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Max Fawcett 🇨🇦 Profile picture
Max Fawcett 🇨🇦
@maxfawcett
Lead columnist for Canada's National Observer.
3 subscribers
Dec 9 • 10 tweets • 4 min read
Crapping on their country has become a *very* popular activity among Canadian Conservatives of late. One of their preferred arguments is that Canada can't possibly compete with America right now -- and we're losing our best and brightest as a result.

Thread time. First, it's important to understand the difference in our national cultures. America has always venerated and valorized risk. It's marbled into so many aspects of its past.

Canada, on the other hand, has been a place where things like order and caution hold more sway.
Dec 4 • 11 tweets • 4 min read
The Calgary Chamber of Commerce has come out with a letter asking the federal government to withdraw its proposed emissions cap.

Let's dig in.

calgarychamber.com/open-letter-ca… First of all, credit where it's due: they referred to it as an emissions cap, not a "production cap". So, you know, points awarded there.
Nov 28 • 9 tweets • 3 min read
My word, this thread is quite the trip.

Let's dive in, shall we? Fred starts with this framing of how the study in question "shows" the carbon tax is inflating costs across the board. But does it? Image
Nov 27 • 9 tweets • 4 min read
How many times do we have to do this, David?

Grab a seat if you like, folks. It's thread time. Image First of all, spoiler alert: there still isn't a business case for LNG exports from Canada to Europe. There never was. There never will be.

Why? We'd have to spend billions upon billions building the infrastructure -- new pipelines connecting western gas to eastern terminals.
Nov 21 • 7 tweets • 3 min read
Sure, let's do this Brian.

Thread time. First, the facts: it sounds like the feds will be able to recoup almost all of that $34 billion.

The PBO just put its value at between $29.6 and $33.4 billion.

pbo-dpb.ca/en/publication…
Nov 4 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Since all the usual suspects are out parroting the province's line on the emissions cap and the studies that supposedly show how bad it'll be, it's time to push this column out again -- one where I take said studies apart. nationalobserver.com/2024/05/31/opi… Image
Nov 1 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
This is a little Russian nesting doll of nonsense -- one he seems to think his supporters won't see.

That's a tell in itself. But setting aside the dubious morality here, let's unpack the facts really quickly. First: Carney is the board chair of Brookfield Asset Management. The company belongs to its shareholders.

He owns 41,337 of the company's 418.87 million shares outstanding -- or 0.0099% of the company.

It's not "his company". Image
Oct 28 • 12 tweets • 4 min read
This piece that Eric Kaufmann wrote for the Telegraph is something else. Let's unpack it. telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/10/2… After some perfunctory criticisms of Justin Trudeau's vision of a post-national country and the apparent chaos that has wrought (we'll get back to that), he talks about a recent holiday to Atlantic Canada.

It's....weird. Image
Oct 10 • 7 tweets • 3 min read
The PBO just updated its modelling of the carbon tax and rebate. Let's get into the details, which will surely be shared in good faith by Conservative pundits and politicians across the country.

(I know, I know)

Report here: …bution-a617274656661637473.pbo-dpb.ca/a019e3958622ad… For starters: after accounting for their error (including industrial pricing in modelled impacts/costs), the net fiscal benefit for the average household goes UP. Image
Sep 3 • 9 tweets • 4 min read
Do we really have to keep doing this?

Fine, I'll play. Let's debunk this nonsense with a quick thread.

nationalpost.com/opinion/save-t… The entire editorial is built on a foundation of straw men and red herrings, and hardened with the concrete of can't-do thinking.

It also sidesteps a crucial question: what happens to demand for Canadian oil and gas if these other jurisdictions DO make different energy choices? Image
Aug 9 • 8 tweets • 3 min read
Sorry, @RitaTrichur, but this requires a bit of a thread.

theglobeandmail.com/business/comme… The piece's central premise is that we ought to build Energy East because of supply uncertainty in the Middle East and Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine.

