Tag Archives: Service Canada

Roundup: Huffing those culture war fumes

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My absolute exasperation with the need to constantly import American culture war bullshit into Canadian politics continues to grow, as we see yet another example playing out in the House of Commons. This time, it’s opposition whip Kerry-Lynne Findlay using the far-right gotcha of “What is the definition of a woman,” in the hopes that the response is some kind of confused mess in order to include trans women in the definition of women.

This being said, I’m not surprised that it was Findlay, because she has a growing record of doing things like this, most especially when she was tweeting her concern about how Chrystia Freeland once interviewed George Soros when she was a journalist. Findlay was greatly alarmed by what she saw, and in case you’ve been living under a rock, the attacks on Soros are largely rooted in antisemitic tropes that date back to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Findlay has repeatedly shown that she hasn’t learned her lesson from that incident, and this latest one is more proof of that.

The panic over trans people continues to infiltrate the discourse in Canada. The Macdonald-Laurier Institute, a thinktank that initially billed itself as a centrist endeavour in the mode of the two pivotal prime ministers who helped build and shape the country as we know it, has increasingly been pulling further and further to the right, and adopting anti-trans rhetoric as part of their offerings, which is a little alarming (and people who are associated with the Institute should start distancing themselves the more this kind of bullshit takes hold). This is also in the context that CSIS is seeing threats coming from the “anti-gender” movement, and for a group like MLI to pander to those sentiments is irresponsible, and dangerous.

Ukraine Dispatch:

Russia launched one of its biggest air strikes against Ukrainian thermal power generation stations in weeks, causing blackouts throughout the country. A separate air attack hit a school stadium in Kharkiv. It was Victory Day in Russia, celebrating their victory in WWII, and it should be noted that they did not take Chasiv Yar like they were hoping to beforehand.

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QP: An exhausted slugging match over Ukraine

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The prime minister was present today, while his deputy was away doing pre-budget consultations. All other leaders were present as well, and it was the day where they decided it was going to be all about them. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, rattled off his slogans, and then worried about the increase in auto thefts, as though that wasn’t a policing issue at the provincial and municipal level. Justin Trudeau noted that the previous government cut budgets for policing and that his government has re-invested, that they’re working with provinces, and that Poilievre’s slogans won’t do anything. Poilievre insisted that they got better results for fewer dollars, and again blamed federal policies for this rise. Trudeau read from a script that they will be holding a national summit on the issue, and that they are getting results from investing in border officers. Poilievre switched to English to repeat his first question with added rhetorical flourish, and Trudeau dismissed Poilievre’s “whipping out empty slogans,” and reiterated the success of CBSA stopping more stolen cars from leaving the country. Poilievre quoted from the press release the government put out, and blamed the federal government for the rise. Trudeau reminded him that in 2015, Harper slashed funding for the RCMP and CBSA, and that he had to clean up the mess, before he got drowned out by the applause on his own side. Poilievre taunted that Trudeau was “losing control of himself” by screaming and yelling, before dismissing the notion of the auto theft summit. Trudeau shrugged off the attacks, said that they included facts in the release and that they were “rolling up their sleeves” to work with partners rather than just making political attacks.

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, and raised the pause on the MAiD extension, and wanted Quebec to be able to move ahead. Trudeau trotted out the line of this being a “deeply personal issue” and said that they were trying to find the right balance, and that they would be open to suggestions. Blanchet wanted advance directives to be allowed, and Trudeau reiterated that they were continuing to consider this issue.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and he tried to call out a Liberal MP for her remark about the housing crisis in Toronto, and wondered if the prime minister would listen to front line workers instead. Trudeau recited that they are working with partners and listed the actions they are taking. Singh switched to French to decry a woman being kicked out of her apartment and said that the government has the power to resolve the real estate crisis. (How? With a Green Lantern ring?) Trudeau repeated his same response in French.

