The News Rundown
- Former BC Premier John Horgan, who ran the province from 2017-2022 and led the provincial NDP from 2014 until stepping down in 2022, has died this past week from thyroid cancer.
- In 2020, he led the B.C. NDP to the biggest majority government in its history. Polls showed he was the most popular premier in Canada at that time. But he resigned in 2022, after contracting throat cancer and going through 35 radiation treatments.
- After recovering, he was Canada's ambassador to Germany from November 2023 until June when his cancer spread to his thyroid and he stepped down to focus on his health. He was 65 when he passed on Tuesday.
- B.C. Premier David Eby hailed Horgan as “a consequential premier at a critical time in our history,” whose “many accomplishments as premier will be felt for years and generations to come.”
- To the surprise of many, Horgan formed a minority government after the May 9, 2017, election with the support of the B.C. Green party. Andrew Weaver, the Green leader who struck the deal with Horgan, said the two had disagreements when they were both in opposition.
- “Prior to me actually getting to know John Horgan, I thought he was the person who came across in the media as a combative individual. Somebody who was maybe not interested in policy, but was all unions. He had a perception of me being a kind of stereotypical academic elitist who couldn’t relate to real people. (But) we’re both very similar people, and neither of those characterizations are who we are.”
- In the premier’s office, Horgan calmed down from his 'Angry Hulk Horgan' days and employed the style of governing that allowed for more shared responsibility, not as a top-down leader. Unlike some premiers, he let cabinet ministers make announcements, and his popularity soared as a result. One thing that's pretty characteristic of him was to admit when he was wrong. A good example is the Site C hydro dam. Horgan opposed it in opposition, but he carried through with its construction after determining it was too far along to cancel. He also opposed the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion, but eventually was convinced by the federal government of its necessity. LNG Canada was another mega-project initially opposed by Horgan, but then also backtracked on.
- A week before stepping down, Horgan announced that the province would "go back to the drawing board" after a public outcry involving the Royal B.C. Museum. The province had previously released thousands of pages of documents supporting its decision to replace the museum for approximately $800 million.
- Nevertheless, Horgan did introduce many popular policies, such as cutting health care premiums, and keeping to a balanced budget while increasing service spending. While being an NDP working class social democrat to the core, he's probably the best example of a modern day successful centrist leader in Canada. Sadly, with his resignation, BC's politics have polarized away from the centre, and it's caused a lot of tension as a result.
- With the new MLAs also getting sworn in this week at the legislature, Premier David Eby and his much reduced caucus from the one he inherited from Horgan were sombre as the news of Horgan's passing overshadowed any political maneuvering in the legislature.
- Eby told reporters after Wednesday’s swearing in ceremony for the NDP MLAs: “It is a mixed day obviously, with the recent passing of John Horgan. I feel like he was with us today in the swearing in, and he would have been clapping and cheering loudly for all these amazing MLAs if he’d been able to, and he’s in our thoughts today.
- “John’s legacy is significant, and his work was profound for the people of B.C. I learned a lot from John and worked with him closely. I feel like the last 18 months, when I was premier after taking over from John, was very much focused on completing some of the work John had started.”
- Eby now says Horgan’s legacy is “significant” and his work on behalf of the people of B.C. is “profound.” Yet Eby’s election platform, issued six weeks ago, never mentioned Horgan nor cited his predecessor’s legacy by name even once. The platform did manage five dozen or so references to B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad.
- One could read this week’s accolades for the deceased premier as a veiled critique of the Eby style of governing. Horgan was widely praised for having the common touch. He was a populist in the good sense. He could unite people across party lines.
- Some of the strongest words of praise came from people who didn’t vote for him. In BC it was common to say “I’m not an NDP supporter” before going on to say why John Horgan was OK with them, even I was broadly alright with most of Horgan's decisions.
- As premier, Horgan balanced budgets. He delegated to his ministers. He focused on the economy, particularly the resource sector. Which is not how Eby has been doing things. Eby’s decision to centralize power around a team of lawyers and special advisers in the premier’s office, rather than elected cabinet ministers has ruffled many feathers, even within the NDP.
- Horgan’s authenticity, his charm and down-to-earth qualities can’t be duplicated. Still, Eby could learn a lot from his predecessor’s style of leadership, the willingness to share power and take blame, and the focus on the resource economy over spend, spend, spend.
- Starting with next week’s cabinet appointments, we’ll see if the second term of the David Eby government is any different from the first.
- Supplementals:
- The City of Edmonton is looking for feedback on its single use plastic bylaw. The same sort of single use plastic bylaw caused great fire in Calgary to the point where that city had to repeal their bylaw.
