What’s up with Canada?

  • So here’s a hot take: Canadians should be happy with Justin Trudeau right now. 

    On Monday, he stood up to India to defend Canadian sovereignty and international law; on Friday, he stood beside Ukraine to defend Ukrainian sovereignty and international law; and in between, he stood before the United Nations to call for international cooperation in reducing poverty and mitigating climate change.

    For comparison, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre’s big win of the week was getting to call “jet-setting Justin” a “carbon hypocrite” for flying to New York. Because everybody knows that “everyday Canadians” walk to New York.

    Regarding Trudeau’s decision to publicly confront India over the murder of Canadian Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar: It would have been much easier to simply let Indian prime minister Narendra Modi’s government get away with it. India has the world’s largest population, after all, making it the world’s biggest domestic market.

    So it would make economic sense to look the other way when India violates Canadian sovereignty.

    Something similar can be said of Trudeau’s support for Ukraine: It would be much easier to simply let Russian president Vladimir Putin get what he wants. Russia is much more powerful, after all, and it has a much bigger economy.

    So it would make economic sense to look the other way as it eliminates Ukrainian sovereignty.

    But Trudeau recognizes that Ukrainians aren’t simply fighting to defend themselves: Ukrainians are fighting for the fundamental right to democratic self-determination. And if Canadians can agree on anything, it should be that democratic self-determination is worth fighting for – or worth spending billions in tax dollars to support the fight for.

    And that brings us back to reducing poverty and mitigating climate change: It would be much easier to simply cut taxes and leave those problems for some future government to deal with. That’s exactly what former prime minster Stephen Harper did – as well as what presumed future prime minister Pierre Poilievre would most likely do.

    Sometimes it takes a real leader to make unpopular decisions. And Trudeau is extremely unpopular right now. So maybe he’s doing something right?

    Justin Trudeau is doing a good job

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  • Canadian lawmakers returned from summer break yesterday – only two weeks after kids were forced back to school. At first, it was pretty much business as usual:

    Pierre Welcome to housing hell. Population: everyday Canadians. It’s been eight years now, Justin. When will you finally leave us alone?

    Justin I admit there’s a housing crisis. That’s why we eliminated sales tax on new rental construction, why we’re working with municipalities to get more housing built, and why we’re directly funding affordable housing development through the National Housing Strategy.

    Pierre Tell that to people living in tents. Everybody knows that your reckless spending did this. Everyday Canadians can’t even put food on the table. When will you end their pain?

    Justin I’ve given Galen Weston and the other grocery guys an ultimatum: Stabilize food prices, or I will.

    Jagmeet Why are you even talking to them? Galen’s not our friend. He and his buddies are lining their pockets while Canadians suffer. Force them to cut food prices right now!

    Justin We’re going to make changes to the Competition Act to help with food prices.

    Pierre Do you know what makes food more expensive? Is it climate change? Is it corporate greed? No, it’s Justin’s carbon tax. It makes fuel cost more, and that makes farming and trucking cost more, and that makes food cost more – and before you know it, boom! You’re in housing hell.

    Some Liberal All those forest fires this summer were really something, weren’t they? It’s almost like we need a tax to address the consequences of climate change…

    Some Conservative Do you know what’s more expensive than climate change? Justin’s reckless policies!  

    … And so on.

    But then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau did something extraordinary. He stood in the House of Commons to accuse the Indian government of killing a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil.

    In June, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a vocal leader of the Sikh separatist movement, was shot in his truck outside a temple in Surrey, B.C. Trudeau said he has been provided with credible intelligence that “agents of the government of India” were behind it.

    While the allegation is astonishing, the larger problem is not new. In India, support for Sikh independence is outlawed; but in Canada, which is home to the world’s largest Sikh diaspora community, it’s considered a matter of free expression.

    That said, this alleged assassination will almost certainly make matters between Canada and India significantly worse. Tensions are rising, diplomatic ties have begun to deteriorate, and more is bound to come.

    Justin Trudeau accuses India of murder

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  • After nearly eight years as prime minister, freshly separated from his wife and badly trailing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre in the polls, Justin Trudeau has finally revealed his three-step plan to fix Canada’s affordability crisis.

    Step one: Fix Canada’s housing affordability crisis by making good on a 2015 election promise that he forgot about until recently. Starting immediately, federal sales tax will be waived for the construction of new purpose-built rentals for families, seniors and students.

    The policy is expected to make a big difference – especially because Ontario Progressive Conservative premier Doug Ford has vowed to also waive the provincial sales tax. But it takes years for new homes to be built, and we’re in a crisis now, so fuck.

    OK, step two: Fix Canada’s food affordability crisis by summoning to Ottawa the leaders of Canada’s five biggest grocery store chains (Loblaws, Sobeys, Metro, Costco and Walmart) and issuing an ultimatum: Get food prices under control, or prepare for an update to the Competition Act that you really won’t like.

    For their part, the grocery chains have insisted for years that they’re simply passing along the rising costs of food, and that the real villains are climate change, the war in Ukraine, and other terrible things for which nobody could blame Galen Weston.

    That explanation is proving a tough sell to Canadians, however – especially when groceries cost 8.5% more now than they did a year ago and the grocery chains keep posting amazing profits. Metro’s earnings were up 28% last quarter – even though employees at 37 Toronto-area stores were on strike for a month.

    Step three? OK, Trudeau hasn’t quite articulated one yet. But I think it’s something like: Hope that Poilievre’s coalition of supporters – including religious zealots, vaccine deniers, unisex-bathroom doomsayers and his sect, small-government utopians – devours itself before the next election… so that he can eek out one more win.

    Justin Trudeau wants another chance

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Canadian politics but interesting.

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