Roundup: Claims O’Toole also was a target

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It is being alleged that Erin O’Toole has been briefed by CSIS that Chinese agents had been targeting him during his time as party leader because of his bellicose language about the regime. While there is no indication his family was also being targeted, his sister did live in Hong Kong for a number of years. Of course, I am taking the language in the article with a few grains of salt because the Johnston report pointed out that threats weren’t actually made to Michael Chong’s family, but that there was an indication that the agent in Canada was trying to gather information, so what exactly this “targeting” of O’Toole consists of I am keeping my powder dry on.

This has, of course, given rise to another round of cries for a public inquiry. Not one of them has articulated just how such an inquiry would make any iota of difference from the current process being undertaken by Johnston (aside from taking three years and costing a few hundred million dollars). How exactly does this situation require additional subpoena powers when the government has willingly turned over all of their documentation? If most of it will need to be behind closed doors because of the nature of the information, how exactly does this build trust? Nobody has yet articulated this, and “it just will” is not an answer—especially when the media and the opposition have been undermining trust in how these matters are being reported and discussed, and I fail to see how a public inquiry will change any of this.

Meanwhile, David Johnston took to the op-ed pages of the Globe and Mail to defend his decision to carry on with the review in light of the criticisms of his involvement, which has been pointed out seems to misunderstand the nature of how the political game is played these days. Of course, Johnston is hoping that he can get MPs and party leaders to be grown-ups and work together on this problem, but that’s unlikely to happen in the current climate and especially with the current players, and in that same token, writing an op-ed in the Globe seems a bit like that same kind of naïve hope that people will treat this as they did a couple of decades ago.

On a related note, the CBC has one of the worst examples of both-sidesing the supposed controversy around Johnston’s alleged conflict of interest—two professors who say it’s probably not a conflict, all things considered, but Democracy Watch (which has no actual credibility other than they are a reliable quote generator for lazy journalists) says it is, so it’s up to Canadians to decide. Seriously? This is exactly the kind of thing that has allowed misinformation and disinformation to flourish, because they refuse to call out bullshit when they see it. This is killing democracy, and they absolutely refuse to engage in any self-reflection about it.

Ukraine Dispatch:

A Russian missile struck a clinic in the city of Dnipro, killing two and wounding 30, after Ukrainian forces shot down ten missiles and twenty drones targeting Dnipro and Kyiv overnight. Meanwhile, the disaffected Russian group has allegedly shelled more targets in Belgorod region in Russia. Ukraine’s defence ministry is warning that Russia plans to simulate a major accident at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in order to thwart the coming counter-offensive.

https://twitter.com/zelenskyyua/status/1662024887731474432?s=61&t=P3QULyv63iAc0o1A98RiWQ

https://twitter.com/defencehq/status/1661975921455161344?s=61&t=P3QULyv63iAc0o1A98RiWQ

Good reads:

  • Justin Trudeau told big city mayors that a new housing-based long-term infrastructure plan will be coming this autumn.
  • The final books are in for the 2022-23 fiscal year, and the government closed it with at $41.3 billion deficit, lower than forecast (and really, pretty small in our economy).
  • Apparently Stellantis is not happy with the additional billions Ottawa and Ontario are coughing up to respond to their blackmail.
  • Mary Ng says that Canada backs Ukraine’s bid to join the CPTPP.
  • Sean Fraser announced a new system for family reunification application that aims to both speed up the process and increase approval rates.
  • Steven Guilbeault is telling energy regulators in Atlantic Canada that oil companies in the region should use their own enormous profits to pay for clean fuel standards.
  • Guilbeault also got all provinces and territories to agree to the thirty-by-30 plan to protect biodiversity by safeguarding 30 percent of land and water by 2030.
  • The National Capital Commission warned the government about the imminent collapse of 24 Sussex a year ago, while they keep dragging their heels.
  • Some Afghan Canadians are suing the government, saying the Ukraine emergency travel authorization is discriminatory, ignoring it’s not permanent resettlement.
  • The Supreme Court of Canada upheld the General Anti-Avoidance Rule for taxes after a company took measures to circumvent federal laws to avoid taxation.
  • Danielle Smith received endorsements from Stephen Harper and Pierre Poilievre, because of course she did.
  • Susan Delacourt suggests that Johnston’s report needed a more clear plan for his planned public hearings.
  • My Xtra column looks at the gong show playing out in New Brunswick around safe school policies for LGBTQ+ students, and how that could spread to other provinces.
  • My weekend column notes how the pattern of MPs preferring to be ignorant critics rather than informed overseers is playing out in the foreign interference reports.

Odds and ends:

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