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Apr 16 2024

Wealth tax. Puppet show. Facebook effect: The Roundup

Apr 16, 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
2024 budget expected to make wealthy Canadians pay more taxes
Normally, budget details are a tightly kept secret - but not this year. It is being tabled Tuesday afternoon after an unprecedented two weeks of major, multi-billion dollar spending commitments on everything from housing to defence -- to a national school lunch program. As David Akin reports, the big question is: How will the government pay for it all?  [Global National]
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland is set to present the federal budget on Tuesday after a countrywide tour that teased many of the housing and affordability measures to be included in the document. [CP]
Shachi Kurl: The country appears to be collectively putting on noise-cancelling headphones where the Liberals are concerned. [Ottawa Citizen]
Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says he wants to see a carbon pricing system that is more 'fair' for working-class Canadians, but would not say if that includes a fuel levy. [Global]
Alex Usher: "...maybe the most interesting graphs today: namely, median income by field of study for the Class of 2020, which I show below in Figure 5. It’s mostly what you’d think, except…check out Humanities vs. Physical & Life Sciences." Spoiler alert. Humanities wins! [Higher Education Strategy Associates]
From the Provinces
Roadblock cleared: Ontario’s Highway 413 moving forward after governments reach agreement
An agreement between Ottawa and Queen's Park to allow the Ford government's signature Highway 413 project to proceed has been ratified by a federal judge. [Global]
Premier Doug Ford says his government is adding over 300 new weekly trips to GO Transit's rail service across the GTA. [CHCH]

Saskatchewan's finance minister was ordered to stand and apologize in the house after she messaged the Speaker and accused him of letting the legislature devolve into an "Opposition puppet show." [CP]
'Manitoba has a wealth of natural and agricultural resources along with clean energy solutions that makes us a valuable asset to our American trade partners.' [Global]
Elsewhere
Johnson plans to put four different bills on the floor, essentially decoupling aid for Israel from help for Ukraine, the issue that has Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene threatening to oust him from the speaker’s chair. [WaPo]
Joly urges Israel to ‘take the win,’ not escalate after Iran’s attack
Joly told reporters in Ottawa that while Canada and its allies support Israel's right to defend itself, they are also "clearly pushing for a de-escalation." [Global]

The speaker of Georgia's parliament said that lawmakers would debate the first reading of a bill on "foreign agents" on Tuesday as opponents called for a second day of protests against a measure they see as Russian-inspired. [Reuters]
When we talk about a negative story, we often say information “surfaced.” The word conjures an image of old social media posts, voting records, misdemeanors, lawsuits, residency questions, speeding tickets … floating up from the depths by accident like the body of a missing person. But the word conceals a very different process. Information like that doesn’t just “surface.” It is painstakingly exposed inch by inch like a delicate fossil. Often, the people doing that work are paid large sums by an interested party, and they only share their findings with reporters on the condition of “no fingerprints.” Often, the information cycles from a campaign through the press, then back onto campaign flyers, debates, TV ads, then sometimes back into the press again. And no campaign that can afford it is above participating in this process. Fantastic deep dive with great oppo war stories. Must read for any political operative/journo. [City and State NY]
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Media
When Facebook blocks news, studies show the political risks that follow
"The news being talked about in [Canadian] political groups is being replaced by memes," said Taylor Owen, founding director of McGill University's Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy, who worked on one of the studies. "The ambient presence of journalism and true information in our feeds, the signals of reliability that were there, that's gone." The lack of news on the platform and increased user engagement with opinion and non-verified content has the potential to undermine political discourse, particularly in election years, the studies' researchers say. [Reuters]
Elon Musk said in response that the fee for new users is "the only way to curb the relentless onslaught of bots." [MacRumours]
In the view of Jim VandeHei, CEO of Axios, artificial intelligence will “eviscerate the weak, the ordinary, the unprepared in media. ”The rapid rise of generative AI — and its implications for how people will discover and consume news — has unsettled many media executives. Like them, VandeHei has spent the past year or so pondering how to respond.  [Seattle Times]
Science and Tech
The Best Google Docs Keyboard Shortcuts for Boosting Your Productivity
Learn how to use keyboard shortcuts instead of mouse clicks for common tasks in Google Docs. You might be surprised at how much time you save. [Wired]

The best commercial lithium-ion batteries ... have a service life of up to eight years. Batteries are usually charged with a constant current flow. But is this really the most favourable method? A new study .. answers this question clearly with no. [Science Daily]
The Calendar
  • 0830 ET: West Block - Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre speaks to reporters.
  • 1000 ET: West Block - PM Trudeau meets with his cabinet.
  • 1100 ET: 430 Wellington - Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics (ETHI) | Meeting  112 - FY25 Main Estimates
  • 1100 ET: 425 Wellington - Agriculture and Agri-Food (AGRI) | Meeting  99 - Drafting report
  • 1100 ET: 025-B West Block - Procedure and House Affairs (PROC) | Meeting  113 - Requested Discussion on Witnesses at the Bar of the House
  • 1100 ET: 410 Wellington - Science and Research (SRSR) | Meeting  81 - The Distribution of Federal Government Funding Among Canada's Post-Secondary Institutions
  • 1100 ET: 125-B West Block - Transport, Infrastructure and Communities (TRAN) | Meeting  109 - Committee Business
  • 1100 ET: HoC Foyer - NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh speaks about Budget 2024 expectations.
  • 1100 ET: 03B West Block - tStatus of Women (FEWO) | Meeting  104 - Red Dress Alert
  • 1600 ET: House of Commons - Deputy PM and Fin Min Chrystia Freeland tables Budget 2024
  • 1615 ET: HoC Foyer - NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh speaks about Budget 2024.
  • 1620 ET: HoC Foyer - BQ Leader Yves-François Blanchet speaks about Budget 2024.
Issued this day ...
… in 1943: Scott #259: King George VI War Issue: Ram Tank. Design: Herman Herbert Schwarz.
The 65,000-lb Ram Tank was a Canadian designed-and-built tank based on the U.S. Army’s M3 Medium tank. The first tanks rolled off the line at the Montreal Locomotive Works in 1941. Wiki says 2,032 were made. It had a crew of five and a top speed of 40-km/h. The illustration on this stamp is quite dramatic with shells bursting in the air on either side of the tank and the tank itself is pictured as a shell bursts into flame on exiting its gun. And yet, according to Wiki again, this tank, as built, was never used in combat. No such scene ever occurred. Some Rams were converted with a flamethrower on the turret instead of a cannon and that model was used in combat in the Netherlands in 1945. 

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