The provincial premiers are meeting in Halifax to talk about the economy, and yet, Stephen Harper won’t be there – despite insisting that the economy is his favourite topic and the one thing that all Canadians really care about instead of any other pesky political problems. Funny that.

New refugee laws come into force next month, which mandate mandatory detention for “mass arrivals” – basically refugees that arrive on boats. Never mind that this has proven to be a costly failure in Australia, Jason Kenney still insists it’ll be a deterrent for false asylum seekers – even though it’ll make things worse off for legitimate refugees.

Northern Gateway environmental hearings have added an additional ten weeks in BC, seeing as a lot of people want their say on the project.

The Chinese ambassador to Canada – in very undiplomatic language – says that unless you’re willing to produce evidence that China is spying on us, then shut up about it. Also on the diplomacy file, it seems that our embassy in Moscow is vulnerable to terrorist attacks and espionage, while the move to a new, more security facility, has been delayed by another three years.

The CBC has a pretty good look at some of the issues involved in negotiating our trade agreement with the European Union.

A former NDP MP is accusing the Conservatives of trying to gerrymander ridings under the boundary redistribution in Manitoba.

Joe Comartin is adjusting to his new role as Deputy Speaker.

Oh, look – Joan Crockatt did attend an all-candidates debate in Calgary Centre, where she proceeded to spout fictitious carbon tax talking points and accusing the CBC of funding porn. Bless!

And here is your recap of the Sunday morning political shows, with a number of interviews from the Halifax International Security Forum.