Roundup: Clapping back at the provinces and their JPs

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Justice Minister Arif Virani has been honing his responses to the cries for bail reform lately, both in pointing out that the provinces are not living up to their responsibilities—whether that’s with properly resourcing the court system so that trials are conducted in a timely manner, or in dealing with overcrowded remand centres where people are locked up awaiting trial, and because of the overcrowding and poor conditions, many accused are being given bail rather than subjected to those conditions. Even more recently, he has started pointing to how certain provinces, and Ontario especially, have been appointing Justices of the Peace, to decide on most bail hearings.

Ontario in particular had this whole song and dance about how great it was that they were appointing JPs who weren’t all lawyers, because it gave them greater breadth of experience or whatever, but if it’s true that they’re not actually applying the law of bail properly, that’s a problem. It could simply be that their training is inadequate, which again is a provincial responsibility, because if they are being expected to read, understand and apply case law that the Supreme Court of Canada has laid out when it comes to the law of bail, then again, that is a problem that the provinces need to solve.

And yes, there are going to continue to be voices chirping that the law is the problem, and that the Liberals created an “open door” through two pieces of legislation, but this has been an orchestrated disinformation campaign. The one law that the Conservatives refer to codified Supreme Court jurisprudence, and actually toughened bail in certain respects, especially around domestic violence; the other law they refer to had to do with doing away with solitary confinement in federal penitentiaries, which has nothing to do with bail in the slightest, but repeated lying that has not been pushed back against by both-sidesing media has led a whole lot of credulous people to believe the bullshit. The law of bail is not the problem—it’s everything else that is, and the provinces are once again being allowed to get away with not doing their jobs.

Ukraine Dispatch

Ukrainian security services have detained a special forces unit commander accused of being Russian mole. Russian air defences claim to have downed a series of Ukrainian drones in a number of different regions. There could be another mass displacement of Ukrainians if energy systems continue to be damaged over the winter. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz had a call with Putin, asking him to withdraw his troops and negotiate, which of course Putin won’t, and now Zelenskyy is angry with Scholz because these kinds of calls decrease Putin’s isolation.

Good reads:

  • From the APEC summit in Lima, Justin Trudeau concluded a trade deal with Indonesia, and proposed nuclear energy collaboration with Southeast Asian leaders.
  • Trudeau also named Acadian former journalist Louise Imbeault as the next lieutenant governor of New Brunswick (and this one can speak French).
  • Randy Boissonnault apologised for not being clearer that that he’s not Indigenous (though he has family who is)—though he’s been clear since 2019 at least.
  • Canada Post has gone on strike, and labour minister Steve MacKinnon has ruled out  any early intervention on the part of government.
  • Public Services and Procurement has referred three more contract cases to the RCMP for potentially fraudulent overbilling.
  • The CRA will be ending the contracts of close to 600 temporary employees, most of them debt collectors, before the end of the year.
  • The CBC has an on-the-ground look at the Canadian deployment in Latvia, as NATO starts to grapple with what the incoming Trump administration is going to do.
  • Shockingly, the Parliamentary Budget Officer doesn’t think the immigration will alleviate housing shortages as much as the government hopes.
  • Justice Hogue asked for and has been granted an extension to complete writing her inquiry report, and the new date will be January 31st.
  • The Federal Court has sent an immigration matter back for reconsideration after an officer denied a Russian status in Canada because he doesn’t want to be drafted.
  • The Supreme Court of Canada ruled 7-2 to order a new trial in a trafficking case based on the legal principle applied to certain witness testimony.
  • Pierre Poilievre told a radio interview he would “fight fire with fire” for Trump tariffs and dismissed concerns around an influx of migrants from the US.
  • Conservatives are still pushing the conspiracy theory that Trudeau wants people to eat bugs (usually as some kind of WEF plot or similar).
  • Danielle Smith says she will be attending the Canadian Embassy’s inauguration party in Washington.

Odds and ends:

The stolen Karsh portrait of Sir Winston Churchill has been returned to the Chateau Laurier, with added security to prevent another theft.

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