Roundup: Supply cycle reaches its peak

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We’re now in day one-hundred-and-five of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and Russia has nearly seized the entirely of Luhansk, one of the two main Donbas regions. Thus far, Russia has turned over 210 bodies from fighters in the steel plant in Mariupol, exchanging them for Russian bodies.

Here is the tale of a fifteen-year-old Ukrainian boy who helped destroy an advancing Russian column by using a drone and alerting the Ukrainian forces of where to aim their artillery. Meanwhile, Ukraine has been trying to get its grain to markets by other means than by ship, but it is being beset by logistical problems, as their silos are full and a new planting season is already underway. Even if they could get their ships out of port, it will take at least a month or two to de-mine the corridors these ships travel.

https://twitter.com/UKRinCAN/status/1534287413304037376

Closer to home, it was the final day of the Supply cycle yesterday, meaning that the Conservatives got their last Supply Day, and then the House passed the Supplementary Estimates, which ensures that departments have money to function, and that it’s more aligned with the budget, because we have a mis-match between the budget cycle and the Estimates cycle that has grown over the past few decades, and when Scott Brison tried to align them when he was at Treasury Board, not only did the civil service resist, but the opposition accused him of trying to create a “slush fund” when he was trying to allocate funds to better align the Estimates and budget, and certain proposed programmes didn’t have their submissions delivered in time. Suffice to say, Brison tried, and when he failed, the government seems to have given up on fixing this very obvious problem that goes to the heart of why Parliament exists in the first place. Suffice to say, now that the Estimates are passed, the House of Commons could theoretically rise at any point. They likely will wait until at least the end of this week so that they can get the budget implementation bill passed, as well as Bill C-5 on mandatory minimums, but considering the filibusters or other dilatory motions going on around the broadcasting bill, the official languages bill, and the gun control bill, I would not be surprised if the House Leader decides to just go home a few days early and let everyone cool down over the summer.

Good reads:

  • Justin Trudeau visited NORAD headquarters in Colorado Springs, before heading to LA for the Summit of the Americas, where he avoided comment on absences.
  • People are being asked to take travel precautions related to monkeypox.
  • Steven Guilbeault has tabled a bill to give legal protection to national historic sites and give more Indigenous consultation on designating future sites.
  • Marco Mendicino’s deputy minister has had to clarify for the Emergencies Act committee the difference between advice and requests from police.
  • The Chief Electoral Officer wants the power to lay charges around disinformation about the electoral process, but can’t come up with domestic examples.
  • The Official Languages Commissioner was inundated with complaints about the Governor General not speaking French, as well as the Air Canada CEO.
  • Handgun sales are spiking across the country now that a freeze on future sales and transfers has been announced (but can’t take immediate effect).
  • The Federal Court has dismissed a lawsuit from a CSIS employee, citing that the court doesn’t have jurisdiction as he didn’t use the proper grievance process first.
  • The first day of the trial of the civil servant who allegedly leaked shipbuilding details has concluded, and the allegation is he tried to undercut Cabinet’s authority.
  • Here is more about the history of the Governor General’s Foot Guards on the regiment’s 150th anniversary.
  • Maclean’s has a lengthy profile of defence minsiter Anita Anand.
  • Two Conservative MPs have changed their endorsements from Brown to Poilievre, citing him to be the unifying candidate, and I feel like I’m taking crazy pills.
  • Heather Scoffield tries to sort through the government’s inclusive approach to growth with the demands the opposition is making to combat inflation.
  • My column looks at the unifying thread between the court challenge on NSICOP and Cathay Wagantall’s being ejected from the House of Commons, being privilege.

Odds and ends:

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