Today in Idle No More news, hunger strike veteran Elizabeth May counsels Chief Theresa Spence to meet with everyone – especially Conservatives, whom she has been rebuffing to date. May also suggests there be a go-between that can meet with Spence and the PM, but Spence’s people rule that out. Spence’s people have also declared that she is no longer giving interviews, nor will she drop the demand that the Governor General be included in the meeting, even though he has stated his desire to stay out of the politics of the situation (as is proper under the rules of Responsible Government). AFN Grand Chief Shawn Atleo has called for a First Nations meeting on the 24th and has invited the PM and the GG to attend, and that could be a compromise that allows both sides to save face – err, except that Spence says that the 24th is too late, and that she intends to fast until the meeting happens (which, it should be noted, appears to be a case of goal posts being moved). And moving the goalposts even more, Spence apparently now demands that the PM and GG meet with aboriginal leaders within 72 hours or there will be “mass demonstrations” around the country – which doesn’t exactly sound either feasible (materials need to be prepared, schedules cleared and leaders assembled), and like a fairly top-down directive from what is supposed to be a grassroots movement.
In related news, Senator Brazeau says he’s getting death threats for his position on the Idle No More protests. Jon Kay looks back at the history of the Attawapiskat treaty, which is a pretty fascinating read (even if you don’t have to agree with his conclusions). Also, despite some of the torque in this piece, there are some pretty interesting questions being raised about the finances of Attawapiskat, where money does seem to be flowing through the reserve despite the third-world conditions there.
CSIS is concerned about Islamist radicalisation in Canada that his happening outside of mosques with hard line imams.
The Canadian Forces have a very hard time indeed of trying to attract recruits from non-Chinese Asian and Arab-Canadian communities. Meanwhile, a dispute over housing allowances is hurting existing soldiers and their families.
The Conservatives are being sued for back rent on their former campaign headquarters, which they’ve folded since there is no election anytime soon.
Maclean’s has an infographic about questions asked in QP, and while some of it is interesting, some of it neglects things like how under the “attendance” figure for party leaders that it’s rare for a leader to show up for a Friday QP (when half of the MPs are already on their way back to their ridings). Also, putting questions asked and answered in the same fields gives a misleading impression about the roles being played by both government and opposition and backbench MPs, which doesn’t help with the issue of civic literacy.
Here’s a look at women in leadership in politics over the past year, which was a banner year for female premiers.
Here’s another look at the potential problems in changing the rules of succession for the Monarch in Canada, since it looks like it’ll require a unanimous constitutional amendment.
And the cat sanctuary on Parliament Hill is closing down because of the age of the cats, and the fact that they are not replenishing the population to it. The remaining cats have been adopted, and they will be dismantling the structure.