Roundup: Sanctions theatre, Hamas edition

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Yesterday, foreign affairs minister Mélanie Joly announced that Canada would be sanctioning senior leaders of Hamas…which is already a listed terrorist organization. The whole exercise appears to be little more than sanctions theatre, according to Jessica Davis, who does this for a living. Nothing Joly announced is likely to make any difference compared to what is already on the books, meaning this is likely just a hollow gesture to make it looks like the government is doing something without actually doing anything. Of course, if they really wanted to do something, they could properly resource the RCMP’s sanctions enforcement regime and their counter terrorism financing abilities (or better yet, disband the RCMP and start up a dedicated federal policing force that can specialise in this kind of work).

Ukraine Dispatch:

A Russian attack overnight on a village in the Kharkiv region killed a two-month old baby. The Donetsk region’s governor says that his province is pounded by 2500 Russian strikes daily, while Avdiivka, a short distance away, has been the focus of Russian attention for months now. Ukrainian special forces say they blew up a drilling platform in the Black Sea that Russians were using to support their drone operations. As the shake-up of the Ukrainian military approaches, president Volodymyr Zelenskyy wants a dedicated branch devoted to drones.

https://twitter.com/ukraine_world/status/1754881455702897018

Good reads:

  • Justin Trudeau called it “inconceivable” that the Conservatives voted against the Ukraine trade agreement while they called for his resignation over the Hunka invite.
  • Chrystia Freeland announced another $199 million top-up to housing assistance programmes like rent subsidies.
  • Mark Holland says the country needs “more time” to discuss MAiD for psychiatric disorders alone (but one suspects he wants the courts to order it).
  • A group of Liberal and Green MPs have written to universities asking how they are protecting pro-Palestinian voices (after condemnation for anti-Israeli rhetoric).
  • Pierre Poilievre went to the Port of Montreal to announce another slogan-filled “policy” around ending car theft, before abusing press gathered there.
  • In defending Danielle Smith’s anti-trans policies, Poilievre accused Trudeau and the media of “disinformation” to “misrepresent conservatives.” (Sure, Jan).
  • Justin Ling lays out how Poilievre has weaponized his press conferences for his socials and certain far-right outlets, while legacy media struggles to react.
  • My column calls out the government for being unable to find a reasonable way to counter the obvious populist rhetoric of Poilievre’s “common sense” shtick.

Odds and Ends:

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