Tag Archives: Public Health

Roundup: Brown’s whistleblower goes public

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We’re now in day one-hundred-and-thirty-five of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and it sounds like Russia might be taking an “operational pause” to regroup before they return to hammering Donetsk province…though there was still some shelling in the region. The Ukrainian flag is once again flying on Snake Island, which is a strategic access point to ports like Odessa. For his part, Putin says that he’s just getting started, and is daring the West to meet him on the battlefield, so that’s going well.

Closer to home, the Patrick Brown saga continues, as the woman who was in his camp and reported the alleged financial misdeeds to the party came forward and said she blew the whistle, and detailed the allegation that a company was paying for her work on the campaign and that Brown knew about it (which he and his camp have denied). As this goes to the Commissioner of Elections, the Liberals, keen to make some mischief, sent in their own complaint to the Commissioner, asking him to investigate the Conservative Party as a whole in the event that they benefitted financially from any memberships the Brown camp sold that may have been done improperly. So that’s going well.

The party is also contending with how they will count votes for Brown that are received, given that they’re not reprinting ballots, and don’t want to just not count his votes in any way in case that alters the maths of the preferential ballot in some way, so…they’re consulting. And we’ll see what that says. Meanwhile, members of the Conservative committee vetting leadership candidates apparently warned the organizing committee not to approve Patrick Brown’s bid, but were overruled, so that’s also interesting.

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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: Standing for the Emergencies Act inquiry

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It’s now day one-hundred-and-twenty-five of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and Russian long-range bombers struck a shopping mall in Kremenchuk in central Ukraine that had over a thousand people inside, leaving 13 dead and over 40 injured. Further east, Russians are now advancing on Lysychansk, but because it is higher up the river banks, it is a more defensible position for Ukrainian forces, and that could tie up Russian forces for months.

https://twitter.com/SkyNews/status/1541528786474356737

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with G7 leaders by video, and asked for more modern air defences, as well as even more sanctions as the ones that are in place are still not having enough of an effect. Zelenskyy also asked for assistance in unblocking Ukrainian ports so that they can get grain ships in, but this will mean de-mining work that could take weeks or months. Russia, meanwhile, looks set to default on its foreign debt for the first time since the Bolshevik revolution, and here is an explainer of what that could mean.

Closer to home, Justice Paul Rouleau, heading up the public inquiry into the invocation of the Emergencies Act, has released the list of who he has granted standing to hear from, and lo, the Conservative Party is not on it. Citing precedents from previous inquiries like Gomery, Rouleau has basically concluded that the Conservatives had nothing substantive to add, other than to whinge that the Liberals were mean to them about their support for the occupation, and he’s not interested in partisan point-scoring.

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Roundup: A bill to swiftly pass?

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We’re at day one-hundred-and-fifteen of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and it sounds like Severodonestk is still contested territory, under constant Russian shelling making it impossible for civilians trapped under a chemical plant to escape. UK prime minister Boris Johnson visited Kyiv for a second time, promising more arms as well as training for soldiers on a rotating basis. At the same time, the European Commission is recommending Ukraine for consideration for EU Membership. Meanwhile, a Ukrainian soldier who recorded the atrocities at Mariupol has been freed from Russian custody, while the Ukrainian Cabinet approved a resolution to bar Russian citizens from entering Ukraine without a visa.

Closer to home, the federal government tabled a new bill aimed at responding to the Supreme Court of Canada decision five weeks ago that allowed automatism as a defence in very narrow circumstances. The bill eliminates “self-induced extreme intoxication” as a defence, while leaving automatism out in those very rare cases where it would be unknowable that one might enter into this state, which points to the fact that in at least one of the cases before the Supreme Court that led to the provisions being struck down was that it was simply a bad trip that they didn’t know would happen as he had never done mushrooms before. David Lametti also indicated that he’s been in discussion with the other parties, and it sounds like this could be a bill that gets passed at all stages next week before the House of Commons rises for the summer (and likely leaving any actual scrutiny up to the Senate, if they have the appetite to do so before they also rise, way too early).

