Morning Update: Ottawa fails on climate policies, watchdog says

Good morning,

Ottawa is failing to deliver on key climate policies and may be overstating the effectiveness of others, according to a series of new reports by the federal environment commissioner that cast doubt on the Liberal government’s credibility on emission-reduction plans and projections.

Taken together, the five reports released yesterday by Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development Jerry DeMarco paint a picture of a government struggling to execute on critical aspects of its climate agenda. DeMarco pointed to disorganization across multiple departments, a lack of data and reporting, “unrealistic assumptions” related to Canada’s hydrogen strategy, and questionable funding decisions.

The commissioner’s reports come in the wake of a flurry of federal spending pledges aimed at expanding existing climate programs and creating new ones for clean hydrogen as well as carbon capture, utilization and storage.

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Staff in CRA unit complain of bullying, report finds

A team of psychological consultants hired by the Canada Revenue Agency found that a division responsible for working with multinational firms on global tax enforcement is rife with bullying and harassment and most of the staff feel their unit is ineffective.

Y2 Consulting Psychologists Inc. said in a report that it found concerns about a toxic work climate, including some employees saying they were being spied on. Staff complained about management, while some managers reported “feeling disrespected, continuously challenged or even harassed/bullied by some of their direct reports,” it said.

The consultants surveyed division staff and found 50 per cent said they had been victims of bullying, harassment or intimidation. Slightly less than half of the employees said the division was effective at influencing global taxation standards in Canada’s favour.

Twitter is a financial mess. Why Elon Musk and Silicon Valley do not care

Everyone has an opinion about Elon Musk’s pursuit of Twitter Inc. Depending on what you read, he’s either a visionary, a saviour or delusional.

Musk will always be a magnet for hot takes – he likes it that way – but this tale is, in many ways, about more than him. Few things encapsulate the past decade of reckless financial behaviour in Silicon Valley better than this takeover attempt.

What Musk is doing follows a pattern. A smart, but brash, technology obsessive dreams of disrupting an industry, and to do it, cares little about profit. The goal is power and market share. The money will eventually come, the obsessive promises.

In Silicon Valley, it is a familiar story: fascination with technology, and power, triumphing over financial common sense.

• Elon Musk’s promise to deliver ‘free speech’ on Twitter may have unintended consequences, say observers
• Washington watches for whether Trump will return to Twitter after Elon Musk’s buyout

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ALSO ON OUR RADAR

Canada giving itself power to turn over sanctioned Russian assets to Ukraine: As Russia’s assault on Ukraine enters its third month, the Canadian government says it plans to give itself the power to sell off assets of foreigners seized under sanctions law, and then turn them over to affected victims or pay for rebuilding war-torn countries. This could mean, for instance, that funds or property seized from Russia could be paid out to help reconstruct Ukraine or to compensate those affected by Moscow’s military assault on its neighbour.

• Russia cuts off gas to Poland, Bulgaria in escalation of war on Ukraine
• Opinion: Building a war-crimes case against Vladimir Putin

Emergencies Act decision based on law enforcement advice, Mendicino says: The Liberal government invoked the never-before-used Emergencies Act because law enforcement advised that existing authorities were ineffective to restore public safety during blockades at ports of entry, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said yesterday.

• Editorial: The subject of the Rouleau inquiry? It’s the Trudeau government, not the truckers

Can Canada’s battery metals industry compete with the world’s behemoths?: Canada’s battery metals sector is showing signs of life, but impediments remain to the country gaining meaningful global market share in an industry dominated by China. Despite developments, Canada lacks much of the infrastructure it would need in order to compete with the world’s battery behemoths.

Charest and Poilievre at odds over the environment: Two high-profile candidates in the race to lead the federal Conservatives touted their climate change credentials yesterday, with Jean Charest releasing his environmental plan and Pierre Poilievre saying he would look at reviving some energy projects blocked by the Liberal government.

• John Ibbitson: Tory candidate Aitchison offers alternative to populist promises, but faces uphill battle

Matthews hits 60-goal milestone: Toronto Maple Leafs centre Auston Matthews scored twice – including the milestone effort on one of his patented snapshots – to become just the third player in the NHL’s salary cap era to register 60 goals in a season as Toronto defeated Detroit 3-0 yesterday.

MORNING MARKETS

Euro struggles: The euro dropped to its weakest since 2017 on Wednesday as investors increasingly concerned about the global growth and inflation outlook snapped up U.S. dollars. Just after 5:30 a.m. ET, Britain’s FTSE 100 was up 0.42 per cent. Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 gained 0.11 per cent and 0.55 per cent, respectively. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei fell 1.17 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng edged up 0.06 per cent. New York futures were positive. The Canadian dollar was trading at 77.93 US cents.

WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT

Diane Bellemare: “There are many solutions we can work on to eliminate poverty and inequity in Canada. But a [guaranteed basic income] should not be one of them. It’s time we abandoned this utopian dream for pragmatic, rigorously tested, targeted programs that will reduce poverty, provide skills and training and create an inclusive labour market.”

TODAY’S EDITORIAL CARTOON

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LIVING BETTER

How much do warm-ups and cool-downs matter to a workout?

We’ve all been told that warm-ups and cool-downs are the crucial bookends to every workout – but ideas about what constitutes a “good” warm-up or cool-down have shifted over the years. Here’s a look at what the latest science says about how to start and finish your exercise sessions.

MOMENT IN TIME: APRIL 27, 1964

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U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson holds dog by the ears, dog lovers not happy

Presidential pets are a compelling reflection of the administrations they belong to. Richard Nixon famously leveraged his daughter’s puppy, Checkers, for sympathy in a speech that presaged the tone of his presidency. Theodore Roosevelt had a sprawling menagerie that included a one-legged rooster, a hyena and a badger. Impeached Andrew Johnson tended to a family of mice living in his walls. And Lyndon B. Johnson, Texas’s very own, had a series of dogs, including beagles Him and Her, which he infamously lifted by their ears just, in his words, “to hear them bark.” Many dog-lovers, seeing a shot of this practice in Life magazine, howled. The American Kennel Club expressed concern. “Ears are for hearing, not for pulling,” chided the Humane Society of Texas. Johnson, privately bewildered at being chastised for what he assumed was common practice for checking the hunting dog was “in good voice,” issued a public apology. But his devotion to dogs, however controversially he expressed it, didn’t waver. Eleven years later he recorded “Dogs Have Always Been My Friends,” a spoken-word album of reminiscences that culminated in a duet of him howling along with Yuki, a gas-station stray. – Lisan Jutras

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