Roundup post: No other orders of government

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The Conservatives put out a statement yesterday about a Statistics Canada report on dwelling units, and blamed the federal government for the lack of creation, never mind that the federal government isn’t actually responsible for housing, and has very few levers at their disposal, and the levers they do have they are pretty much maxed out in terms of what they’re able to do. But reading this particular statement, you wouldn’t know that we have provincial and municipal governments who are responsible for housing, and who have the policy levers to do something about it, whether it’s zoning, or density rules, or building codes, or direct financial levers. Thos are all at their disposal, but Pierre Poilievre would have you believe that none of those exist.

The sad irony of course is that the moment that the Conservatives next form government, they will immediately insist that these issues aren’t their problem, that the provinces should be dealing with this, and they will play stupid games with funding (which Paul Wells noted last week, Poilievre’s planned incentives are rounding errors for city budgets).

And yes, my reply column is full of chuds who insist that Trudeau created this situation with immigration, again ignoring the role that provinces played in demanding more arrivals to fill labour shortages while simultaneously doing nothing about housing or social services (their responsibilities), and that there is a counterfactual in terms of what would have happened to the economy in terms of inflation and controlling it if we hadn’t brought in as many new immigrants as we did. The answer is that things probably would have been a whole lot worse for us as a whole, and we can’t ignore that while trying to look for blame for the current situation.

Ukraine Dispatch

A top Ukrainian commander says that they now control as much as a thousand square kilometres of territory in Kursk, while Putin vows a “worthy response.” There are concerns by Ukraine’s state security service that Russia is trying to falsely accuse them of war crimes as part of the operation. Here is a good look at the Kursk operation, its goals and the future options that will need to be weighed in terms of what Ukraine does next.

Good reads:

  • At a Goodyear plant expansion announcement in Napanee, Justin Trudeau called out Poilievre’s concern for the auto sector as “baloney” while defending investments.
  • Trudeau urged Canadians in Lebanon to get out now, and said that they are taking the internal review of the immigration of a terror suspect “extremely seriously.”
  • Arif Virani said that the new Chief Human Rights Commissioner is stepping down after the external review found he wasn’t upfront about online aliases when vetted.
  • Sean Fraser announced $6.7 million for two different programmes in Nova Scotia to help house homeless veterans.
  • Environment Canada says that climate change is driving heat waves, wildfires and hurricanes, and we need to be prepared for more of them.
  • The Star talks to a number of economists about the government’s response to inflation, and how much their fiscal policy had anything to do with it coming down.
  • Oh noes! CBC paid out $18.4 million in bonuses that they were contractually obligated to while they cut staff (while Conservatives shed crocodile tears).
  • The Quebec Liberal Party’s policy commission is proposing the province create its own written constitution as an “affirmation” gesture.
  • The Star has the tale of a massive collective punishment—to the point of torture—inside an Ontario prison by guards after an incident where a guard was attacked.
  • Martin Patriquin looks at how Quebec has managed to start building housing faster than other provinces, for reasons Pierre Poilievre continues to ignore.

Odds and ends:

My Loonie Politics Quick Take looks at the attempts to involve the minister in the Status of Women committee imbroglio, and why that’s a very bad thing.

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