And Good Sunday Morning.
Likely most of you know about my Friday. Such an unusual, difficult and yet inspiring day. Friday the 13th and not unlucky – mostly.
On Thursday, late in the afternoon, we learned the Prime Minister had invited all party leaders to join him on a flight to Tumbler Ridge to join a community vigil. So it was that Friday morning I joined Mark Carney and his wife Diana Fox Carney, Pierre Poilievre, Don Davies, and Yves Francois Blanchet on a 10-seater government plane for the five-hour flight.
I was determined not to drop the ball on my parliamentary work. I have been trying to stop – or amend, Bill C-14. A Liberal bill, it is taken right from Poilievre’s rhyming slogan “Jail not Bail.” I find it shocking that people who have not been tried or convicted of any crime would be denied bail due to this new “tough on crime” populist swing. When I went to law school, we learned that the cornerstone of British common law justice was the 1760’s maxim of Sir William Blackstone: “It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer.” It is the basis of the core principle that people are innocent until proven guilty. But C-14 would reverse the onus and put the burden of proving why they should be allowed to continue their lives until trial – keep working, caring for family, etc. – on the accused. Often the accused person is disproportionately a person of colour, indigenous and without resources to get a good lawyer. Bail and the business of speedy trials is all provincial jurisdiction, but the federal government can pass a retrograde law like this.
The only serious scheduling conflict for me in going to Tumbler Ridge was tabling my C-14 amendments at Report Stage. NDP MP and friend Lori Idlout had agreed to second my amendments. Timing was tight and the PMO was unclear how good the wi-fi would be on board. So, literally, as we taxied down the runway, I was logged into Parliament, and held my breath as all my amendments were tabled and seconded. I then had the floor and could only say, that “due to circumstance” I was forgoing my speech to urge members to pass these critical amendments. And as the plane climbed, the wi-fi cut out. At least I got the amendments on the record and knew I was slowing down any attempt by the Liberals, Conservatives and Bloc to get Bill C-14 pushed through on Friday.
Imagine my shock when hours later my staff sent me this bizarre, and in my experience, unprecedented statement from the Speaker:
Assistant Deputy Speaker (John Nater): I would like to make a brief statement for the benefit of all members. The member in whose name the report stage motion is standing is not in a position to indicate that it should be adopted. No other members have indicated that it should be either adopted or negativized. Our own practice is silent as to what to do in such a situation. However, the issue has come up in the British House of Commons. Erskine May, 25th edition, in paragraph 20.56, states the following, “When, on the question being put, no member has said either ‘aye’ or ‘no’, the Deputy Speaker has declared the question negatived”.
He then ruled all my amendments were defeated, and the big parties rushed through a vote that C-14 was carried at all stages and was now off to the Senate.
Later that day, by unanimous consent putting forward a fast-tracking of the Budget Implementation Bill, C-15. I still have a chance to try to stop erosion of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act and new powers to any minister to exempt any person or corporation from any federal law, (except the criminal code). I have mentioned this in my Sunday letter before, but now we are getting some attention and push back, The C-15 amendments to exempt “entities” from federal law are amendments to the Red Tape Reduction Act. The government witnesses in committee have downplayed this outrageous extension of power to an individual cabinet member, describing it is a routine part of something, they claim is quite routine, called a “regulatory sandbox.” I have been searching in other countries for anything as broad as what C-15 asserts – “A minister may make an order under subsection (1) only if the minister is of the opinion that
- (a) the exemption is in the public interest;
- (b) the exemption would enable the testing of, among other things, a product, service, process, procedure or regulatory measure with the aim of facilitating the design, modification or administration of a regulatory regime to encourage innovation, competitiveness or economic growth;
- (c) the benefits associated with the exemption outweigh the risks…”
It turns out this “regulatory sandbox” concept comes from the UK under Tory governments and was intended to innovate in financial matters. Yet as you can see from the above excerpt, exemptions from health and environmental regulation for any product or process. And who will promote the benefits? The entity wanting to be exempt from the law. And who will bear the risks? The public that knows nothing of the pending exemption.
Finally, even the Conservatives think this is a reach too far.
As rumours swirl of a snap election, I am hoping the Liberals may be open to amending the over 600-page bill. Today is the first day on which the Prime Minister can call for the by-elections for University Rosedale, left vacant by Chrystia Freeland, and Scarborough Southwest, vacant due to Bill Blair’s appointment to be our High Commissioner to the UK. As betting and early indicators may foreshadow, if Carney calls those by-elections soon, that means a spring election is less likely. But there are no sure bets. Just a nagging sense that the Liberal desire for a majority, even with the Conservatives and Bloc supporting most of their legislative agenda, may overcome the public desire to avoid an unnecessary election.
On board for the flight to Tumbler Ridge, I knew nothing of what was transpiring unexpectedly in Parliament.
