Tag Archives: Veterans

QP: Concern trolling over the Environment Commissioner’s report

Posted on by

The prime minister was off in Quebec making housing announcements, while his deputy was in Winnipeg, while most of the other leaders were absent as well. Pierre Poilievre led off first in French saying that the Jewish community in Montreal is being targeted, and then switching to English to relay the recent incidents including gunfire at two different Jewish students, and decried the “theatrical words” of the prime minister and wondered what concrete action the government has taken. Karina Gould unequivocally condemned the incidents, stated there is no room for hate or antisemitism, and that they stand with Jewish Canadians, and that criminal investigations are ongoing. Poilievre returned to French to say that words don’t protect people, before he turned to the issue of Sustainable Development Technology Canada, and that the president of the Fund spent $200,000 of those funds on her own business and wondered why she wasn’t fired. François-Philippe Champagne responded in English that they demanded a third-party investigation the moment they heard the allegations, and that they took action once the report was received. Poilievre returned to English to again decry that the chair of the fund directed funds to her own company and demanded that she be fired. Champagne repeated in French this time that the second they heard the allegations, they called for an investigation and the corrective measures. Poilievre then got back up to decry that the government has no real climate plan because carbon pricing “doesn’t work” and insisted that the carbon on price is just a tax plan. (Drink!) Steven Guilbeault objected to this, and pointed to emissions reductions that were achieved. Poilievre repeated his same mocking assertions, and this time Guilbeault pointed out that they haven’t missed any of their targets because their only target was for 2030.

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, and demanded that the government offer a tender for surveillance aircraft so that Bombardier has a chance to compete. Jean-Yves Duclos notes that they have supported the industry in Quebec throughout. Therrien decried that Bombardier doesn’t want a handout (erm…) but a chance to compete. Duclos reiterated that they have given plenty of work to Quebec, citing the Davie Shipyard as an example.

Alexandre Boulerice rose for the Bloc to pat himself on the back for getting anti-scab legislation tabled, and wanted a committment to making it law as soon as possible. Seamus O’Regan took his own turn to pat himself on the back for the work that went into the bill. Peter Julian then stood up to decry that two grocery giants rejecting the voluntary code of conduct, and demanded the government support their bill. Champagne got back up to thunder that the government did the right thing in calling in the grocery CEOs, and demanded they support the government’s legislation. 

Continue reading →

Roundup: A failed vote, a policy pretzel

Posted on by

It was not unexpected that the Conservatives’ non-binding Supply Day motion on removing the carbon price from all forms of home heating failed, because the Bloc had no interest in supporting it, and lo, none of the Liberals broke ranks and voted for it either. (Liberal MP Ken McDonald, who had voted for such motions previously, “scratched his head” with two fingers as he voted, which the Conservatives took to be giving them the finger, and lo, cried victim about it). And once the vote was over, Conservatives took to social media to call out all of those Liberal MPs they had been targeting in advance of it, because this is the bullshit state of where Canadian politics have degenerated to.

In advance of the vote, Jagmeet Singh was in the Foyer, twisting himself into a pretzel to say that he didn’t really agree with the Conservative motion, but he was going to vote for it anyway to send a message to the Liberals that he disagrees with them, but he also wants to push his boneheaded “cut GST on all home heating” policy, which is as dumb as a bag of hammers. (No, seriously—it would be impossible to disentangle the heating portion of certain sources of heating, such as electric heating, or what natural gas goes to heating and what goes to hot water tanks, or natural gas barbecues; plus, the policy disproportionately benefits the wealthy, who have bigger houses). There is no policy coherence, because this is all about posturing and performance, and Canadians are ill-served as a result.

While this was going on, the premiers met in Halifax, ostensibly to talk healthcare but it would up being another gang-up session where they all demanded that the federal government remove the carbon price on all home heating out of “fairness” (never mind the problems of energy poverty, that heating oil is four times as expensive as natural gas, and that some of those premiers should have been doing more about this problem years ago). They also groused that the federal Housing Accelerator Fund was being negotiated directly with municipalities and not them, which, again, forgets that they have studiously ignored the housing problem in their own provinces for decades and now they’re getting put out that the federal government has had to step up after they refused to. But that’s the state of our federation, and it’s a

https://twitter.com/aballinga/status/1721622048345149688

https://twitter.com/aballinga/status/1721628581921509676

Ukraine Dispatch:

