The omnibus budget bill amendment vote-a-thon is currently underway in the House of Commons. Actual voting stated at 1 am, and will continue likely for 24 hours, give or take. Andrew Coyne sees the virtue in the vote-a-thon, as one of the tools that the opposition has to bloody the government if only a little bit, which we need to see more of if we really respect democracy.
As you may have heard, Bob Rae officially announced that he’s not seeking the leadership of the party, but will stay on as interim leader until the convention, which will happen in April. And in a rare move in this place, he ended his speech/press conference with a few lines from Shakespeare’s Sonnet XXV. Susan Delacourt looks at some of the possible factors of the decision. All eyes are now on Justin Trudeau, who has admitted to feeling pressure to run, but he’s still saying no for now. Pundit’s Guide looks at lessons that the Liberals should learn from the NDP leadership.
The Auditor General’s look into the spending of parliamentarians has found weaknesses in contracting procedures and some fairly pressing security concerns with the roofs of buildings due to a jurisdictional dispute between Commons and Senate security, but hey, Parliamentarians’ spending was mostly done by the rules. That those rules are pretty loose and follow an honour system is something that needs to be improved, but at least he got a crack at their books, right?
The government is rushing to assure shipyard communities that the values of the contracts won’t change, even if the costs of shipbuilding contracts are increasing.
Economist Mike Moffatt questions the received wisdom that the European economic crisis is entirely related to debt. Economist Stephen Gordon muses that the term “Dutch disease” has become bereft of meaning considering how much its been abused in recent political discourse.
What’s that? Conrad Black didn’t get any special treatment? You don’t say! Guess the NDP will have to change their narrative about race, privilege and Conservative ties.
And the Conservatives have tapped a former Auditor General to head the new fighter jet procurement secretariat. Of course, if DND doesn’t actually go back and revisit the Statement of Requirements properly, then it will all be for show. Meanwhile, Rona Ambrose’s office won’t say who will be doing the independent review of the figures that are supposedly coming this fall.