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Yahoo
5 days ago
- Politics
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FIRST READING: Canada's Supreme Court is mounting an unprecedented PR offensive
First Reading is a Canadian politics newsletter curated by the National Post's own Tristin Hopper. To get an early version sent directly to your inbox, sign up here. TOP STORY The Supreme Court of Canada announced this week that its chief justice, Richard Wagner, would soon be embarking on a public relations tour of Yellowknife, N.W.T. Along with two other justices — Nicholas Kasirer and Michelle O'Bonsawin — he'll spend two days gladhanding with high school students, meeting with Indigenous elders and hosting forums about the glories of Canada's highest court. 'The Supreme Court of Canada is one of the country's most significant institutions,' reads an official media release, which adds that Yellowknifers will be informed about how the court is the stoic guarantor of their 'strong and secure democratic country.' Sitting judges do not traditionally embark on PR tours. Not in Canada, nor in any other corner of the English-speaking world. For much of the Supreme Court's 150-year history, in fact, the general idea was to avoid the spotlight as much as possible. But this has been happening a lot lately. As the Supreme Court of Canada keeps wading into controversy by striking down legislation or forcing parliaments to adopt new laws, they've simultaneously been leaning hard into a big-budget PR strategy framing themselves as the defenders of democracy. The Yellowknife visit is one of five goodwill visits scheduled this year for the Supreme Court of Canada, all of them to celebrate the court's 150th anniversary. A two-day visit to Victoria in February ended with a $135-per-plate 'engagement' dinner that was billed as a chance to participate in a 'historic moment.' This year saw the court team up with the Royal Canadian Mint to issue a commemorative Loonie. 'The new $1 circulation coin serves as a shining tribute to (the Supreme Court of Canada's) unwavering dedication to the rule of law, and its service to Canadians — past, present, and future,' reads promotional literature. The court commissioned a children's book which features Chief Justice Wagner teaming up with an anthropological owl to teach a class of wide-eyed school children about how the Supreme Court makes 'decisions that affect all Canadians.' Children are also being invited to submit artwork and essays praising the court's work, with winners to be awarded with an 'in person or virtual meeting with the Chief Justice of Canada.'The Supreme Court of Canada happens to be the only public institution in the country where the incumbents are honoured with triumphal artwork. At Rideau Hall or Parliament Hill, they wait until office-holders have retired before rendering them in portraiture. As has been covered multiple times by the National Post, the Supreme Court of Canada's Grand Entrance Hall features a bronze bust of Wagner that likely cost around $18,000. Curiously, however, the Supreme Court of Canada has consistently denied knowing who paid for it and why. The statue was funded by an anonymous donor, and Wagner has said he doesn't know who it is. 'We don't have gifts, it's more like tokens of appreciation that we receive,' he told National Post in court is even commissioning a literal makeover. Since its 1875 inception, the Supreme Court of Canada's official regalia has consisted of fur-trimmed red robes inspired by English legal traditions that date back as far as the 17th century. But those are now being discarded in favour of something more modern. 'The moment has come to have new robes that better reflect Canadian identity. The new robes will be made in Canada,' Wagner told the official publication of the Canadian Bar Association. Oxford-based legal critic Kerry Sun called it a 'Year Zero move.' The Supreme Court also continues to be particularly active on social media, although notably not on the one platform where it's received the most criticism: In February — right around the time that many left-leaning users were leaving the platform in political opposition to owner Elon Musk — the Supreme Court appeared to do the same. 'Dear subscribers — moving forward, we will be focusing our communication efforts on other platforms. We invite you to follow us on our LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube accounts to continue receiving our updates. Thank you for your support!' read a statement. Naturally, all this extra travel, promotional literature and communications work is not coming cheap. As recently as 2017, it cost $34,882,922 to keep the doors open at the Supreme Court of Canada. Over the next year, their budget is expected to top out at $47,967,792. That's an increase of 37 per cent; roughly on par with the ballooning costs charted by nearly every other federal agency since the 2015 election of a Liberal government. All the while, the rates of cases being decided by the court is at historic lows. In the late 1990s, the Supreme Court was disposing of about 80 cases per year. Last year, the court issued 50 decisions. The year before that, just 36. But if the Supreme Court of Canada is suddenly ramping up its PR strategy, it's occurring amid a period of heightened controversy for the top court. Although its decisions are few, they disproportionately have the effect of rewriting or compelling legislation. Just last month, the Supreme Court of Canada rewrote a section of the Youth Criminal Justice Act making it more difficult to apply adult sentences to youth offenders. In 2022, the Court threw out a law requiring mass-killers to serve consecutive sentences for each one of their victims, deeming it 'cruel and unusual punishment' to deny parole eligibility to the perpetrator of a mass shooting at a Quebec City mosque. That particular decision yielded a rare statement of condemnation from former prime minister Stephen Harper. 