My mother recently called me the "miracle-god boy with money". When she said it, I laughed, because it's a hilarious thing to say, but I also know for a fact that I am exactly that.
I learned it from her.
For those of you who don't know, I grew up incredibly poor. I grew up in this strange little suburb in Ottawa in the south end of town. The houses were all attached condos, and the neighbourhood was the whitest trashest of white trash. Our neighbours names were Brenda, or Frank, or Joe, or Tracy... I mean, no offense to you if your name is one of the above. It just means you might be one of us.
I loved my neighbourhood. We were poor, but the ghetto was home. My house was on the edge of the neighbourhood, which had two important consequences:
One, the entire neighbourhood used our house to play wallball. All of the children (and there were many children, this was the nineties!) came together to throw tennis balls at the faux brick and spackle wall of my childhood home.
Two: Out back was where the drug dealers did their business. A block up the way was the park where they dealt on the other end of the neighbourhood.
While growing up, I watched the neighbourhood change. The forests that surrounded my house were torn down, and there was a legion of identical red and brown houses put in on the eastern side, with gray and white ones on the western side. Over the course of a few years, the areas where I used to roam with my childhood best friend disappeared, and what was left was a lifeless husk of what the neighbourhood once was.
The drug dealers persisted– their business was fairly inelastic. People needed drugs, and would therefore continue paying for them. So out back of my house, as the neighbourhood was actively gentrified, they carried on with their business. Around 9pm they'd set up shop. Around 4am they'd leave. Long shifts, no breaks.
Until my mom adopted a dog.
You see, the dog was a cross between black lab and german shepard. It had a tendency to attack people it didn't know, because half of it's soul was bred to do so. One day, Dakota (the dog) escaped the front door, and ran around out back to where the dealer stood at the corner. My mother swore, and ran after the dog. As she ran up to the drug dealer, whose back was against a lamp post, she apologized and grabbed Dakota, who was growling and barking. The drug dealer never came back to that spot. She says he wet himself.
Fair enough, that's horrifying.
We stayed in that house until I was 15. But here's the thing, there was always food on the table. It was mostly simple carbs– pasta, tomato sauce with a little ground beef (Which I promptly never ate again after the age of sixteen)– but we survived.
In the nineties, the economy was tough. In the early aughts it was good. In '07 it was bad. By 2011 it was good again. We continued living there, and we continued being poor. It was tough, especifically for my mother, who never got a break from worrying about money. But we survived.
This week, news came out that Canada's economy is doing really well, especially considering the context of the past two years. What's frustrating for many is that this booming economy is still unlivable. Canadians placed Trump as their biggest concern these past two weeks, but the economy and the cost of housing remained at the top of that list just underneath. Trump has come and gone from these opinion polls.
The cost of living hasn't.
For most of us, the GDP is just a number that the media loves to talk about, and governments use to say that they're doing well. Health care might be in shambles, schools might be falling apart, but look– our GDP is pretty good!
CARNEY LIBERALS DOMINATE THE PUBLIC CONSCIOUSNESS
Canada's GDP grew 3.3 percent, and they revised the previous quarter's growth as well. There was never a recession! That being said, the man in charge of Carney's investment summit quit, which seems to indicate that not all is well. We'll be talking about that investment summit soon.
This isn't all because of the trade war, this is also Carney's belief that Canada needs to diversify. But Carney continues to distance himself from Trump. They are continuing to look elsewhere for military procurement. Canadians are rewarding Carney's move to act the tough guy, with a triple by-election win on Monday! It was an absolutely dominant performance from the Liberals, one that has a few interesting takeaways.
First: Carney's Liberals are in a dominant spot. They are in such a powerful position, and they will likely use that public good will to do as they want. Governments are often this popular for the first two years of their mandate. Trudeau saw a similar popularity when he was first elected. The question for them will remain whether or not they can maintain this lead. Their kryptonite as a party is always the same: arrogance. Famously, they have often allowed their own haughtiness be the death of their seemingly unassailable rule. That being said, they almost always win federal elections, so who am I to criticize?
Second: The Conservatives are in a free fall. Their vote evaporated into thin air this week. That being said, these by elections werent as important to them. Poilievre's future probably isn't in the balance here, since he has the support of the vast majority of the Conservative base. If he loses Brampton, it's hard to imagine the caucus will let him stay on. We'll see though, but it's something interesting to keep in mind!
Third: The NDP showed a bit of life! In one riding. I don't think there's a lot to take away here, the Liberals still dunked on them, but it shows that Avi Lewis can run a grassroots local campaign with his team. If they want to bring the NDP back, they should stop trying to be a national party for a bit, and aim to win the seats that they're likely to win. If they stopped bankrupting the party every election, they actually might be able to build up a treasury to win a national campaign in a decade or so. Run thirty candidates in thirty ridings that seem reasonable, work hard, get party status in the house, and keep building. Their results in North Vancouver really take the wind out of the sails of Lewis' claims that the NDP is back.