Russian air strikes on Odessa late Sunday night struck the city’s principal art gallery and wounded eight. A criminal investigation has been launched into the decision to hold a troop-honouring ceremony in Zaporizhzhia which was easily detected by surveillance drones, allowing the Russians to target it; around the same time, the top aid to Ukraine’s commander-in-chief was killed when a grenade was hidden inside a birthday present.

https://twitter.com/kyivindependent/status/1721649238642245908

Continue reading →

QP: Same scripts on demanding free votes for individual MPs

Posted on by

While the prime minister was in town but not in QP, but most of the other leaders were absent as well, even when they just gave media availabilities in the Foyer. The PM’s deputy was present for a change, which has become something of a rarity. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, and he took shots at the Bloc for supporting the government’s carbon price plans, and that they planned to vote against their Supply Day motion on removing the carbon price on all home heating, and wondered what concessions the prime minister made to them. Chrystia Freeland said that the government was proud to follow in Quebec’s footsteps on child care and climate action, because Quebec was a leader on both. Poilievre stated that the question was for the prime minister, who was “hiding,” and repeated his insinuation that there was some kind of coalition deal with the Bloc, which is obvious nonsense. Pablo Rodriguez got up to worry that the Conservatives want to take Quebec backwards, whether it’s with women’s rights, gun control, or climate action, and declared the the Conservatives want to send Quebec back to the “Stone Age.” Poilievre switched to English to carry on with the empty chair gambit, said that Gudie Hutchings’ comments were “revolting,” and demanded a free vote on their carbon price motion. Jonathan Wilkinson somewhat wearily recited that the cost of heating oil is four times as much as natural gas and they have a plan for free heating pumps. Poilievre tried to pick off the two Alberta Liberals to demand a free vote, and Wilkinson again reiterated his same points. Poilievre insinuated that the prime minister was hiding and demanded more deee votes for more Liberal MPs. This time Chrystia Freeland got up to call out Poilievre for “hiding” on the Alberta pension issue, and that it took him 29 days to denounce the plan.

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, and demanded that the government safe television after all of the TVA layoffs. Pascale St-Onge rose to say that her thoughts are with those whose jobs were affected but the landscape in media has changed, which is why they need the cooperation of all parties to safe Canadian media. Therrien decried that television was in danger and demanded federal action, to which St-Onge again decried the Conservatives trying to block their abilities to help the sector.

Jenny Kwan rose for the NDP, and decried how much rent has increased (which is provincial), and demanded more investments in social housing. Sean Fraser said that he agreed with the slams against Poilievre and patted himself on the back for their investments to date. Daniel Blaikie got up to denounce the government in general and demanded that they support the NDP bill on competition reform. François-Philippe Champagne said that they should support the government’s bill on competition reform.

Continue reading →

Roundup: A focus on heat pumps

Posted on by

There has been a lot of attention paid to the subject of heat pumps and just what they are over the past few days in light of the government’s “pause” on carbon prices on heating oil in a bid to give people more time to make the conversion, particularly in places like Atlantic Canada. So what are they and why is the government subsidising the transition, going so far as to make them free for low-income households (in provinces where they have an agreement with the provincial government)? The Canadian Press has an explainer on what they are for starters.

There is an issue that the detractors keep raising which is that in particularly cold weather they may be insufficient and a secondary heat source would be necessary. In many places, they use electric heat as that secondary source, particularly given the simultaneous push toward clean electricity generation in this country (some eighty percent already comes from non-emitting sources). We should take heed that Nordic countries, which also have very cold winters, have been making the move to heat pumps for a while now, and the newer models can deal with far colder weather than earlier models, but that doesn’t mean that the transition doesn’t have complications.

https://twitter.com/robtpublic/status/1719579403427213557

You can bet Scott Moe and others will be concern trolling on this, and some of the criticisms do have merit, but it will become a real task to sort out just what is legitimate criticism, and what is being stated in bad faith (because look where it’s coming from). By the same token, the government shouldn’t oversimplify things here, or the scope of the challenge that this conversion may present itself to people who will need more assistance in navigating the other government retrofit programmes that can help them with that transition.