The jet was remarkably quiet and were able to talk. It would have been great to sort out C-14, C-15 and climate policy, but we talked about why we were together and what we had heard of news from Tumbler Ridge. It was clear the Prime Minister had studied the file. He knew the names and something of the background of each of those killed. We stuck to non-controversial topics. The closest we got to any discussion of policy was the problem of what to do with 24 Sussex Drive. None of my colleagues had heard Margaret Trudeau’s great line that “24 Sussex Drive is the Crown jewel in Canada’s penitentiary system.” We landed in Dawson Creek, the closest airstrip to Tumbler Ridge. From there, we were loaded into different cars, a convoy, Don Davies and Yves Francois Blanchet and I rode with some PMO staffers, with lots of RCMP, for the hour and a half drive to Tumbler Ridge,
Arriving on an inappropriately brilliantly sunny day to a town in mourning, I quickly learned that you did not even have to ask, “Would you like a hug?” The reply was always, “Tumbler Ridge is all about hugging.”
I spoke with parents and grandparents – those who lost children and those who felt the narrowest of escapes. “My grandson stayed home on Wednesday… I took my 12-year-old out of school last month or she would have been in that library with all her friends…” and some so shell-shocked it felt an intrusion to do more than wipe away my own tears.
There will be many questions and painful details to be debated, uncovered on a mobius loop of pain. Somehow this shooting – horrifically killing nine people – has touched leaders who have lost hundreds and thousands of innocents. President Zelensky sent condolences. Parents everywhere felt the brush with the fear of losing children.
After last week’s Sunday letter, one reader asked that I share this, and it feels right to do so now.
Feb. 7, 2026. The Long Ukrainian Winter by Timothy Snyder
Dear Friends,
Russia’s full-scale of invasion began four years ago. It began in winter, and so this winter is the fifth. And, for civilians, the worst.
The Russian war effort is struggling in the field. Territorial gains are minimal and come at huge cost. What Russia can do is launch ballistic missiles and drones at Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in order to force Ukrainians to endure the freezing cold. Russia also simply targets Ukrainian workers at their factories and Ukrainians generally in their homes.
Sadly, we in North America and Europe share some responsibility in this. The Ukrainians are fighting well enough that we do not have to fight. And so it is all too easy to accept this war, the bloodiest since 1945, as simply part of the status quo.
A year ago, during the fourth winter of the war, celebrating the opening of an underground (physically underground) school in Zaporizhzhiia, Ukraine. An underground school can operate during wartime, because the children are safe from Russian attacks. The children here had been away from physical school for five years, because of covid and then because of Russian invasion. They were very happy to be in school
And so we – the EU and the US alike – have taken far too long to cut off Russian gas and oil from world markets. The US government has stopped all military aid to Ukraine – what continues are shipments of US arms to Ukraine that are purchased by Europeans, as well as European arms shipments. Even though the Ukrainian need is great and the Europeans are paying for everything, the United States has been slow to make deliveries.
We are not sending the Ukrainians the air defense they need to protect themselves. This is one reason millions of people are in the cold, and why civilians die almost every day.
The major policy of the Trump administration has been to use the word “peace.” Peace comes when an aggressor ceases to aggress and the country that is attacked can rebuild. But Trump has been unable to muster a policy that would change Russia’s incentives. He has difficulty even presenting the war as a war, rather than as a misunderstanding about real estate; his administration issues official statements that praise Russia for its desire for peace, even as the offensives continue missiles fall. Trump has put pressure on Ukrainians, who, unlike the Russians, have to fight. For Russia, this is an ego war, a war by a dictator for his own legacy. For Ukraine, this is a war of national sovereignty and physical survival.
Fortunately, there is something that we as individuals can do. There are non-governmental organizations, in Ukraine and abroad, that support Ukrainian soldiers and civilians. There is a Ukrainian government platform, United24, that enables donations to specific areas of need. I will share a few ways that you can help. I hope that many of you will do so, thinking of this fifth winter of the war, and of the people who have no choice but to fight and to endure.
United24 is the official fundraising platform of the Ukrainian state, organized by the president’s office. Again here you can find a number of ongoing initiatives that are worthy of support. One of these is Sky Sentinel, a Ukrainian-designed system that destroys Russian drones.
Come Back Alive is a major, respected, and trusted Ukrainian NGO. They have a number of ongoing projects. One in particular helps to equip Ukrainian air defense units to follow and destroy Russian missiles and drones that have bypassed the first line of protection. They also engage in important training projects.
Help99 is an Estonian NGO (with whom I have worked with great outcomes) that delivers trucks and other gear to specific Ukrainian units. They work hard and are hands-on. If you do a bit of scrolling you can find a way to make your donation US-tax deductible
The other night I gave a lecture to help fundraise for the Canada-Ukraine Foundation. They are running programs to assist Ukrainian veterans and to provide humanitarian aid.
In the United States, Razom does important advocacy work, as well as coordinating important aid programs in Ukraine, including for Ukrainian tactical medicine. It is a US 501(c)3.
I want to acknowledge and thank all of you who have already supported the work of these institutions and who have already taken part in fundraisers where I was involved these last four years. Most recently we equipped the Ukrainian National Guard with automobiles that can jam Russian drones, enabling the rescue of the wounded. In United24 fundraisers we have enabled the Ukrainian government to purchase armored ambulances, mine-clearing robots, robots that rescue the wounded, and systems to detect Russian drones. All of this has made a difference, all of this has saved lives.
Sadly, the war continues, as does our own responsibility. Thank you for whatever you can do. Please share this message with others who might want to support Ukraine during this long winter.
https://snyder.substack.com/p/the-long-ukrainian-winter
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Thank you all for support in these difficult times.
Much love,
Elizabeth