A Familiar Foe

 

While many are exultant over the fact that Mark Carney's Liberals now have a majority government, I have always been of the opinion that when it comes to such feats, you should be careful what you wish for. Such a government, of course, has the power to enact a progressive vision, but it also has the power to ignore that vision, conveniently forgetting the people who conferred that majority.

I fear the latter is what is happening with our 'new' government, which seems more interested in pursuing the favour of the powerful instead of assuaging the plight of the powerless.

Althia Raj writes that despite lofty Liberal rhetoric, the details of the latest economic update tell a different story:

... dig into the details and you learn national pharmacare is ending. There is no new money to create more child care spaces. Federal health-care spending is drastically being cut. Oh, and the government is looking at privatizing airports and ports — moves prime minister Stephen Harper didn’t even publicly contemplate.

Our last government, thanks to its minority status, was more responsive to the needs of the people. 

Two years ago, prime minister Justin Trudeau announced with much fanfare the “first phase of a national pharmacare plan,” $1.5 billion over five years to cover a range of free contraception and life-saving diabetes medications. The plan — crafted under pressure from the NDP — was to study the initial roll out, and expand coverage to more drugs in the future. Trudeau said national pharmacare would strengthen the social safety net, and help Canadians get the care they needed.

Only British Columbia, Manitoba, Prince Edward Island and the Yukon signed deals before Trudeau left office. Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador who now want access to the program are finding Carney is dragging its feet. Although he said in September he would act “as quickly and as equitably as possible” to finalize deals, and approximately $600 million is left in the pot, Health Minister Marjorie Michel’s office spoke Friday only of “honouring existing pharmacare agreements.”

Indeed, even for those provinces that signed on, it seems the agreements are only in place until 2029, after which, given their absence in budgets and updates, they will end. 

But the news gets even worse.

 The federal government is also slashing billions from health care — at a time when hospital emergency rooms are swamped, the population is aging, and mental health needs are too often left unmet.

It also looks like the $500 million annually set aside to increase Canadians access to expensive drugs for rare diseases won’t extend beyond next March. 

Child care, another program widely touted by Liberals, will also see cuts. The $625 million Early Learning and Child Care Infrastructure Fund will sunset next year, and while the Carney government plans to renew the Canada-wide early learning and child care (CWELCC) transfers to the provinces, they won’t increase beyond what Trudeau negotiated his last week in office.  Funding will, in fact, be $1.1 billion less than what the Grits promised back in 2021, when they pledged “a minimum of $9.2 billion per year ongoing” to keep the program alive.

Mark Carney, in his previous existence, moved in very rarified circles, many of which were repositories of the elite. And it appears the elites are his true constituency. Take, for example, his recent musing of 'unlocking the value' of our airports through privatization. Take also his creation of the Canada Strong Fund which, as far as I can tell, is simply another iteration of public-private partnerships, which usually means the public takes all the risks and financial liabilities, while the private sector enjoys the profits.

Hubris is an all too familiar foe. It blinds our 'leaders' to the harsh realities many people contend with on a daily basis. Unfortunately, there is little opportunity to fight it, except once every four years or so. And even then, our traditionally low election turnouts suggest it is a very weak cudgel indeed.

With Great Power Comes .... Great Abuse

 

It surely comes as no revelation that the United States, historically, has exercised less than great responsibility with its great power. Modern history is littered with examples of American-backed coups, assassinations, etc., most of which have ultimately blown up in the face of the American giant. 

However, Donald Trump's abuse of power takes it to a whole new level, given that much of it targets domestic victims. Think of the hideous deployments of ICE to murder and imprison American citizens, his throwing of suspected illegals into prison camps, his mass deportations to harsh countries, his general disdain for constitutional strictures, etc. to name but a few violations of law and decency.

It is, however, on the micro level that one is best able to see the man's depraved nature. One who often incites or encourages violence, he and his vampiric wife are yet again calling upon ABC to fire Jimmy Kimmel over a harmless joke that dear Melania claims was an incitement to the kind of violence that erupted at the recent Correspondents Dinner. Such a stance is egregiously hypocritical and nonsensical.

Now one of Trump's poodles, FCC Chair Brendan Carr, is getting into the shakedown act, threatening the parent company of ABC, Disney, with the loss of its broadcast licences if it doesn't fall into line and terminate Kimmel. All in a day's subservience, I guess, for those who have sold their souls to the current highest bidder.