I also did note that during the press conference announcing the bill, minister Marci Ien had some fairly critical words for her former media colleagues in how the Supreme Court of Canada decision had been reported, where the headlines were that “extreme intoxication is a defence,” which isn’t what the judgment said, and the judgment very clearly differentiated between extreme intoxication and a state of automatism. Nevertheless, bad headlines led to disinformation that was making people afraid (and Ien cited her own daughter’s experiences reading social media about this decision, and she listed some of the figures that these disinformation posts got in terms of likes and shares). And I remember reading those headlines, and listening to the outraged questions in QP in the days that followed, and having to sigh and point out that no, that’s not what the Supreme Court ruled, and it would help if they actually read the gods damned decision because it was all right there. But sadly this seems to be the state of the media discourse these days, so good on Ien for calling it out, especially given the fact that she was herself a journalist.

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Roundup: The non-retracted story and the myths around it

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It’s day one-hundred-and-fourteen of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and Severodonetsk has not fallen yet. French president Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Italian Premier Mario Draghi all visited Kyiv together, while Romania’s president, Klaus Iohannis, arrived on a separate train. They were there to show European unity, in spite of the fact that there have been many criticisms levelled at them in recent weeks for being slow to deliver promised aid, or trying to appease Putin. The fact that they could see some of the atrocities in Irpin, outside of Kyiv, may have given them some perspective on the conflict as well. They did also come with a message about trying to facilitate Ukraine’s entry into the European Union, which would have a great deal of symbolic weight in the conflict.

Meanwhile, NATO defence ministers met in Brussels to discuss ways to continue bolstering their Eastern flank, which will mean more forward-deployed combat formations.

Closer to home, there has been a pervasive bit of disinformation circulating, spread by certain media outlets, that CBC had retracted some of its reporting on the occupation, and in particular about its funding. That’s false—there was on radio correction, but the stories themselves stood, and are still there. Nevertheless, this notion that there was this retraction has been the basis of part of the Conservative attacks on Marco Mendicino in the justification for the invocation of the Emergencies Act, and in particular the financial tools that were used to freeze bank accounts of participants. While the Conservatives, citing these certain outlets, claim that the allegations of “dark money” fuelling the occupation was false, there was indeed foreign money coming in, though not as much as some people assumed. Of course, the Conservatives are also lying about just who this occupation was made up of, so any of their assertions what is true or false around the entire situation are suspect because they have a vested interest in protecting the occupiers, believing they can harness them to their own ends. (Spoiler: They really won’t in the end).

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Roundup: Feel-good busywork

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We are on day one-hundred-and-twelve of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and it’s estimated that Russians now control some 80 percent of Severodonetsk, as civilians are being pushed to the industrial outskirts of the city because the Russians are taking a scorched-earth approach to their artillery. A Russian general says they will open a humanitarian corridor today, but we know how trustworthy their word has been to date. If Ukraine can get enough heavy military equipment from its allies in time, they may be able to push back and go on a counter-offensive, but we’ll see if that can happen. Elsewhere, here are how Ukrainians are turning to humour to cope with their situation.

https://twitter.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1536778589089193988

Closer to home, we saw the fiftieth Senate public bill of this session tabled yesterday, and that’s a sign that things are going off the rails in Justin Trudeau’s “new, independent” Senate. To refresh your memories, Senate public bills are roughly equivalent to private members’ bills for senators, and like any Senate bill, cannot spend money. This kind of proliferation is getting to be an issue, because it’s a sign that these new senators are behaving a lot like MPs (and I don’t just mean the sudden desire for everyone to put their feelings on the record at Second Reading of any bill for no reason at all), and that’s not a good thing. The Order Paper in the Commons is replete with literally hundreds of private members’ bills that are going nowhere because they have a lottery system, and a handful of MPs will get one shot at a bill or motion for the duration of this Parliament, but that doesn’t stop them from tabling all kinds of bills to make a statement, or set a marker, or pretend that the government will be so enamoured with their work that they’ll adopt it for themselves, and that they can reflect in that glory for all time. In the Senate, however, they don’t have one shot, and the work isn’t time allocated from start-to-finish, so they can introduce and debate as many as they like, provided they can get debate time, particularly with committees.