Fourth: The Greens showed some life as well. They got a higher result than the NDP in North Vancouver. I would say something similar for that party. They should run in spots they can win. Run some places in Ontario, run some places in New Brunswick and PEI and on the west coast. They always try to be a national party, but they aren't. If the NDP and Greens coordinated, they could avoid stepping on each others' toes and have a real chance of picking up a few extra seats each. The Greens shouldn't be running in Quebec for example. The Bloc Quebecois is already eating their lunch.
CHRISTINE FRECHETTE DECLARES THE HOUSING CRISIS OVER... IN SOME REGIONS
Christine Frechette announced that some regions had the housing crisis solved. She did not specify which regions.
This is categorically false. There is not a single region in Quebec where it is solved, although it has been alleviated slightly in Montreal (and only Montreal.)
Meanwhile, the Liberals and QS have solid plans on housing, although the Libs have a lot of wiggle room within theirs. It seems solid at first glance, but then crumbles under scrutiny. They could either build 20% socialized housing or they might build 19% affordable housing, and 1% socialized housing. Please listen to mine and Gabrielle's series on the housing crisis to learn more. I spoke with PQ, and they asked me to wait for sometime this week for their plan to be revealed. keep your eyes out for coverage of that.
But beyond that, this election has been intense and isn't inspiring much confidence.
This is a bloody, brutal election. I expected there to be animosity, but wow, the parties hate each other. This comic made me laugh, but wow is it immature of a political party's leader to post this. And Frechette is constantly calling out PSPP in her conferences and absolutely bodied Duhaime publicly, and then Milliard is shooting subliminals at PSPP and Frechette, and then Ruba Ghazal is calling out the other parties for their racism.
But the election is so negative, with so much anger, that I fear this will hurt the electoral turnout. This entire Quebec election cycle has turned into an argument on who can create the best DOGE for Quebec. Four parties are obsessed with cutting the state. The other party is Quebec Solidaire. Iris did a fantastic report on neoliberalism in Quebec, and it is worth the time to read. Summary: Our systems are so weakened, that to weaken them further will excacerbate the problem and could lead to a breaking point. Four parties are working to bring that about.
Only one party seems to be running a campaign, and it's Quebec Solidaire. No one else seems to have a cohesive vision of building a Quebecois society. And this election isn't inspiring anyone to listen to a single thing these leaders have to offer. If QS would drop their independence thing, they'd probably bring in a lot more of the vote.
Or maybe they wouldn't. I've already made my stance on independence as clear as mud anyways.
BC CONSERVATIVE PARTY COLLAPSING
I'm not being dramatic. This past week saw the eighth and ninth MLAs leave the BC conservatives. This is not normal.
"I never imagined things could go this wrong, this quickly," Donegal Wilson said.
This is off the back of what may be some financial corruption scandals.
The Conservatives almost won the election last time, but in the end they narrowly lost to the NDP. They were coasting off of the (at the time) popularity of Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre. The party then, in a recent leadership election, voted for a far right leader who has a lot in common with Donald Trump. Prior to her election, it looked like smooth sailing for the BC Conservatives to win the next election, but suddenly BC's two party system has become a five party system, with One BC, the Conservatives, NDP, the Greens, and a new party that's in the works by the former MLAs of the BC Conservatives. It's some of the most interesting, albeit unpredictable politics in the country right now.
TOP ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS
World on track to go beyond 1.5 C. The goal now is to limit that as much as possible.
Stephen Guilbeault officially quits. His work on the environmental file alongside the previous administration had become highly controversial out west. He quit because of Carney's severe backtracking on climate commitment.
Bike lane removal to make traffic worse in Toronto, a report says.
Albertan western pipeline might become state sponsored.
Ottawa extending fuel excise tax holiday. This will cost the Canadian treasury billions.
Toronto had apocalyptic storms hit them this week. The city no longer exists, as it has sunk under the waves of Lake America (this is a joke, don't write me.)
Ottawa is investing more than $4 billion into new trains for Via Rail. They mentioned in the press conference that they are open to new rail lines. We'll see, don't hold your breath.
OTHER HEADLINES
Lionel Messi retiring from international play.\
Major renovations and changes to come for 24 Sussex, making the Prime Minister's domicile livable once again.
Alberta removes mention of indigenous from province's anniversary statement.
Quebec lost 300,000 affordable housing units over three years.
Canada warns businesses not to trade with Israeli settlers on the west bank, at risk of major penalties.
Lori Idlout, who crossed the floor from NDP to Liberal, breached the code of ethics.
Feds issue guidelines for building data centres. They are non binding, and unenforcable.
Quebec makes HPV vaccine free for all Quebecers 26 years old and less.
The Walter Cup, the stanley cup for women's hockey, has been lost. Again.
MUST READS
This article by William Wilson on the Rover is harrowing and incredible reporting. Go read it.
This french piece on La Presse filled me with Joy.
There was way too much news this week. It was one of those weeks, where I just kept saving articles and prepping for this. We'll be back next Tuesday with another edition of On the Trail's news revue. Talk soon,
Isaac Peltz