CSIS is sounding the alarm to business leaders around Chinese hackers and cyber-spies as the Nexen takeover bid continues to dominate the headlines. A former assistant director of CSIS says that we need to be aware that espionage these days is more about corporate interests and economic advantage – skewing the level playing field – than it is about government secrets, as it was during the Cold War.

Documents show that the government did study the possibility of private prisons, though Vic Toews has said that he’s dismissed the idea.

The second and final hour of debate on the private members’ motion to create a committee to study the legal definition of “human being” (aka the backdoor abortion debate) took place in the Commons and goes to a vote on Wednesday. And just a reminder that no, this is not an outright attempt to re-criminalise abortions, it’s a non-binding vote about creating a committee to come up with a non-binding report that can then get stuck on a shelf to collect dust because Stephen Harper does not want this issue to be resurrected, and he’s doing everything in his powers to kill it with fire. And for everyone who resumes to think that he should have disallowed the debate in the first place, well, the whole point of private members’ business is that it’s outside of the control of the party leader, the House leader, or the party whip, and any MPs who want the leaders to interfere *cough*Niki Ashton*cough* should really think about what it is they’re asking for, since it would mean curtailing what precious few freedoms backbenchers still possess.

A group representing sex trade workers has won the right to ask the court for leave to try Charter challenge cases. This will start the process in the BC Supreme Court within a few months.

Tony Clement refuses to answer questions on toll that the cuts are having on public servants after the suicide of a lawyer in the Justice department.

Worried about potentially embarrassing headlines, DND wants to increase the security classification of even non-sensitive information so that it can be withheld from Access to Information requests.

Here are some excerpts from an online chat with Chief Electoral Officer Marc Mayrand. In particular, online voting is still a ways off (and should never come to pass, if you ask me), and alterative voting systems don’t increase voter turnout, so the focus needs to stay on civic education. Meanwhile, it has been revealed that the fraudulent robo-call investigation has moved beyond Guelph.

American officials are accusing the Conservatives of leaking documents related to Omar Khadr to the media after an exclusive look at the transcripts of the psychological interviews has made it into this week’s Maclean’s (and it’s pretty interesting reading too). The psychologist in questions says the article is a “distortion” of the transcript, for what it’s worth.

Aaron Wherry gives the complete guide to the faux debate on the fictional “carbon tax” that’s not a carbon tax.

Here is your recap of the political shows yesterday.

And over in Calgary, the state funeral for Peter Lougheed was held yesterday.