The Cabinet retreat has wrapped, and there is no big announcement on housing policy other than to say that they know there’s not one silver bullet that will solve the housing challenges, so that means more work. Pierre Poilievre dutifully summoned reporters to the Foyer in the West Block to mock the lack of action and decry “What was the solution? More speeches, more photo ops…” And then he demanded that Parliament be recalled so that they can “take action” on housing, but without a legislative proposal, all this would mean is a take-note debate, which would be a bunch of twenty-minute speeches being read into the record. You know, exactly the thing that he was mocking Trudeau about. So that’s consistent.
Poilievre: Toronto wasn’t a housing bubble until Trudeau!
My dude, look at the @macleans archives. Every fifth issue was about the housing bubble.— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) August 23, 2023
Meanwhile, the debate about international students is picking up, with the government seems to want to deal with the problem of dubious private colleges at the same time, even though they don’t really make a dent in the housing crisis, and leads to problems of just how the federal government determines legitimacy (which is a provincial responsibility), and there a host of other problems with the programme that they may not have the capacity to deal with. Limiting international students could have other, longer-term repercussions, as they are quite easy to stream into permanent residency, and good for Canada in the long run—but again, there are problems in the system as it is.
With that in mind, Alex Usher’s thread has concerns about how the federal government could mess things up, while Mike Moffatt’s thread offers suggestions for things the federal government could do (or in several cases, undo) to relieve the pressure. This all having been said, a bit part of the problem here is that provinces have cut or frozen funding to these institutions, and limiting international students will be a huge financial blow to them, and that should be addressed somehow.
1/ The real problem with the federal approach to student visas/housing is that if you listen to them, it's genuinely unclear what problem they think they are trying to solve. This is going to lead to some truly crap policy-making.
— Alex Usher (@AlexUsherHESA) August 23, 2023
https://twitter.com/MikePMoffatt/status/1694317541559066707
Ukraine Dispatch:
Russians targeted Ukrainian grain facilities with drone attacks, destroying some 13,000 tons of grain at the Danube port of Izmail, while Ukrainians claim to have taken out a Russian air defence system in occupied Crimea with a drone attack of their own. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hosted an international meeting about liberating Crimea from Russian control. And how to go about doing so.
This is the principle that must be at the foundation of international relations. Human life is priceless. Equally priceless is international law which ensures the protection of human life.
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) August 23, 2023
13,000 tons of grain were destroyed last night as a result of the eighth consecutive russian drone kamikaze attack on the infrastructure at the port of Izmail.
Several private grain terminals and warehouses, as well as cargo infrastructure, suffered damage. The agricultural… pic.twitter.com/LYHiXaOw1v
— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) August 23, 2023
Whoever took the more unlikely “plane crash” in the pool, as opposed to defenestration, Novichok or polonium, please collect your winnings. https://t.co/s0Mp53yTXx
— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) August 23, 2023