Courtesy of iPolitics.ca’s Colin Horgan is an excellent piece about the apparent fact that defence procurement now seems to be driving policy, rather than the other way around (possible paywall). You know, the way it should be when a military is under civilian control, rather than when the civilian government bows to the whims of the military. Meanwhile, there is more expert opinion that cabinet had to have known about the full costs of the F-35 procurement, given the way in which Industry Canada and Public Works needed to be quieted down to get around the regular process (which I remind you is still very much at the heart of this issue – not just the price tag).

Stephen Harper announced a new programme yesterday that will give support payments for the parents of murdered and missing children that will allow them to take paid leave from work to deal with the situation. Maclean’s John Geddes, meanwhile, raises a red flag about the rhetoric Harper was using at the announcement, talking about child sex offenders getting lax house arrest sentences, when this is obviously not the case, and galling for Harper to bring it up.

The CBC’s Laura Payton asks four very important questions about those prison closures.

There was a bizarre little incident in the Manitoba legislature this past week where Conservative MP Shelly Glover and three of her caucus colleagues took to the legislature to launch bitter partisan barbs at the provincial NDP government over the issue of changes to the immigration programme. Glover feels the federal government deserves far more credit for the provincial successes and complains that the province isn’t paying their fair share, despite the fact that the province foots the bills for things like social services, education and health care. But as far as Glover was concerned, it was a case of yay Harper Conservatives, boo provincial NDP.

It seems that Enbridge nearly pulled out of a Pacific Ocean management plan over fears that Tides Canada’s involvement would hijack it – even though they were not in a position to do so. It also appears that this incident led up to Joe Oliver’s infamous “radicals” open letter.

Bob Rae talks about the need for the Liberal Party change its ways, and admitting that they have yet to absorb all of the lessons of the last election. Meanwhile, Paul Wells notes the party’s message that they will respond to Conservative attack ads – eventually.

Here’s an interesting look at the meaning of our tendency to nickel-and-dime politicians, and the continual insistence that they get paid too much.

And on 4/20, Thomas Mulcair tried to clarify his position on marijuana, which is decriminalisation but not legalisation, apparently. The Young Liberals have been making great hay of this, plastering downtown Ottawa with pictures of an angry Mulcair face with his quote from Global TV in which he subscribes the “potent pot” myth.