Roundup: Leadership hopefuls straying into provincial territory

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It’s practically an iron law of Canadian politics that the longer a federal leadership contest runs, the more likely they are to start dipping into areas of provincial jurisdiction. With the NDP, well, that’s a given because they refuse to understand the very notion that federalism exists and you can’t just wave away jurisdictional boundaries with “political willpower” (aka Green Lantern Theory), but the Liberals are all pretty much at it right now with their various campaigns.

Chrystia Freeland proposed a plan to give incentives for Canadian-trained doctors and nurses to come home, with a big bonus and a promise to get credential recognition “within 30 days.” I’m not quite sure how this is supposed to work because the federal government doesn’t pay doctors and nurses (except in cases where they are working with Indigenous Services for First Nations and Inuit facilities), and credentials recognition is run by provincial professional colleges, where the federal government has no particular sway, so I’m not sure how she plans to make that happen. As well, most provinces have not done the necessary things to attract and retain doctors and nurses, such as properly increasing their compensation, or reforming how they bill the system, so it’s hard to see how the incentives are in place for them to be tempted by her one-time bonus.

Mark Carney wants to incentivise prefabricated and modular homes…but won’t give any details on how, that would happen. And yes, housing is primarily a provincial responsibility, so again, I’m not sure just what mechanism he wants to use for said promotion.

Karina Gould proposed both reforms to EI, which her government has been sitting on for years (and yes, I know people who were working on said project years ago), and also promised to a “path” toward basic income, which is hugely problematic at the federal level because most social services are delivered by the provinces, and it’s incredibly complex to try and figure out the various supports at different levels. The BC government had an expert panel report on how to make it happen, and their ultimate recommendation was not to proceed with a basic income, but to enhance existing supports because often they are better targeted for people with complex needs. Gould seems to have ignored this research, and even more disappointing was that the CP story about Gould’s proposal talked about the NDP private members’ bill and the Senate public bill which called for a “framework” for basic income, but those bills couldn’t actually make it happen. They were empty because those kinds of bills can’t spend money, and would simply have been moral suasion. Unfortunately, progressives have consistently ignored the research on basic incomes, because it’s a solution in search of problems that they are desperate to try, and if Gould wants “evidence-based” policy, this is not it.

Ukraine Dispatch

Russians launched 140 drones against Ukraine overnight Wednesday, and strikes damaged port facilities in Izmail, while two of the drones landed in neighbouring Moldova. Ukrainian drones hit Russia’s Andreapol oil pumping station, starting a fire. President Zelenskyy appeared to have visited near the front lines at Pokrovsk, praising the good work of the soldiers there. Zelenskyy also said that he would not accept any bilateral “peace deal” that the US reaches with Russia in which Ukraine is not a participant.

https://twitter.com/ukraine_world/status/1890070620504985845

Good reads:

  • Justin Trudeau spoke with Syria’s interim president yesterday, in spite of the fact that he leads a group considered to be a terrorist organisation under Canadian law.
  • Trump’s latest spasm is to call for “reciprocal tariffs” by April, but that would likely count things like value-added taxes like GST/HST as a “tariff” (which it’s not).
  • There is new data from CBSA on the amount of drugs and guns coming over our border from the US (in spite of Trump’s complaints about us).
  • There is uncertainty over the future of the Inuit Child First Initiative, given that it is scheduled to expire on March 31st unless the Supplementary Estimates get passed.
  • The federal government is reforming the process for First Nations funding requests under Jordan’s Principle given questionable requests being made.
  • The Federal Court held hearings on the prorogation challenge yesterday.
  • The Liberal Party won’t let Ruby Dhalla have a translator for the French debate.
  • Pierre Poilievre apparently has no real plans to change course in spite of the fact that many of his policies and pronouncements are just reheated MAGA nonsense.
  • Doug Ford “jokingly” called for the return of the death penalty at an event.
  • David Eby is cancelling his promised $1000 “grocery rebate” and has started a hiring freeze in order to any Trump-related economic chaos.
  • Christina Pagel tabulates the chaotic actions of the Trump administration over the past three weeks and organizes them according to the authoritarian playbook.
  • Anne Applebaum calls out what Musk and “DOGE” are doing as regime change.
  • Stephen Saideman remarks on Trump’s moves around pulling out of being any kind of security guarantor in Europe, and why that is a blow to NATO.
  • Paul Wells talks to Citizen Lab founder Ron Deibert on his work around detecting surveillance, the culture around it, and the effect of rattling powerful cages.
  • My Xtra column looks at how Doug Ford’s re-election bid is predicated on false promises of protection, when he will undermine the rights of minorities.

Odds and ends:

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2 thoughts on “Roundup: Leadership hopefuls straying into provincial territory”

  1. I wonder if provincial standards for medical credentials will be addressed with trade barrier discussions.

    • Maybe, but that one’s not up to the premiers. Professional colleges are self-regulating. What provinces can do are things like funding more residency spaces so that foreign trained doctors can complete a residency in their province at the earliest opportunity.

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