Roundup: $3 million in cheap outrage

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The National Post continues their cheap outrage series on the Governor General’s travel expenses, and are aghast that it totalled $3 million over the course of a full year, with the usual chiming in of the Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation that this was so awful because there are struggling people in this country. (Note that the CTF exists only to push this narrative in the media, and because they always answer the phone when reporters call them, they have become “reliable sources” for these kinds of shitty reactions, and it feeds this grubby little ecosystem).

Aside from this being some of the absolutely laziest reporting out there, the headline and the framing of the story obscures the fact that the Governor General travels where the government sends her, because that’s how Responsible Government works. She does what the government advises, because that’s the system. No, she does not represent the monarchy in Canada, she represents the Canadian monarchy both at home and abroad, because certain kinds of international diplomacy demand these kinds of visits. (It’s why the UK government is sending King Charles III to France in September—he doesn’t determine that, the government does). Blaming Mary May Simon for the travel the government sends her on is unfair, blaming her for the costs in unfair because she doesn’t make any of the decisions—the military does when it comes to the plane, the catering, and so on (and previous cheap outrage reporting is forcing them to scale back what few amenities there were, which were not out of line with any business class travel). But it’s her name on it and the insinuation that she is living it the high life on the taxpayer’s dime.

It’s also for this reason that I find it pretty rich that the reporter was getting huffy over Twitter that the spokesperson at Rideau Hall pushed back on him, saying that these stories disparage the GG and are harmful to her diplomatic efforts. We already have transparency around the spending—all of the reporting came from public documents. But the framing has fed into a lot of racist narratives about her (and believe me, I see a lot of it in my reply column on Twitter), and there seems little awareness of that, particularly because there is a self-righteousness around of shitty reporting. Diplomacy costs money. Democracy costs money. And doing away with the post of GG won’t save money—any replacement will cost us more, and risks doing away with a necessary constitutional fire extinguisher. But hey, hairshirt parsimony and outrage sells, never mind that it corrodes our democratic institutions.

Ukraine Dispatch:

It was Independence Day in Ukraine, the second since Russia’s invasion began, and full of poignant reminders of what the country is fighting for. Of course, Russia did attack, hitting Dnipro and Kherson. Ukrainian forces launched a “special operation” that landed troops in occupied Crimea, but did not state what the goals they achieved were. Russia claims they destroyed 42 drones launched over occupied Crimea. Meanwhile, Norway has opted to become the third NATO country to send F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, while more Ukrainian pilots and technicians will under F-16 training in the US.

Good reads:

  • Justin Trudeau had a call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy and said that he would represent Ukraine’s interests at next week’s G20 meeting.
  • Dominic LeBlanc hints that the dynamics around discussing the foreign interference public inquiry were far more relaxed than the clown show in the spring.
  • Pascale St-Onge says she’s had positive discussion with Meta/Facebook and Google, not that either are changing their position on the Online News Act.
  • Mélanie Joly announced Canada’s new ambassador to Ukraine, Natalka Cmoc (but waited for Ukraine’s Independence Day to do so, because of course she did).
  • The federal government is arguing at Federal Court that recent legislated changes around single-use plastics render the lawsuit around the ban moot.
  • Ukraine is counting on Canada to help spread their peace plan with developing countries who are taking a neutral position around Russia’s invasion.
  • Azerbaijan is upset with Mélanie Joly for referring to the breakaway area of their country by the term used by the Armenian separatists.
  • Canada’s privacy commissioner has joined a group of his international counterparts in warning web giants against bulk extraction of personal details from their sites.
  • The Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise has now opened investigations into Walmart, Hugo Boss and Diesel about possible forced labour in their supply chains.
  • LGBTQ+ advocates in Saskatchewan plan to challenge the province’s recent name/pronoun policy in schools in court.
  • Paul Wells notices the choice of speakers at the Conservative convention, and remarks on what these particular choices say about the state of the party.

Odds and ends:

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