The much-ballyhooed gun control bill tabled this week is going over like a lead balloon on all sides – not only the predictable caterwauling from the gun lobby, but also gun control advocates who see the bill as largely an empty shell that doesn’t really do much at all. And then there are the provinces, many of whom are opposed to this kind of measure and who are accusing the federal government of doing an end-run around them, as cities are creatures of the province – which of course this bill is doing, because the federal government is trying to respond to demands while provinces (and most especially those run by conservatives) refuse to take action.

Matt Gurney lays out a lot of these contradictions in this piece, and concludes that this bill is more about political showmanship than it is about doing anything concrete – which is 100 percent correct. The Liberals are in something of a tight spot – their base is in large urban centres, where this is a pressing issue, and they are trying to look like they’re doing something when provinces aren’t, which means kludging what few levers they have available (in this case, using federal criminal law powers and tying them to municipal regulations). At the same time, they’re trying not to obliterate what little support they still have in rural seats, some of which they have fought to regain, tooth and nail, after the long-gun registry, which hobbled them for decades. I can see themselves thinking they’re clever enough to try and play both sides, but that rarely ends well.

Meanwhile, here’s Gurney with a lengthy thread with more on the deeper reading into the bullshit inherent in these measures, and you should click through and read the whole thing, because it put so many things into context. Suffice to say:

https://twitter.com/mattgurney/status/1362105848768712707

https://twitter.com/mattgurney/status/1362113777244770306

Good reads:

• Once again, provinces remain the weak link in vaccination data – Ontario especially.
• Thus far, First Nations – which are more vulnerable, particularly because of their housing situation – are vaccinating at six times the national rate.
• The assisted dying bill has passed the Senate as amended, and is headed back to the Commons, where the Conservatives want more debate on it.
• It looks like there may need to be carbon rebate adjustments in a couple of provinces, some of which netted more revenue, some less, than was estimated.
• The CRA has suspended 100,000 accounts after their login credentials were found on sale on the dark web.
• The Canadian Bar Association has released a report on modernising the justice system with new technology, given the pandemic experience.
• Google is in active talks with Canadian news publishers to join their News Showcase platform, as Facebook banned Australian news links from their platform.
• The Senate will be offering unconscious bias training to all senators, staff, and administration.
• Senator Claud Carignan has introduced a bill to amend the Copyright Act to force Facebook and Google to pay media companies for news they display.
• Ousted Liberal MP Ramesh Sangha made a speech that accused fellow Sikh MPs of pandering to Khalistani extremism, and the Speaker has been asked to strike it.
• Former Liberal MP Raj Grewal’s fraud trial has been scheduled for October.
• Jason Kenney and Brian Pallister want separate vaccine deals with pharmaceutical companies, but most only want one contract per country.
• Kady O’Malley’s Process Nerd column contextualises Chrystia Freeland’s passive-aggressive open letter, amidst a campaign of delay by Conservative MPs.

Odds and ends:

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