Alberta premier Danielle Smith’s threats around withholding funding for her province’s justice system if she doesn’t get her own way on judicial appointments is attracting broader attention, and there was a particular exchange at a Senate committee the other day that bears pointing out. When asked about this thread, federal justice minister Sean Fraser essentially said that if Smith does this, it’ll be a choice, but also that the federal government is not going to swoop in and backstop this funding lapse with federal dollars.

fYI – My exchange in committee yesterday with Justice Minister Sean Fraser about Premier Danielle Smith’s threat to withhold funding for new Alberta judges unless the province is given more input into federal appointments. #cdnpoli #LCJC #Alberta #ableg #abpoli #SenateofCanada

— Senator Paula Simons 🇨🇦 (@senatorpaulasimons.bsky.social) 2026-02-05T18:37:37.916Z

This is a good thing. Frankly, if the federal government did this, it would set a terrible precent because all provinces are underfunding their justice systems, and if they backstop Alberta because Danielle Smith is acting like an entitled baby throwing a tantrum, then every other province will cut their own funding and hope for a federal backstop, and once again, things will get worse in our system because provinces aren’t living up to their obligations. They’re not right now, but this would make things infinitely worse. Of course, if this does happen, the federal government will actually have to get off their asses and loudly point this out repeatedly that this is the provincial government’s fault. They should be doing it right now, with the whole nonsense going on around bail reform, but this would be infinitely worse. Court delays for simple matters? Thank Smith. Criminals going free because they can’t get trial dates? Thank Smith. Did that accused murderer get released because they couldn’t actually hold a trial with no functioning court house, no prosecutors and no court staff? Thank Smith. That’s the kind of thing that they need to be doing as is, but they lack the gonads to do so, but they would need to step it up even more if Smith did pull that trigger.

Meanwhile, the Canadian Bar Association is speaking out about Smith’s unconstitutional demands, and other law organizations are joining them, while also explaining how the judicial appointment process works, and why Smith is wrong to characterize them as “activists” who act on the federal government’s behalf. It also bears reminding that the UCP purged the provincial judicial nomination committees in favour of partisan appointees, and that two sitting judges are under investigation for donating to the party, so maybe Smith’s concerns about supposedly political choices are just her projecting and admitting she wants to fix the process for her own political ends.

Ukraine Dispatch

Two people were injured in the overnight attack on Kyiv early Thursday. Ukrainian forces made a successful strike against one of Russia’s missile launch sites. The “peace talks” have seen another agreement on exchanges of prisoners of war.

Good reads:

• Mark Carney released their automotive strategy which repeals the EV mandate, increases emission standards, restores EV subsidies, and builds charging stations.
• Here is a look at Carney’s speech on Black History Month.
• Gary Anandasangaree has agreed that the $50 minimum fine for the foreign agent registry is too low, and pledges to raise it once the system is in place.
• Gregor Robertson tabled a bill to enshrine Build Canada Homes as a standalone Crown Corporation with the ability to acquire land and enter into partnerships.
• Treasury Board says that they expect federal civil servants back in the office four days a week as of July (but have they managed to iron out the current problems?)
• The Parliamentary Budget Officer says that meeting the NATO target will mean $63 billion added to the deficit. (Remember that income tax cut that Carney pushed?)
• The federal veterans ombuds is calling out the government’s plan to retroactively fix veteran benefit calculations without offering compensation in the budget bill.
• The Canadian Commercial Corporation has conducted a review of arms shipped to the US, which were then transferred to Israel.
• The federal labour relations board has dismissed union grievances about civil servants being put on unpaid leave when they refused vaccinations. (Good!)
• A contingent of Canadian Inuit are headed to Nuuk, Greenland, for the opening of our new consulate there.
• ICE has five field offices in Canada, so the Star tries to figure out just what it is they’re doing here.
• At a Congressional hearing, US treasury secretary Scott Bessent said that the US would “absolutely not” remove its tariffs on Canadian goods if Canada did the same.
• Comments by Bessent are raising the alarm that the US is pursuing a Russia-like strategy to use Alberta separatism to break us apart and absorb us.
• In Copenhagen, Mary Simon says that Arctic security and sovereignty isn’t just about militarization but ensuring the local population can benefit from the infrastructure.
• At a gala held in his honour, Stephen Harper said that Canada needs to reduce its dependence on the US, and now says they are an existential threat.
• Harper’s archives have now been turned over to Library and Archives Canada.
• Certain premiers are getting shirty about not getting a pharmacare deal with the federal government, after they roundly rejected pharmacare for a decade.
• Stephen Saideman offers a reminder that historians are not there to be cheerleaders for your country. (That kind of “history” tends to be propaganda).
• John Michael McGrath points out how lucky Nate Erskine-Smith has been when it comes to the timing of his provincial political ambitions.

Odds and ends:

Like I was saying about the Donbas of Canada.

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-02-06T04:10:07.537Z

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