable lifespan at this point.
  • There are mounting tensions between Canada and France over halibut fishing.
  • The AFN National Chief met with Manitoba’s Lieutenant Governor about calling an inquiry into murdered Indigenous women, but the LG has no authority to call one.
  • The Canadian Journalism Collective outlined its governance structure for distributing Google’s $100 million Online News Act payment.
  • There are questions about who anonymously donated a bust of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (but my gods, this story is full of ginned-up nonsense).
  • Alberta’s ombudsman says that thousands of low-income residents can’t get proper medical benefits because the system has systemic, unfair barriers.
  • Kevin Carmichael suggests that business leaders and policymakers get used to uncertainty, because there’s going to be a whole lot of it in the near future.
  • My column dismisses the faux concerns that people who donated to Liberals got named to the Senate, in part because the concern is one-sided.

Odds and ends:

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One thought on “Roundup: Straying far out of their lane”

  1. Meanwhile next door in Poland various social media posts showed a member of Ukraine’s self-proclaimed neo-Nazi Azov Battalion (now known as the 3rd assault brigade) visiting Auschwitz wearing a t-shirt with a well known Hitler quote emblazoned on the back…”where we are there is no place for anyone else.” Seems this was part of Azov’s summer PR tour that is touching down in nine European cities.

    When the Auschwitz museum got hold of this they shot of a memo to “inform both the Polish prosecutor’s office and the Embassy of Ukraine in Warsaw about this painful incident related to hate speech.”

    The Azov’s have much to celebrate these days after the Biden Administration announced it will be lifting a ban and will allow them to receive US weapons and training.

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