READING: Justin Trudeau becomes Prime Minister forever
Canada finds a new way to fail its Afghan allies
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First Reading is a daily newsletter that keeps you informed about the travails of Canadian politicians, all curated by National Post’s own Tristin Hopper. To have an early version sent directly to your inbox every Monday to Thursday at 18.00 ET (and 9.00 on Sundays), you must register here.
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TOP STORIES
Conservative leader Erin O’Toole announced its shadow cabinet today , where the process offers dramatically fewer hugs than when the Liberals swear in an actual cabinet. Here are the highlights:
- Pierre Poilievre is back as a financial critic after controversially being mixed out of the job by an upcoming O’Toole in the summer of 2020. Poilievre is one of the least affectionate members of the Tory caucus, and the move was seen as a way to hide the conservative party’s sharper edges.
- Leslyn Lewis did not squat. A leadership rival to O’Toole in 2020, she’s probably gotten on the leader’s bad side in recent months by constantly questioning vaccine mandates.
- Shannon Stubbs, Mark Strahl and Chris Warkentin – who all publicly tried to get O’Toole fired as leader after the September election – was not invited either.
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Despite Tory warnings that the 45 th Parliament would be controlled by the supernatural ghost of a liberal-NDP coalition, Left House Leader Mark Holland said Tuesday he not expected Grits and Dippers would agree to any formal alliance . After all, a parliamentary coalition typically involves two parties sharing cabinet posts and other executive powers (such as the power to appoint NDP senators). Far better for Trudeau to just do what he wants with the likely expectation that the NDP will mostly agree to it .
Canada continues to find new ways to fail its former Afghan allies . After a gleaming evacuation took only a symbolic number of interpreters of former Canadian forces from Kabul, many were forced to seek refuge in an ad hoc network of safe houses. The private donations that have sustained many of these facilities have just been exhausted, and with Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada refuses to address , those who once protected Canadian troops in the field are now being forced to return to their homes in Kandahar despite the high probability that they will be subjected to “disappearances” at the hands of the vengeful Taliban.
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CANADA ABROAD
Global News has confirmed using documents acquired through access to information the countries where Canadians are most likely to be murdered over the past five years . In descending order :
- Mexico (24 Canadians murdered)
- United States (20 Canadians murdered)
- Jamaica (15 Canadians murdered)
- Philippines (11 Canadians murdered)
- Burkina Faso (10 Canadians murdered)
The Chinese Communist Party and its aides have an alarmingly long reach to make life a hell for Chinese dissidents moving to Canada , a recent Globe and Mail profile found . Alison Lai, 32, came to Canada as a refugee applicant from Hong Kong in 2020 and now faces a daily stream of threatening postings on social media and emails, many of whom know the most intricate details about her life and movements in Canada.
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Speaking of the global reach of the Chinese Communist Party, there are now early signs that Canada may shut down Huawei out of efforts to build the country’s 5G network . Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said on Monday that Canada would only accept ” trusted partners “For the venture – a term that is likely to exclude technology companies for which Beijing is prepared to arrest random Canadians to settle foreign legal disputes.
CULTURAL WARS
Blu, a dog who was granted a waiver from Ontario’s pit bull ban after becoming a celebrity – has just attacked and bitten a 13-year-old boy in the face . Blus owner Tommy Chang also owns a Toronto Taekwondo studio, and the incident happened while Chang was challenging a 13-year-old student to “overcome” his fears by approaching the dog. Oh, and now another boy steps forward to say that Blu attacked him.
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Quebec has backed up on a plan to require proof of genital surgery from any Quebecer who wishes to change their gender on official documents . This kind of requirement was actually the country’s law across Canada until just the last few years, when “self-ID” laws began allowing Canadians to change their legal gender without anything other than a personal confirmation.
DATA NERD
For the first time since the 1960s, Alberta received more in federal spending than they sent to Ottawa. In a normal year, the Albertans send $ 20 billion to Ottawa, which they never get back. But by 2020, the federal government spent at least $ 10 billion more on Alberta than the province paid in income tax, according to figures calculated by University of Calgary professor Trevor Tombe . So how did they do it? Mostly because COVID encouraged the federal government to spend completely indecent amounts of money while tax revenues crumbled across the board.
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Canadians generally support equalization even if they live in a “have” province whose tax dollars disproportionately fund services in “do not have” provinces , says a new Postmedia / Leger survey . However, 54 percent of Canadians felt that some provinces exploited the program “unfairly.” Although the specific province was not mentioned, it is usually here that we mention that more than half of all compensatory payments go to Quebec and have pretty much always done so.
SOLID TAKER
John Ivison writes that after all, it’s a very good time to be Justin Trudeau right now . Sure, he held a pointless election, and the country (and his party) hate him for the most part, but his opposition is utterly miserable right now. Ivison notes that Trudeau is already Canada’s 10th th longest-serving prime minister, and given the state of affairs, he’s ready to blow past Brian Mulroney soon.
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Every time inflation is publicly talked about lately, it is usually followed by a politician or a big wig in the central banks, reminding us that everything is fine and that inflation is “transient” and such. Kelly McParland has the conflicting view that in fact, inflation can completely dynamize economies for generations . McParland writes , “Imagine checking your bank account every few weeks and discovering that even if you have not spent a penny, it is worth significantly less than it was the last time you looked. And it goes on for years.”
Sabrina Maddeaux finds it “shocking” that Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland did not hesitate on Monday to order Air Canada’s CEO to learn French (and that it should now be one of his “key performance goals”). “Quebec is fast becoming a province in a constant state of attack – the regional equivalent of a college student who can’t stand being exposed to something that makes them feel uncomfortable, even for a few minutes,” she wrote .
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