But to give the devil his proverbial due, one cannot help but be impressed /dismayed by the facility with which this dysfunctional administration responds to crises, such as the alleged assassination attempt that took place at the White House Correspondents Dinner. While it appears that the alleged assailant, Cole Allen, intended mayhem, the way it is being characterized by the administration and some media is a wonder to behold. As a retired English teacher always interested in the use of language, I was particularly taken by the description of the notes Allen sent to family members as a "manifesto." When I think of that word, I think of radicals, usually associated with left-wing radicals. To further reinforce this perception, the media were quick to point out that he had also recently attended a No Kings Rally and, most damning of all, had made a contribution to the Democrats. 

Americans are not known for their critical thinking capabilities, given as they are to reaction over cerebration. It is that national fault the Trump administration is counting on to win over or solidify hearts and minds, a daunting task indeed given Trump's plummeting polls.

To end this post on a positive note, I invite you to watch Jimmy Kimmel's defiant monologue following Melania's mendacious allegation. Even if you don't have time to watch the entire piece, check out the first few minutes of a comedian demonstrating that hs is unbowed and undaunted by the Trump administration's ongoing and egregious abuse of power.

Bears And Ad Hominems

 

It has been said that wounded bears can be particularly dangerous. They can lash out and put others in peril. Their rage often knows no bounds.

Something similar unfolded in the Ontario legislature this week. After a bruising week, our 'esteemed' premier, Doug Ford, was the wounded bear. Feeling very hard done by after reversing his decision to buy a $30 million jet, a reversal he attributed to not having more effectively communicated his need for the "gravy plane", he was particularly sensitive in the legislature on Thursday, resorting to that lowest of insults and violations of logic, the ad hominem.

Questioning him about the controversial Freedom of Information changes the latest omnibus bill contains, MPP Stephanie Smyth was the target of the bear's rage:

Said Smyth after the attack:

"You shouldn't talk to anybody that way," she said.

"There's a standard of decorum, of how you act. When we get in (the chamber) and we talk about issues and we ask questions, you don't go personal, right? That's not the place. You be parliamentary. You be classy. And that's not what is happening here with this premier at all."

Interim Liberal leader John Fraser and Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner say Ford needs to say sorry.

"What the premier said was so personal and so demeaning and so beneath the office of the premier that I believe the premier should apologize," Schreiner said.

Chubby Checker once famously asked in a song, "How low can you go?' 

The answer to that question as it pertains to Mr. Ford is still pending.

From Canada's Industrial Heartland

 

While I hardly expect that Ontario should garner much sympathy from the rest of Canada, every so often I can't help but write about our poor state of politics. Led by "Captain Canada," Doug Ford, the legislature spends far more in recess than it does in session. I suspect our 'leader' finds it an irksome impediment to whatever he does with his time, given his Progressive Conservatives command a clear majority that certainly puts a damper on accountability. That is, until he does something that provokes widespread public outrage.

While there is much to condemn in this heavy-handed government's rule, it wasn't until Ford's recent purchase of a $29 million jet that public hackles were raised. As a result, Ford has reversed his purchase, but even now he insists buying it was the correct choice; as with most hubristic politicians, Ford claimed it was not a failure of policy but rather a failure of communication. He didn't do enough to prepare the public for his extravagance.

Well, many people are having none of his nonsense about what has been dubbed his "gravy plane". The following letters to the editor amply attest to this:

Time for a premier who puts Ontario first

This is a typical Doug Ford move. He appears to be driven by self‑interest and a desire for personal attention.  This runs from ordering speed cameras to be removed, mixing up Toronto’s street traffic and  removing bikes and walkways, totally ruining Ontario Place, stating that he’ll expand the island airport for larger planes and spending millions on a new plane to fly himself around. Earlier he was only interested in building new country roads and pulling down country greenspace in order to build expensive homes. None of this does anything to improve Ontario.

Ontario needs intelligent improvements for Ontarians, Canadians and visitors. It’s time to make political changes.

Chris Andrews, Vaughan, ON

Doug Ford the salesman

Ford says Ontario has sold controversial private jet at no loss, April 22

Well, done, Doug! The plane is gone. Now you should terminate the island spa agreement and return Ontario Place to the public, remove the traffic calming barriers being installed in school zones and restore speed cameras. Next, ask your construction buddies to return any money regarding the Ontario Science Centre property along with  refunding any money spent on studies for the tunnel under Highway 401. Only then will it really feel like you have listened to the people. And, oh, one more thing … let Toronto voters decide on the future of the island airport.

