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Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly says the killings of civilians in the Ukrainian town of Bucha are “completely outrageous” war crimes, and Canada will work to ensure accountability for the acts.
“I shared, definitely, the strong feelings Canadians had when they saw pictures and videos of what happened over the weekend in Ukraine. These are clearly war crimes,” Ms. Joly told a news conference on Monday in Helsinki. “These are clearly crimes against humanity.”
The minister met with the media after talks with Finland counterpart Pekka Haavisto, who also appeared at the news conference.
Ms. Joly said Canada will support the International Criminal Court, or ICC, with funding in order to facilitate its work probing the incidents. “These acts cannot go unpunished,” she said.
Last week, Canada announced it was sending a team to the international court to investigate possible Russian war crimes in Ukraine, a development detailed here.
On Monday, however, Ms. Joly was reacting specifically to incidents in Bucha, a satellite city of the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, abandoned by Russian forces after weeks of intense fighting, where civilians have been found dead, with their hands tied and gunshots to the backs of their heads. Bucha’s mayor told the AFP news service that a recently discovered mass grave contained nearly 300 bodies, including women and a 14-year-old boy. Foreign correspondent Nathan VanderKlippe reports here.
Ms. Joly said it is “extremely urgent” for war crimes investigators to get on the ground so they can begin their work. “I know they have been looking for resources and been contacting many countries and Canada will step up to the plate, and offer support to the ICC and time is of the essence.”
Ms. Joly made her comments as Canada announced it will impose sanctions on nine Russian and nine Belarusian individuals for having “facilitated and enabled” Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
“By enabling [Russian President] Vladimir Putin’s senseless invasion of Ukraine, these close collaborators of the regime are complicit in the horrific events unfolding before our eyes,” Ms. Joly said in the statement
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TODAY’S HEADLINES
GAS TAX CUT IN ONTARIO – The Ontario government says it will cut its gas tax by 5.7 cents a litre this summer for six months, in the face of rising prices at the pump. Story here.
OTTAWA EMISSIONS PLAN `NUTS’: KENNEY – Alberta Premier Jason Kenney is calling Ottawa’s federal emissions plan that was tabled in the House of Commons last week “nuts,” and is pledging to fight it “with everything we’ve got.” Story here.
BC LIBERAL LEADER GETS SHOT AT SEAT – Premier John Horgan has called a by-election for Vancouver-Quilchena. B.C. Liberal Leader Kevin Falcon is set to run in the riding the provincial Liberals have held since the riding was first created in 1991. The by-election vote on April. 30 is intended to replace former Liberal leader Andrew Wilkinson. Story here.
FORD’S NEPHEW RUNNING IN ELECTION – Michael Ford, the nephew of Premier Doug Ford, will run for the Ontario Progressive Conservatives in the provincial election in June. Story here.
THE BUDGET
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland is tabling the federal budget on Thursday at 4 p.m. ET.
FREELAND READIES ANOTHER BIG-SPENDING FEDERAL BUDGET AMID FEARS OF RISING INFLATION – The early part of every calendar year is always frantic at the Jim Flaherty Building on Elgin Street in Ottawa, home to the federal Finance Department. But having a finance minister who is also a deputy prime minister and shouldering other heavy files piled on the challenges for Finance officials working on the 2022 federal budget. Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife, Deputy Ottawa Bureau Chief Bill Curry and Senior Parliamentary Reporter Steven Chase report here.
CONSERVATIVE LEADERSHIP RACE
POILIEVRE FOCUSED ON MONETARY MATTERS – No elected official in Ottawa has taken a keener interest in monetary matters over the past few years than Pierre Poilievre, who is campaigning aggressively for the leadership of the Conservatives, the party with the best chance of supplanting the Liberals to form the next government. As a member of Parliament, and as the Conservatives’ finance critic, he has long been a thorn in the side of the Bank of Canada, challenging its execution of monetary policy and railing against its decision during the pandemic to launch a quantitative easing program, under which it has purchased more than $300-billion of its own government’s bonds. Story here.
CHAREST OFFERS DEFENCE PLAN – In Halifax, Conservative leadership contender Jean Charest announced a policy for national defence and veterans that includes increasing Canada’s military spending to 2 per cent of GDP. Story here from CBC.
THIS AND THAT
TODAY IN THE COMMONS – Projected Order of Business at the House of Commons, Tuesday, accessible here.
HORGAN TESTS POSITIVE FOR COVID-19 – B.C. Premier John Horgan says he tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday morning. “Fortunately, my symptoms are mild and that is thanks to being fully vaccinated. I’m following public-health guidance, isolating and working from home until my symptoms resolve,” Mr. Horgan said in a tweet.
CADIEUX STEPS DOWN – Former B.C. cabinet minister Stephanie Cadieux has announced she will resign from the legislature at the end of the April, ending a political career that began in 2009 and saw her hold cabinet posts that included children and family development, social development and labour. Since 2017, she has been a member of the BC Liberal opposition. Ms. Cadieux, who represented three ridings in suburban Surrey southeast of Vancouver, was the first women elected to the legislature who used a wheelchair and the first female cabinet member who used a wheelchair. She announced her plans in a statement Monday, but did not say why she is leaving.
