Roundup: Gould’s stumble of a first proposal

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Liberal leadership candidate Karina Gould made a policy announcement in Ottawa yesterday, and it was…not great. Gould says she’s serious about tackling cost-of-living challenges, so she wants to give a one-year GST cut, and to pay for it by increasing the corporate tax rate for businesses making over $500 million in profit in one year. That sound you’re hearing is every economist in this country crying out in anguish.

It’s just so needlessly dumb, and you would have thought that Gould might have paid attention to what an absolute fiasco the HST “holiday” has been, and how her fellow Cabinet ministers debased themselves to sell it to the public. It’s also giving shades of Stephen Harper circa 2006, and how that government increased income taxes to pay for the first GST cut, and then spent through the surplus they inherited to give a second cut, which permanently hampered the fiscal capacity of the federal government (which was Harper’s plan). And reducing it for one year? So that you face the blowback of the tax going back up? Seriously? I get that Gould is trying to break through the noise around Mark Carney, but come on. There are plenty of economists whom she could consult with, who would gladly give her the time of day and to explain these things to her, but she decided to go with the same kinds of populist stunts that the Conservatives and NDP run on, while ignoring the notion that the Liberals have been the party doing the sensible policies in spite of them being less popular (such as the carbon levy) because it’s the right thing to do. It’s a disappointing first move by Gould out of the gate.

In a related note, Jaime Battiste has dropped out of the race, and will be backing Carney instead. Battiste was a marginal candidate to begin with, so this move isn’t really a surprise, as much as he wanted to be a First Nations candidate in the race, there just wasn’t a viable path forward for it.

Ukraine Dispatch

A Russian drone hit an apartment building in Sumy overnight Wednesday, killing at least six people. Aid groups in Ukraine are scrambling to compensate after the Americans suddenly cut funding to their programming.

Good reads:

  • Trump, still incoherent, says tariffs start this Saturday, may or may not include oil, and will start and 25 percent and may go up or down, and it’s all just flailing.
  • Mark Holland called out Jagmeet Singh for being in such a rush to have an election when they haven’t managed to get all of the provinces to sign onto pharmacare.
  • Gary Anandasangaree named a new chief advisor on human trafficking.
  • Sources™ say that the government is looking to reverse course on the capital gains changes (because apparently tax arbitrage should continue to be a-okay).
  • There are questions about the future of the proposed high-frequency/high-speed rail line between Toronto and Montreal, given the political instability.
  • NATO members, including Canada, are rushing to purchase drones capable of operating in the Arctic (as the cold kills batteries).
  • Possible funding caps for contracted Crown attorneys may have led to some drug charges being stayed or withdrawn, and police chiefs are trying to cast blame.
  • The federal accessibility commissioner has resigned after a legal battle over allegations that he mistreated staff, which he says were unfounded.
  • Jenica Atwin says she’s leaving politics because of the amount of hate she receives.
  • Former Liberal MP Robert-Falcon Ouellette was named the Canadian Forces’ first Indigenous Knowledge Keeper (and got promoted from warrant officer to captain).
  • Jagmeet Singh wants Parliament summoned to pass measures to respond to Trump, but still says he’s going to vote non-confidence at the end of March.
  • Danielle Smith’s latest genius idea is a joint NORAD base in the north, because inviting Americans to set up shop on our soil is really asserting our sovereignty.
  • Alberta is finally getting on board with $15/day child care rather than a subsidy programme, but they make it sound like it’s entirely their own idea.
  • The Alberta government cut funding for a gambling support network, as they work on expanding access to online gambling in the province (because they’re ghouls).
  • Andrew Potter offers a reminder that Canadian sovereignty wasn’t bestowed upon us, it was something we worked toward, and that we need to keep working on it.
  • Matt Gurney suggests that fixing Canada Post in the next two months would send a signal that the government is able to do the things necessary to fight Trump.

Odds and ends:

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