Fortin's fall from grace

Another high-profile military investigation: let the speculation begin

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At 7:17 p.m. on Friday evening—the ideal time to bury bad news—the department of defence dropped a major bombshell, announcing that Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin had "left his assignment" as the head of Canada's COVID vaccine rollout, "pending the results of a military investigation." The terse note ended without any further details or hints.

But worry not, vaccine hunters: Christian Leuprecht, a professor and expert in Canada's military, is assuring the public that this shouldn't affect vaccine administration, since the military always has a second-in-command ready to leap into action. No word yet on who that is, however. It all happened so quickly, Fortin hasn't even had time to update his LinkedIn profile.

Vaccine watch: Dr. Theresa Tam reiterated her hope that almost all Canadians would be eligible for their first dose by June. If vaccinations keep pace, the government would allow small outdoor gatherings this summer. Should someone tell her people are already doing that?

Among those vaccines, however, will likely not be the one by AstraZeneca-Oxford. After fears of blood clots scared off several provinces, the head researcher behind the vaccine—John Bell of Oxford University—got a little ticked off. Pointing fingers at Canada's paltry percentage of two-dose vaccinations, Bell told CTV's Question Period yesterday that Canadians were just waiting for the variants of concern to "rip through the Canadian population, and then the problems you've had with these very rare clotting events will look pretty insignificant." Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and Manitoba have all limited or stalled the vaccine's use.

What will come of Canada's impending stockpile of AstraZeneca doses, you ask? Ship 'em off to other countries, of course! Procurement Minister Anita Anand said on Global's The West Block yesterday that the government is actively having conversations about the millions of doses that will arrive over the summer, with a likely outcome being donations to poorer nations.

Vaccine watch, 100-years-ago edition: On this day 100 years ago, a group of scientists at the University of Toronto began researching what they would discover to be insulin. To mark the 100th anniversay of the work of Frederick Banting et al, Historica Canada has released a new Heritage Minute this morning—right as this email graced your inbox, in fact. Be among the first to watch this lovely moment in Canadian history, re-enacted in CanCon glory.

A new government misstep in the ongoing Bill C-10 debacle was unearthed by the National Post, which gleaned through an access-to-information request that Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault ignored advice by his own officials about the exemption that continues to torture him. The exemption would have meant individual social media users would not be regulated by the CRTC, but the government decided to scrap that a few weeks ago. Meanwhile, the House of Commons heritage committee will continue hearing from a panel of experts today on the implications of the government's proposal.

Battling the bully. When Canadian businessman Michael Yurkovich launched a solar-power project in Ukraine, everything was running smoothly: the Canadian and Ukrainian governments were on board, profits looks good and the infrastructure could help Ukraine divest from Russian oil and gas. But then Yurkovich learned about the oligarch next door, Ihor Kolomoisky. Paul Wells details the story in Maclean's:

Quebec Premier François Legault posted a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on his Facebook page Saturday. In it, the premier argued his province has the power to unilaterally change the Canadian constitution to affirm Quebec as a nation and assert French as the dominant language. Legault is trying to strengthen Quebec's language law to crack down on bilingual or English signage and enact stronger language legislation on businesses and workplaces, including government offices and schools.

Canada has officially begun talks with the United States about reopening the border. According to Bloomberg, three sources confirmed that discussions are underway, focusing on logistics for vaccinated travellers: should a two-track system be used? One former ambassador predicts a "staged reopening" would be most likely.

Election prediction: Ask Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet when he thinks an election could be called, and he'll tell you August 16. All parties are hesitant to call an election during a pandemic, but the hope is that first doses will be doled out widely by then. Blanchet is also hoping a federal election won't interfere with widespread municipal elections in Quebec slated for November.

Protests this weekend took place across Canada in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, who have been bombarded by Israeli airstrikes for the past week. While the rallies were mostly peaceful, Toronto police arrested two pro-Palestinian activists on Sunday, while Montreal's event was also tarnished by some anti-Semitic slogans and placards. Later that night, Prime Minister Trudeau tweeted a statement of condemnation of the violence and hateful rhetoric that sprung up.

As the old saying goes, "Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it." And when it comes to holding police accountable for killing the people they are supposed to protect, writes Michael Spratt, a criminal law specialist, we have not learned a damn thing. After 62-year-old Ejaz Choudry was gunned down in his own home after his family called emergency services for a mental-health check, Ontario’s Special Investigation Unit cleared the Peel Regional Police of any potential criminal responsibility.

—Michael Fraiman

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