Roundup: Few answers at committee

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The Procedure and House Affairs committee met yesterday for an emergency meeting around these recent allegations of Chinese interference in the last election, and it wasn’t the most illuminating exercise—not just because MPs constant attempts at point-scoring, but because most of the national security agencies couldn’t answer very many questions, because answering questions can jeopardise sources or investigations. And we got the same cautions that virtually every media outlet is ignoring, which is that intelligence is not evidence, and much of it is out of context or incomplete, which is why everything needs to be taken with a grain of salt and not repeated credulously the way absolutely everyone is.

We did learn a couple of things. The first is that the RCMP were the ones who opted not to proceed with any investigations or charges around interference when presented with information about it. The second is that the prime minister is being briefed constantly about these kinds of threats, and that the problem is getting worse instead of better.

And then there were all of the calls for a national public inquiry, which the NDP insisted they were going to try and look tough in demanding. Not to be outdone, Poilievre not only demanded an inquiry, but said that all recognised party leaders had to have a say in who would chair it, otherwise it would just be another “Liberal crony” (which was again used as a smear against Morris Rosenberg). The prime minister’s national security advisor said that a public inquiry wouldn’t get many more answers because of the nature of the secret information, and all of that would still be kept out of the public eye, which is a good point. Incidentally, the opposition parties cannot demand a public inquiry—it doesn’t work like that. They can’t force a vote in the House of Commons, or anything like that, so this is once again, mostly just performance.

Ukraine Dispatch:

Despite the warnings that the Ukrainians may not be able to hold Bakhmut for much longer, they nevertheless held positions for another day, while Russian forces are also gearing up for a renewed offensive in the Zaporizhzhia region.

Good reads:

  • Jean-Yves Duclos is pushing back against claims that he tried to interfere with the PMPRB’s operations, and was merely responding to a request for his position.
  • Former Clerk of the Privy Council, Michael Wernick, says Canada should replicate Australia’s legislation to address foreign interference.
  • Novavax says the company is out of money and will likely shut down their Montreal-based vaccine facility.
  • The Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation is returning a $200,000 donation from seven years ago because of its possible connection to Chinese influence operations.
  • MPs Leslyn Lewis and Dean Allison remain conspicuously silent after Pierre Poilievre’s condemnation of their meeting with German MEP Christine Anderson.
  • Quebec’s labour minister says the number of temporary foreign workers is on the rise—because the province refuses to accept more immigrants and asylum seekers.
  • Alberta plans to pass a law to make federal inspectors subject to trespassing laws (which is both fatuous and unconstitutional).
  • Both British Columbia and Saskatchewan have reached health transfer agreements with the federal government. Only Quebec and the Territories remain.
  • A special prosecutor in BC isn’t going to move ahead with charges after a major money laundering investigation because of a low likelihood of conviction.
  • Trevor Tombe savages the Alberta budget, as it doubles down on resource reliance.
  • Susan Delacourt declares that the public needs reassurance about the issue of foreign interference in elections, even if it’s not in the form of a public inquiry.

Odds and ends:

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