Roundup: GST “holiday” bill passes

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The federal government got their wish, with the cooperation of the NDP, to get their GST “holiday” bill through the House of Commons thanks to a programming motion that paused the ongoing privilege filibuster for the sitting day. In spite of the Bloc and Conservatives slow-walking it with dilatory amendments, it did pass late at night, with the terms of the motion being that once it passed second reading vote, it would automatically be deemed to have been referred to committee of the whole and passed, and then passed at third reading. (The Senate won’t see it until Tuesday at the earliest). It’s the first opportunity the Commons has had to do real work in more than six weeks, for what it’s worth. The Liberals and NDP, however, think they’ve found a big gotcha, that by forcing the Conservatives to vote against this legitimately terrible policy will be the key to reversing their fortunes in the polls, and their attempts remain cringe-worthy.

Pierre Poilievre took to the microphones to denounce it as “inflationary,” which is actually nonsense because we’re no longer in an overheated economy. Nevertheless, he relies on the simplistic notion that any government spending or deficits are inflationary (and claims that Chrystia Freeland herself this, which isn’t really what she said—not that the truth has ever mattered to Poilievre). Then again, his entire understanding of economics comes from crypto bros on YouTube, so probably best not to take him seriously. It’s still a terrible policy, however, so their opposition to it somewhat accidentally puts them on the right side of the issue, even if the reasons are entirely false and misleading (but broken clocks being right twice a day, and all of that).

As for the implementation of this terrible policy, it just looks even worse as the details emerge. What counts and what doesn’t for the rebate are all over the map, and it’s so chaotic that businesses are, quite rightly, frustrated at just how much work it’s going to be to implement for those two months. None of this should have happened, and the Liberals should have come up with a better measure than this (and rubbed the NDP’s faces in their own ill-conceived GST cut plan), but here we are, and it just keeps getting worse by the day. Well done, guys. Slow clap.

Ukraine Dispatch

Russia fired another nearly 200 missiles and drones, targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure to leave more than a million people without power. Fragments from downed drones hit two buildings in Kyiv, injuring one person.

Good reads:

  • In case you needed a reminder of how certain premiers are undermining the fight against the Trump tariff threats, the Star has you covered.
  • Bill Blair told a national Indigenous defence conference that the future of the military depends on strengthening relationships with Indigenous people.
  • Blair also says that DND and the Forces are “exempt” from further spending cuts.
  • The government has essentially abandoned its pledge to deal with ending criminalization for HIV non-disclosure as they can’t prioritize it.
  • The military is trying to fast-track the acquisition of a short-range air defence battery for our troops in Latvia, before focusing on more ground-based air defences.
  • The Logic got access to an internal Canadian Forces report about how precarious their IT is, when an upgrade knocked out mobile emails for more than eight hours.
  • The Competition Bureau has begun legal action against Google, with the aim of breaking up their monopoly in the digital ad-tech space.
  • Canada Post has started laying off striking workers, in spite of that being in contravention of the Canada Labour Code.
  • Different Indigenous groups are fighting over the plan to transition open-net salmon farms to land-based facilities, including how much it could cost governments.
  • Danielle Smith is taking the revised federal Impact Assessment Act to court, claiming it still strays too far into provincial jurisdiction.
  • Amidst her boot-licking, Smith also says that she’s still working out her border plan with Montana to capitulate to Trump’s demands.
  • Mike Moffatt calls out Ontario as being uniquely terrible when it comes to dealing with the housing crisis as other provinces step up.
  • Susan Delacourt contrasts the response to the Trump threats by both Doug Ford and Poilievre (though I’m not wholly convinced by her characterisation of Ford).

Odds and ends:

The Appeal Court decision was so clean, straightforward, that I hope the SCC is taking this on mostly to endorse it. I won't think highly of any judges adopting the trial court's incoherent logic.

— Emmett Macfarlane (@emmettmacfarlane.com) 2024-11-28T14:52:13.594Z

Need a copy of my book “The Unbroken Machine,” or “Royal Progress,” which I contributed to? Want to give a copy as a gift? Dundurn Press is having a 25% off site wide sale!

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2024-11-18T23:53:05.945Z

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