Day twenty, and it was a pretty quiet day in terms of announcements, where both the Conservatives and NDP just repackaged their existing promises. Mark Carney was in Ottawa to meet with his Canada-US Cabinet committee, and didn’t make any announcements, and had very limited media availability. When he did speak, Carney warned that global economies were slowing because of the US tariffs, and said that part of the meeting was about giving instructions to officials for preparing for negotiations with Trump post-election, whoever forms/retains government.

Pierre Poilievre was in St. Catharines, Ontario, where he repackaged his announcements to date and called them the Canada First Economic Action Plan™, because he decided that what he really needed a Harper-esque branding. He later put out a release about making banks recognise skilled trade apprenticeships to be able to put RESPs toward. He also declared that a Conservative government wouldn’t legislate restrictions on abortion (but I suspect there is a truck-sized loophole to that promise around private members’ bills about the rights of the unborn or some other chicanery which would get an ostensible free vote), and rejected Kory Teneycke’s assessment of “campaign malpractice.” Poilievre will be back in Ottawa today, and making an announcement in Nepean.

Jagmeet Singh was in Ottawa at the Broadbent Centre’s Progress Summit, where he packaged his recycled policy ideas to date as protecting “what makes Canada, Canada.” Singh will be in Timmins, Ontario, this evening.

In other campaign news, here is a comparison of the Liberal and Conservative policies on criminal justice. The CBC decided to start fact-checking crowd size claims at Liberal and Conservative events using crowd science experts, and they are both over-reporting (though the Conservatives are doing so much more egregiously).

Ukraine Dispatch

The Ukrainian parliament looks to extend martial law powers, which pushes back the possibility of new elections. The Americans’ special envoy on peace negotiations with Russia wants Ukraine to give up four regions that Russia only partially occupies, which Ukraine is rejecting.

Good reads:

• The Privy Council Office has been recommending more regular “intelligence-informed” briefings for all party leaders…provided they get their clearance.
• Here is a profile of Diana Fox Carney, who went from daughter of a pig farmer in rural England to wife of Canada’s prime minister.
• There are questions about how friendly Peter Yuen, who replaced Paul Chiang as candidate in Markham, is with the Chinese regime.
• Jason Kenney says a “small minority” of crybaby separatists shouldn’t dominate the political agenda. Gee, I wonder which leader empowered those voices in particular?
• The Alberta government is warning Alberta Health Services employees to lawyer up before talking to the Auditor General as he investigates their latest scandal.
• Steve Saideman remarks on loyalty versus professionalism, and why that is now the choice facing the military in the US as Trump accumulates more power.
• Shannon Proudfoot posits that Poilievre has become stuck in the trap of relying on his greatest hits rather than risking new materials.

Odds and ends:

For National Magazine, I look into how prepared Canada is to deal with electoral interference coming not from China or India, but from the likes of Elon Musk.

Want more Routine Proceedings? Become a patron and get exclusive new content.