We are now on or about day thirty-six of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the promise that they were pulling back from Kyiv and other places to give peace talks room to breathe were, well, not true. But nobody actually believed Russia in the first place, so nobody is exactly shocked here. Maclean’s features photos from Ukraine from Canadian photographer Philip Cheung on the ground there.

Closer to home, former Chief of Defence Staff Jonathan Vance pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice charges, and admitted to all the various things that he flatly denied previously. But the galling part in all of this is that got off on a conditional sentence that included community service, rather than face a criminal record. And even more appalling was the fact that his lawyer was trying to argue that Vance was going to suffer enough because his reputation had been stained enough that he wasn’t going to be able to cash in on the promises of future defence spending, whether that’s with some kind of government relations gig, or consultancy.

Like, *extremely* poor character. He carried on a long extramarital affair, with a subordinate over whom he held power, not supporting the child born as a result, while leading an ostentatious campaign against sexual misconduct.

How are we judging character in this country?

— David Reevely (@davidreevely) March 30, 2022

The bigger picture in all of this is not just that there is a highly sexualized culture in the military that this is a mere hint of, it’s that there is an abuse of power crisis within the military that the lack of meaningful consequences here simply emboldens. This obstruction of justice charge, and the admission of it all, is a demonstration of the abuse of power that Vance was trying to wield, and got caught doing. That he gets to avoid the serious consequences of this abuse, and that the notion that he can’t cash in is punishment enough, is a sign that this is a rot that runs deep and we need to be serious about this problem and acknowledging that it exists before we can get to work on tackling it as part of the culture change that the Canadian Forces desperately needs to undergo.

.@MercedesGlobal and @amandacconn and the rest of their team rocked this story and helped shake things up. Much work to do as this revealed how badly the CAF needs civilian control and oversight. https://t.co/SFWwqdHtZR

— Steve Saideman (@smsaideman) March 31, 2022

Good reads:

• Justin Trudeau visited Williams Lake First Nation yesterday, where more unmarked graves have been identified, and committed more money to searching more sites.
• The government says they are looking at a five-year timeline to build a national monument to honour children who suffered in residential schools.
• The government wants to “future proof” their carbon price system, but…you can’t bind a future government, so I’m not exactly sure what they propose.
• Pablo Rodriguez will be tabling legislation to make tech companies pay for news using a similar model to the one employed by Australia.
• Rodriguez also announced a twelve-person panel to help craft the legislative and regulatory framework for their renewed online harms bill.
• Here are some of the details on settlement services the government will be extending to Ukrainian refugees.
• The NDP accused the government of lying about bringing the families of Afghan interpreters over; the government counters that there are huge logistical challenges.
• Here are five known problems still plaguing the F-35s, which are still not at the capability they should be at (but we’re going to buy them anyway).
• The bill of rights for victims of military-related crimes will finally come into effect this coming June.
• The RCMP Civilian Review and Complaints Commission says the Mounties’ “bias-free policing policy” is inadequate and unclear, which is hardly a surprise.
• Former senator Joyce Fairbairn, former journalist and the first woman to hold the post of Leader of the Government in the Senate, passed away at age 82.
• There are accusations of stolen membership lists and falsified donation promises in the Conservative leadership, which Charest’s camp says is about creating chaos.
• Ontario tabled legislation to speed approvals for housing developments, ignoring the recommendations of their own affordability task force on the flimsiest grounds.
• Mike Moffatt looks at the demographic trends emerging from the pandemic, not only with births (down) and deaths (up), but immigration.
• My column has no pity for Jason Kenney who is worried that the very lunatics he invited into his party are now trying to take it over. He made his bed.

Odds and ends:

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