Roundup: Strange Five Eyes anxieties

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Every now and again, a weird little subplot turns up in Canadian politics centred around anxiety about our place in the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance. Lately, this has been heightened because of the AUKUS agreement, which is mostly about Australia buying American nuclear submarines, and that’s the reason why Canada wasn’t invited to join. We as a country have not been having the necessary dialogue around replacing our submarine fleet (which we absolutely should be), so us joining AUKUS would be particularly ill-timed.

Nevertheless, this bit of anxiety crept up again over the weekend, whereby an American intelligence official needed to go on television in Canada to assure us that no, the leaks from national security personnel to media over allegations of foreign interference are not going to jeopardise our Five Eyes membership. But cripes, people—we have had far worse leaks in recent memory, be it Jeffrey Delisle, who was sending information to the Russians, or the allegations surrounding senior RMCP intelligence official Cameron Ortis (who is still awaiting trial). Are these leaks to the media damaging? Yes, of course, particularly because they seem very much to have a partisan focus to them. Is it going to get us kicked out of the Five Eyes? Hardly.

Ukraine Dispatch:

As Russian forces pound the town of Avdiivka, shifting away from Bakhmut, Ukrainian leadership is calling for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council after Russia said it would be transferring tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus.

https://twitter.com/ukraine_world/status/1639971295113670656

Good reads:

  • Here is a look at what is expected in this week’s federal budget.
  • The changes to the Safe Third Country Agreement are unlikely to solve any of the current problems (and could make them worse).
  • Here is a somewhat belated look at the controversies surrounding the proposed changes to the Official Languages Act.
  • The National Security Advisor has already been outlining possible concerns with a foreign agent registry during preliminary consultations last summer.
  • Members of the military are grousing because they don’t feel valued after the announcement their cost-of-living allowance is turning into a new housing benefit.
  • Former Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz says that the risk of an economic “hard landing” has increased after last quarter’s GDP numbers.
  • A research project has been looking into the files of queer soldiers punished for “indecency” offences in the First World War.
  • The Star went to the Formerly-Known-As-The-Manning-Conference to hear why Conservatives think that Poilievre is doing better than Scheer and O’Toole.
  • Jagmeet Singh says he’s not satisfied with the Supply-and-Confidence Agreement because he wants to be prime minister. (Well, if wishes were horses…)
  • The Ontario government is ending a programme to cover uninsured people getting healthcare, while not offering supports to ensure they can get insured.
  • Chantal Hébert reminds us that intelligence officers sometimes have agenda and leak according to that—just ask Maher Arar.
  • Althia Raj takes cues from Biden’s speech on Friday and compares those cues to the hints about this week’s budget and where there is alignment.
  • Paul Wells looks at the policy files touched on during Biden’s visit, and pays particular attention to some of the movement on NORAD modernisation.

Odds and ends:

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