Roundup: A promise to waste millions of dollars

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There are a lot of stupid, performative things being said right now, particularly in those three provincial elections, but one of the dumbest yesterday was courtesy of incumbent New Brunswick premier Blaine Higgs, who promised that if re-elected, he will mount a new legal challenge of the federal carbon levy. And to make that worse, several Conservative MPs picked that up and declared during Question Period that the challenge was already underway (it’s not), as though it were a devastating argument for their demands to “axe the tax” or to call an election.

Higgs’ promise is premised entirely on bullshit. There is no basis for him to mount a new challenge because nothing about the programme has changed since the Supreme Court of Canada already ruled that it’s constitutional and within the powers of the federal government, particularly because of the existential challenge that climate change poses to Canadians. The fact that the price is increasing or that we have been though a bout of higher inflation—which has already stabilised and returned to target, and for which the carbon levy did not actually cause any of said inflation because that’s not how inflation works—don’t change any of the legal bases or arguments around the levy. And because the Supreme Court of Canada has already ruled, any lower court that Higgs tries to mount a new challenge in is going to tell him to go pound sand.

Higgs is essentially promising to waste hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees, because you know that when the courts tell him to go pound sand, they’ll also tell him to reimburse the legal costs of the federal government because they wasted everyone’s time and money in bringing such a frivolous suit in the first place. But there is a political calculus, particularly on the right, where they are prepared to waste millions of dollars in doomed legal challenges because they think that it’s good electoral calculus to show that you’re fighting. Federally, Conservatives have made this argument a number of times when the government didn’t pursue doomed appeals and just made changes, and no doubt Higgs figures that this will work the same way for him. But then again, I guess they’re not bothered by the cognitive dissonance of “we need to balance the budget” and “we need to waste millions of dollars on a doomed legal crusade,” because that might require introspection or self-awareness, both of which are in incredibly short supply in politics these days.

Pretty much all of #cdnpoli. It's really hard to be optimistic about any of it right now.

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2024-10-01T14:21:44.377Z

Ukraine Dispatch

Six civilians were killed and more wounded when Russian artillery struck a bus stop in Kherson. Russian troops have also reached the centre of Vuhledar, a Ukrainian bastion in the strategic high ground of the Donbas region, which is significant because of where it borders and the supply routes it controls. Ukraine is also investigating an apparent shooting of sixteen POWS by Russian troops.

Good reads:

  • Chrystia Freeland announced that small businesses will receive five years’ worth of carbon rebates in December, as well as a revised code of conduct for payments.
  • Mélanie Joly has “unequivocally” condemned Iran’s missile barrage at Israel, and continues to call for a ceasefire so the region doesn’t destabilise.
  • Joly also says that hundreds of Canadians in Lebanon have fled the country using government-booked flights.
  • Mark Miller says he has no idea what François Legault is talking about when he wants “waiting zones” for asylum seekers like France has.
  • The Information Commissioner has ruled that the DNA Identification Act doesn’t allow the RMCP to release a person’s own DNA record upon request.
  • The Foreign Interference inquiry heard from ethno-cultural media outlets who feel pressure from the governments of China and India particularly.
  • Senators released a report calling for more funding for medical residency spaces to help integrate foreign-trained doctors, which is 100% the domain of the provinces.
  • Garnett Genuis withdrew his “bathtub” remarks at the behest of the Speaker.
  • The Bloc spent yesterday pushing the government on pension changes as their Supply Day motion, and it doesn’t look like the government is going to budge.
  • A PC candidate in New Brunswick says that overturning the policy to protect trans youth is somehow comparable to residential schools because “parental rights.”
  • My column looks at the government’s talk about “generational fairness,” and the expectations being placed upon them, possibly unfairly given the issues at play.

Odds and ends:

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