MPs, in their infinite wisdom, decided to pass the royal succession bill at all stages unanimously with no debate. That’s right – an unconstitutional bill that de-patriates our constitution and relegates us to the status of Crown colony passed with zero debate. Way to go, MPs. Provide that oversight! So yeah. Here’s hoping the Senate will do it job and actually put a stop to this nonsense. Meanwhile, here’s more condemnation of the bill, this time from James WJ Bowden.

The government has unveiled its 2013 Tough on Crime™ agenda. Because apparently there’s no rest for the wicked.

Government backbenchers say that the high-profile nature of the Parliamentary Budget Officer has made them gun shy about asking him for reports. Because you know, it might be unseemly for backbenchers to be seen to be doing their job of holding the government to account.

Oh dear – it seems that DND didn’t tell Julian Fantino about the counterfeit parts found in Hercules aircraft back when he was the associate minister – and hence when he was asked about it by the media, he didn’t actually have the correct information and was made to look a bit of a fool. That doesn’t seem very cool or respectful of the relationship between public servants and ministers, now, does it?

What’s that? Government Economic Action Plan™ advertising has ballooned since the recession? You don’t say?

It seems that the Beyond the Border initiative, aimed at thinning the border with the US, may soon fall victim to American budget cuts.

With the penny now dead, attention turns to nickels and dimes.

Here’s an analysis of Harper’s Senate reference, which posits that it aims to make reforms in their small and incremental ways more palatable than abolition and the chaos that it would cause – but seems to neglect the very real possibility of chaos if the reforms are done piecemeal without any thought as to the bigger picture of the institution in its bicameral and federalist context.

It seems that Senator Mike Duffy won’t be getting an expedited health card from PEI after all. And it’s starting to look more and more like his appointment may in fact be unconstitutional because he doesn’t maintain his primary residence there. This could get very interesting.

Laura Stone has lunch with Conservative MP Candice Bergen, who doesn’t actually own a gun and has no real desire to – but she’ll still champion the rights of farmers and duck hunters, and so on.

And here are the three things you need to see from last night’s political shows.

Up today: It’s the Environment Commissioner’s latest report. Expect the usual bout of wailing and gnashing of teeth from the opposition benches.