- Next October marks the municipal elections in Alberta and when you look at the timing it makes sense that City Council wants to see where the residents are at so they can adjust or save themselves coming into next year's elections.
- The single use bylaw prevents retailers from offering single use plastic bags, single use cutlery, and institutes minimum charges.
- Outlets need to charge for paper or reusable bags and the bylaw also sets minimum prices.
- The current price is 25 cents for a paper bag and $2 for reusable bags.
- Mayor Sohi said that “if it’s effective we carry on with it. If it’s not effective we modify it to make some changes.” He was referring to the bylaw, it appears that removing it entirely is not on the table.
- Councillor Michael Janz believes that the city is cleaner and there is less waste. He said, “ I think people have started to realize ‘OK this is here to stay.’ We are seeing less litter on the ground, we’re seeing less waste. I think the bylaw is serving its purpose.”
- There is a survey that will have shut down by the time most of you are listening to this but the survey asked how the bylaw has impacted you, if it changes your behaviour, and how often you pay the bag fee and if that influences where you buy from.
- The initial political parties and candidates for next year’s election have not emerged yet but their stance on this bylaw will be crucial.
- City Council benefitted in the last municipal election that it wasn’t immediately clear how progressive the council would be and the policies of the mayor while serving as a blueprint don’t always come to fruition.
- With political parties if the single use bylaw is a sore spot it will be more easily able to be capitalized on.
- Global News spoke to regular Edmontonians on the bylaw and the vast majority want the bylaw changed.
- The general sense was that the cost doesn’t help the environment, real problems should be focused on, and it’s just a policy that doesn’t make sense to have.
- We have covered the environmental push to remove single use plastics before on the podcast but since then Calgary has repealed their bylaw and Edmonton is at the very least gathering data.
- Data is important. There is a website called Our World in Data that gathers open source data from scientific studies.
- We’ve talked about it before but put simply the bulk of plastic waste in the world comes from countries in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and South America (Brazil in particular).
- The website also discusses the environmental differences of different types of grocery bags.
- For example an unbleached paper bag needs to be used 13.6 times to have an environmental impact as low as a single-use plastic bag when it comes to the amount of water used to make that bag.
- When it comes to cotton or recycled polyester you’re looking at 21.6 for the polyester but 3830 uses for the organic bag.
- When it comes to greenhouse gas emissions that is 52 uses for the conventional cotton and 149 for organic cotton to be as low impact as a single use plastic bag when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions.
- Polyester and PET fair better when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions but are horrendous for water use.
- The point of all this is that if we have the ability to use single-use bags and reuse them we are helping the environment in Canada. They may not make sense elsewhere but that is the case in Canada.
- No one talks about this, the data is public, but based on the people Global News talked to, the common sense feeling is that this is the case.
- Supplementals:
- Postal workers across the country are on strike as of Friday morning after the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) and Canada Post failed to reach a negotiated settlement. The action comes after the union issued a 72-hour strike notice to the country’s national postal service on Tuesday.
- Fears are already beginning to rise that the walkout could interfere with the holiday season, which is one of the heaviest times of the year for consumers using the postal service.
- Though it’s not known at this time how long the strike will last, Canada Post workers last went on strike in the fall of 2018, when rotating job actions lasted five weeks before CUPW workers were mandated back to work by the federal government.
- CUPW called the strike a 'last resort' and said: “Canada Post had the opportunity to prevent this strike, but it has refused to negotiate real solutions to the issues postal workers face every day. Instead, Canada Post left us no choice when it threatened to change our working conditions and leave our members exposed to layoffs.”
- However, originally there were plans of a rotating strike like we saw in 2018, though on Friday we quickly learned that was not the case.
- Canada Post spokesperson Lisa Liu said in a statement Friday morning: “Mail and parcels will not be processed or delivered for the duration of the national strike, and some post offices will be closed. Service guarantees will be impacted for items already in the postal network. However, a national strike of any length will impact service to Canadians well after the strike activity ends. Processing and delivery may take some time to fully return to normal.”
- Negotiations between the Crown corporation and CUPW have stalled over core issues, including wage increases, pensions, and medical leaves. More than 95 per cent of urban and rural mail carriers recently voted to support a strike, expressing frustration with what they see as insufficient offers from Canada Post.
- Canada Post’s management has proposed an 11.5 per cent wage increase over four years and a flexible delivery model that includes weekend service. The union is proposing 22 per cent over four years, along with other demands including a guaranteed 40-hour workweek and 10 paid bankable medical days (on top of their current seven paid personal days). However, Canada Post has also cautioned that its “deteriorating financial situation” limits its ability to meet all union demands without compromising its financial stability.