WORK BEGINS TO FIND NEW SUPREME COURT JUSTICE – On Monday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau launched the process to select the next Supreme Court of Canada justice, intended to replace Justice Michael Moldaver, who is retiring. Applications from qualified candidates will be accepted until May 13, 2022. In a statement, Mr. Trudeau also announced that former Prince Edward Island premier Wade MacLauchlan will be a chair and member of the Independent Advisory Board for Supreme Court of Canada Judicial Appointments. This non-partisan board is responsible for identifying candidates. After the application period closes, the advisory board will review applications and submit a shortlist of candidates to the Prime Minister.
THE DECIBEL
Monday’s edition of The Globe and Mail podcast features Angie Crerar, an 85-year-old elder of the Métis Nation of Alberta, present to hear Pope Francis apologize last week for the Catholic Church’s role in the residential school system – an apology long awaited by Indigenous Peoples in Canada. Ms. Crerar spoke to Globe reporter Willow Fiddler in Rome. She talked about what the Pope’s apology means to her and Canada’s journey of reconciliation. The Decibel is here.
PRIME MINISTER’S DAY
The Prime Minister held private meetings, and spoke with Qatar Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. The Prime Minister was scheduled to meet virtually with the premiers of the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Yukon. Defence Minister Anita Anand was also scheduled to attend. The Prime Minister was also scheduled to receive a COVID‑19 briefing from Theresa Tam, Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer, and speak with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
LEADERS
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet held a news conference on Parliament Hill with caucus health critic Luc Thériault and intergovernmental affairs critic Mario Simard on the issue of a public summit on health care funding.
No schedules released for other party leaders.
OPINION
The Globe and Mail Editorial Board on how Ottawa is selling bilingualism for some and not for others: “But what the Trudeau government appears to really be objecting to is not a national bilingualism rate that it deems too low, but to the fact that the work of speaking two languages is largely being done in Quebec, where 58 per cent of the country’s bilingual population lived in 2016. The English-speaking person most likely to be bilingual in Canada is an anglophone in Quebec, at a 60-per-cent rate. The French-speaking person most likely to be bilingual is the one living in English Canada, at 90 per cent. Over all, only 10 per cent of Canada’s English-speaking population is bilingual.”
Robyn Urback (The Globe and Mail) on how the Minister of Everything must tell Liberals they can’t have it all: “Ms. Freeland is now tasked with delivering a budget at a critical time for Canada: when the country is in the early yet unstable stages of pandemic recovery, when a war is being fought in Ukraine, when drought caused by climate change has affected domestic and global yields and when inflation in Canada and abroad is surging. Indeed, the country is now at a precarious financial moment, when it could use the steady hand of that minister it saw on Feb. 24, speaking with genuine conviction about a policy she believes in deeply. What it doesn’t need is a minister dressed in Liberal garb, selling a politically advantageous budget when Canada can’t endure any more risk.”
Nina L. Khrushcheva (Contributed to The Globe and Mail) on how Vladimir Putin’s war will destroy Russia: “By attacking another European country, Mr. Putin crossed a line drawn after the Second World War – and changed the world. But he also changed Russia, from a functioning autocracy into a Stalinesque dictatorship, a country characterized by violent repression, inscrutable arbitrariness, and a massive brain drain. While the fortunes of Ukraine, Europe, and the rest of the world after the shooting stops remain to be seen, the outcome for Russia is all too obvious: a future as dark as its darkest past.”
Mary Francoli and Alex Marland (Policy Options) on how the tradition of the finance minister showing off shoes on the eve of presenting a budget has a long history: “While the exact origin of the tradition is unknown, the first media reports mentioning it were to note a departure from it. In 1955, the Windsor Star and the Ottawa Citizen quoted then-finance minister Walter Harris as stating he ‘couldn’t afford’ the new shoes traditionally worn on budget night, so he wore old ones. This account differs from a popular origin story that attributes the tradition to Mitchell Sharp’s 1966 budget. Sharp himself took credit for starting the tradition. Budget shoes received little further notice until 1977, when Jean Chrétien became finance minister. This is notable as Chrétien had served as Sharp’s parliamentary secretary.”
Shachi Kurl (The Ottawa Citizen) on how Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s fiercest provincial election opponent may be the pandemic: “Ford has shown he can pivot if needed. The beginning of the pandemic saw him employ enough political shrewdness to leave the tough decisions to the scientists and focus on the kind of reassuring rhetoric that saw his approval shoot up 30 points to an all-time high. But the stakes and pressure from his own political base to ‘stay open’ will be intense as well. In a pre-election season that so far shows little evidence Ontarians have much appetite to let the ghosts of the Wynne-era Liberals out of the attic yet, and where Ontario New Democrat Leader Andrea Horwath girds for her fourth election as leader with an approval rating lower than Ford’s, the real opposition – or at least the greatest political threat to Conservative re-election – is the coronavirus. The next weeks will be crucial in determining if it’s an opponent the Premier can beat.”
Steve Paikin (TVO) on the task ahead for Ontario Liberal Leader Steve Del Duca: “Besides the platform drop two weekends ago, Del Duca was the featured speaker last week at the Canadian Club, where he pulled off something that, frankly, none of the other major party leaders are capable of. After he took the stage, he had the lectern removed. With no teleprompter and only a hand mic, he proceeded to speak extemporaneously for nearly half an hour about his family’s past and his party’s policy prescriptions for what ails Ontario. Nearly four years into his premiership, that is something Doug Ford still either can’t or won’t do. The Premier gives a speech or makes an announcement somewhere in Ontario almost every day. But his trusty teleprompter is never far away. You may think this is irrelevant. But in an era when authenticity matters perhaps more than ever, Del Duca looks as if he knows what he’s talking about and doesn’t have to read it off a TV screen.”
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