Conservative MP Chris Warkentin has put a question on the Order Paper asking whether a number of economists have received any government contracts, and for any information about those contracts if they have been the recipient. While Stephen Gordon responds for himself below, it was also noted that all of the economists listed (who include names like Kevin Milligan, Andrew Leach, and Mike Moffatt) are all male, which I’m sure is just a coincidence and not indicative of a mentality that they think there’s no such thing as a “lady economist.”
But if you must know – and apparently you do – I did receive a couple of contracts (~10k$ each) from Finance while Stephen Harper was PM. One project was on estimating the effects of corporate income taxes, the other on estimating capital depreciation rates.
— Stephen Gordon (@stephenfgordon) May 24, 2024
This having been said, I think it’s important to point out that what Warkentin is doing here, on behalf of the party, is directly out of the authoritarian playbook. Number one of the seven key tactics in that playbook are to politicise independent institutions (and university academics would qualify), while number four on that list is about quashing dissent, and many of these names are economists who signed onto that open letter about the value of carbon pricing (which, to reiterate, was not defending the Liberal policy because it’s not actually carbon pricing, but a carbon levy plus regulation and subsidies). The Order Paper question is a shot across the bow that they are looking for anything to discredit these economists as partisan hacks whose expertise can be discounted for that reason. It’s about as subtle as a ham-fist, but they don’t care because they’re riding high in the polls. That doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t be alive to what they’re doing, because it absolutely matters.
Ukraine Dispatch:
A missile strike in Kharkiv has killed at least seven civilians, as the Russian assault continues. Russians have also taken control of the village of Andriivka, southwest of Bakhmut. Russian jamming has also prevented many of Ukraine’s newer glide bombs from hitting their intended targets.
❗️ Consequences of the #Russian massive missile attack on the Osnovianskyi district of #Kharkiv.
According to updated information, as of now, 7 people have been killed. The targeted enterprise was a civilian printing house.
The city and Oblast have been on air alert for more… pic.twitter.com/ImDlCP1JEk
— UkraineWorld (@ukraine_world) May 23, 2024
Russian troops are “completely bogged down” in street battles for the town of Vovchansk; Ukraine’s military intelligence agency confirmed that it was behind a drone attack targeting Russian military facilities in Russia’s Tatarstan Republic; and more.https://t.co/dPUnExqk6V
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) May 23, 2024