Roundup: First leadership deadline passes

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We are now on or about day fifty-six of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and Russia has been pouring more troops into their offensive in the Donbas region, and they are making a bunch of unverified claims about their strikes on Ukrainian targets (which should be taken with a salt lick’s worth of scepticism). As well, there were more missile strikes on the western city of Lviv, and Russia has given another ultimatum for the Ukrainian defenders of Mariupol to leave, but thus far there has been no sign that they will take them up on it.

Closer to home, the first deadline for the Conservative leadership contest has passed, and eight of the declared candidates have crossed the threshold of the $50,000 entry fee and the completed questionnaire. They have ten days to reach the next deadline of $300,000 in fees and 500 signatures, and thus far, only three of the candidates have crossed that threshold so far (and judging from the names of the eight remaining, most won’t make it either). Meanwhile, Pierre Poilivre’s camp claims that they have sold memberships in all 338 federal ridings, in order to claim that they have broad appeal, for what that’s worth.

Good reads:

  • Justin Trudeau was in New Brunswick to announce a $22 million agreement around long-term care funding for the province.
  • Trudeau also says that Canada will be sending more heavy artillery to Ukraine, but details are to be announced later, and more sanctions were announced.
  • Omar Alghabra says that Canada will be maintaining mask mandates on planes and trains, no matter the (dubious) American court ruling overturning their regulations.
  • DND says that fewer troops have been kicked out of the Canadian Forces than previously reported, with only 39 released and another 206 in the process.
  • In advance of the Ontario election, the provincial Liberals are promising a full-blown handgun ban, but don’t have any details on how it would be implemented.
  • There are more allegations around Alberta’s former justice minister, this time about how he was apparently in a conflict of interest around the “kamikaze” campaign.
  • Jessica Davis looks at how poor reporting on the Nova Scotia mass shooter spawned conspiracy theories that have inspired extremists.
  • Heather Scoffield views Elon Musk’s bid to buy Twitter against the backdrop of the Canadian government being slow to move on controversial internet regulation bills.
  • Colby Cosh disputes the notion that ending the per-vote subsidy increased polarization through fundraising pitches, and points to what it did improve.
  • Paul Wells delves into the budget’s Canada Growth Fund and questions the assumptions and calculations baked into it.
  • My column notes how provinces are demanding the federal government fix their health human resources problems—problems the provinces made.

Odds and ends:

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