Roundup: The last-minute scramble to add to Trudeau’s Euro trip

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We are now on day nineteen of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and it remains in something of a holding pattern. Russian airstrikes are ramping up, and no, NATO will still not implement a no-fly zone because it will mean shooting down Russian targets, blowing up air defences on Russian soil, and dragging us into a shooting war with a nuclear power while at the same time not doing anything about ground-based shelling or missile-strikes. While sanctions continue to ramp up, the IMF is warning of a massive recession in Russia, which could have bigger international ramifications. (Because sanctions need to hurt us if they’re going to hurt Russia. That’s how it goes).

https://twitter.com/ChristopherJM/status/1503024136523767814

Meanwhile, the Star got a behind-the-scenes peek at some of the diplomatic scrambling that happened with Trudeau’s trip to Europe last week, which was supposed to be a short trip to meet the new German chancellor, but quickly ballooned into a number of other meetings and events to show solidarity among NATO allies and with Ukraine (and of course, an audience with the Queen).

Good reads:

  • Justin Trudeau says he wants to expand the G7 Rapid Response Mechanism to help deal with threats that include state-sponsored disinformation campaigns.
  • Jonathan Wilkinson says it may be a couple of more weeks before we know if we will have any ability to send oil to Europe to offset the loss of Russian supply.
  • Unifor president Jerry Dias retired, citing health issues.
  • The Mining Association is complaining that they won’t be able to meet proposed new coal effluent rules with existing technology. (That sounds like a you problem).
  • Here is an explainer about the rules for the Conservative leadership campaign, plus five things to get you caught up on what has been happening.
  • Patrick Brown launched his campaign, claims the sexual assault allegations against him “cancel culture,” and wants to avoid the race being an ideological purity test.
  • Peter MacKay won’t run this time, seeing as he’s still paying off his last leadership.
  • A report released by the Nova Scotia public inquiry into the mass shooting shows repeated communications failures by RCMP.
  • Chantal Hébert looks at how the current Conservative leadership race has changed from the previous one where O’Toole came out victorious.
  • Supriya Dwivedi argues that this Conservative leadership race is that much more consequential because it means the party has to define themselves.
  • Colby Cosh finds the irony of the New Age magazine that got federal funds while pushing anti-vax conspiracy theories in that it’s disinformation coming from the left.

Odds and ends:

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