Roundup: Preparing for another rally, this time of bikers

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It is now approximately day sixty-five of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and Russians fired two missiles at Kyiv while UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres was visiting, which is not a good thing. There are also concerns that Russia will attempt sham referendums in the southern and eastern parts of the country that they have captured as an attempt to legitimise their occupations. Elsewhere in Europe, Russia’s decision to cut off Poland and Bulgaria off from natural gas as a form of blackmail was met with condemnation from the rest of Europe, and given that Putin sees a united Europe as a threat, his attempts to divide the community is not working very well.

https://twitter.com/Podolyak_M/status/1519734914018590726

Closer to home, Ottawa is bracing for a different kind of convoy this weekend, this time led by motorcycles instead of trucks, and they claim to be veterans concerned about freedoms, and much like the previous occupation, while there were a handful of truckers involved, I’m not sure how many legitimate veterans will be in this rally, or that it won’t have the same group of far-right extremists, grifters, conspiracy theorists, and grievance tourists tagging along. There don’t seem to be as many links in organisers between this rally and the previous occupation, given that many of them are either in jail or on bail, but that’s not necessarily indicative of the others that tag along. This time, the police seem much more alert to the situation—and to the fact that they are on thin ice with the people of Ottawa (seriously, the whole force needs to be disbanded), and they have set up exclusion zones and barred the rally from stopping at the War Memorial as they had planned, which is just as well because it shouldn’t be used as a symbol for these kinds of events. RCMP and OPP are already in the city in preparation, and the city has announced a bylaw crackdown during the rally.

As for the previous occupation, the added security around Parliament Hill cost $6.3 million in parliamentary security alone, with another $4.5 million being racked up in overtime for Parliamentary Protection Services officers. And then there are the $36.3 million the city is demanding that the federal government foot the bill for (though frankly the city should swallow some of this out of their police budget considering how useless the Ottawa Police were and that they allowed the occupation to take hold). One wonders how much this upcoming rally is going to add to that total.

Good reads:

  • Mélanie Joly was before a Senate committee, and said that while she supports the intent of a bill to seize Russian assets, the government version has a few differences.
  • Anita Anand was in Washington DC for her first visit as defence minister, where she met with her counterpart to talk NATO, NORAD modernisation, and Ukraine.
  • The government has opened the claims period for a settlement for First Nations who suffered boil water advisories, but some communities remain frustrated with it.
  • Mary Ng is launching a new responsible business strategy to ensure Canadian firms operate ethically abroad, but critics say there is nothing new in it.
  • Changes to space law that allow criminal charges on space stations or on the surface of the moon are included in the budget implementation bill.
  • Health Canada approved Canadian Blood Services’ proposed change to lift much of the donor deferral period for men who have sex with men (and some trans people).
  • Nearly 1000 members of the Canadian Forces had applications to be exempt from vaccinations were denied, as vaccination is a requirement of service.
  • A National Inuit Action Plan has been developed between Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami and the RCMP to improve the relationship between the two.
  • Environmental groups are denouncing the agreement between Ontario and the federal government on protecting caribou, saying it allows more habitat destruction.
  • An expert on radicalisation and terrorism told the Commons public safety committee says that a quarter of Canadians believe online conspiracy theories. Oof.
  • Parliamentary security costs are increasing by nearly $10 million this year, without added occupation-related costs, largely because of salary increases.
  • Preston Manning is warning Conservatives that personal attacks on the leadership campaign can poison the party, which is a bit rich given his history.
  • Pierre Poilievre has hired professional shitposter Jeff Ballingall for his campaign.
  • Poilievre also held a press conference to launch a direct attack on the Bank of Canada and its independence yesterday, which should be alarming to everyone.
  • Peter MacKay still owes some $285,000 from his failed leadership bid.
  • Scott Aitchison has now been approved for the final leadership ballot.
  • Doug Ford tabled a big spending budget which won’t be passed before the election, and won’t promise to hold to it if he wins said election.
  • Jen Gerson provides a needed reality check on the Twitter discourse around Elon Musk’s planned purchase of the platform.
  • Robert Hiltz eviscerates the Ontario NDP for their uselessness in opposing Doug Ford, and for being prepared to hand him another election victory because of it.
  • Paul Wells looks askance at the paucity of answers the ministers were providing around invoking the Emergencies Act at the special committee this week.

Odds and ends:

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One thought on “Roundup: Preparing for another rally, this time of bikers”

  1. Russia’s decision to cut off Poland and Bulgaria off from natural gas as a form of blackmail

    Maybe they should pay for the gas?

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