Ukraine Dispatch:

A Russian drone attack hit an oil refinery in the central Kremenchuk region, while Russia also dropped explosives on the Black Sea shipping channels that have been used to transport grain. Ukraine’s commander-in-chief says they are entering into a static and attritional phase of the war, and they need new capabilities including more air power if they want to break out of it. Since the start of the war, more than 260 civilians have died from stepping on landmines, which is more of the lasting damage that invasion like Russia’s leaves behind.

Continue reading →

QP: Concerns about the situation in Israel

Posted on by

While the prime minister was in down, he was not in QP today, though his deputy was for a change. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, and in a somber tone, asked for an update on those Canadians looking to get out of Israel and Gaza, as well as those in Lebanon looking to get out. Chrystia Freeland noted that this was the first time they were in the Chamber since the Hamas attacks, and she declared that Canada is supporting Israel and demands the release of hostages and unequivocally condemned Hamas’ attacks. Poilievre switched to English to decry the Hamas attacks, and demanded that the government criminaise the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. Freeland repeated her previous statement in English instead of answering the demand. Poilievre pivoted and raised the PBO’s recent projection about the deficit and that it was higher than projected, and demanded to know how this would affect inflation and interest rates. Freeland said that a fiscal update would be coming in due course, and that they should pay attention to the independent ratings agencies who keep affirming our Aaa rating. Poilievre cited former finance minister John Manley’s concerns, and insisted this was the government ruining our fiscal position. Freeland repeated the point about ratings agencies and that our deficit and debt-to-GDP ratio is the lowest in the G7. Poilievre raised the plight of a shipyard worker he met who worries about his mortgages, and blamed the deficit. Freeland scoffed that talk is cheap, and said that if the Conservatives cared about the housing crisis, they would support their bill.

Yves-François Blanchet led for the Bloc, and worried that we weren’t included in the Quint statement on the situation in Isreal—ignoring that the Quint is about nuclear powers, which we are not. Freeland spoke about being at an IMF finance meeting in Morocco last week and that they all put out a statement in support of Israel. Blanchet kept insisting that Canada was not being included, and Freeland spoke about Israel not being a partisan issue but a Canadian issue.

Heather McPherson rose for the NDP, and she also raised concerns about the hostages in Gaza, including several Canadians. Freeland praised the clarity on condemnation for the terror attacks, and that that the government calls for the release of those hostages. McPherson accused the government of not standing up for innocent Palestinians and demanded the government call for a ceasefire. Freeland raised that the government supports Israel’s right to defend itself and they have sent $10 million in humanitarian aid to “trusted partners.”

Continue reading →

Roundup: A backbencher breaks ranks

Posted on by

There are tongues wagging because backbench Liberal MP Ken McDonald has twice now voted with the Conservatives on their performative motions to cut the carbon price. McDonald, who represents a rural riding in Newfoundland and Labrador, complains that the carbon price is making life too unaffordable for people in regions like his that have no choice but to heat their homes with heating oil and to drive trucks, but along the way he seems to have missed the rebate payments, which are enriched for rural Canadians in the provinces where the federal price is the system in place. (He also thinks that Steven Guilbeault is the wrong person to sell this policy because he’s too entrenched as an environmentalist).

I have some particular difficulty with this notion that there is a particular helplessness around rural Canadians when it comes to their fossil fuel use, because there are usually options that they simply ignore—at least there are in places like rural Alberta, where I’m from, but maybe it’s different in rural Newfoundland. In any case, the government has any number of programs to retrofit homes with better insulation, to exchange oil heaters for heat pumps, and too often, the notion that “I need a truck because I live in the country” tends to mean that people buy fuel-inefficient F-150s that are actually less useful for their needs than they like to pretend. In addition, the carbon price has a negligible effect on inflation, and McDonald was repeating some of the Conservatives’ talking points that don’t necessarily reflect reality so much as they “feel” like they could or should be true even though they’re not, and that’s a problem. Simply cutting the carbon price won’t have a real impact on prices, would mean not getting the rebates, and more to the point, would not push people to make changes to reduce their exposure to those prices where they can, and we need an all-hands-on-deck approach to emissions reduction.

As for McDonald, he doesn’t seem to have suffered any particular consequences for these votes, which is fine, and he shouldn’t because we should allow MPs to break ranks on some issues. That’s how things should work. But I do worry that the bigger issue here is an inability to communicate the programme and the solutions available to help his constituents instead of just buying into the Conservative lines.

