Roundup: A choice of passive voice

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The reported death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny triggered reactions around the globe, and especially at the security conference underway in Munich, where Navalny’s wife spoke shortly after the news. Reaction from Canadian figures was pretty swift. Justin Trudeau was on CBC radio and was quite blunt: “It’s something that has the entire world being reminded of exactly what a monster Putin is.”

And then there was Pierre Poilievre, who passive-voiced the whole thing.

Between this and his votes regarding the Ukraine trade agreement, it’s not unreasonable to conclude that he is winking and nodding to a certain online audience. And while certain pundits have been “We think the initial vote was a mistake and he can’t take the L so he doubles down,” I suspect it’s more like “Sure, some Ukrainian diaspora communities are going to be pissed off, but what are they going to do? Vote Liberal? Hahaha.” They have hitched their wagon to the far-right PPC-voting crowd because they think that’ll get them the votes they need to win, and this is a crowd, that is mainlining Russian disinformation online, and believe that Volodymyr Zelenskyy is a money-launderer buying yachts, that Putin is just trying to shut down “biolabs,” and throw in some antisemitic conspiracy theories about “globalists,” and it’s all stuff that Poilievre is willing to wink and nod to. Passive-voicing this statement was a choice.

https://twitter.com/acoyne/status/1758543572578484364

Ukraine Dispatch:

Ukrainian forces have started pulling out of Avdiivka to more “sustainable positions,” but it cannot be understated how dwindling ammunition stocks are part of the problem. Ukrainian data is showing a low hit-rate for North Korean-supplied missiles from Russia, which casts doubt on their reliability. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was in Paris to sign a security agreement, shortly after he signed one with Germany.

Good reads:

  • While at an event in Winnipeg, Justin Trudeau confirmed that they were in talks with Mexico as some asylum seekers are “supported by organised crime.”
  • Canada, the UK and the US put out a joint statement about misinformation and information manipulation, calling for a collective approach among allies.
  • Revisions to the proposed clean electricity regulations are purporting to show more flexibility, but Alberta still says they’re not happy.
  • TekSavvy was before the CRTC to plead for better wholesale access in order to ensure that there is still competition in the ISP space.
  • Canadian banks reported 28 “priority one” cyber-attacks to OSFI in 2023.
  • The Commons agriculture committee warned Loblaws and Walmart that if they don’t sign up to the grocery code of conduct, they will be legislated into it.
  • Jagmeet Singh is trying to talk tough about demanding emergency contraception be made free as part of a pharmcare deal. (Using what mechanism?)
  • The Saskatchewan Court of King’s Bench is allowing the court challenge of the pronoun legislation go ahead in spite of the Notwithstanding Clause being invoked.
  • Philippe Lagassé makes a couple of observations about ArriveCan and procurement, as well as Poilievre’s aspirational defence spending targets.

Odds and Ends:

For National Magazine, I looked at a settlement agreement in BC that will see  a major investment in legal aid for those fleeing domestic violence.

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One thought on “Roundup: A choice of passive voice”

  1. Hilarious how Navalny has been elevated to status of sainthood martyrdom . By any standard he was a far right anti-immigrant politician once compared Muslims to cockroaches. Google “Navalny cockroach video.”

    Then there are those portrayals of Navalny as a credible threat to Putin. Navalny polled at around 1-2% and most Russians probably never heard of him. If they did he was seen as ultranationalist on the fringes of the Russian political spectrum.

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