Reprieve from Trump's tariffs short lived, Carney spends more while claiming to save...

And provincial politicians in Ontario get a windfall raise.

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Well, the break from Trump’s tariffs was nice while it lasted, which was just a few hours. After the U.S. International Trade Court ruled on Wednesday that the American President’s “Liberation Day” tariffs were beyond his authority, a different court said they could stay in place pending appeal.

There is no quick and easy way out of these tariffs, it’s going to be a long game and that’s why we need to focus on diplomacy.

Trade is mostly under the purview of Congress, though they have over the years granted the President some authority, especially in areas such as trade negotiations. Tariffs by Executive Order, which is how Trump has been imposing them, won’t last and can’t be used in all cases – which is what this court challenge is about.

That doesn’t mean Congress won’t back Trump’s tariff cause and pass them into law.

This is why we need all hands on deck in Washington with regular meetings between officials and politicians. It’s why we also need a new Ambassdor in Washington, someone who understands politics.

This is why a few weeks ago I wrote a column for the Toronto Sun suggesting Caroline Mulroney as the best candidate for the job. Give it a read.

Speaking of Queen’s Park...

MPP’s in Ontario haven’t seen a pay increase since 2009, but that is about to change. Currently earning $116,550 they will soon see their pay bumped to $157,350 per year and once again tied to 75% of the pay of a federal MP.

The move is sure to outrage some, and you could argue that the raise should be phased in rather than all at once, but as I argue in my Sun column, it’s the right thing to do.

MPPs will still be paid far less than MPs and less than city councillors in places like Toronto, Brampton and Peel.

Last time MPPs got a raise, Avatar was a brand new movie.

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In Ottawa, they are just raising spending...

Prime Minister Mark Carney will tell you he is holding the line on spending. He bragged about that and about finding savings during his speech in the Commons on Thursday.

As the Conservatives rightly point out though, despite promising not to increase spending by more than 2%, the main estimates tabled in the House show that government spending will increase 8%. It was the topic of the day in Question Period with the Conservatives asking what the difference is between Carney’s out of control spending and Trudeau’s.

The answer is, Carney’s is worse.

Focus on gun crime, not hunters. That’s the message from a poll conducted by Leger for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. As Bryan Passifiume points out, there is very little appetite among Canadians to spend money on a so-called “gun buyback” program.

Going around Bill C-69...

Calls from premiers, business leaders and people with common sense to scrap Bill C-69, the no more pipelines bill, have fallen on deaf ears with the new Liberal government. They have insisted that the bill is needed to ensure projects go forward while critics say it blocks projects.

Looks like they are introducing measures that would allow some national interest projects to skirt the onerous impacts of C-69. The plan, obtained by Canadian Press appears to have been drafted by the Privy Council Office in consultation with provinces and will be presented at the June 2 First Ministers Meeting.

Whether that meeting takes place in Saskatoon as originally planned is up in the air due to wildfires that have forced both the Saskatchewan and Manitoba governments to declare a state of emergency.

What to read today…

Kevin Vuong, the former MP, is writing about the radical politics taking over Canada’s largest school board, the TDSB. As Canadians we don’t really pay enough attention to school boards, but that is where the radicals have their greatest impact.

If you just read Canada’s establishment media out of Toronto, Ottawa or Montreal you might think that Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s popularity with voters in her province was in trouble. As Rick Bell explains, that’s far from the truth and in fact, if an election were held today, Smith and her UCP would take significantly more seats than the NDP led by media darling Naheed Nenshi. More details on the poll here.

Kevin Klein in the Winnipeg Sun is writing about the wildfires and the unimaginable experience of having to pack up your life in your car in a few short minutes and flee. It’s not something I’ve had to do, but as Klein says, we can and all should respond with support and kindness to our fellow Canadians.

We all know Canada Post has been losing money for years. How bad is it? Tristin Hopper looks at the full state of the bleeding at the post office, and it isn’t pretty.