There's no Elbows Up for China in B.C., that F-35 audit and Trudeau's lies, and Carney stealing Poilievre's ideas...

What a strange, strange political world we live in these days.

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Elbows up is a term that doesn’t apply to China it seems. At least not for the pipeline hating NDP government of Premier David Eby.

B.C. Ferries announced on Tuesday that they had selected China Merchants Industry Weihai Shipyards to build four new ferries to service B.C.’s coastal communities.

“CMI Weihai is a global leader in passenger ferry construction, and shipbuilding more broadly,” Nicolas Jimenez, CEO of BC Ferries, said in a statement that went on to praise the state-owned company.

In March, China imposed 100% tariffs on canola oil, canola meal, and peas, as well as 25% tariffs on pork and seafood. Those are significant agricultural products for Canada and China is a major export market for those products meaning, B.C. Ferries just awarded a major contract to a company owned by the Chinese government that we are in a trade war with.

Not to mention China’s recent history of kidnapping our citizens, their abhorrent human rights record etc.

Mike Farnworth is the transportation minister in the B.C. government. As the Vancouver Province reports, he is expressing disappointment while also claiming that B.C. Ferries is independent.

“Mike Farnworth said in a statement he was worried about procuring services from ‘any country that is actively harming Canada’s economy’ with tariffs and protectionism.”

There is so much wrong with this scenario including the fact that a Canadian shipyard would never be allowed to bid on a Chinese government contract. This is part of the problem of trading with China, they believe in one-way trade.

As for the claim that B.C. Ferries is an independent organization, that is a laughable idea. Yes, B.C. Ferries is independent in the sense that they are not owned directly by the government, but instead owned by the B.C. Ferry Authority, which has one single shareholder, the Government of British Columbia.

Minister Farnworth would not have been directly involved in the bidding process or in selecting the winning company, nor should he have been. However, if he never advised against accepting a bid from a company owned by the Chinese government or if B.C. Ferries never raised this issue with the minister who oversees them, then this was negligence on both their parts.

Either way, the Eby government has a mess on their hands.

Pipelines for me, but not for thee...

Perhaps it is unfair to call the Eby government anti-pipeline. They just don’t want any pipelines crossing into British Columbia if they are carrying products from another jurisdiction, especially oil.

In his latest column, Vaughn Palmer writes about how the Eby government is going full steam ahead with Prince Rupert Gas Transmission pipeline.

Contrast the NDP greenlighting of the Nisga’a-backed natural gas project with its reaction to the proposal, touted earlier in the week, for a pipeline to transport Alberta oil through B.C. to tidewater at Prince Rupert or Kitimat.

“That idea doesn’t make sense to us,” said Energy Minister Adrian Dix, echoing similar comments from Deputy Premier Niki Sharma and Premier David Eby.

A natural gas pipeline makes far more sense to the New Democrats because, for starters, the financial returns would be greater for the provincial treasury. B.C. has little oil to develop or export but vast reserves of natural gas.

Team Canada indeed.

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That audit of the F-35...

The F-35 should have been flying over Canada’s skies years ago. Instead, we’re still flying jets that were put into service more than 40 years ago.

The Trudeau government canceled the original contract when they came to office in 2015 and swore Canada would never buy the plane. Then they dithered for seven years before announcing they would buy the F-35.

Turns out they lied about the cost when they announced the purchase in 2022. That to me is one of the big takeaways from the audit, and I write about it here, take a look, follow the links and judge for yourself.

So no, costs didn’t rise 46% since the project was announced; the Trudeau government used three-year-old pricing data to make the announcement. Beyond that, as I explain, the rest of the cost increase is due to incompetence in Ottawa and has little to do with Lockheed Martin or the Americans.

What to read...

I keep being told Mark Carney is a Conservative or asked if Mark Carney is a Conservative. In fact, one high-ranking Conservative said to me last night that he’s happy with the Conservative government in Ottawa. I’m not sold on this idea yet, but I do agree that Carney is stealing a lot of the language Pierre Poilievre and the Conservatives have used and some of their ideas. Warren Kinsella wraps that up neatly in this piece for the Sun.

Sylvain Charlebois, Canada’s fave Food Professor, is writing about supply management for the dairy sector again. He says our steadfast determination to protect this sector in any trade deals is making Canada a trade pariah and the system only benefits a small group of farmers and not Canadian consumers.

Banning gas powered cars is still on the agenda for the Carney Liberals, and they aren’t budging from their ridiculous and unrealistic plan to achieve this goal by 2035. Tristin Hopper has the details, the reasons why this is stupid and the polling showing Canadians don’t think it is realistic.