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Roundup: The great passport meltdown

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It was the absolute dumbest of controversies, and yet what was apparently half of Canadian Twitter was having an absolute meltdown because the new passport designs were unveiled yesterday, and a) the Coat of Arms on the cover was moved off-centre, and b) the interior pages replaced images of moments of Canadian history with some generic, corporate stock art of nature and indistinct people. Never mind that nobody ever looks inside those pages, and that they are covered by the stamps of countries you are entering—it’s somehow “erasing history.”

https://twitter.com/ChrisGNardi/status/1656319387039592453

This particular kind of imagery had been intended for the last update, ten years ago, when the Conservatives instead decided to include these historical images, and were accused at the time of putting forward a very selective view of history that suited their political objectives. And no, you can’t just use the same interior art over again, because if not refreshed periodically, it becomes easier to forge. But seriously, this was the hill people are now wailing that they’ll die on, or be single-issue voters about? Seriously?

Politically, Pierre Poilievre led off Question Period on this, but does any single person believe that Poilievre actually cares about Canadian history even a tiny bit? No—this is just about getting clicks. And Justin Trudeau? Couldn’t even be bothered to own the decision or defend anything around it, which is just makes the whole day’s outrage even more maddening. Everyone needs to log off for a while.

https://twitter.com/sumtimw0ng/status/1656379566410158095

Ukraine Dispatch:

A Ukrainian unit says that they routed a Russian brigade near Bakhmut, which seems to have been confirmed by the Wagner Group mercenaries fighting for Russia. There are concerns that Russians occupying the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant are planning to relocate Ukrainian staff, which will leave a shortage of qualified personnel to operate the facility.

https://twitter.com/ukraine_world/status/1656224951261691904

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Roundup: We all got played on the Telford gambit

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Yesterday morning, we saw an exhausting series of manoeuvres that made the Liberals, the NDP and the Conservatives all pretend like they were playing 3D chess against one another, but it was none of that. First thing was that the Liberals released the final mandate of David Johnston in his role as special rapporteur on the allegations, and he has until May 23rdto make a recommendation around a public inquiry, and until October 31st for his final report (but I see the possibility for shenanigans if the recommendation for a public inquiry won’t actually be acted upon until the final report so that it can be fully informed, etc.) And if there is a recommendation for a public inquiry, Sikh organisations in this country want India to be included in any examination of foreign interference

In the meantime, Justin Trudeau said that no, the vote on the motion to send Katie Telford to committee wasn’t going to be a confidence measure (because frankly that would be stupid), and that they had decided to send Telford to the Procedure and House Affairs committee after weeks of filibustering to prevent it, just as Singh was announcing he would support the Conservative motion to bypass the filibuster by instructing the Ethics committee hear her testimony instead (which the Conservatives chair). This just blew up three weeks of trying to trying to prevent her from appearing under the principle of ministerial responsibility and not calling staffers to committee, because they didn’t have an end game for the filibuster, and we’re just going to throw centuries of Westminster parliamentary principles on the fire for the sake of scoring points—and that’s what this all is about. Scoring points, as the Liberals also used this as a test of their agreement with the NDP, which shook it.

And while all of this was taking place, Mark Holland got up in the House of Commons to apologise for misspeaking yesterday in saying that Pierre Poilievre was offered a briefing and declined it, but his confusion was that Poilievre had publicly stated he would refuse such a briefing on classified information. (Are you following?)

So while Jagmeet Singh spent the day insisting that he was the one who ended the filibuster (he wasn’t), the NDP their own procedural game they were trying to play, which was to force a concurrence debate and vote on the PROC report recommending a public inquiry into these interference allegations, but the Conservatives beat him to the punch and called for a concurrence debate on a different committee report, which just points out how nobody is actually taking this issue seriously. It’s a pissing contest and point-scoring. And at the end of this, the NDP voted against the Conservative Supply Day motion to send Telford to the Ethics committee, because it was now a moot point.

And in the end? We’ve torched more parliamentary principles and weakened our parliamentary system further, and Trudeau has spilled more blood in the water, which is only going to make things even worse because there is now a frenzy around him. The Conservatives and their bad faith politics have played all of us in this whole affair because this was never about Telford and her testimony, but merely trying to set a trap so they could claim a cover-up, and the Liberals walked right into it and flailed for weeks. We’ve set more bad precedents, and democracy is worse off than it was before, because everyone needed to score points instead of being adults over this whole situation. Everyone keeps making it worse, because they can’t help themselves. What a way to run a country.

