Links for March 14th, 2025
So, a new Prime Minister and still a plausible case that 2025 will see a third PM before Victoria Day. First order of business for Carney et al. has been to functionally repeal the carbon tax, something they’re able to do in the absence of Parliament because the law gave the government broad delegated power. This was a controversy at the heart of the appeals to the Supreme Court of Canada, which found that the delegation (so-called “Henry VIII clauses”) was permissible. I wrote about this for TVO.org at the time. And now the Liberals, faced with the choice of either the carbon tax or increasing their odds of being re-elected, find that’s not a hard choice at all.
Meanwhile, still flogging my stuff at TVO, here’s me having dark thoughts about where we stand with the United States these days:
Politics in Toronto never really returned to a pre-2010 “normal,” so much so that Rob Ford’s older brother would successfully win the 2018 PC Party leadership race and here we are in the year 2025 and a Ford is still in charge, railing against the city’s bike lanes.
Apply this lesson to American politics and you come up with a very different answer to the question “what should Canada be doing right now?” If Trump is a short-term problem, on the order of months to two years, then maybe riding out the storm as best we can is the right call. But if Trumpism is here to stay the things Canada needs to consider are far larger and more difficult.
And for one final serving of shameless self-promotion, today’s podcast:
Elsewhere:
B.C. legislation would give cabinet sweeping powers amid U.S. tariff threats [CP]
A bill, tabled in the legislature Thursday, gives cabinet the power to implement charges on vehicles using B.C. infrastructure, such as highways and ferries, while allowing the politicians to make directives about public-sector procurement.
It would eliminate provincial trade barriers in the province, allowing goods produced, manufactured or grown elsewhere in Canada to be sold or used in B.C.
Along with the specific changes, it would also give cabinet the power to make regulations “addressing challenges, or anticipated challenges” from the actions of a foreign jurisdiction or for a purpose “supporting the economy of British Columbia and Canada.”
Speaking of Henry VIII clauses, the carbon tax precedent arguably makes much of this constitutional even if it neutralizes the provincial legislature… -JMM
Mace sued for defamation by man she accused of abuse in floor speech [Politico]
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) is facing a defamation lawsuit filed by one of the four men she has publicly accused of sexual abuse in a floor speech, in a case that could test the legal protections members of Congress have for their official conduct.
I’m quite certain I have no comment on any of these individuals but the speech and debate privilege of Congress is really really important, as is its analog in the Westminster (Canadian) system! -JMM
Have humans passed peak brain power? [FT]
In one particularly eye-opening statistic, the share of adults who are unable to “use mathematical reasoning when reviewing and evaluating the validity of statements” has climbed to 25 per cent on average in high-income countries, and 35 per cent in the US.
So we appear to be looking less at the decline of reading per se, and more at a broader erosion in human capacity for mental focus and application.
Most discussion about the societal impacts of digital media focuses on the rise of smartphones and social media. But the change in human capacity for focused thought coincides with something more fundamental: a shift in our relationship with information.
Really can’t recommend Chris Hayes’ The Siren’s Call enough on this topic. Our literal ability to think in a focused way is being mined by advertisers, basically. -JMM
The Abundance Doctrine [Democracy Journal]
In the opening of the Atlantic piece that launched the term “abundance,” Thompson wrote in January 2022 about waiting in a long, cold line for a COVID test, which should have been cheap and easily available. Klein’s New York Times articles on the housing crisis in California and the inability of the state to build high-speed rail were his on-ramp. Dunkelman opens his book rereading Robert Caro’s The Power Broker, about Robert Moses’s unchecked power to remake the New York urban landscape, while commuting into New York’s Penn Station, wondering why it was so dilapidated and why it was so difficult for New York to build more transit. As one executive described the difficulty of building clean energy in 2017, “You could have Robert Moses come back from the dead and he wouldn’t be able to do shit,” a quote that serves as an epigraph for Dunkelman’s book.
Chart: EV adoption would sputter if Republicans repeal incentives [Canary Media]
Under current policies, the number of light-duty EVs sold annually is forecast to climb to 7 million by 2030, according to a new analysis from the REPEAT Project at Princeton University. But if those policies — specifically the consumer EV tax credit and tailpipe emissions rules — are repealed, that figure is forecast to be 40% lower in 2030, at around 4.2 million.
Elon seems to have believed that Tesla was strong enough relative to its competitors that the end of subsidies would be a net benefit to him; the above, combined with the rapid fall in his brand equity, might indicate otherwise -JMM
Housing and Transportation Cost Index: Research Paper [StatsCan]
I am genuinely not qualified or competent to comment on the methodology of this paper in any serious way but if your model spits out the result that it’s more expensive to live in Calgary than Toronto or Vancouver, question your model.
From the archives:
"I Don't Know If Most People Even Know What Party Is In The Senate Majority" [Off Message]
The Democrats in the US Senate provided enough votes to pass a key spending bill and the Democratic base is quite irate. Re-upping this piece from last year to point out that AOC’s complaints about her colleagues in the Senate aren’t new.
Worldwide rooftop photovoltaic electricity generation may mitigate global warming [Science]
Rooftop photovoltaic (RPV) is often understood as a niche contribution to climate change mitigation. However, the global potential of RPVs to mitigate global warming is unknown. Here we map the global rooftop area at 1-km resolution, quantifying 286,393 km2 of rooftops worldwide through geospatial data mining and artificial intelligence techniques. Using nine advanced Earth system models from the coupled model intercomparison project phase 6, we reveal that RPVs could substantially contribute to reducing global temperatures by 0.05–0.13 °C before 2050.
And now for something completely different:
As someone who has become a consumer of fitness Youtube content, the rise of RFK Jr. and the specific issue of seed oils into US national politics is just the wackiest, saddest thing I can think of. So I’m happy that Mike Israetel chose violence in the discourse this week. Happy weekend everyone. -JMM