The House of Commons’ Government Operations Committee heard from Mélanie Joly yesterday about the purchase of the new residence for the Consul General in New York, where Joly spoke about the importance to have a presence in New York, and that all of the rules were followed. (Both are true). The Conservatives, however, think they found some kind of smoking gun when Politico obtained documents through Access to Information that they claim “proves” that Tom Clark, said Consul General, had a role in the decision when he previously testified that he hadn’t. Except the documents don’t really say what they claim. There, the documents show that Clark pointed out that the residence is not wheelchair accessible, and that the relationship with the condo board has been deteriorating because of rules around when and what kinds of events can be hosted, which is one of the main reasons this residence exists.

It’s funny how they lie, then point to the documents to prove their case, which just prove that they’re lying. This has happened on more than one occasion, but good on them for being so open about the fact that they are just lying.

— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) November 5, 2024

They are trying to get Clark back to committee to grill him again, but that doesn’t change the fact that even if he pointed out that the current residence isn’t suited, he didn’t have any hand in the decision making that led to the new property. There is no contradiction to his testimony, but they have been content to lie about it all day, in press releases and in the House of Commons, because they can. In the political right, brazen lying has become a power play because they know they can get away with it because they won’t be called on it (the most media will do is both-sides them), and in creating these alternate universes from those lies, it becomes an in-group identification for their followers. We are in a very dangerous place with our democracy, and nobody wants to call this out.

Looking at you, #cdnpoli. https://t.co/w1SXz3U51A

— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) November 6, 2024

Speaking of committees, far-right commentator Lauren Chen of Tenet Media, which is alleged to have taken Russian money, was summoned to appear at the public safety committee, where she attended, but refused to answer questions. This led to a unanimous motion to refer the matter to the Speaker, who will no doubt rule that this is yet another prima facie case of privilege being breached, but the Conservatives will have to end their current filibuster before they can move onto this particular issue.

Ukraine Dispatch

Ukraine’s military shot down 48 drones and two missiles overnight Monday, while a missile attack on Zaporizhzhia killed six and injured at least twenty more on Tuesday. Ukrainian troops say that they have engaged with North Korean units in their occupied portions of the Kursk region of Russia, for the first time.

❗️“We urge the DPRK to stop providing assistance to Russia’s war of aggression,” declared a joint statement from the Foreign Ministers of Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States, along with the…

— UkraineWorld (@ukraine_world) November 5, 2024

⚡️Russia strikes near residential area in Kharkiv, injuring at least 2

Two women, aged 56 and 72, were injured and received medical treatment at the scene, Kharkiv Oblast Governor Oleh Syniehubov said. https://t.co/3ujXN0RWTx

— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) November 5, 2024

Good reads:

• Justin Trudeau met with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, who said that scaling back refugee targets can be okay if it prevents backlash against newcomers.
• Trudeau has received multiple briefings on the possibility of prolonged unrest or violence in the wake of the US election.
• The government is proposing to renew Information Commissioner Caroline Maynard’s term for another seven years.
• The UN Special Rapporteur on the Palestinian territories said she was “snubbed” by the PMO and Mélanie Joly while in Ottawa.
• Oil and gas groups are grousing that with the new emissions cap, all of the “low-hanging fruit” such as methane reductions are already gone.
• Certain critics are charging that Trudeau going public about India’s foreign interference has led to the violence seen over the past weekend.
• Danielle Smith is proposing to add two seats to the Alberta legislature, and remove urban boundary rules (which is a naked attempt to gerrymander ridings).
• Alberta claims they want to attract trans health specialists to the province, as they poison the well based on pseudoscience and disinformation about trans youth.
• Susan Delacourt posits that the Canadian government would prefer a Harris administration for the sake of stability, and how they toned down Trump jabs.
• My column points out how dangerous to democracy that it is that media can’t arse themselves to care that the Commons has been frozen for six weeks.

Odds and ends:

Why won't the federal government just rely on the carbon pricing plan we've been undermining for 8 years by saying it wasn't working? Why are they resorting to telling industry to adopt the tech that we've been saying is the obvious solution?
– half the Cdn political pundit class

— Andrew Leach (@andrew_leach) November 6, 2024

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