Normally, these bills don’t go very far because they get busy with government bills and the odd PMB from the Commons, which get priority time, but the government has had a very light legislative agenda this session, which has meant that senators have a lot of time on their hands, and these kinds of bills tend to come up. Some of them are feel-good busywork, like declaring special national days. Some of them are just mischief (looking at you, Senator Carignan). Some of these are the policy hobbyhorses of senators who have an inflated view of their positions, combined with a type-A personality, so they’re going to push their personal agenda whether anyone else likes it or not. And even though the government has finally started introducing more bills in the Senate, many of which are housekeeping bills by nature, it’s obviously not enough to keep them busy, or from picking up MPs’ bad habits.

https://twitter.com/journo_dale/status/1536898175210078209

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Roundup: Running out of patience on procedural warfare

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It’s day one-hundred-and-eleven of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and Russian forces have destroyed the final bridge connecting Severodonetsk and Lysychansk, which cuts off the escape route for other civilians in the region. In echoes of the siege of Mariupol, there are allegedly people sheltering below a chemical plant, and Russians are telling those trapped in Severodonetsk to surrender or die. This is giving urgency to the calls for western governments to hurry up with their deliveries of heavy weapons in order to force Russians back. Elsewhere, more mass graves have been found near Bucha, and exhumations have begun. Here is a look at the network helping to transport vulnerable elderly Ukrainians out of the conflict zones toward safer destinations further west.

https://twitter.com/KyivIndependent/status/1536273801599672321

Closer to home, there are eight scheduled sitting days left in the House of Commons before the summer break, and the government is trying to move on several key pieces of legislation in the face of Conservative obstruction. While the bill to preserve Quebec’s seat count is likely to pass with little issue, Conservatives continue to fight the bill to remove mandatory minimum sentences, and the changes to the broadcasting rules to include online platforms. The Commons spent the day moving a programming motion on the online bill that includes mandating that it finishes up at committee by the end of the week, while the Conservatives decry this as draconian and undemocratic, and so on. They’ve completely ground the progress of the bill to a halt at committee, and are insisting they need to hear from more witnesses, never mind that they have wasted the time of the witnesses who have tried to appear by filibustering on procedural issues. Also never mind that they would not tolerate the same level of obstruction when they were in government, where they simply time allocated everything from the start rather than negotiate timelines. Of course, that’s the thing about procedural warfare, is that eventually something has to give, and seeing as the Liberals have the support of the NDP, their patience has run out. Nobody is acting responsibly here, and it’s just one giant gong show at this point. Perhaps eight more days is too long.

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QP: An appalling display of revisionist history

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The prime minister had not planned on attending QP today, having just returned from the Summit of the Americas, but announced this morning that he had tested positive for COVID for the second time in six months, so we may not see him in the Chamber again before the Commons rises for the summer. None of the other leaders were present either, but the deputy prime minister was, for what it’s worth. Luc Berthold led off, and in French, he raised ministerial accountability, and asked whether the prime minister still believes that it applies to him and his Cabinet. Mark Holland replied with a simple “yes.” Berthold then raised the supposed confusion around what Marco Mendicino said about police “requesting” the use of the Emergencies Act (which he has never claimed), and whether that was still true. Mendicino stated that they invoked the Act to protect Canadians’ safety and that the RCMP Commissioner said it gave police the tools they needed, and that the government decided to invoke it after they consulted with police. Berthold, thinking he was clever, tried to claim that the prime minister’s story was “hanging by a thread,” as no police force had asked for it. (And they wouldn’t, because that would be highly inappropriate). Bertold asked whether the prime minister or his staff asked for the Act to be invoked, and Mendicino repeated that it was necessary, and wondered when the Conservatives would understand about the expenses associated with the illegal blockades. James Bezan took over in English, accused Mendicino of talking lessons in revisionist history from Vladimir Putin, and accused the government of declaring “martial law” on the occupation, which did not happen. (Just who is revising history here?) Mendicino took exception to this, and denounced Bezan’s comparison. Bezan railed that the government didn’t need to invoke the Act and that the minster’s story kept changing. Mendicino pointed out that Candice Bergen egged on the occupiers, which was a problem.

https://twitter.com/journo_dale/status/1536413940875415552

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, and declared that French is the only official language in North America under threat from English, and demanded that the federal government adopt Quebec’s amendments to the official languages bill. Ginette Petitpas Taylor stated that they recognise the decline, which is why they brought forward their bill. Therrien decried that this was about official bilingualism, which is killing French, and Petitpas Taylor praised her bill and hoped it would royal assent soon.

Alexandre Boulerice rose for the NDP, in person today, and he decried that the government was cutting EI and child benefits for Canadians (which is stretching the truth). Chrystia Freeland recited her talking points about raising taxes on banks and insurance companies to help pay for the recovery. Jenny Kwan took over in English to repeat the question frame in English and demanded that the government enrich the Canada Child Benefit and double the GST credit. Freeland listed measures that they have taken this year.

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