Roundup: Official silence around Lewis’ most recent nuttery

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There has been some attention paid lately to the fact that Leslyn Lewis is promoting a House of Commons e-petition that calls on Canada to withdraw from the UN, in the name of our “sovereignty.” Which is ridiculous, because the UN doesn’t impact on anyone’s sovereignty (which is partially why it’s such an ineffective body), but not unexpected. Lewis has peddled many a conspiracy theory around the WHO, or the World Economic Forum (which is a particular conspiracy theory that leans heavily into antisemitism), and has not only not received any rebuke from her party, but they actively encourage some of these same conspiracy theories—particularly those around the World Economic Forum (and then turn around and wonder about the rise in antisemitism. Gosh).

This largely went unmentioned in legacy media for a few days (but hey, a lot of people are still on vacation), but I do find the absolute silence from the Conservatives to be interesting. Some of their former staffers have tried to offer a bit of polish to this, but you can’t actually polish this. (And no, she’s not even data-mining on this kind of petition because it’s through the House of Commons’ portal, not her own or a party website). The simple fact of it is that the Conservatives are more than willing to engage in this kind of nuttery because they think that these are accessible voters in the next election, because these have tended to be people who didn’t used to vote, but then Maxime Bernier offered them something to vote for, and they flocked to his banner, and now Poilievre wants them under his, so he’s willing to entertain this dangerous nonsense and to keep shifting the Overton window in order to try and win those votes, even though it’s almost certainly a fool’s errand because they can see how hollow he really is. Nevertheless, he won’t stop trying, and we can expect more of this kind of nuttery going forward, because that’s who they are these days.

Ukraine Dispatch:

While there has been little movement on the front lines, long-range attacks back-and-forth carry on, with the Russians having acquired ballistic missiles from North Korea, while Ukraine has launched drone attacks both against military targets in occupied Crimea and the around the Russia city of Belgorod. A Ukrainian parliamentary committee is debating changing the rules around mobilisation, and increasing sanctions for draft evasion.

Good reads:

  • There are more details about Trudeau’s vacation in Jamaica, which are identical to last year, but the Conservatives are screaming about the Trudeau Foundation donor.
  • Karina Gould had a year-ender with The Canadian Press about her first six months as Government House Leader, and how she is trying to change the tone.
  • François-Philippe Champagne is unimpressed with the telecom giants’ plans to raise prices after clear direction was given to them to lower them.
  • The foreign interference public inquiry released a public notice laying out the early timeline of their hearings, including a focus on what can be made publicly available.
  • There are accusations that the government is taking up to a year to process First Nations child and family welfare requests, leading to a rise in consultants.
  • The Gordie Howe International Bridge is being delayed by up to a year from opening, largely because of supply chain issues.
  • A former soldier who raised concerns about training Iraqi troops who had committed human rights abuses wants the opposition to take up the cause.
  • A former Iranian official now in Canada wants the media barred from his deportation hearing.
  • Mary Dawson, former ethics commissioner and the woman who wrote the final draft of the 1982 Constitution, passed away.
  • A Federal Court judge has denied a Chinese resident permission to enter Canada on the grounds of espionage risks, which could be a sign of things to come.
  • A former Senate administrator who was fired and claimed it was for racism came to a settlement agreement as questions of parliamentary privilege still loom around it.
  • The Liberals have chosen a former town councillor to run in Erin O’Toole’s former seat, in spite of having previously praised Poilievre.
  • The Yukon government has assembled an expert council to help assess risks to Arctic security, and to identify ways to mitigate those risks.
  • Susan Delacourt looks into how the government’s team of behavioural scientists have been shifting their focus from the pandemic to climate change.
  • My Xtra column looks at how New Brunswick premier Blaine Higgs is openly embracing Christian nationalism in the lead-up to his next election.

Odds and Ends:

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