The Liberal convention is happening this weekend in Montreal, and it’s in part a way that prime minister Mark Carney is putting his stamp on the party now that he’s been leader for a year. It’s a different kind of convention—claimed to be the largest policy convention in the party’s history, and there are no American Democrats giving keynote speeches for the party faithful to fangirl over for a change—the keynote was Canadian Rick Hansen, which again, is a marked shift from years past.

Of course, so much of the oxygen is being taken up by the recent floor-crossers, Marilyn Gladu most especially, and while you have news stories talking about a “mixed reaction,” there is nevertheless a sense that pervades the quotes across news stories that delegates are Carney fans, and that they’re giving him the benefit of the doubt for welcoming them into the party, particularly if it gets them to a majority parliament that will being some stability. Chris d’Entremont and Matt Jeneroux have made comments of their own about feeling secure in their decisions, while progressive Liberals like Karina Gould and Stephen Guilbeault are couching their reservations about Gladu into an optimism that she knew what she was signing up for when she crossed over. For her part, Gladu is also talking about how she hopes this move will benefit her riding, though governments aren’t really supposed to favour only ridings they hold (even though it happens, especially provincially).

As for policy, it has been noticed that there isn’t much talk about Trump, even though he continues to dominate the political airwaves and is giving Carney much of his raison d’être for what he’s doing. There are policy resolutions on banning social media for minors, or limiting use of chatbots (but nobody seems to understand the massive problems associated with age verification).

Ukraine Dispatch

President Zelenskyy says that they are facing pressure both military as spring arrives, but also diplomatically as allies want them to stop hitting Russian oil and gas facilities as prices are so high. Farmers in Ukraine are now being hit by high fertilizer prices thanks to the Iran conflict.

Good reads:

• Mark Carney visited the Montreal Canadiens’ dressing room after their win on Thursday night (even though he is a professed Edmonton Oilers fan).
• Carney also told a radio interview that the next Governor General will “absolutely” speak both French and English, but gave no hint about the selection process.
• The immigration department has told 30,000 asylum claimants they may not be eligible, and advising them to leave immediately, thanks to new legislation.
• Evan Solomon says that the AI Safety Institute now has access to OpenAI’s “protocols,” and claims they will use it to gain “accountability.”
• The deputy minister who used her position to hire a friend claims she did so to “advance diversity” and “bring in outside perspectives” as part of “culture change.”
• The Canadian Press got a look at an internal CSIS memo about their exploring the bid to extend their mandate to foreign human intelligence gathering.
• The Defence Investment Agency is giving the two submarine bidders an extra twenty days to revise their bids, essentially to enrich their offers.
• Saab is offering to build sovereign, secure data centres in Montreal to house critical top-secret mission data and intelligence as part of their bid for the Gripen-E fighters.
• Here is a look at the state of Canada’s space programme, given the cancellation of the Lunar Gateway station and a lunar rover project we were tasked with.
• Avi Lewis named his critic portfolios, giving Don Davies the parliamentary leader post and Heather McPherson the House Leader post (such as it is).
• An Alberta judge has put a temporary pause on the separatism referendum process following challenges from local First Nations.
• Justin Ling wonders why Canada isn’t taking the $23 billion in seized Russian assets and giving it to Ukraine so they can continue to fund their defence.
• Althia Raj makes note of some of the changes that Carney is making to the Liberal Party, including how leadership reviews will be conducted.

Odds and ends:

For National Magazine, I look into the process underway to appoint the next Supreme Court of Canada justice.

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