Programming note: I will be taking the full long weekend off because oh boy do I ever need it after the past three weeks. See you Wednesday!

Ukraine Dispatch:

A Russian rocket struck a café and grocery store in Hroza, in the Kharkiv region, killing 51 people including a six-year-old, which is one of the deadliest single strikes. In addition, other strikes his grain silos in Izmail. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was in Granada, Spain, to meet with EU leaders and plead for more aid, now that the budget showdown in the US is endangering their contributions.

https://twitter.com/ukraine_world/status/1709968477107138925

Continue reading →

QP: Fergus’ first day

Posted on by

Things got off to a very late start as a result of the Speaker election that saw Greg Fergus take the Chair, somewhat unexpectedly. After the procession returned from the Senate, where they attended the Governor General giving her acknowledgment of Fergus’ new role, things got underway as they normally would, albeit an hour late. When QP got started in earnest, Fergus implored MPs to treat him like a new car and not dent him on the first day. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, citing a payroll institute report on people struggling, and demanded the government refund taxes they have created (though that may have been a translation issue). Justin Trudeau patted himself on the back with the list of programmes the government has been rolling out. Poilievre wondered if Trudeau would reduce the cost of turkey in advance of Thanksgiving this weekend. Trudeau recited about their meeting with grocery CEOs and their “grocery rebate.” Poilievre switched to English to repeat his first question, demanding the government reverse its so-called inflationary deficit and taxes. Trudeau read a list of programmes they have undertaken. Poilievre insisted that Thanksgiving turkeys now cost $120 and demanded to know if they would come down. Trudeau repeated that his government met with grocery CEOs. Poilievre insisted that the government was misleading about that their promise on prices (they weren’t), and Trudeau again recited about what they are doing with grocery CEOs to try and stabilise prices.

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, and raised the notion that there are half a million non-permanent residents in Quebec and that this was too many and that their social services couldn’t handle it. Trudeau recited some bland assurances that immigration is good for Canada and they were doing what they could to get everyone employed as soon as possible. Therrien railed that Quebec controls permanent immigration but not temporary visitors and demanded the levels be lowered. Trudeau pointed out that Quebec industry is crying our for workers because there is a labour shortage, which is why they were working with the provincial government. 

Jenny Kwan rose for the NDP, and she condemned the government for empty promises on building houses, to which Trudeau read a script about a groundbreaking at a housing project in downtown Vancouver that includes housing for people with HIV. Alexandre Boulerice took over in French and demanded the government instruct the Bank of Canada not to raise interest rates further. Trudeau responded that they respect the independence of the Bank, and read a list of their housing programmes.

Continue reading →

QP: Lying about the price of lettuce

Posted on by

Before things could get underway, a whole batch of new MPs needed to be brought in to take their seats—Liberals Ben Carr and Anna Gainey, and Conservatives Arpam Khanna, Branden Leslie and Shuvaloy Majumdar. When things got underway in earnest, Pierre Poilievre led off in French, blaming the prime minister of causing “housing hell” and demanded action to fix it. Justin Trudeau recited some pat talking points about helping Canadians and calling grocery CEOs. Poilievre quoted John Manley in claiming deficits were driving inflation, and demanded the government end the so-called “inflationary deficits.” Trudeau read the talking points about helping to build more apartments while repeating his boast about the grocery CEOs. Poilievre repeated his first question in English, and this time Trudeau read some good-news talking points about the deal in London, Ontario, which was the first deal but not the last. Poilievre repeated his second question in English with an added factoid about housing starts being down, and Trudeau read some good-news talking points about Calgary agreeing to federal conditions for more dollars. Poilievre again demanded a balanced budget, and Trudeau accused him of empty slogans and cited his record of bungling housing when he was minister, and then recited some points about the policy convention votes.

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, he demanded solutions and not “scapegoats,” and accused the government of withholding $900 million from Quebec. Trudeau praised their Accelerator Fund and removing GST on new apartments, but didn’t address the allegation. Therrien repeated the demand, and Trudeau said the Bloc are only there to squabble, and repeated his same pabulum points.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP, and he railed that the government was not punishing grocery CEOs, to which Trudeau insisted that they were making corporations pay their fair share, and Trudeau again raised the meeting with the CEOs and upcoming changes to competition legislation. Singh switched to French to accuse the government of allowing a loss of affordable housing units under their watch, and Trudeau repeated his same points in French.

