It’s now around day one-hundred-and-nineteen of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and while the fighting continues at Severodonetsk, the people of Kharkiv are emerging from the subways and underground shelters they were in when Russian forces bombarded their city, and are finding so much of it shelled and burned. Meanwhile, we’re learning more about the Ukrainian helicopter pilots who were flying rescue missions from the steel plant in Mariupol, getting some of the wounded soldiers to safety.

Closer to home, allegations emerged from documents made public in the mass shooting inquiry in Nova Scotia that a superintendent’s notes said that RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki said she felt she had been disobeyed because he had not released any information about the weapons used, citing that she had promised PMO and Public Safety the information because it was tied to pending gun control legislation, while he said he didn’t want to release it because it would interfere in their investigation into how the weapons were acquired. In a separate interview, the director of communications for the Nova Scotia RCMP was expressing frustration that Lucki’s statements did not match what the department was putting out, and blamed that on political interference. The government immediately denied having made any orders or applied any pressure, and Lucki put out a statement a few hours later which she too denied interfering, but said she should have been more sensitive in her approach to the meeting.

This, of course, touched off a round of outrage and insistence that if the allegations of interference were true that there would need to be heads rolling, but I will confess to having a hard time sorting through this, because what I’ve read of these same documents shows a lot of errors and omissions in the statements the RCMP was putting out, and there is an imperative for RCMP brass and the government to have details and facts that the media are demanding from them. And the RCMP in the province seem to have been self-satisfied that they were putting out false or misleading information throughout the event, which is hard for the Commissioner or the government to deal with when they know there are other facts that aren’t being released. Was there an element of crassness in wanting to know what kinds of weapons were used? I mean, it sounds like it was a legitimate question that media would be asking, so it’s hard to say. I will say that the demands for an emergency committee meeting is unlikely to solve anything more than what we’ve already learned from all involved, and that this is just an excuse for more theatrics at the start of summer that Conservatives want to be able to fundraise off of, but they’ll probably get their wish because all MPs can’t resist putting on a show—especially if it gets unhinged as these meetings inevitably will.

Good reads:

• Justin Trudeau has departed for ten days of international meetings in Rwanda, Germany, and Spain.
• Both chambers of Parliament and their committees were shut down last night due to a server failure.
• Omar Alghabra says that airlines need to take responsibility for delays, as they schedule more flights than they have staff or planes, but they want to blame him.
• Jonathan Wilkinson says it would be irresponsible to cut gas taxes, and points to their work to stabilise supply, and other benefit programmes to deal with inflation.
• The government rushed through the extreme intoxication bill, and the Senate is also rushing it in spite of concerns about the language in the bill.
• The Chief of Defence Staff says he’s reviewing the military’s mandatory COVID vaccine requirement (but seriously, this shouldn’t be up for debate).
• As heard during QP, KPMG claims they were “cleared” by the CRA of a tax haven scheme, and that this wasn’t made public for the past year.
• The Commons’ public safety committee says that the government needs to do more to understand the scale of far-right extremists trying to infiltrate military and police.
• The Conservatives ended a month-long filibuster on the foreign affairs committee and will allow a study of reproductive rights around the world—after October 1st.
• Organisers of the planned Canada Day occupation claim to have spoken with Poilievre and have his support, but his camp denies this.
• Scott Aitchison wants to give official recognition to Taiwan, while Poilievre wants to appoint a “free speech guardian” (which sounds like a lot like a “gatekeeper”).
• Green interim leader Amita Kuttner says that the far-right is recruiting Canadians who feel left behind or who have checked out of mainstream politics.
• CBC delves into Alberta’s attempt to make themselves a crypto hub in the name of “diversification” from oil revenues.
• Heather Scoffield remarks on the close relationship that Chrystia Freeland and Janet Yellen have developed as they try to tackle challenges like inflation.
• Altia Raj talks to MPs about the threats they are being confronted with by the public.
• Paul Wells gives an acerbic but absolutely correct look at the government’s recent spate of problems, as well as Poilievre’s latest bonkers pronouncement.
• Colby Cosh takes deserved aim at the Toronto Star’s editorial claiming the Ontario election was “rigged” because the turnout nerds are angry.
• My column is an angry rebuke of the government that doesn’t have the ethical character to care about the injuries facing interpreters as they push hybrid sittings.

Odds and ends:

My Loonie Politics Quick Take suggests that the Senate keep working for a few more weeks now that they’re not competing with the Commons for resources.

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