Ukraine Dispatch:

Japan’s prime minister made an unannounced visit to Ukraine yesterday to meet with president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and to tour the massacre site at Bucha. Meanwhile, police in Avdiivka are trying to evacuate holdouts in the town, as Russian forces continue their attempts to encircle it.

https://twitter.com/gerashchenko_en/status/1638100893856944128

https://twitter.com/ukraine_world/status/1638272233054392327

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QP: Fighting to take credit for the Telford decision

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After a morning full of rapid-fire decisions around what was happening with Katie Telford heading to committee and David Johnston’s mandate being released, the prime minister was present, as were all other leaders. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, took credit for pressuring Trudeau to change his mind in letting Telford testify, and took a swipe at Johnston before demanding a public inquiry starting today. Justin Trudeau responded that this should’t be a partisan issue, which is why the appointed Johnston and were waiting for his recommendations. Poilievre switched to English to again take credit, and took several more swipes at Johnston before demanding a public inquiry right now. Trudeau repeated that this shouldn’t be a partisan issue which was why they appointed Johnston, and that they would abide by his recommendations while they moved forward on other measures. Poilievre then switched topics to inflation, blamed rising food prices on carbon prices (it’s not the cause) and demanded the planned increase be cancelled. Trudeau said that when he sat down with farmers, they underlined their real problems and leadership on climate change, before he listed climate rebates levels. Poilievre went on his usual talking points about carbon prices, and Trudeau listed how much the climate rebates were going up in Poilievre’s riding. Poilievre spouted some disingenuous bullshit about the ongoing heating costs at 24 Sussex and Trudeau’s flights, while Trudeau shrugged off the personal attack while patting himself on the back for dental care and rental benefits.

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, and he demanded a public inquiry be called right here and now. Trudeau insisted that appointing Johnston was the first step and that they would follow his recommendations. Blanchet was talked around the appointment of Johnston, before again demanding the inquiry. Trudeau read some praise for Johnston and insisted he rejected the attacks against Johnston.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and he too took credit for forcing the government to make Katie Telford appear at committee, and then tried calling out Poilievre for blocking their attempt to move a motion on calling a public inquiry. Poilievre theatrically got up to answer, before the Speaker stood up to remind everyone what Question Period was for, which is holding the government to account, and Trudeau took the opportunity to denounce personal attacks and praise Johnston. Singh said that his proves neither the Conservatives nor the Liberals wanted a public inquiry before he switched to French to demand said inquiry right here and now. Trudeau insisted that they appointed Johnston to who could make recommendations about next steps, while NSICOP was doing their work.

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Roundup: Fire which gatekeepers?

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It sounds like Pierre Poilievre is back on his bullshit again (do the kids still say that?) with his “gatekeeper” nonsense, as in releasing another one of his cringey videos where he promises to “fire the gatekeepers” in order to build housing. Except I’m not sure exactly which gatekeepers he’s proposing to fire, because the biggest impediments to building housing are NIMBY homeowners and neighbourhood associations that oppose any kind of densification, not to mention the elected city councillors who enable said NIMBYism. How, pray tell, does Poilievre propose to “fire them”? I’m sure he’ll tell you that he’ll threaten to withhold federal transfers to municipalities that don’t comply, but then you’ve got elected councillors beholden to voters in conflict with the dictates of a federal leader, so that’s going to be fun.

Poilievre also held a press event in Vancouver yesterday where he unveiled plans to consult on a proposal that would allow First Nations to keep more federal tax revenue from projects on their lands—which sounds like a great policy! But it’s vague, has no details, and is almost certainly going to be a hell of a lot more complicated than he’s making it out to be, especially if he’s going to insist that provincial royalties and taxes won’t be affected either. Listening to the language he used, it also sounds like he hopes that this will be the kind of thing that will ensure projects get built, as though the money from this tax revenue will make concerns over environmental or social impacts evaporate, and I suspect he’ll be surprised when they don’t.

