Roundup: Inquiry report and influence reports

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Justice Paul Rouleau delivered his final report from the Emergencies Act public inquiry yesterday, and in it, he concluded that the government was justified in invoking the Act, albeit somewhat reluctantly because of failures at every level, particularly with policing, but also most especially from Doug Ford and the Ontario government, whom he reserves some particularly even-toned scorn for. There was also some blame apportioned to Justin Trudeau for his “fringe minority” comments as having hardened the resolve of occupiers (erm, except it was true what he said). There was plenty of blame apportioned to the Ottawa police, as well there should be, and he did reject the occupiers’ claims that they were peaceful.

Rouleau made 56 recommendations, including better intelligence coordination and coordination among police, as well as to make changes to the Act, which Trudeau has promised to study and come up with a response to, and that he regrets the phrasing of his “fringe minority” comments (which, I repeat, were true). Pierre Poilievre, predictably, went before a microphone and insisted that Trudeau created the whole mess by “attacking his own population,” and went on a tear about inflation (which was not a pressing concern when the occupation happened), and then went on a rant about the CBC for daring to ask him a question, and around and around we go.

https://twitter.com/stephaniecarvin/status/1626702909017554945

In pundit reaction, Susan Delacourt filters the report through the weaponization of the term “freedom,” and what it represents and misrepresents. Paul Wells offers some of his initial thoughts on the report. Justin Ling has his own perspective of the report based on his own reporting of the occupations’ membership and the role of disinformation that fuelled it. And of course, the Beaverton gets the last word.

Chinese Interference

The Globe and Mail published a story where their two journalists had been shown CSIS documents (illegally!) to show how Chinese officials were trying to interfere in the last two elections, and how their Vancouver consul was claiming to have defeated two Conservative incumbents in the last election. And it sounds concerning…but details don’t add up for me. The Chinese say they wanted a Liberal minority, but targeting eleven ridings cannot give you that kind of outcome. And the section on political donations doesn’t make sense given the rules around them, so I have a lot of questions that this story doesn’t answer.

In response, Justin Trudeau says that whatever Chinese officials claim, the election result was unaffected (and given how the alleged Chinese scheme doesn’t make much sense, I am giving this a bit more weight). Pierre Poilievre says that Trudeau turned a blind eye because the interference was to his advantage (again, how?) One of the defeated Conservatives says he fears the country has become an “open market” for foreign governments trying to sway elections (again, how?)

Ukraine Dispatch, Day 360:

Ukrainian soldiers fighting near Bakhmut make the direct plea to western countries to send more weapons, while president Volodymyr Zelenskyy made similar requests of assembled allied leaders in Munich. American intelligence is estimating that Wagner Group mercenaries (most of them convicts) have suffered more than 30,000 casualties in Ukraine, with about 9,000 of them killed in action.

Good reads:

  • François-Philippe Champagne says he’s still mulling over the Rogers-Shaw deal, as the two companies extended their own deadline again.
  • Amidst all of the other news, the government released the first stage of their sustainable jobs/”just transition” plan, which is a plan to have more plans.
  • The fisheries department shut down 15 open-net salmon farms off of Vancouver Island because of their effect on wild salmon populations.
  • The International Commission on Missing Persons plans to work with Indigenous families as they take next steps in identifying remains at former residential schools.
  • The Supreme Court of Canada ruled that a warrant served against a Canadian officer serving abroad was legally obtained and his subsequent convictions stand.
  • Conservative MP Ron Liepert says he’s not running again.
  • Jason Markusoff reads the government’s interim “just transition” plan, and remarks on how it resembles nothing like Danielle Smith’s apocalyptic warning.
  • Emmett Macfarlane sees yesterday’s Supreme Court of Canada decision as an example of judicial minimalism.
  • My Xtra column looks at the overlap between the protesters at the drag story time and the occupation, and how Conservatives can’t just cherry-pick their culture war.
  • My weekend column makes the case for Canada to hold our own coronation of King Charles III as an act of reconciliation.

Odds and ends:

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4 thoughts on “Roundup: Inquiry report and influence reports”

  1. And it sounds concerning…but details don’t add up for me.

    The Globe & Mail report suggests to me that CSIS has been trawling for anything that they can use to imply Chinese election interference. I wonder if they are taking legitimate support, ” The candidate for Lower Sasquatch is a good friend of China”, and blowing it up?

    The US security services appear to be carrying out a full-scale witch-hunt on Chinese nationals/former nationals. I wonder if this is spilling over across the border?

    It was unfortunate that Trudeau called Convoy participants a “fringe minority” but even at that he was being generous.

  2. Although Made it clear that the Lunatic Fringe posed a real danger to the City of Ottawa and the nation and castigated Doug Ford for not doing the necessary actions by the OPP to protect his city, the national press in the main appear to be giving him a pass while at the same time continuing to imply that although Trudeau has been deemed correct is still the villain. I wonder why this is? Anyone have thoughts?

    • The majority of Canada’s major media outlets are owned by conservative sympathizers and/or are at best anti-Liberal/anti-Trudeau. Either Ford/his federal counterparts have dirt held over them like they did John Tory or they just really don’t like this PM and government so much that this sentiment, whether consciously or unconsciously, ends up colouring the coverage.

      Ford and to an extent Poilievre seem coated in Teflon, while Trudeau never gets a fair shake no matter what he does. The cons should be apologizing to the vast majority of Canadians, and tendering their resignations en masse. Instead, Trudeau is the only one made to apologize to lowlife scumbag terrorists who don’t deserve it.

  3. Who are the leakers at CSIS and where do their sympathies lie is my question. The timing of this drop plus the byline (Fife the Knife) reeks of an attempt to soften the blow to the CPC over their support for the Russian and GOP-supported convoy. Who among Canada’s spooks has it in for this govt so badly, that they would leak sensitive national security info to a well known hack at the Globe (promoted to the level of his own incompetence), just to sow distrust in the govt, deflect from bad news for the cons and feed the red-scare narrative coming from the CPC?

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