Couldn't we all be a little nicer? Did someone forward you this newsletter? Sign up here to get it delivered weekday mornings. Canada's former top civil servant, Michael Wernick, made headlines last year for testifying before the House of Commons during the SNC-Lavavin scandal. He used the opportunity to lament how words like "traitor" and "treason" were being bandied about in politics too flippantly, and worried how they might lead to incitement of violence and threats against public figures. That prediction turned out prescient: after two men were charged with threatening the life of Justin Trudeau this past month, Wernick is repeating his words of warning. "There are serious threats to people in office all the time and it's important that that be taken seriously," he told the CBC . "I can't put numbers to it, but I was constantly exposed to it." The Royal Canadian Navy knows the feeling. After announcing it would replace the word "seaman" with an inclusive gender-neutral term (which will be determined by a vote, though "sailor" seems the likeliest alternative), the Navy received several complaints about political correctness and tarnished traditions. There were enough complaints to inspire Rear-Admiral Chris Sutherland to publicly condemn the "hateful, misogynistic and racist comments" it received. Abandoning ship. The controversy over a $912-million government grant continues to hurt WE Charity. Its corporate sponsors have begun fleeing: at the onset of the weekend, Telus and Virgin Atlantic Airways both officially cut ties with the mega-charity, while a spokesperson from RBC said it will reconsider its relationship, according to a report in the Globe and Mail. (In an amusing postscript to that article, the Globe writer notes that the Globe, too, has a "sponsorship partnership" with WE Charity, but it "expires on Aug. 31 and will not be renewed." Maybe this time the Liberals will take a hit? Last week saw four new public-opinion polls released, which means 338Canada's Philippe J. Fournier is champing at the bit to dissect their meaning. To sum it up: the Liberals are still leading, but they've definitely dipped in popularity. Has the pandemic/CERB bump in the polls come to an end for the Liberals? It certainly is a plausible hypothesis at this point in time, and we will know more in the coming weeks, but once again we must use caution with summer numbers, as several Canadians are on vacations and fewer voters usually pay attention to the news. Nevertheless, it appears the Liberals have indeed shed some support of late. A little higher. Avid readers of this newsletter will recall that last week, the Treasury Board estimated the COVID-19 pandemic cost the government $439 million for paid leave for public servants, under an expansion of the 699 provision. In fact, the true cost may be closer to $623 million, according to the Parliamentary Budget Officer—and that's only what the government spent between March 15 and May 31. The government probably spent at least $80 million more in June. Keep your eyes open tomorrow: the expenses of federally appointed judges, including travel, meal, conference and office costs, will be made public this week for the first time, thanks to new changes to the Access to Information Act. The changes come from the Liberal-backed Bill C-58, which aims to increase transparency and accountability, and was enacted despite pushback from multiple judicial and law associations, which argued that the bill would jeopardize the independence and personal safety of Canadian judges. In a split 2-1 decision on Friday, the Ontario Court of Appeal has reversed a major piece of criminal-justice legislation from the Stephen Harper era. The ruling strikes down certain restrictions on conditional sentences, which typically allow offenders to avoid prison time if they meet certain conditions. The restrictions on those conditional sentences were disproportionately affecting First Nations people, and the justices decided that barring conditional sentences violated Section 15 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which guarantees equality for all people. Farewell, General. On Thursday, Gen. Jonathan Vance announced he would retire as chief of defence staff of the Canadian Armed Forces after serving for five years. The folks at iPolitics weighed his tumultuous legacy, which includes a few embarrassing episodes (a fumbled cenotaph unveiling, a frat party on an air force jet) and the infamous Mark Norman affair from 2017. But he also took unprecedented steps to eradicate sexual misconduct in the military and overhaul the nation's defence policy. Not quite an inquiry. Numerous organizations and members of the public pushed for a public inquiry into the mass shooting that happened in Nova Scotia more than three months ago. Paul Wells asked Nova Scotia's justice minister, Mark Furey, how many people asked for an "independent review panel" instead. The answer: zero. But a review is exactly what we're getting, and nobody seems happy about it. What’s to stop an RCMP officer from, say, retiring from the force and suddenly being institutionally out of reach of the review panel? Nothing, but thanks for asking. What’s to ensure you and I can see the testimony so we know whether it’s reflected in any final report? Nothing. There’s no provision for any public testimony, let alone for subpoena power or sworn veracity. —Michael Fraiman | 
