Carney's tepid steps, Mexico and the border, bail not jail and some great interviews...

A look back at the week that was.

A week ago I was writing about how Mark Carney’s major projects plan and saying it was too tepid. I still think that is the case and we need to move harder and faster to unleash our economy.

If Carney were to go at the speed and with the ambition that he was promising, I’d be cheering him on, but he’s not living up to expectations.

That was kind of the theme for the federal Conservatives this past week. They made a conscious decision to hold Carney to his own words, the promises that he made and expectations that he set.

It wasn’t always sunshine and roses for the PM on that front as food inflation rose despite his key words on that front.

Running for the border…

PM Mark Carney decided that as talks with the United States ground to a halt, the best thing to do was to head to Mexico and forge a unite front against the United States. Strangely, as I explain in my Toronto Sun column, we tried that before and it didn’t work out too well.

Back in 2017/18 Canadian trade officials thought that striking a deal with Mexico and forming a united front against Trump was a good idea. What happened was that the Mexicans realized their bread was buttered by the Americans, sold us out and we had to catch up on a trilateral deal later.

If it didn’t work last time, why are we still doing it?

Bail, just bail…

In 2019, the Trudeau Liberals completely changed the bail system.

I’ve been writing about this for years and I’m used to the attacks that provinces run the lower level justice system like bail. The reason for that attack is that it lets the Liberals in Ottawa claim that it is provincial premiers letting people out on bail.

Except that in 2019, the federal law was changed, as I write about in my Toronto Sun column. That change was significant in more ways that one but primarily told judges and justices of the peace, these are the rules you play by now.

Principle of restraint

493.1 In making a decision under this Part, a peace officer, justice or judge shall give primary consideration to the release of the accused at the earliest reasonable opportunity and on the least onerous conditions that are appropriate in the circumstances, including conditions that are reasonably practicable for the accused to comply with, while taking into account the grounds referred to insubsection 498(1.1) or 515(10), as the case may be.

So, insert into that a brand new Attorney General and Justice Minister who unlike most who have filled the role has never been a prosecutor nor a defence attorney. Sean Fraser spent a few short years practicing environmental law and IP law before running for office.

Sure, he’s a lawyer but a lawyer with less experience with the criminal code than the average media court reporter. He doesn’t have a clue on this file, which is the point I am making.

Are we repeating our Mexican problem…

Back in 2017/18 the Trudeau government decided that one of the best ways to inoculate ourselves against Donald Trump’s economic threats was to build a united front against the Americans. It didn’t work out well for use as the Mexicans signed a deal with the US while leaving us out in the cold.

Seems we are doing that again as Mark Carney has spent the past few days in Mexico trying to find a fight partner against Trump.

Scott Moe takes a calm approach…

I’ve known Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe for almost a decade, met him as he started his run for the top office in his province. Had a chance to sit down with Premier Moe, remotely, to talk about canola tariffs, EV tariffs, his hopes for his province and working with Mark Carney compared to Justin Trudeau.

About that notwithstanding clause…

It was seven years ago that I spoke to Norman Spector, someone who was there for the constitutional talks, about the notwithstanding clause and the interview stands up today.

Give it a listen if you haven’t heard it before, you will learn things most in the media will not tell you.