Carolynne Canham, St. Catharines, ON 

There was no justification for a private jet for Ford in the first place

How did Doug Ford justify spending nearly $30 million dollars of taxpayer money on his own jet in a province where most locales can be reached on a propeller plane in one hour? And most northern communities don’t even have airports that support a jet!

At a time when our medical care is compromised and our school system is crumbling this huge expense, not just for the purchase of the jet but also for its maintenance, cannot be tolerated by taxpayers.

At least Ford heard the outrage and reversed course.

Ford never campaigned on the promise to buy himself a jet.

Dianne Ness, Toronto

I find it an incredible coincidence that after eight years of Premier Ford in power, the first time he raises the issue of jets using Billy Bishop airport coincides with his now quickly reversed decision to purchase a taxpayer-funded private jet, to the tune of $28.9 million.

Some estimates for the infrastructure needed to allow jets at Billy Bishop will cost in excess of $1 billion.

Ontario taxpayers deserve transparency. Just whose interests are actually being served by expanding the island airport for jets?

At least the premier did the right thing and grounded his jet.

Norm Di Pasquale, Toronto

The problem with winning three majority governments is that you think you are invincible. Ford fatigue has begun to set in. Perhaps it is time for the premier to do some serious, sober soul searching about seeking a fourth term, as he has recently mused about. 

A Strong Voice Of Condemnation

Unless we live our lives under a blanket, we are aware of the rapidly deteriorating conditions on earth thanks to climate change. Every day brings new horror stories of widespread destruction wrought by tornadoes, floods, wildfires, drought and life-threatening temperatures. Unfortunately, the corporate entities most responsible for the fact that our planet is dying conduct themselves with impunity and immunity, thanks largely to the control they have over our politics. As I pointed out in my previous post, Canada must be included in this sad state of affairs.

Former Liberal environment minister Catherine McKenna is unflinching in her critique of the oil industry, especially for their continued despoilation of our environment as their emissions continue to rise.

Canada’s official greenhouse gas inventory was published last week. It showed that in 2024, oil and gas production was the only sector in the country to have increased its greenhouse gas emissions. 

“In Canada, we expect, Canadians expect everyone to step up and do their parts. But instead, we have oil and gas, which is largely foreign-owned, largely U.S.-owned, who aren’t doing their part. All they’re doing is increasing our emissions and demanding subsidies,” McKenna said in an interview while at Montreal’s climate summit last week.

She adds that oil companies are “demanding that Canadian taxpayers pay the bill for cleaning up the pollution they cause and building pipelines they won’t risk their own money on."

This is a state of affairs that should enrage all of us, yet the supports offered by our government continue unabated. Indeed, the oil companies' profits soar thanks to war, and those profits benefit few.

[W]hat do they do with those profits? They give them back to fat cat CEOs and then they go give them back to their shareholders, largely Americans who support Donald Trump,” she said. 

Canadian companies in the oil industry are bringing in an extra $170 million in profits every day because of the war in Iran, which has pushed global oil prices up by more than 50 per cent, according to an analysis published by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

And despite the fact that renewable energy is cheaper than fossil fuels, we see no real impetus on the part of government to alter the tragic trajectory we are on.

“How about get people off fossil fuels, get them into EVs,” she said. “Why are we still heating our homes with oil and gas?”

According the the former minister, oil can be delivered to homes in Halifax when people can use heat pumps. She also questions why utility companies don’t allow Canadians to put solar grids on the ground and be paid for it. 

“We really have to move forward on these solutions. That isn’t so much about affordability as it is about Canada’s economic competitiveness now and into the future,” she said. “And of course it’s also better for kids.”

And McKenna sees the greenwashing the companies engage in, perpetuating fictions such as becoming carbon neutral through carbon capture.

Three researchers from the University of Ottawa published a study in the Energy Research & Social Science scientific journal in June 2024 on how the New Pathways Alliance was misleading the public with its environmental claims.

The New Pathways Alliance, now known as the Oil Sands Alliance, is a consortium comprising Canadian Natural Resources, Suncor, Cenovus, Imperial Oil and ConocoPhillips. 

