It’s day one-hundred-and-eleven of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and Russian forces have destroyed the final bridge connecting Severodonetsk and Lysychansk, which cuts off the escape route for other civilians in the region. In echoes of the siege of Mariupol, there are allegedly people sheltering below a chemical plant, and Russians are telling those trapped in Severodonetsk to surrender or die. This is giving urgency to the calls for western governments to hurry up with their deliveries of heavy weapons in order to force Russians back. Elsewhere, more mass graves have been found near Bucha, and exhumations have begun. Here is a look at the network helping to transport vulnerable elderly Ukrainians out of the conflict zones toward safer destinations further west.

https://twitter.com/KyivIndependent/status/1536273801599672321

Closer to home, there are eight scheduled sitting days left in the House of Commons before the summer break, and the government is trying to move on several key pieces of legislation in the face of Conservative obstruction. While the bill to preserve Quebec’s seat count is likely to pass with little issue, Conservatives continue to fight the bill to remove mandatory minimum sentences, and the changes to the broadcasting rules to include online platforms. The Commons spent the day moving a programming motion on the online bill that includes mandating that it finishes up at committee by the end of the week, while the Conservatives decry this as draconian and undemocratic, and so on. They’ve completely ground the progress of the bill to a halt at committee, and are insisting they need to hear from more witnesses, never mind that they have wasted the time of the witnesses who have tried to appear by filibustering on procedural issues. Also never mind that they would not tolerate the same level of obstruction when they were in government, where they simply time allocated everything from the start rather than negotiate timelines. Of course, that’s the thing about procedural warfare, is that eventually something has to give, and seeing as the Liberals have the support of the NDP, their patience has run out. Nobody is acting responsibly here, and it’s just one giant gong show at this point. Perhaps eight more days is too long.

Good reads:

• Justin Trudeau tested positive for COVID for the second time in six months.
• Because the pandemic is apparently “over,” the federal government is suspending vaccine mandates on domestic travel, and shuttering the COVID Alert app.
• Service Canada is now posting passport wait times online because of the volume of applications overloading their capacity.
• Caroline Simard has been named the new Commissioner of Canada Elections.
• The nominee for federal Privacy Commissioner, Philippe Dufresne, is looking to have privacy enshrined as a “fundamental right” in upcoming legislation.
• The government is apparently mulling giving the Irvings another $300  million to upgrade their shipyards, which is utterly boggling.
• The bogus bomb threat called in around Parliament Hill on the weekend seems to have been targeting a Sikh demonstration that was taking place.
• Senators are voting to change the bill around searching devices at the border in order to eliminate the creation of a new lower-threshold.
• Oh noes! Adam van Koeverden used profanity in a DM with an anti-vaxxer who blamed him for COVID travel mandates. Get my fainting couch and pearls to clutch!
• There are concerns that Quebec’s new language laws will drive its younger Jewish population from the province.
• Matt Gurney took a flight from Toronto Pearson to New York to test the supposed “meltdown” at airports, and lo, the delays were not problems the government made.

Odds and ends:

I’m in the gallery for QP every day.
The Liberals’ masks are on virtually the entire time. There are occasional exceptions, but they are rare. Ditto the NDP and the Bloc.
Doherty is painting a false picture here. https://t.co/yJgyUIKtQG

— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) June 14, 2022

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