Roundup: Clutched pearls over a paper move

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Because everything is stupid, the Conservatives spent the whole day screaming, both at a media availability and over social media, that Mark Carney “lied” about his involvement with Brookfield Asset Management relocating their headquarters to New York, and tried to tie this to Trump inviting companies to relocate to the US. This is something that the Conservatives have been howling about for months, but they claim that there is “proof” now that Carney “lied” because his timeline of events doesn’t match up. And maybe he was wrong, but this has pretty much been a non-story from the start, because this was largely a paper move to their pre-existing New York office in order to get access to the New York Stock Exchange, while their parent company remains headquartered in Toronto. It’s not an actual scandal, but the Conservatives have been ginning up faux-outrage over Carney for two years now, and this is just the latest example.

But I can’t get over the fact that every single Conservative has been lining up to declare that Carney “lied,” when pretty much every single member of that party has been lying about everything under the sun for years now, because they know they can get away with it. The fact that someone like Andrew Scheer isn’t bursting into flames over the abused irony of him of all people trying to call Carney a liar is just too much. It’s not just projection—it’s a complete lack of self-awareness that they lie so much about everything (especially things they don’t actually need to lie about!) that they don’t even realise that they’re doing it anymore, and then they start running for their fainting couches over this absolute non-issue. Unbelievable.

The Conservatives have also taken to calling Carney “sneaky,” and claiming that he’s hiding the truth about his assets, and whether this business activities were benefitting from his advising the government. But as this fact-check explains, he is under no obligation to comply with conflict-of-interest laws because he is not yet a public office holder, but if he does win the contest and becomes prime minister, lo, he will be subject to the disclosures. Again, this is just more faux outraged being ginned up, and making the Conservatives look like they are desperate.

Ukraine Dispatch

The overnight attack on the Kyiv region overnight Tuesday killed two and damaged energy facilities. Russia claims that it retook two settlements in the Kursk region, as more North Korean troops arrive. Ukraine’s drones have hit Russia’s Tuapse oil refinery. Ukraine’s prime minister says a preliminary agreement has been reached with the Americans on an economic deal that includes access to rare earth minerals.

Good reads:

  • Trump’s tariff threats could be postponed again, but there are so many threats now it’s hard to keep track of which ones are threatening and when.
  • Arif Virani ordered a new trial for a man convicted of murder in 1991, based on reasonable evidence that there was a miscarriage of justice.
  • Here is some reaction to the threats of removing Canada from the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing partnership.
  • Maclean’s has an interview with Chief of Defence Staff, General Jennie Carignan.
  • The Privacy Commissioner is investigating Twitter’s use of personal data to train its AI models.
  • First Nations chiefs in Ontario voted overwhelmingly in favour of the child welfare reform deal offered by the federal government.
  • CBC fact-checks that no, you can’t strip Elon Musk of his citizenship (and that this was a stunt by Charlie Angus).
  • A lot of LGBTQ+ Americans are looking to come to Canada, but it’s not as easy as they may think, and they can’t claim refugee status.
  • The Supreme Court of Canada will no longer post on Twitter.
  • Voting for the Liberal leadership is now underway (and it’s a ranked ballot).
  • Anita Anand sounds like she might run again after all, provided that Mark Carney wins the leadership race.
  • Still trying to look tough, Jagmeet Singh says that Trump is a fascist and should be banned from Canada (given the upcoming G7 meeting).
  • The search teams at the Manitoba landfill may have found human remains.
  • Scott Moe says that pipelines that cross Saskatchewan are “pre-approved,” but those pipelines would be federal jurisdiction, so this is just a stupid stunt.
  • Philippe Lagassé considers three worst-case scenarios with the US’ attacks on our sovereignty that we need to prepare for.
  • Colby Cosh points out just how much trouble the Americans are in because of Trump’s decision to tariff aluminium.

Odds and ends:

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