Roundup: Keeping up the blame-shifting

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Another day, another reminder that the premiers are engaging in blame-shifting around rising crime rates, while they pretend that this is all the fault of the federal government allegedly making changes to the bail system a couple of years ago. It’s wrong—the uptick started before that bill passed, and that bill merely codified Supreme Court of Canada rulings while actually increasing conditions and added a reverse onus for domestic violence accusations.

The federal justice minister, who has committed to some targeted changes to bail laws, keeps pointing out that this is a more complex issue, much of it revolving around mental health. And guess whose job that is? The provinces! Not only have they been under-funding it, but they largely didn’t use the last mental health transfer, negotiated by Jane Philpott, on mental health, which is why Carolyn Bennett has seen the promised mental health transfer be part of the bilateral agreements with provinces on increased health spending that will have more strings attached. To add to that, provinces are also under-funding their justice systems, and you have provinces like Manitoba where the Crown prosecutors are grieving with their employers because they’re short-staffed, over-worked and under-paid. That’s not the federal government’s fault.

But premiers don’t like to be reminded that this is their failure. They’re eager to try and cast the blame elsewhere and count on credulous media to both-sides their claims so that they won’t actually be called out on their bullshit, and the federal Conservatives are happy to amplify their blame-shifting because it gives them an issue to fundraise on. We have problems in our system, but we also have solutions, but those responsible for implementing them would rather pretend it’s not their problem. We shouldn’t let them get away with it.

Ukraine Dispatch:

Russian missiles are again being fired at Ukrainian cities early in the morning, and Ukrainian air defences around Kyiv appear to be holding. Over in Bakhmut, Russian forces are claiming four more blocks of territory, but Ukraine still controls the key supply route into the city. Two Ukrainian drones destroyed the fuel depot at Sevastopol in occupied Crimea, giving another sign the counter-offensive is near. Meanwhile, president Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that he carries a pistol with him, and was prepared to fight to the death if Russian forces had taken his headquarters.

Good reads:

  • Negotiations with the civil service union has made progress over the weekend, and an agreement was reached in the wee hours of Monday morning.
  • Karina Gould is apparently taunting the Conservatives by having provincial conservative governments ask what Poilievre would do with $10/day child care.
  • Mélanie Joly is in Kenya to get a sense of the Sudan situation and what the humanitarian needs in the country are.
  • Canadian forces are moving our evacuation operations in Sudan to a port city, away from the airfield near Khartoum.
  • American officials have been sharing best practices on a foreign agent registry with our government, but also want us to re-impose visa restrictions on Mexico.
  • A study on a massive logjam in the Arctic shows how much carbon it’s storing.
  • Former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney discusses the clean transition (and is badgered and hectored into saying he supports the prime minister).
  • Here is a look at King Charles III’s history of environmentalism and how he might bring that to his reign in a more activist sense (within limits).
  • Former AFN national chief Perry Bellegarde writes about his experience with King Charles III, and why he believes he will be good for Reconciliation.
  • The Liberals are bringing Hillary Clinton to speak at their policy convention next weekend, because we love nothing more than American validation in this country.
  • Here is a look at the widening rift between the federal Conservatives and the Ontario Progressive Conservatives under Doug Ford.
  • Former Conservative leadership candidate (and anti-lockdown enthusiast) Roman Baber plans to contest the nomination in York Centre.
  • The Alberta election gets underway today.
  • Reg Whitaker offers a cautionary tale about public inquiries, and most especially the expectations being placed upon the potential one over foreign interference.
  • My weekend column observes the showdown in the Senate over C-11, and how it exposed that the “government representative” model is a half-pregnant farce.

Odds and ends:

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One thought on “Roundup: Keeping up the blame-shifting”

  1. Chatting with my university professor daughter over the weekend — she told us about how she has to educate her students that there are three levels of government in Canada. Of course, some of her students are from overseas, but many are home-grown. They are clueless that there are municipal, provincial and federal governments in Canada, and that each have different responsibilities. Its all just “the government” to these teens. She also notes that this fall, universities will be seeing the first classes of students whose high school teaching has been mainly on-line. Now isn’t that a scary thought too?

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