Continue reading →

Roundup: Stupid polls about the monarchy

Posted on by

It appears to be the season for reporting on really stupid polls, because there was yet another one yesterday, saying that an increasing number of Canadians want to “reconsider” our ties to the monarchy, which is already a misleading turn of phrase because we have a domestic monarchy, and have since 1931. Yes, we time-share their natural persons with the UK and thirteen other realms, but the Canadian monarchy is a Thing, and it’s not a gods damned foreign imposition.

What makes this kind of polling even more irresponsible is the fact that there is simply nothing in there about what they expect to replace it with, because there are myriad options, and absolutely no exploration of any of them. It’s also extremely relevant because that’s how Australia’s republican movement faltered—voters were not in favour of the appointed head of state option presented in the referendum, and since its failure, support for the monarchy in that country has increased. (Better the devil you know, and all of that. On top of that, getting rid of the monarchy would require a wholesale rewrite of our constitution (because it’s the central organizing principle), and would abrogate all of the treaties with First Nations, because they are all with the Crown, which would add a whole other layer of complexity for our relationship and reconciliation. (In fact, there is a compelling argument that ending the monarchy would simply mean completing the colonial project).

There is no simple yes/no choice for the future of the monarchy in Canada—it’s yes/which model to replace it with (because you can’t not have an organizing principle for executive power, and you really want to have some kind of a constitutional fire extinguisher available), and how to go about doing it, and stupid poll questions like this just elide over that reality in a completely misleading way.

Ukraine Dispatch:

A Ukrainian attack on a shipyard in occupied Crimea has damaged two Russian ships undergoing repairs at the facility and caused a fire. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has vetoed an anti-corruption bill that contained a loophole that allowed people to forgo disclosing assets for another year. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen also praised Ukraine’s progress toward EU membership, but said that they still have more work to do.

https://twitter.com/ukraine_world/status/1701984458960765381

https://twitter.com/rustem_umerov/status/1702012801131102435

Continue reading →

Roundup: Trying to use guilt on Meta

Posted on by

As the wildfire situation intensifies, and more states of emergency are declared, Canadian heritage minister Pascale St-Onge has decided to try doubling down on using guilt to try and get Meta/Facebook back to the table to talk about the Online News Act, insisting that blocking news links puts lives in danger. I’m not sure I buy that—you can still directly access news sites, and they are easy to find, particularly the CBC and its local affiliates.

This, of course, led to yet another vapid re-litigation of the Act, and repeating many of the dumb arguments that don’t actually hit on the heart of the matter. There was the hand-wringing about “we trained people to go to Facebook for news,” which makes me wonder why we just don’t then retrain people to go directly to news sites or apps, while the discussion in the piece returns to the red herring about compensating for links. It’s not about compensating for links. It’s about compensating for Google and Facebook monopolizing the ad tech space and siphoning revenues from all links along the chain, and the Act providing transparency and fairness to the deals and negotiations that were already taking place. Which is also why stories about local media demanding the government capitulate to Meta’s bullying are particularly troublesome, because not only are they getting the narrative wrong (and the government needs to take a LOT of the blame for that one), but they’re saying that we should let web giants threaten sovereign governments if they don’t like what they’re seeing, and that’s especially troubling because these companies operate monopolistically and with impunity.

In the meantime, mendacious narratives about the legislation are also growing and becoming utterly grotesque, but between Poilievre and his Conservatives outright lying about the law, referring to it as government censorship and Nineteen Eighty-Four, and the government’s own false narratives about the bill and the supposed theft of content (not true), we’re sinking into a morass that is seeing disinformation players taking the already distorted narratives and turning it into a funhouse mirror. This is all very, very bad, but none of the players in this want to describe things with a modicum of accuracy and reality, and that’s a very big problem.

Ukraine Dispatch:

A Russian missile struck Chernihiv in the north on Saturday, killing seven and wounding at least 129 people. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy went to the Netherlands for talks, and for confirmation that the Netherlands and Denmark would be turning over F-16 fighters to Ukraine at the appropriate time. Zelenskyy has also been talking to Sweden about acquiring Gripen jets as well.

https://twitter.com/ukraine_world/status/1693253258200981998

Continue reading →