Roundup: A game of chicken over a public inquiry

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A game of chicken is shaping up around the demands for a public inquiry into allegations of foreign interference, that started with Dominic LeBlanc throwing it into the opposition’s lap to come up with a name they could agree to that could head it, along with terms of reference, knowing full well that it is going to be incredibly difficult to do, particularly because they all have competing goals, and some their demands are literally impossible, such as having an incredibly wide-ranging inquiry that could somehow complete its work in but a few months. Not going to happen.

Pierre Poilievre has decided to try and turn the tables and says that he wants the government to commit to said inquiry before he starts sharing names, which risks letting the government sit back and say that they already stated their terms. Committing to a public inquiry is one thing, but drawing up the Order in Council for it is quite another, and that requires having the commissioner(s) and terms of reference already decided.

This being said, the deadline of having this declared before Friday is wholly artificial. The government doesn’t need to table this in the House, and they can draw up the Order in Council at any time. If the aim is for the House of Commons to vote on the proposal, that’s a bad idea because then it launders the accountability for what happens, and lets the government off the hook if things go sideways, and MPs should know this because it’s fundamental to their very jobs, but they have become completely blinkered in this. At this point, I’m not expecting an announcement before Friday, and for this to drag on for several more weeks because there won’t be any agreement on names or the scope of the inquiry. That said, I do fully expect that we’ll have a summer full of “emergency” committee meetings on this and other topics, so I doubt the story will go away—just the daily demands in Question Period.

Ukraine Dispatch:

Russians fired another 35 Iranian-made drones into Ukraine, with some 32 being shot down, but a “critically important facility” in Lviv was struck, with no further clues as to what it was. There are also competing narratives at play—president Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that they are destroying Russian forces in both the east and south, while the Russians claim that they are repelling the offences. Here is a look at some of the Canadian soldiers training Ukrainian troops at Camp Sapper in Poland.

https://twitter.com/ukraine_world/status/1671118296374976513

Good reads:

  • The process to appoint the next Supreme Court of Canada justice has begun, but the head of the Advisory Board has not yet been named.
  • Omar Alghabra has tabled a bill to make further reforms to the air transportation sector’s accountability measures, but it won’t pass before they rise.
  • An internal audit shows that the immigration department approved about half of applicants who had been red-flagged by security services because of requests.
  • That said, the Federal Court also ruled that CBSA’s objections to one immigration applicant’s case were dubious and unfounded, so that may colour the audit a little.
  • It looks like the former deputy minister of Fisheries and Oceans was pushed out because of colonial attitudes in dealing with Indigenous stakeholders.
  • Search and recovery operations are taking place after a Royal Canadian Air Force CH-147 Chinook helicopter crashed into the Ottawa river on a training mission.
  • The Lobbying Commissioner wants legislative changes to close “loopholes” around former public office holders who might lobby governments.
  • One of the Net Zero by 2050 models from the Canadian Energy Regulator shows that in an aggressive scenario, oil production in Canada could plummet if prices do.
  • Bob Pickard, the Canadian executive who resigned from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, describes his time in the organisation and why he quit.
  • An Ottawa lawyer is taking the government to court over their slow appointments for judges (but I’m not sure what remedy the courts can provide here).
  • A monument to residential school victims and survivors will be built on the west side of Parliament Hill.
  • Senator Ian Shugart finally made his maiden speech in the Senate, speaking about restraint and the danger of the Senate becoming a de facto opposition body.
  • Two senators and a Liberal MP are using the anniversary of the Chinese Exclusion Act as a means to push back against the planned foreign agent registry.
  • Speaker Rota did not find a breach of privilege around departments not releasing documents to MPs, but wanted ministers to remind their departments to comply.
  • Former Global journalist Sam Cooper was called to committee about his reporting on alleged foreign interference (which is a very bad thing!)
  • The NDP are trying to shrug off their poor showing in Monday’s by-elections.
  • Susan Delacourt wonders if the by-election results will force Poilievre to re-think his particular tactics of being divisive. (I wouldn’t bet on it).
  • Similarly, Andrew Coyne notices that the Conservatives spent all of their energy in those by-elections shoring up their right flank at the expense of the political centre.
  • Paul Wells relays a recent speech on declining government capacity for long-term vision in the face of short-term goals and thinking.
  • My column asks that we stop with the glowing veneration of Erin O’Toole on his way out, because has proven time and again not to be the person they portray him to be.

Odds and ends:

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