Roundup: Prepared to cooperate with a committee probe

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The simmering issue over the McKinsey contracts carried on yesterday as Justin Trudeau told a press conference that he has tasked ministers Mona Fortier and Helena Jaczek with looking into those contracts, and that they will cooperate with any committee investigation that may happen around them. Fortier was also on Power & Politics to praise transparency and accountability, but didn’t entirely push back when asked why Radio-Canada couldn’t see the reports when asked, though that’s unlikely to happen for most of them given that they are meant for internal consumption and not for the public, though there should be some kind of better accounting for them, such as possibly releasing an executive summary.

Meanwhile, Alex Usher has some good observations about civil service capacity and these kinds of consultants, and they’re salient. Subject matter expertise in the civil service has been waning for a while, and most civil servants now jump from department to department in search of career advancement, and executives get shuffled from department to department all the time, so you no longer have someone in an executive position who has been in that department their whole careers. That can matter in the end.

Ukraine Dispatch, Day 323:

The battle around Soledar appears to continue, as the claims by Russia and the mercenary Wagner Group continue to be disputed by Ukrainian forces who insist they are holding out and Russia is merely trying for a propaganda victory. Elsewhere in the country, Ukrainian soldiers are engaged in war games exercises near the Belarus border, amid rumours that Russian forces may try to make another attempt to cross through those borders.

Good reads:

  • The Three Amigos summit wrapped up as Canada and Mexico won a trade dispute with the Americans over auto parts content regulations.
  • Justin Trudeau will be holding a Cabinet retreat in Hamilton later this month.
  • Canada has airlifted more armoured vehicles for police in Haiti combatting armed gangs, but no decisions have been made about leading a mission there.
  • There are questions about how we bought those air defences for Ukraine with no delays, but our own military has lacked that capability since 2012.
  • The RCMP have rejected a Civilian Review and Complaints Commission finding that a Taser use was unjustified, which underlines a flaw in RCMP accountability.
  • A portion of the Canadian Transportation Agency’s budget was supposed to sunset this year, but it will likely be extended because of their complaints backlog.
  • There are mounting concerns that the new Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner has a low uptake of cases, in large part because of jurisdiction.
  • Doug Ford claims he’s willing to accept accountability measures for more healthcare money, and I am both dubious and bemused by his lack of self-awareness.

Odds and ends:

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