Language politics trump a tragedy...

Plus is Carney really different from Trudeau in any meaningful way?

Two people died on Monday in an air crash, dozens were injured, and Mark Carney is worried about the language of the condolence message from Air Canada’s CEO. Michael Rousseau has been Air Canada’s CEO since 2021 but he doesn’t speak French, which once upon a time would have been a legal requirement, but Air Canada is a private company and there is no requirement.

After the crash that killed two of his pilots, Rousseau was on his way to LaGuardia Airport in NYC. He stopped to record a short video message of condolences and since he doesn’t speak French, the message was posted with French subtitles.

Not good enough for the language hawks in Quebec where he has now been denounced in the provincial legislature. In Ottawa, they summoned him to appear before committee to explain himself.

Now, Prime Minister Mark Carney is critical of Rousseau.

It’s almost as if there is a by-election in Terrebonne.

Carney knows that his Liberal candidate’s only competition in that riding just outside of Montreal is the Bloc Quebecois. So, ramp up the language politics even if it is related to a tragedy and even if this is nothing but petty, petty politics.

I feel gross even talking or writing about this.

Carney looks more like Trudeau every day…

Is Mark Carney really different from Justin Trudeau? Plenty of voters thought so and returned to the Liberal fold in the last election after abandoning the party over Trudeau.

Well, just over a year into Carney being PM and things aren’t going well on the economy, we had an auditor’s report that ripped the government on student visas, the immigration system is a mess and he runs a government more interested in announcements than competence.

Now comes word that he’s looking to make a highly partisan ideological judicial appointment.

In a story that I broke for the Toronto Sun yesterday, I revealed that Carney is looking to appoint Nathalie Des Rosiers as the Chief Justice of the Superior Court of Ontario. Yes, weird as it is, the federal government appoints the top tier of judges in each of the provinces.

Des Rosiers was appointed to the bench just over two years ago by David Lametti, probably the worst justice minister in Canadian history. Prior to being made a judge, Des Rosiers had been a Liberal MPP and cabinet minister in Kathleen Wynne’s government.

She has worked for and advocated left wing causes her whole career.

From my column:

She’s an activist, she’s a partisan, but she’s also a Liberal who went to Harvard around the same time Prime Minister Mark Carney. As much as the government claims there is a protocol or system in place to make these appointments, ultimately it is a political one and Carney has the last say if he wants.

Appointing Des Rosiers, the activist and partisan Liberal to this post would bring the system of justice into disrepute.

If she gets in, the directives that she would issue to the court on issues such as bail and other matters would be horrendous.

Let’s hope Carney changes his mind.

About that immigration fraud…

I mentioned the AG report on the international students in passing above. Here’s our discussion about the report on Batra’s Burning Questions with Toronto Sun Editor-in-Chief and Sun columnist Warren Kinsella - and of course me!

Speaking of Kinsella and his book…

Shortly after the October 7, 2023 terror attacks on Israel, Kinsella and I were talking about the army of online bots driving the discussion about the war. The way that Hamas was able to mount an aggressive propaganda campaign.

He said it looked like a campaign, as in a political campaign, something he has a lot of experience in.

That led him to start working on his book, which is kind of out now.

Called The Hidden Hand, it looks at the Iran backed efforts to drive the narrative war online. The hardcover comes out April 21, but you can pre-order it now or you can download the Kindle version if you like that format.

I’m mentioned a few times.

Vancouver homeowners should be concerned…

I’ve promoted this a few times, but I really do think it is an underreported story. We also have some reporting saying there is nothing to see here, neither the Musqueam agreement not the Cowichan decision change anything or the other side claiming you already don’t own your home.

Professor Dwight Newman isn’t hysterical, in fact he’s quite measured, but he does say people are right to have questions.