Tag Archives: Canadian Forces

Roundup: Threats and compromises over dental care

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After spending the weekend talking tough on healthcare, Jagmeet Singh made some threats and shook his fist in the direction of Althia Raj yesterday, insisting that if the promised dental care programme doesn’t happen by the end of the year, that he was walking away from the supply-and-confidence agreement with the federal government. As this was hitting the wires, so was a leak that said the government was looking at a temporary cash transfer for eligible households in lieu of dental care this year, because it’s taking longer to implement (even though they insist they are on track). But the federal government hasn’t even decided on a delivery model yet, which is a problem, and premiers haven’t signalled any willingness to work with them on this either, and that’s a problem for all involved. Singh was naïve to believe this could happen in a few months, and the Liberals were stupid to promise that it could, knowing that this was going to be tricky because of the jurisdictional hurdles. And I suspect this is just going to drive cynicism on all sides, because new national social programmes can’t be done on the back of a napkin and rolled out in a few weeks, and everyone has set up expectations that will be nigh-impossible to meet. So good job, everyone. You’ve really helped.

Ukraine Dispatch, Day 167:

There are international concerns after Russians shelled the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, in what is believed to be an attempt to cut power to Ukrainian-held cities in the southern part of the country. We also got word that a Ukrainian grain ship has reached Turkey, but it seems there has been a dispute with the cargo’s buyers in Lebanon, so they may be looking for a new buyer for the corn haul. Because of course. Over the weekend, Russians targeted the eastern cities of Bakhmut and Avdiivka, in the Donetsk region.

In case you missed it:

  • My column on Michael Chong’s latest round of reform ideas, and some of them are actually good, while others may not be practical given current limitations.
  • For National Magazine, I wrote about the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision around condom refusal and how that can lead to a sexual assault trial.
  • My Loonie Politics Quick Take on the (then-forthcoming) leadership debate and how you shouldn’t count anything out when there’s a ranked ballot in the mix.
  • My column on why we can’t keep ignoring the link between climate change and what it’s done to crops, and by extension, rising food inflation.
  • My Xtra column on this government’s poor record on HIV funding, while they were busy patting themselves on the back at the International AIDS Conference.
  • My column calling out Senator Dasko’s morally bankrupt poll trying to drum up support for the continuation of hybrid sittings, with no mention of the human toll.

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Roundup: A deal to ship grain?

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We’re now in day one-hundred-and-fifty of Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, and an agreement has been signed that will allegedly allow Ukrainian grain to flow again from their Black Sea ports. Allegedly. No one really trusts Russia to actually live up to their end of the bargain, but we’ll see. Apparently one of the conditions to this agreement is that Ukraine doesn’t raise the issue of the grain that Russia stole from them, so we’ll see what happens from here. Meanwhile, CBC has a video package of the past week in the war.

https://twitter.com/Podolyak_M/status/1550434643094249472

https://twitter.com/AlexGabuev/status/1550537176592822272

https://twitter.com/ThreshedThought/status/1550450333545123841

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Roundup: Jockeying for first-place ballot support

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We’re in day one-hundred-and-forty-eight of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and Ukrainian forces damaged a bridge that is critical to supplying Russian troops in southern Ukraine, where Russia is trying to consolidates its territorial gains, making it clear that their supposed aim of “liberating” the predominantly-speaking Donbas region was always a lie. Russians, meanwhile, bombarded the north-eastern city of Kharkiv, and killed more civilians there. On that note, here is a look at Ukrainian refugees being forcibly relocated into Russia.

Meanwhile, Russia has started up a sham tribunal to document “war crimes” from Ukrainians to justify the invasion, and they are using Westerners living in Russia, who are often promoters of conspiracy theories or who are known for being purveyors of disinformation, as their star witnesses. The whole thing is a thinly-veiled propaganda exercise to bolster support for the invasion in Russia, and to provide a counter narrative to the International Criminal Court proceedings against Russians who are involved in actual war crimes in Ukraine, but

Closer to home, the Conservative leadership race is reaching a critical juncture as ballots are being mailed out and candidates are asking for top billing on their ranked ballot. Jean Charest wants another debate, particularly now that Patrick Brown is out of the race, while Roman Baber is trying to make a plea for people to give him a second look and not simply rank him further down-ballot (though the policies he outlined simply remind everyone that yes, this guy is a moron). Speaking of, the National Post has compiled the various policy positions of the leaders, at which point I am force do once again remind everyone that this remains an abomination in our system—leaders are not supposed to be deciding policy and putting it forward in a leadership contest. That is supposed to be the job of the grassroots membership, who have biennial conventions to do just that, but we have so bastardised our system in order to create a faux-presidential primary that we’ve reached this debased state.

