The government unveiled their big omnibus
crime bill yesterday, minus the parts about lawful access or the anti-terror
provisions that they had previously indicated would be in them. (Predictably,
NDP MP Charlie Angus cried victory for the exclusion of the lawful access
portions). Over at Maclean’s, John
Geddes provides a pretty damning takedown of said bill and the government
rhetoric around it, which is worth a read.
Thomas Mulcair says that it’s totally not
pandering to Quebec when they’re demanding that they keep their proportion of
seats in the House of Commons when the chamber expands to better represent
Ontario, Alberta and BC. Now, there is perhaps some validity to the claim that
under the new scheme, their representation would drop to 22 percent of the
seats when they have 23 percent of the population – which another seat or two
would probably fix, but demanding it stay at 24.4 percent of the seats does
defy the mathematical logic of ensuring everyone else is better represented in
relation to their share of the population.
While Robert Chisholm is looking at raising the maximum $500,000 he would need for a leadership bid, Megan Leslie is
contemplating the personal sacrifices she would have to make in a leadership
role.
Jim Flaherty defends the $90,000 per day
consultants saying they need outside advice on how to cut costs. Gosh, the
jokes pretty much write themselves.
At his UN visit in New York, Harper announced that they’ve selected 28 projects worth $82 million as part of his
maternal and child health initiative, and wouldn’t you know it, the list is
mostly religiously based aid organisations. Harper also indicated that he’d be
extending the Libya mission for another three months.
And it looks like that Air Canada strike
has been averted, so no new filibuster. At least not on another back-to-work
bill anyway.