Ukraine Dispatch, Day 336:

While Russian forces increase pressure around Bakhmut and Vuhledar, it is expected that Germany will announce today that it will send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, and allow other countries to transfer them as well. Meanwhile, more officials have been named and fired in relation to corruption allegations, as Zelenskyy’s government continues their pledge to clean up the graft in government so that they can attain EU membership.

https://twitter.com/cfoperations/status/1617887130625413123

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QP: It’s hogwash and poppycock

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In advance of the Fall Economic Statement, neither the prime minister nor his deputy were present, and neither was Pierre Poilievre, for a change. That left Jasraj Hallan to lead off, and declared the Statement to be the “last chance” to stop tax increases and inflationary spending (of which there are no actual taxes being raised for ordinary Canadians, nor is the spending actually inflationary). He insisted that people are paying more in taxes than ever before (not sure that’s actually true), and railed about the so-called “Liberal inflation tax,” and demanded the prime minister stop spending. Randy Boissonnault reminded him that the plan would be released in two hours, but that they could rely on the government to do what is right, and supporting Canadians who need it. Hallan insisted the government’s “greed knows no bounds” and decried rising interest rates because of the “Liberal inflation tax” and demanded the government stop spending. Boissonnault reminded him that they reduced taxes on Canadians five times, and that the Conservatives voted against it every time. Hallan repeated his demand a third time, to which Boissonnault listed that the Conservative plan is to cut benefits, EI, climate incentives, child care, and so on. Pierre Paul-Hus took over in French, and declared that the government is in no hurry to reduce inflation because that would reduce its revenues (which doesn’t actually match what the government is doing and is completely misleading), and demanded no new taxes, and Boissonnault said the statement was both economically false and cruel, as helping Canadians who need it is not inflationary. Paul-Hus misquoted Mark Carney about inflation and blamed it on “irresponsible spending” (which, once again, is not true), and Boissonnault quoted former Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz in saying that the government’s measures stopped a deflationary spiral, while the Conservatives only want to cut, cut, cut.

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, and he worried about the announced immigration targets, insisting that Quebec cannot handle that many and wanted a slowdown. Sean Fraser stated that the Quebec doesn’t set targets, the federal government does, and we need immigration. Blanchet insisted that this was about trying to weaken the Quebec nation and drown them out, to which Pablo Rodriguez needled that the Bloc was so concerned about percentages when these are about men, women and children.

Alexandre Boulerice rose for the NDP, and in French, he cited a report stating that the government was losing $30 billion per year to tax evasion and the Irving family in particular was  a prime offender. Diane Lebouthillier said that those who evaded taxes would get a knock on the door from the CRA. Daniel Blaikie then worried about Loblaws’ profits, demanding that the chains “pay what they owe,” and a windfall profit tax, to which Boissonnault listed the actions they have taken around raising income taxes and investments in the CRA to combat evasion.

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Roundup: Giving Dean French undeserved credibility

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In an attempt to keep litigating the “revelation” from court documents that there was a “potential breakthrough” with the occupation in Ottawa in advance of the invocation of the Emergencies Act, the CBC credulously brought the “negotiator, Dean French, onto Power & Politics to give his side of the story. It was a complete gong show. French was self-aggrandizing while trying to appear faux-humble, and insisted he wasn’t taking sides when he clearly was, particularly in repeating the patent horseshit from former Newfoundland and Labrador premier Brian Peckford, who spent the occupation claiming he’s the last living signatory of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (he’s not), and that the public health measures violated the Charter and that the government was operating illegally (they’re not, and the courts have pointed out that those measures are saved under Section 1 of the Charter, which is reasonable limits in a free and democratic society). Yet there was French, unchallenged by the host of the show, repeating these claims from Peckford in justifying his assertion that the government was in the wrong. It’s also patently absurd on its face that French’s negotiations would have done anything about the occupation—shifting a few trucks from residential streets and packing them even tighter onto Wellington was not any kind of solution, not that there was agreement among the occupiers on even doing this much. That was not a solution, because the occupation would still have been in place, and the occupiers would have continued to terrorize the residents and businesses in the area. There was no “breakthrough” to be had, and I cannot believe that CBC would go along with the fiction that there was. No, wait—I do believe it, because they uncritically both-sides everything, just like they did with this French interview, and even more to the point, gave French credibility in this. (French, for those of you who may not be aware, was Doug Ford’s initial chief of staff who was forced to resign because he was handing out government appointments to unqualified people with whom he had a lacrosse connection. And yes, I’m being completely serious). The complete lack of critical thinking on the part of P&P’s producers and host when it came to this interview, or the choice they made in pursuing this losing line of inquiry is particularly troubling. Credulously both-sidesing is not journalism—it’s stenography, and that is costing us our democracy.

