Taking a bit of a break and is Lilley writing a book...

Keeping up on the news, kinda, while on vacation.

Greetings from 37,000 feet, somewhere above Utah at the moment. After a few days in sunny but cold Saskatoon, I left town just ahead of a blizzard and am headed to Palm Springs in California, via a layover in Calgary, for a few days in the sun.

For the first part of the flight, I was working on the long promised but yet to be delivered post on the rift between Pierre Poilievre and Doug Ford. It’s close to done now and will be out for paid subscribers in the next few days, it just needs an edit and polish to make sure it’s ready.

What surprised me was how much there was to say.

When I started writing the post, I figured it would take 1,000 to 1,500 words. It’s now approaching 3,000 words which means it’s about the length of a chapter in a non-fiction book.

Will this be the start of a book?

Maybe, I’ve thought about writing a book about conservative politics in Canada, maybe this will be the start of something.

Taking a short break...

You may have noted that I haven’t been writing for the Toronto Sun for the last few days. They force me to take vacation now and again and to be honest I’ve needed the break and some rest from the usual pace of producing columns, videos, along with radio and TV appearances.

So that means I’ve dropped that for the week, but will still post here. How much once I land in the hot and sunny desert is yet to be determined.

That means I haven’t been paying as much attention to the news for the last few days. Obviously, I’ve been keeping an eye on Iran, including watching Trump trash talk Iran while standing next to the Easter Bunny.

I’ll be anxious to see what happens tonight when Trump’s deadline passes.

The commentariat class is already saying that Trump has failed in this war, which they didn’t believe in from the start. I’ll be honest and say that I’m not sure what is going on or what will happen.

The military achievements thus far have been impressive. The rescue mission over Easter was truly remarkable.

The fact that the regime is holding on though is pause for concern.

If you want a view that is different from what you get on most of the news channels or even most of the online pundits, give John Spencer a follow on X. He was a guest of mine on the Full Comment Podcast recently to discuss the war in Gaza and he is incredibly knowledgeable.

Canada’s immigration system is a dumpster fire...

One of the stars of the federal Conservative caucus is Michelle Rempel Garner, or as I have nicknamed her, The Notorious MRG. This woman is a force of nature on Parliament Hill, and she is doing great work in holding the government to account on the immigration file.

Last week, before I departed Toronto, I had a chance to catch up with The Notorious MRG to discuss the recent report from the Auditor General on the foreign student program and a number of other issues on this file.

Fast choo choo trains are suddenly all the rage...

When I started seeing people posting and arguing over the HSR on X, I wondered why the Hamilton Street Railway was suddenly hot again. No, they weren’t arguing over Steeltown’s city bus service – yes, it is still called a street railway – they were arguing over high-speed rail.

Last week Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre called the plan for a high-speed train from Quebec City to Windsor a $90 billion boondoggle. He wants it cancelled and the money put in part towards giving Canadians tax relief by cutting gas taxes as people struggle with the price at the pump.

We’ve been talking about a high-speed rail line along this route for decades. Dozens of studies have been conducted, some estimates say that cumulatively we’ve spent $1 billion on these studies, and yet there is still no rail line.

The latest twist is that Franky Bubbles, François-Philippe Champagne, Mark Carney’s finance minister, is in hot water over this project. Turns out that Champagne’s partner, Anne-Marie Gaudet, is vice-president of environment for the firm Alto which has been tapped by the federal government to spearhead the project.

She’s been in this job since August and just last November, Champagne’s budget – which he voted for – allotted $100 million to Alto for HSR.

Champagne says he followed all the rules and has recused himself from this file – the budget and vote notwithstanding I suppose – but no one can find any proof of this. On Monday, Carney was defending his minister saying that Franky Bubbles followed all the rules.

It’s just that none of us, not even CBC, can find evidence to back up this claim.

Suddenly though, Liberal supporters are all up in arms over any opposition to HSR. They are all instant high-speed rail experts AND if you don’t support high-speed rail then it’s because you don’t love Canada.

The first time I ever covered this issue was about 25 years ago as a young reporter in Montreal when I interviewed Jean Chretien’s then transportation minister David Collenette. We sat in a rail car in Montreal’s Central Station and discussed the idea.

It’s been studied to death since then and still nothing.

One last point, this is a supposed nation building project but would only benefit a certain sliver of the country and population. Of course, it is the one where the Laurentian Elite live.