Roundup: Delusions about Canadian defence industry capabilities

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On Sunday, following NDP leader Jagmeet Singh’s trip to Nunavut, he released an Arctic sovereignty and defence policyin a bit of pre-election posturing. The actual Arctic sovereignty stuff was reasonably fine, which mostly involves better investments in Northern and Inuit communities, but the defence part? Hoo boy. To start off, it was poorly worded in talking about “repatriating” the F-35 contract to “build the jets” in Canada, but it wasn’t immediately clear if he thought they could build the F-35s in Canada (nope), or if it meant restarting the entire process for selecting a new fighter, which again, isn’t really possible at this stage as the CF-18s are at the absolute end of their lifespan, and we can’t just turn procurements off on a dime.

As Philippe Lagassé explains, yes, we need to pivot away from American platforms, but that needs to be done in a managed and methodical way that is going to take years, and the NDP need to realise this (and so, frankly, to the Liberals given the kinds of crazy things all of the leadership contenders were saying during their debates). But seriously, guys, you can’t just claim we’ll meet all of our military obligations with Canadian industries alone. That’s not even wishful thinking—it’s full-on delusion. You may think that Bombardier’s vapourware promises sound great, because Canadian jobs, but when they can’t deliver? Those are some pretty hefty consequences to face.

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Carbon levy gaslighting

In amidst a bunch of “trutherism” about the document that Mark Carney signed on Friday to zero out the consumer carbon levy (for which they published an extra edition of the Canada Gazette to enact), the Conservative continue to insist that Carney is just going to raise it back up after an election, which seems to be admitting that he’s going to win, which is kind of funny.

Meanwhile, the Liberals are doing themselves no favours by spending the weekend praising Carney for “getting it done” in ending their own signature environmental policy. And Liberal MPs were all over social media patting themselves on the back for “listening to Canadians,” and making up outright Orwellian excuses for defeating their own gods damned policy. And then their supporters were in my replies offering up straight-up revisionist history about the carbon price and trying to blame it on Stephen Harper, I shit you not. I really, really not appreciate being gaslit about your stupid political moves, especially when they refuse to own why it became so divisive, particularly when they refused to properly explain or defend their own policies.

Ukraine Dispatch

Russian drones hit a high-rise building in Chernihiv. Contrary to the Russian propaganda that Trump has been reading, Ukrainian troops in Kursk region are not encircled, even though the Russians are pushing forward to move Ukrainian troops from the region.

Good reads:

  • Mark Carney walked in Montreal’s St. Patrick’s Day parade (in a suit and tie) before getting on a plane for Paris for his first European engagements.
  • Carney will also have his first audience with the King of Canada as prime minister later today.
  • François-Philippe Champagne promises to be a “hawk” as finance minister.
  • Ambassador Hillman says Carney is looking forward to a call with Trump “as soon as possible,” but that is likely going to be after his trip to Europe.
  • Here is a look at how the RCMP and CBSA have been ramping up border measures.
  • Royal watchers in Canada are convinced the Royal Family has been making subtle nods in support of Canada in recent weeks.
  • Word has it that Carney has been reaching out to former conservatives and New Democrats to run for the Liberals (which I have reservations on the repercussions).
  • The consumer carbon levy now lifted, Danielle Smith is going to grouse about the industrial carbon price.
  • Kevin Carmichael points to the need for political leaders to rebuild trust if they want to also have success in rebuilding the economy, as the two are linked.
  • Dan Gardner looks for an academic definition of fascism (which doesn’t have the same underpinning as Marx), and finds one and how it applies to Trump.
  • Jared Wesley constructs the basis of what modern “western alienation” looks like with a sense of grievance and decline (that dips into roots of fascism).
  • Armine Yalnizyan offers three suggestions for dealing with the trade war, including the sale of Victory Bonds like in the past world wars.
  • Shannon Proudfoot contrasts Justin Trudeau’s Cabinet swearing-in versus Carney’s, and the messages each sends.

Odds and ends:

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