The privacy watchdog speaks up Did someone forward you this newsletter? Sign up here to get it delivered weekday mornings. Deadline day: Today, the state of Michigan wants Enbridge to stop operating its Line 5 pipeline that traverses the serene Straits of Mackinac, a waterway that connects two massive Great Lakes and separates most of Michigan from its kooky upper peninsula. The state doesn't expect the company to comply. Natural Resources Minister Seamus O'Regan said Ottawa and four provinces submitted a 20-page amicus brief to federal court south of the border. The brief's conclusions were unambiguous: "The public and foreign policy interests that would be harmed by a premature shutdown in this case are extraordinarily substantial." One-dose summer: Was the PM trying to be snappy when he turned that phrase at a press conference yesterday? Was he hoping future TikToks starring excited youths would spread the word? Probably. Tory MP Michelle Rempel Garner picked up on the vibe and quipped that while Americans enjoy a hot vaxxed summer, Canada would settle for half-vaxxed. Trudeau's timeline still beats Rempel Garner's earlier prediction that this country wouldn't be fully inoculated until 2030. A halt to AstraZeneca: Alberta and Ontario have both decided to stop administering first shots of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine. Albertan officials would only say the province currently expects no future shipments of the shot, but Ontario officials did cite the increasing incidence of serious blood clots that remain a low risk to most people who receive them. The national advisory panel on immunization, which has repeatedly said mRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna are preferable, is currently studying the prospect of offering those shots as second doses to thousands of Canadians who received AstraZeneca. The long-awaited Bill C-10, meant to hold tech giants in line, is nearly in a shambles. Next up, Bill C-11. Bill C-11 is supposed to revamp a federal privacy law that's been substantially untouched since the internet took over the world. Yesterday, though, Privacy Commissioner Daniel Therrien offered some thoughts to the parliamentary committee studying the bill. Therrien concluded the proposed law would be "a step back overall" for privacy, and "needs significant changes if confidence in the digital economy is to be restored." The commissioner submitted 52 detailed changes . His office produced a graphic that compared C-11's action on 10 important priorities to various laws passed in other places. The punchline? On those big themes, C-11 does zilch. Locking up the GTA vote: Trudeau's big-ticket announcement was billions of bucks for four major public transit projects in and around Toronto, which he explained in the kind of detail you might expect from a mayor, not a PM who's just doling out the dough. The projects touch almost every corner of the region—perfect fodder for candidates who will soon knock on doors and ask for votes. The $10.4-billion commitment might also stave off criticism from a premier recently on the attack. More help for India: International Development Minister Karina Gould posted photos of the very same jet that flies prime ministers around the world—RCAF o1, only recently back in the air after expensive repairs—preparing to ship 300 ventilators that are desperately needed in India. Call-out: Ethics commissioner Mario Dion tweeted the news that Gould's director of parliamentary affairs, Russell Milon, had fallen delinquent on documents required for his annual review with the watchdog. Get your docs in, Mr. Milon. Tax swap: New Brunswick's government is cutting income tax in order to compensate for the pocketbook hit of carbon taxes. Ken Boessenkool, a policy guy who has advised many conservatives (including Stephen Harper), advocated for just this type of tax shift last October. The CBC's Jacques Poitras noted the measures resemble a climate plan once soundly rejected by the people of Canada—that is, Stéphane Dion's ill-fated Green Shift. Canada's 'shadow army': Earlier this year, Canadian troops participated in an operation against ISIS in the Makhmour region of northern Iraq. But these weren't typical boots on the ground. They were elite commandos whose role was murky. Adnan R. Khan, writing in Maclean's, explores the emerging, mysterious presence of Canada's special forces in conflicts that fly under the radar back home: Using special forces is a slippery process that becomes harder to reverse the more they are used, and it is made worse by the fact that Canada’s special operations command is cloaked in secrecy, even more so than its American counterpart. The April announcement of Canadian involvement in Makhmour was the first news of what Canada’s elite fighters have been up to in Iraq in more than a year. At the same time, it came just over a week after the Canadian government announced it would be extending the mission for another year. There may already be more of these missions that Canadians know nothing about. —Nick Taylor-Vaisey | 
