Roundup: Not the first real test

Posted on by

We’re around day forty of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and Ukrainian forces have retaken more territory, but that has come with some awful discoveries. In Bucha, outside of Kyiv, they have found mass graves and the bodies of civilians who were simply executed by Russian soldiers. At least 410 bodies have been found, traumatising witnesses, as they must now work with investigators who will put together the case for war crimes tribunals. In the meantime, president Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russian obsession with capturing Mariupol has given them needed time in other parts of the country, where forces have had time to build up defences, and now reclaim areas where Russians have been though. Nevertheless, the human toll is staggering, and the atrocities are only now being uncovered, which may further spur more aid from Western countries given how graphic the scale of these atrocities are.

Closer to home, it’s budget week, so expect a veritable slough of thinkpieces about how this week is the “first big test” of the NDP-Liberal supply and confidence agreement, and its sub-variations of environmental policy, or defence spending. But that’s actually a little absurd, because this budget was always going to pass (it’s been too close to an election, and nobody is in shape to let the government fall), and frankly, the budget was already baked in and probably on its way to the printers when the confidence agreement was signed, so it’s not like Chrystia Freeland was going back to the drawing board to redraft the whole thing in light of the agreement. That was never a serious question (and frankly, most of the agreement is just about doing things the Liberals had already promised anyway).

The real test will be next year’s budget, when everyone has had a year to simmer, the Conservatives will have a new leader, and the NDP will have received the pushback from their own base. We’ll be out of the too-close-to-the-last-election safe zone, and the NDP will have a decision to make whether they think this still serves their purposes (because this agreement is only good as long as the either the NDP or the Liberals think they can still get something out of it). This budget was always a gimme—it’s the next one that things will start to get interesting.

Good reads:

  • Mélanie Joly is back in Europe for more NATO and G7 meetings on Ukraine.
  • Patty Hajdu hopes all remaining First Nations boil water advisories will be lifted by 205, but can’t promise because of technical considerations.
  • Here’s a look at what might be needed to get Canada to its two percent NATO spending targets (which are an ever-shifting and poor metric to fixate on).
  • Public health experts want new tools to help promote vaccines as third doses for adults and first doses for children have flatlined.
  • One military expert says that General Jonathan Vance’s conditional discharges makes the attempt to get more accountability in the Canadian Forces even harder.
  • One of the occupation organizers produced texts and emails about coordination with Ottawa Police, and it’s a little shocking how closely police were organizing it.
  • The National Post has a look at some highlights of the previous week on the Conservative leadership race.
  • Doug Ford appointed his nephew to be a candidate in the upcoming provincial election. (He’s currently a city councillor in Rob Ford’s old seat).
  • Heather Scoffield calls for more transparency around the returns the government is getting for their investments and subsidies designed to grow the economy.
  • Chantal Hébert describes the strain that the coming decision on the Bay du Nord project will have on the government and their pact with the NDP.
  • Susan Delacourt pays tribute to former senator Joyce Fairbairn as a woman who pioneered for journalists on the Hill, and later in the Senate.

Odds and ends:

Want more Routine Proceedings? Become a patron and get exclusive new content.