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Roundup: 100 basis points, because the Bank of Canada is serious

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It’s day one-hundred-and-forty-one of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and with Russian forces trying to turn the entire Donbas region to ashes with continued shelling, Ukrainian forces have been trying to reclaim some ground in the south, hitting another ammunition depot in Nova Kakhovka. Russian missiles struck the southern cities of Mykolaiv and Zaporizhzhia, as a show of their determination to hang onto their gains in the south.

Closer to home, the Bank of Canada raised their key overnight rate by 100 basis points, so that interest rates are now sitting at 2.5 percent, which is in the middle of their estimated “neutral” range of two and three percent. This means that the rate is not supposed to be either stimulative or contractionary. The hike was so high in large part because of the shock value—the Bank wants to break any psychological expectation that can lead to an inflationary spiral, where people keep expecting inflation to keep rising, and behave in ways that reinforce it. This goes for wages as well, and the Bank is trying hard to send signals that will hopefully keep a wage spiral from happening, where wages rise to meet inflation, which just increases demand and stokes inflation, and the cycle becomes self-reinforcing. The Monetary Policy Report also included an interesting section where the Bank examined why their previous estimates went wrong, and while they didn’t conclude that it’s because they don’t have a division of precognitive psychics guiding policy, they did find that a lot of the global shocks didn’t factor into their calculations. One such example was oil prices—their modelling used oil prices as being stable, but when they jumped, that threw off their modelling. And the invasion of Ukraine really did a number on everyone’s models, so the Bank of Canada wasn’t unique there.

When it comes to political reaction, both the Conservatives and the NDP sent out press releases freaking out. The Conservatives blame government spending for inflation, instead of its actual causes, and freak out that the cure is high interest rates, as though one can have it both ways in perpetuity. (This is the alleged “party of sound economic management,” who continually prove they are fiscally illiterate). The NDP think the cause of inflation is price gouging, instead of the actual causes (which isn’t to say that there hasn’t been some, but it’s not the cause), and therefore interest rates going up punishes people. Which is also missing the point. And it would be nice if we had opposition parties that were economically literate and capable of challenging the government on its bullshit rather than on largely imaginary problems.

https://twitter.com/mattgurney/status/1547403312378650627

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Roundup: Stampede politicking in full swing

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We’re now on or about day one-hundred-and-thirty-eight of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and there are reports that Russian reservists are starting to assemble near the border for a future offensive. There have been rocket attacks against the eastern city of Chasiv Yar, in the Donetsk region. Civilian evacuatiosn are underway in parts of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, as the shelling continues in the eastern part of the country. Meanwhile, a cohort of Ukrainians has arrived in the UK for combat training in an attempt to more rapidly turn civilians into soldiers.

Canada has been in the middle of a dispute over a gas turbine undergoing repairs here, for the Nord Stream One pipeline from Russia to Germany. Germany has been trying to urge our government to return the turbine, while Ukraine wanted us to withhold it as a part of Russian sanctions. In the end, the Canadian government opted to return the turbine, but put more sanctions on Russia, though the decision came with much criticism from Ukrainian officials.

Closer to home, it’s Stampede time in Calgary, which has become a major political event over the years. Justin Trudeau attended the Stampede yesterday, and was mobbed by supporters, while a single person yelling “traitor” was escorted out. For Conservatives, this has been one of the hallmarks events for their leadership contest, and of course, Pierre Poilievre has been the darling of the event, touted as “more Albertan than Stephen Harper and Jason Kenney,” seeing as he was actually raised there unlike the other two. Others were not so lucky—Jean Charest was booed at the event, which is not a surprising in the “Conservative heartland” given that he’s from Quebec. Just more of Alberta’s childish politics of resentment that Poilievre is playing into.

https://twitter.com/R_Boissonnault/status/1546307252696805376

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Roundup: Brown tries to defend himself

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It’s day one-hundred-and-thirty-four of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and it sounds like Ukrainian forces have held off any Russian advances in the north of Donetsk province, as Russians shell the city of Sloviansk and other nearby populated areas. Russians are also trying to seize control of the highway linking the Luhansk and Donetsk provinces. Meanwhile, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev is warning against trying to punish Russia for the invasion, with thinly-veiled threats about nuclear conflict, so that’s some nightmare fuel for you.

