first reading: justin trudeau's very busy lame duck government
senate and judicial appointments, billions in new spending, a flurry of grants and corporate welfare handouts
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first reading is a daily newsletter keeping you posted on the travails of canadian politicos, all curated by the national post’s own tristin hopper. to get an early version sent directly to your inbox, sign up here.
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justin trudeau has less than a month to go as prime minister, and yet, on wednesday, he announced an out-of-the-blue plan to build a high-speed train between toronto and quebec city. a government press release said it will be “canada’s largest ever infrastructure project,” will be called “alto” and will cost at least $3.9 billion just for the “co-development phase.”
these are not the actions of a caretaker government quietly running out the clock. in fact, since trudeau prorogued parliament on jan. 7, his government has gone on a spree of giving out handouts, making appointments and planning foreign junkets.
below, a not-at-all comprehensive guide to what the federal government has been up to since trudeau officially became a lame duck.
filling the last vacant senate seats (and a round of new judicial appointments)
as one source told cbc last month, trudeau would not be leaving until every last vacant seat in the senate was filled, ensuring that the next government would face an upper chamber composed almost entirely of liberal appointees.
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and so, on feb. 7, trudeau appointed three more, adding to two other senators he appointed amidst the political turmoil that led to his announced departure.
attorney general arif virani — who last week became the latest cabinet minister to say he’s not running for re-election — has also stayed the course on judicial appointments. on jan. 27 he appointed a new federal court judge, as well as new judges in nunavut, new brunswick, ontario, alberta and quebec.
global affairs has sent out nearly a billion dollars in foreign aid
in just the first three weeks of february, global affairs has announced $740 million in grants to various foreign aid non-profits. on feb. 7, the department announced $242 million to “strengthen health systems” in the developing world — mostly on projects to “enhance enjoyment of sexual and reproductive health and rights.”
the day before, the department sent $360.6 million to the ngo nutrition international. the day before that, global affairs announced $87 million to “strengthen climate action and economies.” and on feb. 3, the department rolled out $50 million of grants for education, including a $4 million program in cameroon and senegal entitled bridging the digital gender gap.
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and none of the global affairs grants include $440 million green-lit for ukrainian aid by the department of defence on jan. 9 — although that was part of a $500 million promise that trudeau first made at a nato summit in july.
constant corporate welfare handouts
barely a week has passed under the trudeau government when there hasn’t been some kind of taxpayer-funded grant, bursary or zero-interest loan handed out to the private sector. there are whole federal agencies (canadian northern economic development agency, atlantic canada opportunities agency, etc.) whose primary job is to do just this, and the process has continued without interruption.
on feb. 7, the federal government signed over $6.2 million to quebec’s chemtec epoxy coatings so they could build a new plant. the day before that, natural resources minister jonathan wilkinson announced $43.5 million in monies to various quebec mining companies — the largest being $20 million to the critical elements lithium corporation so they could build a new electrical station.
among other announcements, a bunch of ontario dairy companies got $7.18 million on jan. 15 to buy everything from a new walk-in ice cream freezer to a “high-pressure homogenizer for kefir production.” seven “clean fuel” companies received $11 million on jan. 7. and ontario’s wabi iron & steel corp was given $3.2 million to “innovate,” “grow” and “increase sales and exports.”
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a couple one billion-dollar announcements
all of the foreign aid and corporate welfare payouts noted above are being drawn down from departmental budgets that were announced well-ahead of trudeau’s jan. 6 resignation announcement. nevertheless, there have been some extremely expensive items of new spending announced while the house of commons has been suspended.
the alto high-speed rail project has been the most notable, but on jan. 24 the federal government injected $1.034 billion into canada post. on feb. 17, the department of canadian heritage announced an outlay of $1.4 billion to fund the protocol for agreements for minority-language education and second-language instruction.
$40 million in grants to queer groups
this one got a bit of attention on right-wing corners of the internet because it was announced only hours before canada was set to be plunged into a ruinous trade war with the united states. on jan. 31, the federal government announced $41.5 million to “106 projects across four different 2slgbtqi+ funds.”
those funds are: the 2slgbtqi+ projects fund, the 2slgbtqi+ community capacity fund, the intersectional community-based research to strengthen 2slgbtqi+ data and evidence and canada’s action plan on combatting hate.
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one of the country’s largest-ever trade delegations just left for australia
the trudeau government got in one last cabinet retreat before calling it quits. this is a semi-regular tradition in which the prime minister’s office rents out a large segment of a luxury resort somewhere in the country to hold a few days of meetings and team-building exercises. their last one happened at fairmont le chateau montebello, and was scheduled to coincide with the inauguration of u.s. president donald trump.
and trade minister mary ng is going out with one last big overseas trade mission. this week, her ministry announced the departure of the team canada trade mission to australia, which includes a record 220 people. ng boasted that it was canada’s “biggest-ever trade mission to australia,” and uploaded drone footage of the group standing in front of the sydney opera house.
one more official apology
the planning for this was obviously in the works long before trudeau knew he would be quitting, but his ministry will be making one last official apology before it’s all over. on feb. 27, indigenous-crown relations minister gary anandasangaree will be in arctic bay to apologize for the 1934 to 1948 dundas harbour relocations. this was a policy wherein inuit families were relocated to high arctic settlements as a means of asserting canadian sovereignty, and then not allowed to return to their original homes.
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in other news
ontario premier doug ford’s plan to waltz into a third term appears to be proceeding without a hitch. a just-published leger poll found his progressive conservatives enjoying 48 per cent – 20 points ahead of the second-place ontario liberal party. this is despite the very unusual phenomenon of ontario liberal leader bonnie crombie running to the right of ford on some culture war issues. in a radio interview last month, crombie condemned ford’s government for allowing a queen’s park statue of sir john a. macdonald to be covered up. “at queen’s park there’s a statue of our very first prime minister john a. macdonald … but you wouldn’t know that because doug ford put a box around him five years ago — that’s crazy!” she said.
this is nigerian official nuhu ribadu pictured at the exact moment he says that canada can “go to hell” – sparking applause from the room. the video has been making the rounds of african media, and stems from half the nigerian delegation to the most recent invictus games missing the event after being denied canadian visas.
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editor’s note: an earlier version of this story cited christopher skeete as a liberal mp. he’s a quebec mna for the caq. the post regrets the error.
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