Roundup: The relationship with the US has ended

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Day five of the election campaign, and two of the three leaders changed their plans in response to Trump’s tariff announcement—the Conservatives did not, and they can’t pivot because they don’t have media on their plane who can follow them if they have to change plans to respond to events, which is all the more reason why they never should have left them off.

Mark Carney returned to Ottawa to meet with his Canada-US Cabinet committee, and call several premiers including Doug Ford, before addressing the media. There were no campaign announcements today, and said that retaliatory measures will be announced next week when more tariffs are supposed to be coming from Trump, but his remarks were stark, and have been blowing up across a segment of American media—that the relationship we used to have of deepening economic integration and cooperation on security and defence is now over. That’s going to mean a significant retooling of our economy for “strategic economic autonomy,” and that this will be difficult, with no silver bullet. That also means shifting the auto sector for more global trade, which is apparently part of what he discussed with union leaders yesterday, so we’ll see if we get more details about what that could mean. Carney did say that Trump’s office has reached out to talk, so that will likely happen in a couple of days. Afterward, he headed to Montreal for a rally, and today, he plans to have an emergency virtual meeting with the first ministers.

Pierre Poilievre was in Surrey, BC, and his daily announcement was about raising the TFSA limit so long as it was tied to Canadian funds—but he made it sound like government would top-up funds (they won’t), it really only benefits those who can add another $5000 to these accounts, and more to the point, it adds a bunch of bureaucratic reporting mechanisms to prove the funds are Canadian. (Sounds like someone is adding red tape!) He did have a message to Trump to “knock it off,” which was weak and too late, but he keeps talking in terms that the relationship can simply go back to what it was if the tariffs get called off, when it can’t. Democracy has died in the US. There is no ability to trust this administration, and probably the next one. He is off to Nanaimo, BC, today.

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Jagmeet Singh, having pivoted his campaign stop, went to Windsor to announce his plan for entirely Canadian-made cars, and that he’d waive the GST on Canadian-made autos. The promise is likely impossible because supply chains were integrated for a reason, and we have too small of a market to support a purely domestic auto market (and cue all the jokes about Canadian Ladas). He is headed back to Toronto today.

In other election news, former Conservative strategist Kory Teneycke ripped Poilievre a new asshole at an Empire Club event on Wednesday about Poilievre’s inability to meet the moment in the campaign, which was why his poll numbers are tanking, and why he is heading for defeat—particularly because Poilievre has adopted way too many Trump habits to appeal to a certain segment of voters he wants to keep on-side. This as Doug Ford’s personal pollster has made it known that Poilievre’s numbers are grim in Ontario.

Ukraine Dispatch

Russia launched 86 drones plus a missile overnight Wednesday, which sparked fires and injured 21 people in Kharkiv, while shelling in Kherson killed two and damaged power supplies, in contravention of the supposed partial “ceasefire.” Russian forces have also been stepping up attacks on Sumy region. Putin wants a “temporary administration” to allow for elections in Ukraine to end the war, when all that needs to happen for him to end it is to simply send his soldiers home.

https://twitter.com/ukraine_world/status/1905252833827364873

Good reads:

  • Here is a deep dive into the accusations being lobbed at Mark Carney about his time at Brookfield, and why most of them are spurious or in bad faith.
  • Some automakers are suggesting that the 25 percent tariffs could shut down production in the industry within two weeks.
  • The former general who recommended the F-35s now says we should scrap the deal because the Americans are no longer trustworthy partners. (It may be too late).
  • The King had to be in hospital for observation as a result of side-effects from his ongoing cancer treatment.
  • The Liberals have recruited Mandy Gull-Masty, Grand Chief of the Cree Nation Government in Quebec, to run in Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou.
  • It has been noticed that Poilievre’s pledge to scrap the CBC has thus-far been absent from his campaign rhetoric.
  • Scott Moe’s plan to “pause” the industrial carbon price in his province blows a fiscal hole in his budget. (I still fail to see how said “pause” is legal).
  • Here is more about PragerU, whose fundraiser Danielle Smith is attending at a secret location..
  • Charlie Sykes and Anne Applebaum discuss the groupchat scandal, how this ties into the authoritarian playbook, and what it’s like to watch democracy die in America.
  • Matt Gurney goes into why it has always been unwise for Poilievre to refuse a security clearance, especially for moments like this week.
  • Paul Wells tasks Kaleigh Rogers with giving us the landscape from south of the border, where Americans aren’t thinking much about the threats to Canada.
  • Susan Delacourt remarks how Trump’s attacks give Carney more opportunities to look prime ministerial, to Poilievre’s detriment.
  • Justin Ling looks back at the rise of Conservative polling sentiment, and Kory Teneycke’s assessment of why it crashed.
  • Emmett Macfarlane calls out the party leaders for offering tax breaks instead of adult conversations on sacrifice and collective action needed in the new reality.

Odds and ends:

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