- In response to competition from private carriers, Canada Post has introduced several initiatives aimed at maintaining its relevance. One strategy includes expanding parcel delivery to seven days a week in select regions. Despite these efforts, however, the corporation reported a $490 million loss in the first half of 2024, the result of decreased transaction mail volumes and increased operational costs. While private carriers continue to attract customers, Canada Post maintains a sizeable share of rural markets due to its broad delivery network. The company has emphasized the need to adopt a more flexible delivery model to keep up with evolving customer expectations and sustain its market position.
- As we detailed about 6 months ago, Canada Post lost about $750 million dollars last year alone, and Canada Post has been losing money since 2018. In the last six years, its losses have totalled $3 billion.
- The cost of delivering mail and parcels is increasing, the company said. Canada Post has struggled to compete post-pandemic with the rising number of new, privately owned delivery companies that use what it calls a "low-cost labour" business model.
- Canada Post attempted to break into the e-commerce market but its share "quickly eroded" from 62 per cent in 2019 to just 29 per cent, the company said.
- Earlier this year, the company sold off its IT and logistics departments as part of a transformation plan to save the beleaguered national mail service. It also has spent heavily on new processing capacity for package delivery, upgraded its facilities and tried to improve customer service.
- Clearly these approaches aren't working.
- Supplementals:
Firing Line
- The carbon tax has been a lightning rod in Canada and it has propelled much of the conservatives initial support that propelled the conservatives into a 20 point lead over the Liberals.
- Now the Liberals under environment minister Steven Guilbeault are looking to support a global levy on shipping to help developing nations fight climate change.
- What this effectively amounts to is a carbon tax on shipping.
- The news came as countries gathered in Azerbaijan for COP29. According to the Ministry of Environment they believe there is a $2T USD shortfall in annual funding for developing countries to help prevent the worst outcomes of climate change.
- To start, Canada is putting up $160m to launch a new fund called GIA that will finance projects to slash emissions and help lower income countries adapt to the dangers of climate change.
- Canada, the international Green Climate Fund, and Japanese bank Mitsubishi Financial Group are contributing and have amassed more than $800m already.
- Countries like France, Germany, and Brazil are calling for a 2% global wealth tax on billionaires to raise money for the initiative.
- Canada is looking to work with the UN’s marine branch which is looking to create the carbon pricing mechanism to curb shipping emissions.
- It may look as though these are just talks but Guilbeault is very supportive of the idea, he said, “we are very supportive of the discussions that are happening at the International Marine Organization to put in place some kind of levy on international marine transportation.”
- There has been very little coverage in the media about this declaration and what it could mean for the economy.
- There was one article in the Toronto Star and another published by online outlet True North.
- The conservatives are looking to oppose this and are highlighting the dangers to the economy.
- A statement from Pierre Poilievre’s office said, “Canadians discovered that Justin Trudeau’s radical Environment Minister, Steven Guilbeault, wants to create a new global carbon tax on international shipping. This tax money would then be sent abroad to other countries… This new tax on maritime transportation would undoubtedly drive investment and business away from our already struggling port system, putting strong union jobs at risk.”
- The ports in Canada are responsible for $17b in economic output and the marine sector is responsible for over 350,000 Canadian jobs.
- The natural conclusion to this of course is that just like the other carbon tax it would make the shipping industry less competitive, cost jobs, and ultimately make imported goods more expensive for Canadians.
- This is all at the cost of doing more for the environment and helping developed nations.
- The story this week coming out of the UN climate conference tells us that our government has learned nothing and is going to change nothing due to the new Trump administration arriving in January.
- Our country needs to compete. The dollar is being slaughtered. Canadians will be less competitive and our imports will become more expensive if a tax like this goes forward.
- No one has made the economic argument on this and it’s downright shocking.
- Supplementals:
Quote of the Week
“Canadians discovered that Justin Trudeau’s radical Environment Minister, Steven Guilbeault, wants to create a new global carbon tax on international shipping. This tax money would then be sent abroad to other countries… This new tax on maritime transportation would undoubtedly drive investment and business away from our already struggling port system, putting strong union jobs at risk.” - Pierre Poilievre on a potential new international shipping carbon tax.
Word of the Week
Strike - a refusal to work organized by a body of employees as a form of protest, typically in an attempt to gain a concession from their employer.
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Show Data
- Episode Title: The Death of Centrism
- Teaser: Former BC Premier John Horgan passes away from cancer, Edmonton asks for feedback on a single use plastics bylaw, and Canada Post workers go on strike. Also, Steven Guilbeault proposes a global shipping carbon tax.
- Recorded Date: November 16, 2024
- Release Date: November 17, 2024
- Duration: 58:38
- Edit Notes: John Horgan start
Podcast Summary Notes
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Duration: XX:XX