What’s up with Canada?

Ukraine

  • I’ll admit my initial reaction to learning that the Canadian government gave two standing ovations to a 98-year-old who literally fought for the Nazis was to feel sorry for the guy responsible: Anthony Rota.

    Before resigning earlier this week, Rota served admirably as speaker of the House of Commons. He was remarkably nonpartisan, despite having to deal with an unrelentingly unprofessional Conservative party. And he obviously isn’t a Nazi, or Russian propagandist, or anything like that.

    Plus, as somebody who can make them from time to time, my general position is this: People shouldn’t be defined by their mistakes, unless their mistakes define them.

    But this sense of compassion has since given way to new feelings: contempt and curiosity.

    First: contempt. Everybody makes mistakes, sure; but this mistake is absolutely massive. It’s one thing to take a very old man at his word when he tells you about his time in the war; it’s another to not google his name before shouting him out in front of Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

    Rota meant well, of course. But he may as well have accidentally fired a missile by sitting on the launch button, considering all the damage he has done to the Liberals. How could he and his staff be so careless when this situation so obviously called for so much care?

    Which brings us to my second delayed reaction: curiosity. Just how bad is this going to turn out for Trudeau? Because – while I know it seems inconceivable now – our deeply unpopular prime minister was just on the cusp of making a comeback.

    Trudeau had finally taken steps to fix Canada’s housing crisis – both by waiving the GST for new rental construction and by beginning to talk openly about the fact that home prices can’t keep going up (sorry, homeowners).

    Whatever you think of him, Trudeau’s better-late-than-never plan is the same or better than the one put forward by Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre.

    And Trudeau had just taken a stand against food price inflation that could be accurately described as “gangsta.” He summoned the leaders of Canada’s biggest grocery chains to Ottawa, berated them, then ordered them to stabilize prices by Thanksgiving “or I will.”

    Whatever you think of him, that’s some cold-blooded shit to say to Galen Weston — and as the kids say, I’m here for it.

    Plus Trudeau had just let Indian prime minister Narendra Modi know that he’s not somebody to fuck with after Modi tried to stonewall an investigation linking the Indian government to the murder of a Canadian Sikh in B.C in June.

    Whatever you think of him, that’s a power move to take against a superpower — and it’s forcing our allies to publicly admit what they privately know about India’s interference in diaspora communities.

    And then of course there was the Zelenskyy visit itself… prior to the Nazi thing, I mean. The Ukrainian president spent two days thanking Canadians — but Trudeau in particular — for steadfastly supporting Ukraine and courageously condemning Russia.

    So things really were starting to look up for the prime minister. But then he was dealt this fresh disaster. And all that really matters now is: How will Trudeau respond — and how will we?

    Canada accidentally honours a Nazi

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  • 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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  • 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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