Remember: even if it started tomorrow, it wouldn't be in service until 2030 at the earliest -- and would cost many billions.
Jun 27 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
Since this stuff is circulating among conservatives in America and Canada, let's break down the data in it and what's actually driving it.

(spoiler: it's not the politician that conservatives want to blame) Image Cocoa? It's being driven by climate change -- and it's probably only going to get worse. Image
Jun 14 • 13 tweets • 5 min read
I regret to inform you that it's time for another episode of "Debunking David Knight Legg", friends. First things first: I agree with him about the language Minister Freeland used in the video he cites.

It was needlessly inflammatory and divisive. It doesn't help the government's case. It's almost like the feds need a new voice in that crucial role.

Anyways, onwards.
Jun 5 • 12 tweets • 4 min read
By popular request: an analysis of this thread by the former head of Invest Alberta and Jason Kenney's right-hand man. It starts, as many Conservative arguments seem to, with some deliberate spurious correlation.

The downturn in 🇨🇦's economic data started in late 2014, not late 2015 (when Trudeau was elected). How, exactly, can you attribute that to someone who was polling in 3rd at the time?
Apr 17 • 9 tweets • 3 min read
I have some thoughts about this. Follow along if you like, friends. First of all: it's abundantly clear to anyone without their ideological blinders on that the Liberals are a very long way from being "socialists". Socialists don't tend to put their faith in market-based solutions, for one thing (you know, the carbon tax).

Anyways. Onward.
Apr 1 • 9 tweets • 4 min read
There's a letter signed by almost all of Canada's best economists endorsing the carbon tax, but Conservatives like Dan (former CPC critic for climate change!) prefer to listen to this one retired professor.

Let's dig into why -- and what it really says about their position. First, about the professor. This isn't his first rodeo here.
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Mar 27 • 9 tweets • 3 min read
It's an argument that just won't die. But let me try, briefly, to shovel some more dirt on it here.

No, Canada isn't going to be shipping LNG to Greece, and it has *zero* to do with the current federal government. A quick thread. For all the hand wringing about Canada "shrugging its shoulders" here, it's important to pay attention to what the Greek PM actually said: that his country "is very interested in obtaining LNG at competitive prices”.

Can we sell LNG into Europe at said prices? Absolutely not!
Dec 22, 2023 • 10 tweets • 4 min read
David Staples wrote a silly column and I'm afraid we have to unpack it. I'll try to make this as brief and painless as possible. #ableg #cdnpoli Image First: the notion that consumers are going to "revolt" over more EVs being brought to market is pure echo chamber stuff.

The average new vehicle purchased in Canada in 2023 cost $66,288. There are many EVs that fall well under that price point.

PS: they're getting cheaper.
Dec 18, 2023 • 15 tweets • 5 min read
It's the argument that just won't die: the best way for Canada to address climate change is by producing and exporting more fossil fuels.

I've tried to kill this thing any number of times, but it remains popular among conservatives.

Let's try again, shall we? #cdnpoli #ableg Image First, the background: here's a thread where I deal with the most common straw man arguments and obvious nonsense put forward by LNG enthusiasts.

Nov 15, 2023 • 9 tweets • 3 min read
You know the campaign to sell Albertans on an Alberta Pension Plan is going poorly when they have to get the former finance minister to write an op-ed.

Let's have a look under the hood here, shall we? Image First, credit to whichever editor at Postmedia decided to post a video interview with Trevor Tombe right at the top of the piece.

Tombe, of course, doesn't buy any of what Toews is trying to sell in his op-ed.

I see you, mischievous layout editor. Image
Oct 23, 2023 • 10 tweets • 3 min read
Let's take a moment to pull apart @mrbinnion's piece about an APP for the Western Standard.

Don't worry: it won't take long. westernstandard.news/opinion/binnio… "The Canada Pension Plan, like so many federal programs, is a hidden transfer program. It effectively makes a fiscal transfer from Albertans to residents of other provinces."

Wrong!