 

Ukraine Dispatch, Day 176:

Ukrainian forces say they beat back a Russian attack in the southern region of Kherson, while Russian forces shelled the city of Kharkiv in the north, killing more civilians. This as the UN Secretary General is set to meet with president Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the western city of Lviv. Meanwhile, it sounds like Russia sacked the head of their Black Sea fleet after the recent explosions in Russian-occupied Crimea, and that they have relocated more of their planes and helicopters either deeper in the peninsula or into Russian territory.

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Roundup: A choice to keep injuring interpreters

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We’re in day one-hundred-and-fifty-five of Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, and Russia has captured the country’s second-largest power plant, as they are redeploying their forces to three southern regions in advance of an expected Ukrainian counter-offensive in the area. Ukrainian forces have used American-supplied rockets to take out a strategic bridge being used by Russians to supply their forces occupying the Kherson region, which Ukraine has stated they intend to re-take. It’s these weapons that have allowed Ukrainian forces to turn the corner on their counter-offensive, and they have pointed out that the sooner they can get more of them, the sooner they will be able to end this war. Meanwhile, ship owners are assessing whether the risk is worth it to travel through mined sea corridors to ship grain out of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports (and it could take weeks or months to clear the mines from these ports).

Closer to home, translators in Parliament are continuing to sound the alarm about the plan to hire unaccredited and off-site interpreters to do parliamentary work, no matter that this could impair the quality of the translations. This is very important, because it’s Parliament. To make this worse, the Government House Leader, Mark Holland, is downplaying the effect that hybrid sittings have had in injuring the existing interpreters, claiming that this is because they were already facing shortfalls before COVID because of the “expanded work” of Parliament. The problem with this statement is that they simply made the situation worse with hybrid sittings and the fact that it injures the interpreters, and they keep making excuses to keep them going. This is not helping with the shortfall in interpreters, it’s actively making it worse, and they don’t care. And while the Conservatives are opposing this move, they have not helped their case by insisting on resisting COVID measures including masking. And while I had a Liberal staffer chirping at me on Twitter about this, the fact is that MPs have been aware of the problems for over two years now, and have chosen to do nothing about it. They chose to keep hybrid sittings going, knowing full well that it injures the interpreters and can lead to permanent hearing loss. Their refusal to take measures is a choice, and a deeply unethical one. There is no defending it.

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Roundup: Summer showboat season has begun

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It’s day one-hundred-and-forty-three of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and a missile strike in the more central city of Vinnystia killed a four-year-old disabled girl, which was used by president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and others to demand that Russia be declared a state sponsor of terrorism as a result. There have been other strikes in Dnipro, near the centre of the country, and in Mykolaiv, which is closer to the front lines in the south. CBC has a video of the week in the war here.

Ukraine, meanwhile, is preparing a counteroffensive in the south, particularly to reclaim Kherson, which is a strategic objective that could give them control of the region, including of giving them the ability to strike Russian positions in Crimea. The fact that the Ukrainians have now accepted delivery of the American HIMARS rocket system is giving them a new advantage over the Russians, and could turn the campaign, which is in a “grinding” phase of attrition currently. There have been no Russian advances in the east part of the country for over a week now, so the supposition that Russia needs time to regroup seems to be proving true.

Closer to home, summer showboat—err, committee season has begun, with two emergency meetings yesterday, being the foreign affairs committee, and the industry committee. In the former, they have committee agreed to meet over the summer to discuss the return of those gas turbines to Germany, and will call ministers to testify. The latter used the day to plan meetings on the Rogers outage, where they plan to call ministers, Rogers executives, and the CRTC, and you can bet that MPs from all parties are planning who their best performers on camera will be in order to give some outrage and sanctimony clips that they can then use for shitposts and fundraisers. Because that’s what our Parliament has devolved to.

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