'Today's decision by the Supreme Court of Canada in the case of mass murderer Alexandre Bissonnette devalues the lives of his victims,' he said at the time. Most notably, Canadian politicians have become increasingly comfortable with discussing the use of the Notwithstanding Clause, a section of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms that effectively allows Parliaments to override the Supreme Court. A June review found that after 30 years of 'relative neglect,' the notwithstanding clause had been invoked in a record 'six different provincial laws since 2018.' During the 2025 federal election, meanwhile, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre promised to become the first prime minister to invoke the clause at a federal level in order to shield bail and sentencing reform from Supreme Court jurisdiction. The court has not reacted well to the newfound criticism. In 2024, when a Supreme Court decision used the term 'person with a vagina' in place of 'woman,' it drew a unanimous condemnation from the Quebec National Assembly. At his annual press conference that year, Wagner said he and his colleagues were 'witnessing attacks on our judges and our institutions.' 'Comments like this undermine public confidence in the justice system. We should be especially concerned when elected representatives say these things,' he said in French. On Oct. 6, the Supreme Court's new clothing is expected to be debuted at 'a ceremonial opening of the judicial year' — which is itself another Wagner innovation. While Supreme Court justices participate in the official opening of Parliament, they haven't historically bothered with high-production ceremonies for their own branch of government. Nevertheless, in June Wagner said in his annual press conference that it would be a chance for 'the legal community to come together and reflect on the issues facing our justice system.' It's not entirely unprecedented. The last time the Supreme Court held a ceremonial opening was a one-off in 1986. Perhaps tellingly, the opening was a bid to be more 'open and accessible' to Canadians during a period when the country had similarly begun nurturing concerns that their top court was exceeding its authority. The Supreme Court of Canada had just issued its decision on R v. Morgentaler which effectively abolished all laws governing abortion in the country — a legal framework that stands to this day. And, notably, it did so using a Charter of Rights of Freedoms that had only been made law just four years before — and whose champion, then prime minister Pierre Trudeau, had assured Canadians that it would never be used to rule on abortion. As one court-watcher, law professor Tim Christian, commented on the 1986 ceremonial opening at the time, 'people haven't yet grasped the degree to which the Supreme Court now has the authority to make final decisions on questions of constitutional morality.' IN OTHER NEWSJenni Byrne was in charge of the Conservative campaign during the 2025 election. And according to some Tory insiders, her inflexible approach is the reason they lost. While she hasn't been turfed outright from her influential position within the party, she did reveal this week that she won't be heading up the next Conservative campaign. Get all of these insights and more into your inbox by signing up for the First Reading newsletter. Housing crisis may get worse, new forecasts show Terry Newman: Let's talk about post-sex regret, baby
National Post
03-07-2025
- Business
- National Post
FIRST READING: Despite cash influx, military says it won't be functional until 2032
Article content First Reading is a Canadian politics newsletter curated by the National Post's own Tristin Hopper. To get an early version sent directly to your inbox, sign up here. Article content With the federal government announcing new plans to triple Canadian defence spending, the military itself is saying the organization is so overwhelmed and dysfunctional that they won't be able to meet even their current duties for at least another seven years. Article content This time last year, the Department of National Defence was estimating that by March 31, 2025, it would have 90 per cent of its forces 'ready for operations in accordance with established targets.' Article content Article content Now, a new internal report is estimating that they won't be able to meet this benchmark until the more 'realistic and achievable' date of 2032. Article content Part of the delay is due to the sudden influx of new defence spending, with