Roundup: Hearings before the investigation concludes

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As we’ve been expecting the Commons public safety committee met yesterday, and held the usual performances about just how very seriously they take the situation of the two accused terror suspects, and the questions about how they made it to Canada and in one case was given Canadian citizenship. But rather than waiting for the internal investigation to complete so that they could scrutinize the results, they all decided to go ahead and start holding hearings before they have those answers, because what’s important is getting clips for their socials. To that end, they have agreed to hold six meetings starting in the last week of August, but there are competing agendas at play.

For the Conservatives, the agenda is pretty clear—outraged clips, and showcasing their MPs badgering and hectoring witnesses, most especially the ministers who will appear before them. For the Bloc and NDP, it’s quite obviously to embarrass the government at every opportunity, like they are keen to do with every single other issue that rears its head. For the Liberals, however, they believe they are being clever and want to make this into an exposé into the cost of Conservative austerity, because it would seem that the timeline would match up to a point where Conservatives had cut thousands of CBSA agents and civil servants in the immigration department, before the Liberals were able to really reinvest and reinvigorate the processes (if that ever did happen—remember, it’s incredibly difficult to recover capacity once you’ve lost it through cuts). They think they have some kind of gotcha here, but I suspect that they’re going to mishandle this so badly that it’ll blow up in their faces like it always does.

Ukraine Dispatch

Russia launched 38 drones and two missiles overnight Monday, and while 30 of those drones were destroyed, one person was injured as a result. Russian shelling killed at least one civilian in the Sumy region, and the government has restricted civilian movement in that area. Russians have been increasing their assaults in the Pokrovsk area of Eastern Ukraine. Russians claim that they halted Ukraine’s advance in the Kursk region, while Ukraine says they actually have no interest in holding that territory (but their ultimate goals remain unclear).

https://twitter.com/ukraine_world/status/1823306864097988712

Good reads:

  • The government is agreeing to make tweaks to the capital gains exemption changes, but of course business lobby groups still aren’t happy.
  • Canadian police chiefs want “moral and financial support” to deal with an increasing number of protests around the country (and I’m not sure that that actually means).
  • Homeland Security in the US is tightening their processes for asylum seekers who cross over from Canada, giving them a mere four hours to consult a lawyer.
  • A UN report says that our temporary foreign worker programme is a “breeding ground for modern slavery.” Yet this is the system the Harper government wanted.
  • Our railway duopoly has started halting certain shipments in advance of a possible lockout as labour negotiations are at a standstill.
  • The RCMP union thinks that Mounties should start patrolling Parliament Hill again rather than the PPS given rising threats, but the RCMP Commissioner isn’t so keen.
  • Labour negotiations with Senate staff are deadlocked over issues related to uniforms and replacement costs.
  • It appears that Elizabeth May was willing to step down as leader in favour of Jonathan Pedneault before his decision to quit as unofficial co-leader.
  • The “Canadian Future Party” (formerly known as the “Centre Ice Conservatives”) are officially launching as a party today to run in the two upcoming by-elections.
  • Wildfire damage in Jasper is being pegged at $283 million in lost property value.
  • Justin Ling gives some broader context and perspective to Ukraine’s push into the Kursk region of Russia.

Odds and ends:

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