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Apr 11 2023

Taiwan trip. Following Garneau. Trump’s whimper.

Apr 11, 2023
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
Canadian parliamentary delegation arrives in Taiwan
A 10-member Canadian parliamentary delegation arrived in Taiwan on Monday for a week-long visit that will include meetings with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and other senior government officials, according to the Canadian Trade Office in Taipei. [Focus Taiwan]
The visit comes after China completed three days of large-scale combat drills near Taiwan that included sealing off the democratically-governed island. [Global]
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is scheduled to meet his Ukrainian counterpart in Toronto this morning. [CP]

Anna Gainey, la fille aînée de l’ancien capitaine du Canadien de Montréal Bob Gainey, briguera l’investiture libérale dans la circonscription de Notre-Dame-de-Grâce–Westmount en prévision de l’élection partielle qui devra être déclenchée à la suite du départ de l’ancien ministre des Affaires étrangères Marc Garneau. [La Presse]
Those changes are part of a set of affordability measures in the budget and build on the Liberals' move to permanently remove interest charges on federal student loans. [Global]
A 'technical issue' at the Canada Revenue Agency is resulting in delays to some payouts of the GST/HST credit and Ontario Trillium Benefit. [Global]
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's chief of staff, Katie Telford, will appear before a parliamentary committee on Friday. The office says an exact time has not been scheduled. [Global]
From the provinces

Premier Danielle Smith says she is under investigation by the provincial ethics commissioner into whether she interfered in the administration of justice. [Global]
The UCP candidate for Livingstone-Macleod Chelsae Petrovic suggested heart attack victims should take more personal accountability for their health. [Global]
Less than six months from a scheduled provincial election, the governing Progressive Conservatives and the Opposition New Democrats have selected their candidates in most of the competitive races where Manitoba's election will likely be won, and lost. [CBC]
Most of Quebec's remaining outages affect only a handful of customers, noting hydro workers are reconnecting fewer customers even though they're working at the same pace. [Global]
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Elsewhere

Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen has condemned China’s military drills in the Taiwan Strait, saying China did not demonstrate the “responsible” behavior of a major Asian nation. China’s air, land and sea drills that ended Monday were retaliation for Tsai’s meeting with the United States House Speaker on her tour of Taiwan’s official and unofficial allies. Tsai said she represents Taiwan in the world and is expected to interact with its international friends. Taiwan is a self-ruled island that China claims as part of its own territory. Taiwan’s defense ministry said eight Chinese navy vessels were still in the waters surrounding the island as of Tuesday morning. [AP]

With food commodity prices down, widening profit margins might explain why consumers are paying more. [WSJ]
Media
Al Jaffee, ‘Mad’ Magazine Cartoonist Who Created the ‘Fold-In,’ Dead
Al Jaffee, the long-serving cartoonist who created the "Fold-In" at 'Mad' magazine, has died at the age of 102. There was a time in my life when I couldn't get enough of Al and Mad ... [Rolling Stone]

Why the former president’s arrest was a whimper, not a roar, on Twitter, a platform designed for these moments. [Vox]

My preferred RSS reader is an app called Inoreader. It's a fantastic tool and one of the tools I depend on to harvest content for this newsletter. Unfortunately, because of the ridiculous fees Elon Musk is now charging for use of the Twitter API, Inoreader can no longer offer collecting Twitter feeds in my stream. Click on the headline to read more about one more thing Elon has broken. -DA
Tech
People leaving Twitter for Mastodon may find it harder to find friends and followers there. Here's what you need to know to simplify the process. [ZDNet]
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