Meanwhile, Back in Ottawa ...
The Not-So-Good News from Parliament
"Canadians said no to Trump, so why is Mark Carney pushing through a MAGA-inspired border bill?" - Erica Ifill, The Guardian
It’s been a big week for Prime Minister Mark Carney. All eyes were on him as Trump touched down in Canada for the G7 meetings. But anyone who thought this would be the dramatic moment where Canada and the United States came back together has been sleeping through the last six months.
Trump was Trump.
He gave vague hints of a new trade deal but then pushed for Russia to be welcomed back into the G7. He falsely blamed Canada for kicking Russia out.
Trump walked away on a G7 statement on the Middle East and left town before President Zelensky arrived. So much for his Western allies.
And yet, the drama may have worked for Carney as it drew attention away from what was taking place in Parliament.
The Prime Minister's first pieces of legislation are very much at odds with the "Captain Canada" elbows-up persona presented during the election.
In fact, it's all looking a little too Trumpian.
Just ask First Nation leaders.
They are protesting on Parliament Hill over the government's decision to ram through legislation that could seriously impact their rights and their lands.
Bill C-5 is known as An Act to enact the Free Trade and Labour Mobility in Canada Act and the Building Canada Act. Prime Minister Carney says it must be pushed through with the greatest urgency to blunt the economic threat posed by Donald Trump.
While there are elements of the legislation that may help accomplish this goal, there are other more problematic parts that seem like they were borrowed from the war room of Maple MAGA.
Althia Raj, a media commentator long known for her Liberal leanings is blunt:
“C-5 is a naked power grab that tramples our democracy. Perhaps Mark Carney has no desire to be re-elected as Prime Minister and doesn’t care if the Liberals win another mandate. Why else would he bring in legislation that runs roughshod over democratic norms in this country?”
Nowhere is this power grab more concerning than on the Liberal plan to push through contentious projects.
Under the legislation, a single federal minister will have the power to override regulatory protections, bypass environmental and social safeguards, and ignore First Nation rights. But only, of course, if the project were in the “national interest.”
And as I pointed out in an earlier piece, "national interest" in Canada always means more oil pipelines.
Bill C-5 creates a massive rubber stamp for very problematic and controversial projects. The Liberals are moving so fast that First Nation leaders weren't even provided a full copy of the legislation. And as we know, with omnibus legislation, the problems are always hidden in the small print.
Bill C-5, which was only just introduced on Monday and will be pushed through the House by Thursday without consultation.
The legislation comes as provincial attacks on the rights are hammering First Nation communities. Just last week, Premier Doug Ford forced through Bill 5, which completely walks over their constitutional and legal rights.
Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler of Nishnawbe Aski Nation states that the Liberal legislation is actually worse than Doug Ford's bill.
So much for the era of reconciliation and "walking together."
What is it about Canada's "national interest" that always involves overriding Indigenous rights? Breaking treaties is the oldest con in Confederation.
It wasn't supposed to be this way.
Canadians voted in droves for the Liberals because they didn't want a Maple MAGA-style government that would imitate Trump and drive down the values Canadians cherish — including environmental and Indigenous rights.
People put their trust in Prime Minister Carney.
They voted to balance the national urgency to retool our economy while protecting rights and democracy. They voted for the anti-Trump.
But that is not what’s being served up.
Consider Bill C-2, the so-called Strong Borders Act.
The legislation was designed to respond to Trump's taunts that Canada somehow has a porous border. The legislation is another massive piece of legislation that solves some problems and creates a whole whack of others.
For example, it provides tools to go after money laundering and gang financing.
Those are good things.
However, the legislation includes sweeping powers for police to obtain citizens' data without a warrant. This is the "seize your phone at the airport" provision being implemented in Canada.
And the bill goes hard at refugees. There are numerous provisions that will annul refugee claims or force people back to the United States and other jurisdictions.
In what seems a parallel to the United States' actions, the legislation will make it possible for the Minister to cancel immigration documents and deny access to refugee hearings.
The Canadian Council for Refugees warns that the bill is worse than what exists in the United States.
The bill is accompanied by a dangerous, fear-mongering rhetoric recently seen in the US and the UK that reads deeply out of place in Canada. It is a shocking turn from a government that set out to distinguish itself from the US administration's defiance of the rule of law, disrespect for international commitments and xenophobic anti-refugee discourse and actions.
I spent 21 years in Parliament dealing with all manner of legislation. One thing I learned: no matter how good or bad a particular piece of legislation is, it requires serious due diligence. There are always negative implications from unforeseen consequences in the language.
Government MPs are not there to point out these shortcomings. Their role is to defend what has been introduced by the Minister. It falls to the opposition to bring forward witnesses and to ask the tough questions.
This process is essential for crafting amendments that justify voting against problematic legislation.
But given that the New Democratic Party opposition has been decimated, Carney has the opportunity to push through legislation with little oversight or challenge.
Why is the Prime Minister acting like Trump lite in these signature pieces of legislation? He is in his honeymoon period and perhaps thinks he can do no wrong.
However, the problem with passing legislation without ensuring proper checks and balances is that it gives future governments a green light to exploit the loopholes.
The public is being asked to trust Mark Carney when he is providing a hammer to a future Maple MAGA government to smash through the legal standards for environmental protection and Indigenous consultation.
Here's another thing I learned from 21 years in Parliament: governments love to look like they are doing something bold by bringing forward all-encompassing legislation. But more often than not, we don't need more laws. What the country needs is the resources to carry out legislation that exists.
But that means spending money.
Take the supposed solution to the crisis in our refugee and immigration problem. The reality is that Canada's refugee and immigration system is a Kafkaesque nightmare. So many people are caught in the system, and the situation gets bleaker all the time.
They rely on call centres to adjudicate complex cases. People fleeing frightening oppression are left waiting in endless limbo.
Staffing is the obvious first step in addressing these problems. But governments don't want to be seen spending money on things like immigration, even if people are drowning in the system.
Just five months ago, the Liberal government announced their decision to cut thousands of jobs from the already over-swamped immigration and refugee department.
Now they’re claiming the Minister needs the super powers to clear the backlog.
This means arbitrarily denying people who will never get the chance to have their cases heard.
That's right out of the Trump playbook.
C'mon Mark.
People trust that you will do the right thing. Don't abuse your mandate by steamrolling through more negative pieces of legislation. It will only create opposition and will ultimately hurt people.
We're all Team Canada in the fight against Trump. We don't need a Prime Minister to be stealing his legislative agenda.
Whole heartedly agree! We can suspend disbelief only so far. Many of us voted to change how we do things...especially the old neoliberal focus on giving the private sector everything they want. Private sector leadership has created the mess of inequality, unemployment and environmental degradation we live in today...
Said perfectly, Charlie. I hope this is on Mark's reading list this morning.