Closer to home, the day was largely consumed with Patrick Brown trying to refute the allegations against him, insisting that he wasn’t given any details he could substantively repudiate to the party brass, and that this was all the work of Poilievre loyalists on the leadership committee who were afraid that he wanted to take the party in a different direction with the help of members signed up from ethno-cultural communities (with some unspoken allegations of racism there). But beyond this, he was also contending with allegations from mismanagement from his own city council, and the memories of questionable conduct when he was Ontario Progressive Conservative Party leader around certain loans (and this is without even bringing up the even older sexual assault allegations that ended said leadership). Brown, incidentally, dismissed those city council allegations as well, citing that they are from the faction of council that opposes him, and that everything has already been cleared up.

For the party’s part, they didn’t do themselves any favours by rushing the meeting and then putting out the disqualification release close to midnight, and it really just gave ammunition to Brown to claim that this was all a conspiracy of Poilievre-loyalists against him, and the fact that it was a reputed 11-6 decision also gave him fodder to work with. But the party president was doing media rounds as well, and insisted that the allegations didn’t come from the Poilievre camp, but from inside Brown’s own tent—the call is coming from inside the house. And while the party president also said there was no route to appeal, Brown has hired a very good law firm to try and overturn this decision, so we’ll see where this goes. Nevertheless, if he remains disqualified, this could have the effect of unmotivating the members Brown signed up, and giving Poilievre a better chance of taking the race on the first ballot, which he would need, otherwise the ranked ballot starts doing unexpected things (and no, they aren’t reprinting the ballots, so Brown will still be on it, but his votes not counted and the down ballot support redistributed).

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Roundup: Patrick Brown disqualified?

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We are on day one-hundred-and-thirty-three of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the governor of Donetsk province is urging some 350,000 residents to evacuate in order to both save lives and make it easier for the Ukrainian army to repel Russian advances. This being said, the Russians have been using up so many personnel and equipment on this advance that they may be forced to stall later in the summer, though they still have abundant resources that the Ukrainians don’t have at this point. Meanwhile, here is a look at Ukrainians struggling in towns and villages outside of Kyiv, as their homes have been bombed out and they don’t know when they might get new ones.

Closer to home, the Conservative Party’s Leadership Election Organising Committee has taken the decision to disqualify Patrick Brown on the basis of “serious allegations of wrongdoing,” and that they are planning on turning the file over to the Commissioner of Elections. Brown’s campaign responded a short time later saying this is all based on anonymous allegations they haven’t been able to respond to, and that their lawyers are now involved. So, it’s going well. Nevertheless, it’s one more reminder of just how bastardised this whole process is because our parties keep trying to ape American presidential primaries, while filling their coffers and databases rather than worrying about things like accountability, or parliamentary leadership. These races are a mockery of our system, and we really, really need to return to a system of caucus selection of leadership, so that MPs are empowered, leaders are held to account, and that the party isn’t just a hollow vehicle for a personality cult.

https://twitter.com/acoyne/status/1544519706127831041

https://twitter.com/robert_hiltz/status/1544531763254411265

Oh, and while we’re at it, one of Peter MacKay’s staff from the last leadership contest is now suing Erin O’Toole for alleging he was behind a hacking theft, so there really is no end to the drama here.

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Roundup: Hoping for a Canada Day with little disruption

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We’re on day one-hundred-and-twenty-eight of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and it looks like shelling by Ukrainian forces have driven Russian troops from Snake Island, a strategic location in the south near Odesa (and where those border agents famously told the Russian warship to fuck itself). This could mean that the threats against Odesa are receding. Meanwhile, the fighting continues around Lysychansk, where the Russians are facing a tough road to try and encircle the city as they can’t cross the river without being exposed to the Ukrainian forces on the high ground.

https://twitter.com/IAPonomarenko/status/1542426545490460672

Closer to home, it’s Canada Day, but the festivities are taking place off the Hill in Lebreton Flats, because a third of the lawn in front of the Centre Block is now a giant pit while they dig new underground infrastructure for the renovated building. As well, the Snowbirds have been forced to cancel their performance because of a serious maintenance issue with their fleet. The far-right extremists, grifters, conspiracy theorists and grievance tourists have already started to descent on downtown Ottawa and Parliament Hill, so we’ll see if things are as disruptive as they were during the occupation, but thus far, police are taking no chances and we’ve already seen arrests and vehicles being towed, so we’re off to a better start than we were in January. Regardless, I hope you enjoy your Canada Day as much as possible.

Programming Note: I’m taking the long weekend off to recuperate, so I’ll see you Monday or Tuesday, depending on how I feel (and how much news there is over the weekend).

