Roundup: An “adult conversation” consisting solely of a demand for cash

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It’s now day one-hundred-and-thirty-nine of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the Russians have resumed pounding the city of Kharkiv, destroying civilian buildings. The Russian government is trying to fast-track giving Russian citizenship to all Ukrainians, an attempt to exert more influence over the country. Meanwhile, president Volodymyr Zelenskyy is calling out Canada’s decision to return those gas turbines to Russia by way of Germany, saying that Russia will interpret this as a sign of weakness that Russia will try to exploit, and he’s not wrong, but one wonders if there may not be a greater danger in alienating Germany as they are already facing rationing. For what it’s worth, the US State Department is backing Canada’s decision, but this situation was very much a Kobayashi Maru.

Closer to home, the Council of the Federation got underway yesterday, and of course the opening salvos were about healthcare funding, without strings attached. BC Premier John Horgan, who is currently the chair of the Council, was dismissive about the federal government’s concerns, calling them “accounting differences,” when Dominic LeBlanc called them out for their misleading figures about the current transfers, and the fact that several provinces are crying poor while simultaneously bragging about surpluses that they paid for with federal pandemic dollars, of the fact that Quebec is sending vote-buying cheques out to people ahead of their election. And LeBlanc is absolutely right—there need to be strings to ensure that provinces won’t use that money to pad their bottom line, reduce their own spending, or lower taxes, because they’ve all done it in the past. The best part is that Horgan keeps saying he wants an “adult conversation,” but the only thing the premiers are bringing to the table is a demand for more money, and that’s it. That’s not an adult conversation. (For more, the National Post took a dive into the issue, and came out with a fairly decent piece that includes the actual history of transfers, tax points, and provinces who spent those health care transfers on other things).

There will be a few other things discussed, and there’s a primer here about them. Jason Kenney wants to spend the premiers meeting pushing back at the federal emissions reduction targets, because of course he does.

Good reads:

  • Justin Trudeau was in Montreal to hold a roundtable with victims of crime, and was told that it’s difficult to find services or supports.
  • Here’s what we know about the two omicron subvariants that are driving the seventh wave of the pandemic.
  • François-Philippe Champagne met with telecom CEOs, and gave them a 60-day order to come up with measures like emergency roaming and clear protocols.
  • An email released from RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki shows she was initially against releasing details of the guns in the mass shooting, but changed her mind.
  • NSIRA is reviewing the polygraph policies of our intelligence services (because they’re hugely problematic), and employees are freaking out about their privacy.
  • The strike deadline for VIA Rail has been pushed back as talks progress.
  • The Conservative Party is hiring outside lawyers to determine if they can block Patrick Brown’s attempted appeal of his disqualification.
  • Patrick Brown says he’s going to discuss with family any decision to run again for mayor of Brampton (while he appeals his disqualification from the CPC leadership).
  • It looks like the Poilievre and Charest camps have been quick to reach out to Brown’s organisers to try and get their support for their candidacy.
  • Doug Ford wants Ontario to get similar immigration powers as Quebec to solve labour shortages—except Quebec uses theirs to limit immigration. Cripes.
  • Nam Kiwanuka tries to disentangle the incoherence of Ontario’s current pandemic messaging, as the Ford government has washed their hands of the whole thing.

Odds and ends:

For National Magazine, I delve into the broader outcome of Friday’s decision at the Supreme Court of Canada.

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