For years, this alliance has been promoting the Pathways’ project, which aims to make oil sands production “carbon neutral” by 2050 through carbon capture and storage.

Of course, you may recall that the federal government is investing millions in this faux technology. As has been the case for many years, taxpayers are expected to do all of the fiscal heavy lifting while the oil companies reap continuously soaring profits. 

What is wrong with this picture, and why do our political 'leaders' continue to do the fossil fuel industy's bidding?

Orts From the Table

Sometimes I think that we have become so jaded with government in general that when an apparently new 'flavour' comes along, our reaction is disproportionately enthusiastic. You don't need me to tell you how in most quarters (excepting the Conservatives, of course), the fact that the Carney Liberal government has now achieved majority status is being hailed as the dawn of a new, stable era. While the latter may be true, one should bear in mind the old caution: be careful what you wish for.

The Carney government is, without a doubt, a very conservative one; its worldview seems to be one in which taxes are bad and the corporate ethos of almost limitless profits is not to be questioned.  So in announcing the pending 10 cent reduction in the federal gasoline excise tax,  the prime minister is providing but an ort from the table. It is one designed to satisfy the immediate demand for relief while ignoring underlying causes. 

Seth Klein offers his advice on what Carney should have done. Observing the monstrous profits oil companies are deriving from soaring gas prices, he suggests now is the time to bring in a tax on their windfall profits.

The Financial Times reports that Canada’s oil producers are in line to land $90 billion in windfall profits due to the Iran war. According to modelling by the research firm Enverus, “Canadian companies will generate an extra $25-$30bn in revenue for every $10 rise in oil prices this year following the market turmoil caused by the conflict.”

Because the ripples of these increased fuel costs will ripple throughout the economy, it is time to derive a public good.

By not taxing these windfalls, much of the profits are leaving the country. Political economist Gordon Laxer notes, “oil corporations in Alberta and Canada are overwhelmingly foreign-owned,” mainly by Americans.

The windfall from spikes in the price of oil also overwhelmingly go to the wealthy, producing a hidden redistribution from lower-income households to the superrich. A study by University of Massachusetts Amherst economists Isabella Weber and Gregor Semieniuk found that the price shock triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine resulted in the 2022 net income of publicly listed oil and gas companies reaching $916 billion globally, “a figure more than three times that of the preceding years (even excluding 2020).” Moreover, within the US, they found, “50 per cent of all fossil fuel profit claims accrued to the wealthiest 1 per cent of individuals. The bottom 50 per cent of the population … received 1 per cent.”

Their solution: “a permanent excess profit tax on oil and gas, defined as returns above a specified threshold.”

The obscene profits accruing to companies cry out for this tax, and it one that finds much favour among the general public.

Politically, a windfall profits tax is a winner. First, it is hugely popular; polling conducted two years ago found 62 per cent of Canadians support such a tax. Second, the climate movement would be thrilled. Third, a windfall profits tax on oil and gas could raise roughly $1 billion a year (or considerably more, depending on the rate and the price of oil). 

[T]axing the oil and gas companies’ profits means we can deploy some of those revenues to directly help lower and modest-income households, while using some to expedite our transition off these deadly fuels.

There are compelling arguments to support a windfall tax on the oil giants. Unfortunately, because such a tax would benefit the people instead of corporate entities, I expect those arguments will fall on deaf Ottawa ears.

Thou Shalt Not Worship Graven Images

This from the NYT:

Pope Leo XIV is one of the world’s most powerful critics of the U.S. war with Iran. In recent days, he has condemned the worship of mortals and money, the pitfalls of arrogance, and the “absurd and inhuman violence” unleashed by fighting that has further destabilized the Middle East.

His many admonishments over the past week appear to have reached President Trump, who responded to those calls for peace by scorching the first American-born pontiff on social media and then taking personal credit for Leo’s ascension to the papacy.

“Leo should be thankful because, as everyone knows, he was a shocking surprise,” Mr. Trump wrote in a lengthy social media post on Sunday night. “He wasn’t on any list to be Pope, and was only put there by the Church because he was an American, and they thought that would be the best way to deal with President Donald J. Trump. If I wasn’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican.”

As Trump slips further and further into paranoid dementia, his disciples continue to pretend that all is fine. 

The world watches; the world suffers; the world awaits his demise.