In the fallout from those Senate audits, the Conservatives have taken to calling Senator Duffy “a leader” for proactively paying back his expenses – even though it appears that he was tipped off that the finding was likely to go against him. But it also needs to be pointed out that the audits also showed that Duffy was not cooperative with Deloitte, as the other two Senators in question were. So there you have it, folks – “leadership.” Wow. Meanwhile, the opposition parties are calling for the RCMP to take a look over those expense claims, which the RCMP are reportedly set to do. Amid this, the government spent QP yesterday blaming the Liberals in the Senate for stonewalling the attempts to reform the spending rules – to which Senator Dennis Dawson later explained that they were being asked to debate audits and proposed rule changes they hadn’t yet seen yet, even though it seemed that certain Senators on the government side had already seen them in advance. Dawson gave the assurance that when the Senate is back – next week Parliament is not sitting – they will debate the audits and rule changes, as they will have had time to study them. (And it does make the government look dickish for trying to paint them as obstructionist).

Jason Kenney announced that new rules for family reunification-class immigrants are coming into place that will aim to prevent those sponsored family members from coming over and going onto welfare.

As the battle to try and get the Keystone XL pipeline approved intensifies, Joe Oliver has been getting into a war of words with Al Gore, and says that he wants climate change policy based on “reality,” and notes that all of the touted policies in Europe are also coupled with their stagnant economies.

The government is asking for another $20 million in advertising spending in the supplementary estimates. Age of fiscal austerity, everyone!

Glen McGregor finds the tendering documents for the plans to revamp the newly redubbed Museum of History, which gives a better idea of the things it plans to showcase – and lo, it’s not all Crowns or military achievements.

Here’s a good look at how Canada likes to talk a good game about open data, but won’t follow up with concrete measures, and as a result we’re lagging behind the rest of the world.

Here’s a list of the search terms – and MPs – on the PMO’s media monitoring service.

Order Paper questions reveal that over a 28-month period, CRA saw 44 people convicted of offshore tax evasion worth $7.7 million, 37 of whom pleaded guilty and avoided trial.

Alison Crawford looks into the email trail around the release of the RCMP’s Gender Based Analysis, and the fractious communications between Commissioner Paulson’s office and that of Vic Toews.

Colby Cosh takes apart the arguments behind making “gendercide” a Thing for anti-abortion activists to hide behind. Mark Warawa talks about the statement he made on Thursday – that Russ Hiebert gave up his spot in order for him to make it – and how he feels this issue will come back in the next Parliament. John Ivison notes that those activists are taking a page from Harper’s playbook and are trying to take small, incremental moves to achieve their goals.

Here is a fascinating look at the “digital outreach” that our government is engaging with in Iran, and the undeclared culture war that it signals.

John Geddes gives some suggestions on things to see in Ottawa this summer.

Here’s a look at Prince Harry’s current American tour.

And Jennifer Ditchburn speculates about the likely summer cabinet shuffle, and how certain cabinet ministers are keeping any retirement plans they may have close to their chests, as nobody wants to be like Carol Skelton. Chris Hall hears that staffers are being told to remain in town for the last two weeks in June – a likely sign of a shuffle – and points to the ways in which the government’s tired agenda is in need of a reset. Andrew Coyne, meanwhile, looks at the Conservatives’ slumping numbers and points to all of the self-inflicted causes for it. And it’s quite a good read.