the report stating that it will take time to manage the 'significant improvements' now being ordered by Ottawa. Article content But DND also details how it continues to be burdened by personnel shortages, degraded equipment and a chronic inability to obtain new kit. Article content 'There is a risk that DND/CAF will not have the right military personnel, in the right numbers, with the right competencies at the right place, and the right time,' reads a section outlining how the military may even fail to meet its new 2032 targets. Article content The shortages are most apparent when it comes to equipment. Right now, more than half of the military's aircraft, ships and army vehicles are effectively out of commission. Article content The Canadian Armed Forces maintains annual statistics on what percentage of its various vehicle fleets are considered adequate to meet 'training, readiness and operational requirements.' In the navy, air force and army, these figures are all at historic lows of 45.7 per cent, 48.9 per cent and 49 per cent, respectively. Article content Article content The new report estimates that it will be years until this can be turned around. In the air force and army, it won't be until 2032 that fleets will be 'at least 70 per cent' functional. In the Royal Canadian Navy, meanwhile, the 2032 target is set slightly lower 'at least 60 per cent.' Article content Although the navy is waiting on a 'future fleet' of new destroyers, the first vessels aren't scheduled to be completed until 'the early 2030.' In the meantime, the navy will largely remain dependent on a fleet of aging frigates that have been described as 'rapidly becoming combat ineffective.' Article content 'The degradation in materiel readiness of the aging platforms within the existing fleet will present a significant challenge to maintaining … operational readiness,' reads the report.
National Post
28-06-2025
- Automotive
- National Post
'What if we just forced people to buy stuff?': The imagined thoughts of the Canadian EV mandate
Article content The Carney government is under growing pressure to drop what is known as the 'EV mandate.' This is a policy first introduced in 2022 wherein Canadian auto manufacturers will be mandated to sell a minimum quantity of EVs each year until 2035, when the sale of new gas-powered cars will be banned entirely. Article content The singular problem with the mandate is that nobody wants to buy EVs. Even with Canada having the highest fuel prices in the hemisphere, sales of EVs have only ever peaked at about 20 per cent of new vehicle sales. And even that has been in freefall in recent months. Article content In Dear Diary, the National Post satirically re-imagines a week in the life of a newsmaker. This week, Tristin Hopper takes a journey inside the thoughts of the EV mandate. Article content Monday Article content One of the most pressing challenges of modern governance is how to compel ones' citizenry to meet a rote, inconsistent and often contradictory picture of ideal behaviour. We have identified the perfect Canadian life: The specific pattern of development milestones, core values and consumer choices that will yield a citizen best attuned to the interests of the collective. Article content The only problem is to how to take this average Canadian — a scared, superstitious and mostly obese bipedal primate — and mould them into the rational, inclusive, evidence-based form that we have decreed for them. Article content Because it is here where we are weakest. I need not remind you that China is nipping at our heels. If we are to stay competitive, I'm afraid that we risk too much by sticking to archaic models of 'letting people buy the vehicles they would like to buy.' Article content I admit the EV mandate may look draconian in isolation. If presented as a stark dichotomy of 'freedom' versus 'compulsion,' a sentimental public will naturally favour the former. Article content But if we start from the premise that the Canadian public must obviously be compelled to cease purchasing internal combustion engines within 10 years, then the only question is how to go about it. Article content My sober and reasonable offer is that private businesses be obliged to meet an objective, and the details are left to them … as would be expected of any free society. Article content Would a better solution be to incarcerate the owners of gas-powered cars? To mandate gasoline additives that prematurely wear the engines of ICE vehicles? To make highways more dangerous to facilitate higher attrition of the existing vehicle fleet? I think you'll agree that mine is the most humane and inobtrusive option. Article content Wednesday Article content In this line of work, one quickly grows weary of the bottomless mendacity of the auto sector. Their chief criticism of the EV mandate, to my read, is that it stands in defiance of 'consumer preferences.' They say the Canadian auto buyer does not want to purchase EVs at the 'arbitrary' rates we are setting, and thus the program is unworkable. Article content I find their lack of imagination insulting, if not traitorous. These are companies that routinely convince chartered accountants that their daily driver needs to be a Ford F-350. Or that a 700-horsepower sedan