Justin Trudeau says that he’s going to “make it right” with that charity that wants him to repay his speaking fee after their event flopped – though the fact that they’d still be in the hole even if he repays the whole amount is indication that there are more significant problems with that charity. Trudeau says that he’s going to show leadership by working with any charity that feels that they didn’t get their money’s worth from him, and repay them if necessary because it’s the “right thing to do.” To which the Conservatives debuted a new attack line that “Justin Trudeau’s favourite cause is…Justin Trudeau.” Bravo, guys. The move does raise a few questions, such as whether he’s now obligated to pay back any charity that can’t get their own affairs in order when they book him for events, and why a speaking fee is any different from say a caterer or venue. Questions have also been raised about the Grace Foundation, who demanded the repayment, after it was discovered that they have been a recipient of several million dollars of government money that was spent almost entirely on staff and administration, and the connections of senior board members with the PMO, and whether those had anything to do with the demand for the money over nine months after the event, while the Liberal leadership campaign was well underway. Aaron Wherry looks at the issue of speaking fees – of which many a Conservative senator also charge – and whether banning parliamentarians from having an outside income will really be that great of an outcome in the long run.

Senator Tkachuk continues to defend his handling of the various expense issues at the Senate’s Internal Economy Committee – that the changes to Duffy’s report weren’t a whitewash, that Mac Harb as given due process, and that they detected the irregularities in Pamela Wallin’s expenses before she claimed that she did. Speaking of Wallin, former BC Senator Pat Carney takes issue with Wallin’s claims that she just fell behind in her paperwork, and says that it’s really not that difficult, and that Wallin is just unfairly maligning her staff (though she did accept full responsibility, which is more than the others have).

Proposed changes to the Security of Information Act would bind past and present employees nine federal agencies and two defunct ones to permanent secrecy, no matter how much time has passed from their time in service or the operational details they know. Because this is the most transparent and accountable government in the history of ever!

While AFN National Chief Shawn Atleo says that there’s been no change in the government’s top-down approach in the five years since the Residential Schools apology, Bernard Valcourt is quick to counter by showing how much money the government is putting into things like education for First Nations. Tim Harper writes more about this particular dichotomy.

Two CRA employees have been found to have repeatedly violated privacy laws, one of them accepting cash and gifts to use his inside knowledge to give family and friends the largest possible refunds, the other who tried to prevent the agency from collecting the GST from a business that was delinquent in its filings.

Both Nathan Cullen and Joyce Murray have shelved the talk about electoral cooperation in their respective post-leadership environments, and both are seeing confident signs that it won’t be necessary to defeat Harper in any event.

A report on Library and Archives Canada’s digitisation strategy shows some pretty hefty problems of obsolescence, data proliferation, and data insecurity, which could become increasingly costly to maintain.

Oh noes! The training manual for National Capital Commission tour guides includes some actual praiseworthy facts about the Senate! How awful! Well, the “non-partisan” bit is a little exaggerated, but it’s less partisan than the Commons and many of their policy studies are fairly non-partisan in any case. Some of the stuff the manual says about two-party versus multi-party systems is a bit more problematic I will grant you, but again, none of the facts about incentives and internal cooperation are necessarily wrong either.

Well, this is interesting – the Czech prime minister has just stepped down after his top aide was found bribing members of parliament and ordering the agents to spy on people. A top aid bribing members of parliament? Why does that sound familiar?

In advance of the G8 meting where tax havens will be addressed, here are five reasons why Canada lags behind others when it comes to addressing this problem. Meanwhile, Harper held a photo op at the Guinness brewhouse in Dublin.

Here’s an interesting look at regimental anniversaries producing special commemorative beer, wine and spirits, and the issue of Crown intellectual property – witness Black Watch Whiskey, which is an unauthorised use of regimental emblems. Amidst all this is the issue of the Canadian army looking to be extra cautious with its image and reputation and looking to avoid product endorsements.

Here is an interesting radio discussion on the question of the Commons heritage committee looking at Canadian history. (It’s about 25 minutes long, but well worth a listen if you’ve got the time).

And Scott Feschuk gets a look at the Senate forms that have confused those errant senators so, and true to form, it’s quite amusing.