Most people in English Canada are just getting introduced to Paul St. Pierre Plamondon. The leader of the separatist Parti Quebecois became Quebec’s premier designate on Monday night, winning power with just 28% of the vote.
We’ll get to the results, and what they mean in a moment, but let’s talk about the immigration comments that have many people buzzing.
PSPP, as he is known in Quebec, wants to keep immigration numbers low. That’s not unusual in Quebec where they view controlling immigration to be part of protecting their culture.
What is striking about PSPP’s comments here is the way he speaks forcefully but articulately about how wrong the Liberal immigration plan has been. He rightly ties it to the Century Initiative and points out that the Liberals went beyond what even the Century Initiative called for before pulling back.
He states plainly that this was wrong, but also that the government knew what they were doing.
Not sure how old this clip is, but it is fascinating. And in English.
I’ll have more on this in a column for the Toronto Sun tomorrow.
In case you missed it, I spoke with Marc-Olivier Fortin the other day about the Quebec election results and what they mean.
Canada’s worst minister strikes again…
Melanie Joly was awful at Heritage, she was awful at Foreign Affairs and now she’s awful at Industry.
She’s now threatening legal action against Stelco, the Hamilton based steel company that can’t sell steel to the U.S. anymore due to tariffs. She issued a letter telling the company to reverse layoffs within five days or face the full extent of the law.
Here she is boasting about it in the halls of Parliament. Thanks to Western Standard for the video.
The government has mused that they could force the owners of Stelco to sell the company. On Thursday, Mark Carney was asked if the federal government could nationalize Stelco and he wouldn’t rule it out.
Yes, let’s go back to the days of government owning the means of production!
This is all because when Cleveland-Cliffs, an Ohio based steel company, bought Stelco in 2024, part of the agreement with the government was that they kept employment levels the same for five years. Of course, that was before tariffs came into being, effectively blocking Stelco from exporting.
If the government forced a sale, or worse bought the plant, I don’t think they could do any better at making sales. Meaning we’d be mostly stockpiling steel that no one was buying.
This is all political because Cleveland-Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves supports Trump and his tariffs. He’d also like Canada to raise it’s tariffs on Chinese, Turkish and Korean steel.
Which if we did that, would lower if not eliminate the American tariffs on us.
This should all be part of the trade negotiations with the Americans, but we aren’t having talks. Carney would rather keep the fight going with Trump because he knows it excites his Elbows Up base and is good for his polling.
The Elbows Up crowd, mostly retired of course and not worried about losing their jobs, want nothing to do with Trump.
Not even trade talks.
The Europeans are coming, the Europeans are coming…
Mark Carney was talking about a transformative new alliance with the European Union while he was in Sherbrooke, Quebec for an announcement earlier Thursday.
Carney of course announced this new partnership in Europe after denying anything big was coming in Canada. He spoke about it first in the European Parliament.
You’d think with Parliament back he would take the opportunity to brief the House of Commons on the matter. He knows enough about the deal to say it is transformative and he says it will benefit our economy.
Why not update Parliament?
The Canadian one that is.
Seems that Parliament is beneath Carney.
Okay, Quebec wants to protect its culture (from too many immigrants). What about Canada?
Maybe it’s and east west thing, but I’m 73 and love Trump and hate Carney. Viscerally. Most of y acquaintances, although not as in love with Trump as me, feel similarly about Carney. Who are these boomers I keep hearing g about?