Roundup: The great passport meltdown

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It was the absolute dumbest of controversies, and yet what was apparently half of Canadian Twitter was having an absolute meltdown because the new passport designs were unveiled yesterday, and a) the Coat of Arms on the cover was moved off-centre, and b) the interior pages replaced images of moments of Canadian history with some generic, corporate stock art of nature and indistinct people. Never mind that nobody ever looks inside those pages, and that they are covered by the stamps of countries you are entering—it’s somehow “erasing history.”

https://twitter.com/ChrisGNardi/status/1656319387039592453

This particular kind of imagery had been intended for the last update, ten years ago, when the Conservatives instead decided to include these historical images, and were accused at the time of putting forward a very selective view of history that suited their political objectives. And no, you can’t just use the same interior art over again, because if not refreshed periodically, it becomes easier to forge. But seriously, this was the hill people are now wailing that they’ll die on, or be single-issue voters about? Seriously?

Politically, Pierre Poilievre led off Question Period on this, but does any single person believe that Poilievre actually cares about Canadian history even a tiny bit? No—this is just about getting clicks. And Justin Trudeau? Couldn’t even be bothered to own the decision or defend anything around it, which is just makes the whole day’s outrage even more maddening. Everyone needs to log off for a while.

https://twitter.com/sumtimw0ng/status/1656379566410158095

Ukraine Dispatch:

A Ukrainian unit says that they routed a Russian brigade near Bakhmut, which seems to have been confirmed by the Wagner Group mercenaries fighting for Russia. There are concerns that Russians occupying the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant are planning to relocate Ukrainian staff, which will leave a shortage of qualified personnel to operate the facility.

https://twitter.com/ukraine_world/status/1656224951261691904

Good reads:

  • Justin Trudeau will be paying a visit to South Korea next week in advance of the G7 leaders’ meeting in Japan.
  • Anita Anand says that Canadian troops in Latvia will start training Ukrainian soldiers, on top of those offering training in the UK and Poland.
  • Changes to the Canada Labour Code mean that federally-regulated workplaces will be required to make menstrual products available to staff for free by mid-December.
  • The real passport news, aside from the images, is that people will be able to renew them online starting this autumn.
  • MPs voted unanimously on the privilege matter related to the threats against Michael Chong, sending the matter to committee for further study.
  • Liberal MP Julie Dzerowicz has had to backtrack on her support for that policy resolution on “disinformation” that targeted anonymous sources.
  • Disaffected Red Tories under the banner of “Centre Ice Canadians” are thinking of starting their own political party.
  • It looks like Maxime Bernier is planning to run in Candice Bergan’s old seat whenever that by-election is called.
  • New Brunswick’s former education minister says the premier plans to gut sex education because he’s squeamish about it. (Honest to Zeus…)
  • The Quebec government is “rejecting” the country’s higher immigration targets…even though as a province they are able to set their own levels.

Odds and ends:

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