is an appropriate vehicle to pick up their kids from school. There are people out there driving Cybertrucks, Pontiac Azteks and Hummer H2s, all of them brainwashed by clever marketing into thinking that they made a smart decision. Article content Tell the public that the gas cars cause impotence. Shoot a couple commercials with Jason Statham. Offer the cars with a free Spotify subscription. It's not my fault you're not trying hard enough to sell EVs. Article content The public has an unfortunate habit of obsessing over the alleged downsides of green policy. This came up often in regards to carbon pricing. Joe and Sally Taxpayer would complain endlessly about the extra $10 or $20 at their fill-up, without a thought as to how their government had won the acclaim of closing plenary delegates at multiple U.N. climate change summits. Article content But these boors miss the opportunity inherent in the mandate. Remember when we made it unbelievably difficult to build houses, thus causing a housing shortage that caused the existing housing stock to perpetually skyrocket in value? In a world with no new gas-powered cars, your 2009 Jetta could become a luxury commodity sooner than you think. Article content The worst thing about all this current controversy is that when the policy is inevitably a smashing success, all of today's critics will pretend they supported it all along. But any cursory reading of history reveals that true progress comes only from government telling private firms the precise share of their sales that should be filled by a politically desirable consumer product. Article content Did the fisherman not swap out row boats for motor vessels because a government told him to? Did we not transition from VHS to DVDs based on the sage yet mandatory advice of a centralized bureaucracy? Forcing people to purchase things is the Canadian way. Article content
Yahoo
27-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
FIRST READING: B.C. politician pushes bill to force schools to say drugs are bad
First Reading is a Canadian politics newsletter curated by the National Post's own Tristin Hopper. To get an early version sent directly to your inbox, sign up here. The B.C. Conservatives are calling for measures to keep 'radical drug lobbyists' out of schools after a school event that featured info cards on how to do drugs such as cocaine, meth and GHB. 'This isn't education. It is grooming kids into drug culture,' said B.C. Conservative MLA Steve Kooner in a Tuesday statement endorsing his private member's bill that, if passed, would compel schools to 'explicitly discourage drug use.' The event in question was a Pride festival sanctioned by the Nanaimo-Ladysmith Public Schools District. After accompanying her 10-year-old to the event, Nanaimo, B.C. mother Ruth Taylor alerted local media to the presence of postcard-sized leaflets that local media described as 'drug use information cards.' A card labelled 'meth,' for instance, details the drug's euphoric effects, its reported ability to increase libido and even includes recommended dosages. 'A light dose is around 5-10 mg, a common dose is around 10-30 mg, and a strong dose is 30-40 mg,' it reads. A card for GHB, a common date-rape drug, reads that the substance can 'make the user feel more relaxed and more sociable.' It adds, 'G can also increase libido.' The cards were among the literature offered at a booth run by AIDS Vancouver Island, a harm reduction non-profit funded in part by government bodies such as Island Health and the Public Health Agency of Canada. Taylor told Chek News that she confronted AIDS Vancouver Island about the materials being inappropriate for schoolchildren, but that 'they were not receptive to what I was saying' and 'the cards stayed for the remainder of the event.' AIDS Vancouver Island didn't respond to a National Post query before press time. In a statement provided to Global News on Monday, the group said it was told the event was for older children and that they stood by 'the fundamental importance of youth receiving honest, factual and appropriate substance use and sexual health materials.' The Nanaimo-Ladysmith School District, in turn, said they took responsibility for 'the lack of oversight' regarding the cards, and said they would be keeping a closer eye on the materials handed out by 'external organizations' at events where students are in attendance. The cards were manufactured by DanceSafe, a California-based non-profit that specializes in providing drug-checking materials to raves, music festivals and other events likely to feature illicit drug use. The group produces 'drug info cards' for 14 distinct drugs, ranging from nicotine to mushrooms to the synthetic psychedelic 2C-B. The cards only cover 'party' drugs, so there's no card for heroin or fentanyl. DanceSafe stresses that its role is as a 'nonjudgmental first point of contact.' As such, the cards warn of the drugs' various side-effects, but they do not suggest that the drug might be best avoided. The cocaine card, for instance, suggests using the drug 'in moderation' in order to avoid developing a 'problematic relationship with it.' 