It was a game of partisan back-and-forth yesterday as Mike Moffatt of the Richard Ivey School of Business noticed that one of the tariff changes in the budget might mean an increase five percent increase in the cost of MP3 players and iPods. Might. But the NDP were immediately gleeful that the government that lambasted them with the notion of an “iPod tax” (after they wanted a levy on the very same MP3 players for the sake of content creators) might have egg on their face, and sent out press releases quoting Moffatt, which is not without irony considering how often Moffatt calls the NDP out on their economic illiteracy. And Flaherty wasn’t having any of it either, noting a general tariff exemption on devices that you plug into a computer – which would include an iPod. But the tariff tables are maddeningly complex, Moffatt points out, and it was likely an accident that nobody caught.

Her Majesty wrote back to Elizabeth May and reminded her that no, she is not magic and cannot call a Royal Commission. Obviously. But while Kady O’Malley notes that the letter did direct May to the Governor General, I simply fear that this will bring on a new round of people believing that the GG is magic, when he can’t call royal commissions either.

The case of those scientists charged in connection to trying to transport that brucellosis pathogen gets more intriguing when you find that the pathogen is actually more common in China (where their cattle herds face outbreaks), but it also appears that their charges have more to do with intellectual property violations.

The RCMP finally confirmed the identity of the Canadians killed in Algeria taking part in that gas plant assault – and they want the help of Canadians to know how they got out of the country, and one presumes any information on who it was that radicalised them in the first place. Meanwhile, the intelligence community continues to press for exit controls in this country, so that they can track these kinds of individuals and hopefully prevent the spread of terrorism, though it’s an idea that is going to rile up the civil liberties organisations around the country.

Status of Women Canada has changed their mandate from promoting the equality of women, to “equality between men and women is being promoted and advanced in Canada.” Hmmm…. They also did away with performance targets, which seems suspiciously like another case of where when you don’t measure something, you can say whatever you like about its performance.

A Senate committee report recommends that Health Canada monitor post-market drug safety, as there is a major problem with unreported side-effects or adverse reactions.

The Federal Court has approved the settlement deal where the government will repay the money clawed back from disabled military veterans.

Economist Stephen Gordon looks at all the various market intervention measures in the Economic Action Plan™ and wonders if the Conservatives really want small government, or just cheap government.

With the incoming debate on the NDP revising their party’s constitutional preamble, it was noted that sections of Jack Layton’s final letter have been integrated into it. Kady O’Malley finds the constitutional preambles of as many parties as have them publicly available.

Scott Brison’s motion to have a study on income inequality in Canada is finally seeing action, and will get a whole four days of attention at the Finance Committee.

Over in Labrador, combing through the financials of all federal candidates in the last election shows that Peter Penashue was the outlier when it comes to donations and errors in reporting them, and that the only other candidate who had to change filings was Liberal Scott Simms, who was over-reporting his under $200 donations. Meanwhile, the by-election race is already heating up, and it’s the Liberal candidate Yvonne Jones who is front and centre, hitting back at Penashue’s claims of doing ALL THE THINGS for Labrador, when she’s been representing the riding provincially for the past 17 years.

Glen McGregor takes a look at the salaries of the charitable-status think-tank Fraser Institute, and it is curious to see the kind of compensation that they offer.

Martin Cauchon finally responds to the question of how he would handle the Warawa Rebellion (because apparently there was a delay in getting the message through the tunnel back to 1995). His response? Sure, more free votes and giving MPs freedom to introduce private members’ motions and make statements, which seems to indicate that he doesn’t actually know what’s going on. As for those “rebel” MPs, it looks like their riding associations are backing them all the way.

In other Liberal leadership news, iPolitics has an inforgraphic on how to build the perfect speech for this weekend’s candidate showcase. Deborah Coyne later jokingly tweeted that she could have used it sooner. Elsewhere, the Queer Liberals have responses from all six candidates on their two-part questionnaire on issues that concern them.

Here are the three things you need to see from last night’s political shows, including an interview with Senator Percy Downe about the problem of tax evasion. And yes, Senator Downe wants answers from his colleague about her husband’s activities and what she knew.

And Susan Delacourt has an e-book coming out today on the Trudeau campaign, and offers a bit of a preview here.