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Roundup: Allegations of interference still not adding up

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It’s day one-hundred-and-twenty-seven of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and a major prisoner swap took place, securing the release of 144 Ukrainian soldiers, including 95 of the defenders of Mariupol. The majority of those prisoners swapped were badly wounded. It sounds like an equal number of Russian fighters, as well as so-called Donetsk separatists, were released as part of the swap.

https://twitter.com/smsaideman/status/1542174212378529794

Closer to home, we got another denial from Bill Blair about any interference in the Nova Scotia mass-shooting investigation, and he speaks reasonably authoritatively enough about knowing where the line is given his previous life as a police chief. And there is not a lot of things adding up around these allegations of interference, particularly that the forthcoming order-in-council around banning assault-style rifles, which they would have needed to work on for weeks or months, so it was pretty much baked-in by that point if it was announced days later, and they would have been in consultation with the RCMP over it. The notion that releasing the information could have jeopardized the investigation has been debunked, especially given that the shooter’s spouse could tell them all that information. To add to that, the PMO had already been given the information on the guns thanks to the National Security Advisor, so again, there wouldn’t have been any need for interference if that’s what you’re calling it. Now, we all know that the very first question reporters would have asked when the announcement on the OiC came down was whether the guns used in this shooting would be covered, so again, this seems like fairly basic disclosure that they knew was coming. And if anyone is clutching their pearls over the Liberals politicizing a mass shooting—which is actually appropriate—then they haven’t watched Question Period, where tragedies are politicised every single day. Also, not to be forgotten, the Justice Department isn’t holding onto documents on behalf of the government—they’re acting as the lawyers for the RCMP in this situation, so this likely has to do with the advice they are receiving from their clients. Again, the allegations that this is some kind of cover-up are not adding up.

But these issues aside, let’s be clear—the RCMP in Nova Scotia had just shit the bed. Massively. They didn’t disclose information that could have saved lives, they lied to the media, and they have been increasingly caught out about it, and a lot of this sounds like deflection, particularly because they are butthurt that Commissioner Lucki chewed them out about it. Like I said, stuff isn’t adding up about the supposed “interference,” but I would again remind you that we should not be credulously believing everything the RCMP are saying, particularly as they are in the middle of justifying and deflecting around what happened, and the fact that they were trying to keep from disclosing information unnecessarily.

https://twitter.com/Garossino/status/1541940693492330496

https://twitter.com/Garossino/status/1541942595487600640

https://twitter.com/Garossino/status/1541958232893030401

https://twitter.com/Garossino/status/1541960867863863296

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Roundup: Papering over party divisions

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It’s day one-hundred-and-twenty-four of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and Severodonestk has fallen, mostly pounded into rubble the way that Mariupol was. Up next for Russian forces is across the river, to the city of Lysychansk, where they are now trying to once again encircle Ukrainian forces, while more civilians try to evacuate the area. Emboldened, Russians have also fired missiles again at Kyiv, killing at least one person. This is likely seen as a warning as NATO leaders are gathering early this week to reaffirm support for Ukraine.

https://twitter.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1541103194184601601

Closer to home, all does not sound well in the Conservative caucus. Last week, in her blog post announcing she wouldn’t be running to lead the UCP, Michelle Rempel Garner noted that:

…in both parties there have also been squabbles that have erupted in the pages of national media, public meltdowns, nearly missed physical fights, coups, smear jobs, leaked recordings and confidential emails, lack of consensus on critical issues, caucus turfings, people harassed to the point where they resign roles, and hours long meetings where members have been subjected to hours of public castigation. There have been heated exchanges to get basic concerns addressed, unjustified insularity in decision making, shunnings, exclusionary cliques and more.

So of course, over the weekend, Candice Bergen was asked about this, and while she refused to say anything about it to the Star, she denied this was the case to CTV, seeming to imply that Rempel Garner is either making it up, or is “experiencing things differently.” Bergen is also talking a big game about party unity, and is going to spend Canada Day in Halifax with Peter MacKay, for some inexplicable reason, as though this makes a point about party unity. (Remember, MacKay was never really a Red Tory, given that he voted in lockstep with Stephen Harper on everything, and couldn’t vote for socially progressive issues when other former Red Tories would). Bergen is also denying that she has any safety concerns, and seems to pin blame for the level of harassment that MPs are facing onto Justin Trudeau because he made people get vaccinated, and called out far-right extremists for what they are.

Also over the weekend, former Conservative Senate den mother leader Marjorie LeBreton emerged to voice her concerns about the direction the party is heading in, particularly around their support for the occupation, which erodes their credibility as a law-and-order party. She’s so incensed about Poilievre’s support for the occupation that she resigned from her position as a member of his riding association over it, and worries that the party may be “fracturing beyond repair.” None of this is painting a promising picture of a party that Bergen is insisting nothing is wrong in, but perhaps she is not the most credible source for what his happening behind closed doors, because it’s not in her interest to tell the truth about it.

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