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Mar 27 2024

Premiers pitch. Asylum costs. Pancholi out: The Roundup

Mar 27, 2024
David Akin's Roundup
Clippings of #cdnpoli, #media, and #tech content aimed at those with an interest in Canadian politics and policy. And sometimes Canadian postage stamps.
Canada
Four premiers to tell a House of Commons committee to ditch carbon price increase
Conservative premiers from Alberta, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick will be grilled by MPs on their views about the carbon tax and climate change. [Global]
In a reply to the seven provincial leaders on Tuesday, Trudeau said the last time they discussed the issue in 2022, their governments either didn't propose alternative solutions or couldn't meet federal standards for reducing emissions. [CP]
Dozens of Canadian economists issued an ardent defence of Canada's price on pollution Tuesday, as the government faces increased pressure from the Conservatives and provincial premiers to cancel a planned increase to the levy. [CP]

Members of diaspora communities are slated to testify today as a federal inquiry begins two weeks of hearings into foreign meddling allegations and how the government responded to them. [CP]
We examine a different but potentially more perilous loophole in the electoral process beyond general elections to demonstrate how foreign actors could directly influence the prime ministership through the manipulation of party membership. We suggest that foreign actors could influence the selection process of party leadership and, consequently, the prime ministership, simply by purchasing party memberships that distribute ballots in leadership elections without identity verification. After introducing China and Russia's strategies to influence Canadian politics, we offer a few recommendations to address the party membership loophole.  This academic article comes right on cue as the hearings resume today for the Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference [International Journal]
With the carbon price set to increase by $15 per tonne on April 1, Pierre Poilievre has spent the past month hosting rallies and releasing new ads calling to "spike the hike." [Global]
Newly released figures from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada show the federal government spent more than $100 million housing asylum seekers at hotels. [Global]
Bank of Canada senior deputy governor Carolyn Rogers gave a speech in Halifax on Tuesday in which she sounded the alarm on Canada’s flagging productivity rates. [Global]
From the Provinces
Pancholi drops out of Alberta NDP leadership race, supports Nenshi
Pancholi said NDP leadership candidates recently received an update on membership sales, the first such update since Nenshi joined the race. Nenshi announced his intention to run on March 11. “Those numbers show that, in the span of a week, Naheed has more than doubled the size of the Alberta NDP’s membership,” she said. [Global]
The annual financial blueprint includes a few new programs, laying out Ontairo’s potentially tough economic future. The plan sees economic growth grind to a near-stop in the province and deficits continue until the eve of the next election. [Global]

Many real estate agents say workers who moved away from the city during the height of the pandemic are staying put and stomaching a longer commute a few times a week, while others – especially those farther away from urban centres or in remote or difficult-to-access locations – have said the call back to the office has also called clients back to the city, or that the challenges of rural living caught up with some new owners. [Global]
Elsewhere
The delegation, led by Senator Paul J. Massicotte and Han Dong, a member of the Canadian House of Commons, was invited by the China-Canada Parliamentary Association of the NPC to attend the 24th meeting of the exchange mechanism between the two sides. Related: Hearings at the Public Inquiry on Foreign Interference resume Wednesday morning. MP Dong, when he returns from China, will testify next week. [Xinhua]
Payment delays reduce revenue to the Kremlin and make them erratic, allowing Washington to achieve its dual policy sanction goals - to disrupt money going to the Kremlin to punish it for the war in Ukraine while not interrupting global energy flows. [Reuters]
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Media

The new version has useful customization features and the ability to connect it to your personal Wayback Machine account, making it an even more essential tool for journalists and investigators. [Digital Investigations]
Science and Tech
Scientists turn to AI to make beer taste even better
Researchers in Belgium use artificial intelligence to improve taste, but say the skill of the brewer remains vital. [The Guardian]
The Calendar
  • 0945 ET: Ottawa - NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh joins striking workers on a picket line.
    1000 ET: St John's - Innovation Min François-Philippe Champagne speaks about energy.
    1100 ET: 025B West Block - Government Operations and Estimates (OGGO) | Meeting 113 - FY25 Main Estimates
    1230 ET: Vancouver, - PM Trudeau , Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland and Emergency Preparedness Minister Harjit Sajjan make a funding announcement and speak to reporters.
    1300 ET: Sandspit, BC - LPC MP Vance Badawey participates in an airport naming ceremony.
    1400 ET: Winnipeg - Energy and Natural Resources Min Jonathan Wilkinson , Northern Affairs Min Dan Vandal and Treasury Board Pres Anita Anand speak about housing and take questions from reporters.
    1400 ET: Montreal - Environment Min Steven Guilbeault and Transport Min Pablo Rodriguez speak about housing and take questions from reporters.
    1500 ET: Winnipeg - LPC MP Marie-France Lalonde participates in the unveiling of a historic plaque.
    1530 ET: Edmonton - Families and Social Development Min Jenna Sudds makes a funding announcement.
    1530 ET: Toronto - Housing and Infrastructure Min Sean Fraser , Women and Gender Equality Min Marci Ien, and Justice Min Arif Virani make a funding announcement. .
    2030 ET: Edmonton, - Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre speaks to supporters.
    2100 ET: Beechy, SK - CPC MP Jeremy Patzer holds a town hall meeting.
Issued this day ...
… in 2019: Sc 3174i: Canadians in Flight: C.H. Punch Dickins. Design: Ivan Novotny
Part of a five-stamp series issued this day in 2019, this one features Clennell Haggerston “Punch” Dickens (1899-1995). Canada Post: “A favourite son of Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, First World War flying ace and Distinguished Flying Cross recipient C.H. “Punch” Dickins was an aviation pioneer and bush pilot. Enlisting in the Canadian Expeditionary Force (196th Battalion) in 1917, he later transferred to the Royal Flying Corps and flew 73 combat missions in the First World War. He later served in the Canadian Air Force, then joined Western Canada Airways, flying the first scheduled airmail delivery from Winnipeg to Edmonton in 1928.

That same year, Dickins made the first reconnaissance flight across the unmapped barren lands of the Northwest Territories in his Fokker Super Universal float plane, covering more than 6,000 kilometres in 37 hours of flying time. For this accomplishment, he received the Trans-Canada Trophy (also known as the McKee Trophy) for outstanding achievement in air operations. During the Second World War, Dickins managed flight training schools as part of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, and he headed the Atlantic Ferry Organization, which saw North American-made planes make the dangerous flight overseas to aid the Allies. Dickins held leadership roles at Canadian Pacific Air Lines and at de Havilland Canada, where he influenced the design and launch of the DHC-2 Beaver, often considered the best bush plane ever built. He was the first pilot to log one million miles in flight (1.6 million kilometres).”

Why aren't we making a three-season streaming series about this guy's life and career? Season I - WWI; Season II - Exploring Cnaada and WWII ; Season III: Inventing the DHC-2 Beaver. 

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