How to get a head in politics

The first prime minister gets a rough re-examination

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Protesters in downtown Montreal yesterday toppled—and subsequently decapitated—a statue of Sir John A. Macdonald in the latest round of anti-racism protests, amid calls to defund the police. Politicians criticized what they described as an act of vandalism at the popular Place du Canada, where the statue has stood for more than 100 years. In a series of tweets, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney blamed the "extreme left" and offered to bring the statue to Alberta, where they'd erect it in front of Alberta's Legislature. Serious offer or just for the Twitter likes? You decide.

In an attempt to increase transparency and public trust in Canadian institutions, the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission—the RCMP's watchdog—has decided to post summaries of all its analyses, from hundreds of cases, freely online. The CRCC used to just publicize a few cases, namely from random samplings and high-profile investigations, but new chairperson Michelaine Lahaie wanted to change things up. So far, only a few dozen have been posted, but they've already shown how some officers can turn too quickly to violence in mental-health calls or manipulate media representation after auto collisions. You can browse them at the CRCC's website.

Conservative MP Kerry-Lynne Findlay wandered into anti-Semitic conspiracy territory on Saturday, retweeting an old video of now-Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland interviewing Hungarian-American billionaire George Soros. Findlay found the video from a Twitter user named David Milley (whose bio indicates he is a "PPC Founding Member") and, ignoring the fact that Freeland was interviewing Soros as a journalist for the Financial Times , wrote, "The closeness of these two should alarm every Canadian." Findlay deleted the tweet later that day—not because it was classic anti-Semitic dog-whistling, but because she "thoughtlessly shared content from what I am now learning is a source that promotes hateful conspiracy theories." Judging from David Milley's subsequent overconfident tweets, he doesn't mind being thrown under Findlay's bus.

The Conservatives' new leader, Erin O'Toole, gave a lengthy outdoor interview to Mercedes Stephenson on The West Block yesterday, in which he talked up Tory values and slammed Justin Trudeau for all the usual scandals (SNC, India, WE, etc.). Among his more definitive and newsworthy answers: he said he won't reel back LGBT rights in Canada; he called a fall election "not my priority"; and while he acknowledged that racism, in a very broad sense, does indeed exist and is a problem, he refused to say whether systemic racism exists in the RCMP, because he believes the definition is fuzzy and didn't want police officers to react the wrong way.

Late last week, the Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario penned an open letter to Trudeau urging he reinstate a national chief nursing officer, a role that was cut during under Stephen Harper's government. The letter points out that nurses deserve a national voice at the governing table , especially in the wake of COVID-19, as they could have helped prevent untold deaths in nursing homes and hospitals. The letter also points out that the World Health Organization called 2020 the "Year of the Nurse", which is certainly deserved, but... since when does the WHO label years?

A year after the federal government established an expert panel to review its treatment of prisoners in solitary confinement, news broke that the panel has disbanded and accomplished nothing, because the Correctional Services of Canada didn't give them any useful information. Paul Wells, in Maclean's, laments how this is the latest example of kafkaesque bureaucracy bogging down an ineffective government that stifles its own public servants.

Consider the lobster. With mere months to go before the U.S. election, President Donald Trump has been making overtures to potential battleground states. One such state is Maine, often solid blue, but where moderate Republican senator Susan Collins is in serious threat of losing her seat. And how do you win over New England? Head for the seafood. Last week, three days after the European Union agreed to nix an eight per cent tariff on American lobster (which is bad for Canada, good for the States), the United States International Trade Commission announced placed the Canadian lobster industry in its crosshairs by announcing an investigation into how the pricey crustacean export figures into the Canada-Europe Trade Agreement. Geoff Irvine, executive director of the Lobster Council of Canada, told CBC News, "We're not sure what it means"—which could well be diplomatic code for "This won't end well."

But you don't really care for music, do you? American Republicans stepped on the toes of another Canadian group last week: the estate of Leonard Cohen. Organizers from the Republican National Convention apparently requested the rights to use Cohen's song "Hallelujah", and the estate declined; they asked Sony/TV Music Publishing, which also declined. And yet the RNC trucked ahead, playing a cover of the song during Trump's acceptance speech for the presidential nomination. Legal options will be explored. And here's a nice little kicker: the lawyer for Cohen's estate, after refusing to release the rights to the song they wanted, apparently invited the RNC to request a different tune—"You Want it Darker".

In case you're counting along at home: In the first three months of its 2020-21 fiscal year, the Canadian government officially ran a deficit of $120 billion. That, compared with the paltry $85-million deficit of the previous year's first quarter. Happy Monday!

—Michael Fraiman

Politics News & Analysis