The government has announced the selection panel for recommending the next Justice of the Supreme Court, comprised of three Conservatives, one NDP and one Liberal MP, and as it was pointed out, three lawyers, a PhD in sociology, and a farmer. The judge will have to be from Quebec, as that is the vacancy on the Court. Of course, this whole process is really just window dressing anyway as ultimately this is and always has been a crown prerogative of the Prime Minister anyway.

There are rumours that the government wants to create a permanent secretariat in Public Works to deal with military procurement issues, which everyone else seems to agree is just adding layers of needless bureaucracy without actually solving any of the problems. Meanwhile, the report on the F-35 procurement disaster is overdue according to the government’s timetable, and Public Works has had to put out yet another tender for an independent auditor. Because it never ends.

The firm responsible for the NDP leadership convention’s online voting system has given up trying to find who was responsible for the attacks on it during the voting. Which will hopefully be another nail in the coffin of online voting, since it’s a fraught proposition to begin with.

Peter Kent says we’re halfway to our Copenhagen 2020 emissions targets! Except that almost none of the federal regulations are actually in place or have been given time to do anything, so it’s really nothing he can take credit for, but once those regulations do eventually one day maybe come into place, well, you’d better watch out then! Err, hopefully.

Rob Nicholson won’t be referring the matter of Dean Del Mastro’s alleged campaign donation improprieties to the Director of Public Prosecutions as Charlie Angus has suggested because, well, it’s not his job. And really, for good reason. Nor is it the DPP’s job to investigate these matters either. But you can bet that Angus and others will be crying foul, even though it’s their own ignorance of the system that’s the matter.

It seems that the search for just the right ambassador is holding up the process of finalising the establishment of the Office of Religious Freedoms.

The Federal Court has ordered the removal of the arbitrator in the Canada Post dispute because he was a former Conservative candidate, making this the second ousted arbitrator, and heading for a third no doubt.

It seems that the company formerly known as Blackwater is getting into trouble in the US for not asking for permission before providing training to Canadian armed forces and police. Interesting.

Opposition MPs are grousing about the War of 1812 commercials being shown during the Olympics, because they’re “counter to the Olympic spirit.” No, seriously.

And Kady O’Malley tracks the Nexen/CNOOC lobbying in the wake of the takeover bid.