'Cocaine is very short-acting, and the after-effects (the 'comedown') can be quite unpleasant,' it reads, warning that the comedown can prompt 'compulsive redosing.' Each card is also decorated with stylized imagery inspired by the drugs' effects. The meth card is adorned with lightning bolts, while the cocaine card has a 1970s aesthetic, complete with disco ball. Taylor referenced the cards' 'bright' and 'attractive' appearance in her comments to Chek News. Kooner called them 'colourful flashcards.' Kooner's Tuesday statement said the apology from the Nanaimo-Ladysmith School District was 'not enough,' and that 'we must stop sending mixed messages on drugs to children.' Earlier this year, Kooner tabled a private member's bill that would require 'mandatory anti‑drug messaging' in schools, that would include 'stigma against drug use as a deterrent.' The DanceSafe cards are far from the first time that a Canadian school event has run into controversy for making materials available to minor that either facilitated drug use or encouraged risky behaviour. Two years ago, a B.C. high school just north of Nanaimo came under fire after a drug awareness presentation concluded with the session leader distributing 'safer snorting' kits. The kit, manufactured by the publicly funded Canadian AIDS Treatment Information Exchange, included plastic straws and cards to cut powdered drugs into lines that could then be snorted. 'Have condoms and lube with you. You may want to have sex while high,' read an accompanying booklet. That same year, a Canadian chapter of Planned Parenthood was barred from presenting in Saskatchewan schools after a sex education programmer distributed graphic cards describing fringe sex acts involving defecation and urine. With Canada still ostensibly planning to fix housing unaffordability by scattering the country with millions of government-built homes, a new Montreal Economic Institute report is urging Ottawa to take heed of a similar New Zealand program that failed miserably. KiwiBuild, much like the Carney government's proposed Build Canada Homes, set out to build 100,000 affordable homes within a decade. It only managed 2,389. And this is not the first time that New Zealand has provided Canada a tidy example of what not to do. Like the Liberal government is doing right now, New Zealand tried to combat gun crime by pursuing a massive gun 'buy back.' It went way over budget, and ended up coinciding with gun crime going up. Get all of these insights and more into your inbox by signing up for the First Reading newsletter.
National Post
24-06-2025
- Business
- National Post
FIRST READING: Just how far behind the world Canada has been allowed to lag on LNG
First Reading is a Canadian politics newsletter curated by the National Post's own Tristin Hopper. To get an early version sent directly to your inbox, sign up here. Article content TOP STORY Article content Article content Early on Sunday morning, word leaked out from the Pacific Coast port of Kitimat, B.C. that Canada had produced its first-ever liquid natural gas for export. Article content Unnamed sources told Reuters that at 4 a.m. local time, the $40-billion LNG Canada terminal was first able to turn Canadian natural gas into a super-chilled liquid destined for Asian buyers. It's set to be loaded into the LNG tanker Gaslog Glasgow, a ship that as of press time was just entering Canadian territorial waters. Article content Article content Although the milestone is being feted as the beginning of a new multi-billion-dollar Canadian resource sector, it also neatly illustrates how far behind Canada has been allowed to lag in an industry where it could feasibly have been a dominant power. Article content Article content In all the world's other major producers of natural gas, this moment came years if not decades ago. The United States exported its first LNG in 2016, Qatar dispatched its first LNG vessels in 1997 and Australia was pioneering LNG export technology as early as 1989. Article content All three are now raking in hundreds of billions in annual LNG money that could have been Canada's if it been able to reach the starting line earlier than Sunday morning. Article content In Australia, the LNG export sector is now bringing in the Canadian equivalent of $220 million per day. According to the most recent figures from Australian Energy Producers, annual LNG export earnings were now worth $81.5 billion CDN. Article content This kind of money added to the Canadian economy would represent a three per cent rise in overall GDP. Put another way, it would be akin to adding a Manitoba's worth of extra GDP to the economy (Manitoba's GDP was $91.9 billion in 2023). Article content Article content In the nine years since the United States' first LNG export, the country has turned into the world's largest single exporter of the fuel. Article content Article content The United States now has eight dedicated LNG export terminals, the most recent having opened in December. Article content That same month, a report by S&P Global estimated that LNG exports had added a cumulative $400 billion ($550 billion CDN) to the U.S. economy. Article content Canada could have feasibly been an early contender in the LNG trade for the simple reason that — just like the U.S., Qatar and Australia — the country has lots of natural gas as well as the technology to produce it.
