What did I miss? Well, while I was hanging off a rope, I missed the major visual story of the week, which I guess had to be the Royal Visit.
I couldn’t watch as the King did what we all knew he would do, the True North Strong and Free bit. But I did watch a replay a few days later, and I concede he did it well. It was the moment, as Andrew Coyne of The Globe and Mail put it, that Charles really became the King of Canada:
🔒 This was the moment Charles became King of Canada, and Canada his kingdom
But there was something else I watched a replay of that also impressed me this week.
I’ve covered and interviewed eleven of our prime ministers, and this week I got to watch, on tape, my twelfth (OMG, that’s half the PMs the country has had!). All these PMs knew at some point they would be expected to do their first Question Period. I’m sure they, not surprisingly, were all a bit nervous, fearing that first time up as a Right Honourable Member. (Okay for all those parliamentary nerds ready to pounce, I know, John Turner and Kim Campbell were both defeated before they ever had a chance to meet Parliament). But enough history, what’s your point, Peter?
My point is this: Mark Carney has never had any parliamentary experience of any kind and certainly not as the first minister being peppered in Question Period in the House of Commons. Until Thursday, that is when he went one-on-one with Andrew Scheer, who has had lots of experience as both Speaker and then as Opposition leader. But as I screened the tape when I got back to civilization, I was surprised at just how well Carney did in his baptism of fire. No nerves, calm, funny and on the issues, more or less on point. Sure, he ducked real answers, but that’s QP. It’s performative.
And because it’s just QP, let’s not get carried away. Dancing through that daily charade doesn’t get you major brownie points with an electorate anxious for that new world you just promised. But on day one, good for PM Carney – he looked far from a rookie stumbling on his first at bat.
Now the real game starts. Here’s how Aaron Wherry saw that unfold and what it may mean for the future:
Mark Carney meets the battleground of question period
The National Post’s John Ivison was looking at something else altogether.
Money. Where government is getting it. Where government is spending it. And how it all adds up …. or doesn’t.
🔒 John Ivison: The first Carney spending numbers are out, and they’re as bad as Trudeau’s
Well, if you think the main estimates are showing a lack of restraint, don’t expect planned defence spending is going to get you there.
The Carney government is looking at spending lots on defence, and then there’s our “friend” south of the border, who’s willing to let us in on his golden dome project. And this is why you’ve got to love Bob Rae…he’s never shy about telling us what he really thinks. He talked with Steven Chase and Adrian Morrow of the Globe:
🔒 Senior Canadian diplomat Bob Rae calls Trump’s latest pitch to join missile defence system a ‘protection racket’
The latest in our series of “Whither the NDP?” comes from The Walrus.
Their long-form political pieces of late have been really good. Try this one out from Carmine Starnino:
Are you one of those who have finally just had it with Elon Musk?
If so, you are probably, at least on this file, in tune with Donald Trump and the rest of the Washington crowd. As a result, he’s out of there, much to the delight of Dan Rather:
See Ya!
Meanwhile, Donald Trump seems preoccupied with other things.
Like how much money the Trump brand can accumulate while he’s in office. At least that seems to be what David Frum is thinking in his latest piece in The Atlantic:
The Trump Presidency’s World-Historical Heist
If you have been one of those Canadians complaining about crappy non-spring weather of late and are concluding the whole “planet is heating” thing is overhyped, read on.
It’s not, according to Associated Press:
Get ready for several years of killer heat, top weather forecasters warn
