The Bloc Québécois has expelled one of its few MPs – and it’s only woman, visible minority, and Montreal representative in caucus – over her criticisms of the Quebec “Charter of Values.” Maria Mourani ran for the leadership of the party and lost to Daniel Paillé, who doesn’t have a seat, and her expulsion leaves them with a caucus of four white male MPs. And it’s too bad, because Mourani was one of their best MPs. I doubt, however, that she will join up with the NDP as some have speculated, because she remains a sovereigntist. Meanwhile, an Ontario hospital is releasing ads targeting doctors in Quebec who are from religious minorities, trying to attract them to move to Ontario instead. Justin Trudeau writes that he knows that Quebeckers are better than the divisive politics that Pauline Marois proposes with the “Charter.” Paul Wells traces more of the roots of this particular “Charter” and the anxieties that lay behind it, while Andrew Coyne says that Quebeckers can no longer content themselves that this legislation isn’t offensive – but that the rest of Canada can’t pat themselves on the back either, given that in Ontario, Dalton McGuinty won an election on very nearly the same grounds. Michael Den Tandt looks at how this latest move could backfire on Pauline Marois.

News that one of Jim Flaherty’s top aides is moving on to a new career at Scotiabank has John Geddes looking at the state of our lobbying laws and prohibitions against former staffers taking such kinds of jobs.

Oh dear – it seems that the problem with the new Cyclone helicopters isn’t just software – it’s also that their electronics aren’t properly shielded, and can be knocked out by the military-grade radar of the ships they would be stationed aboard. Wow. Apparently it’s not an insurmountable obstacle, but would mean plenty more weight for said choppers. You think this would have been figured out before they sent over test models?

It looks like the fall will be about the federal cabinet trying to make a big push on pipelines, and in particular, trying to win over hearts and minds in order to make the Northern Gateway happen.

There are some serious concerns about the potential for the federal government to outsource the Justice Department’s litigation branch to private firms, as they call for tenders for an evaluation process.

It has been announced that Jason MacDonald is the new wife of Henry VIII Prime Minister’s Director of Communications.

Part three of Amy Minsky’s look at independent officers of Parliament has her speaking to Public Safety Integrity Commissioner Mario Dion, who talks about the challenge of basically rebuilding his entire organisation after the disastrous performance of his predecessor, Christiane Ouimet, and how he came out of retirement for the challenge of taking on such a task.

Among the recipients of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal was Lucien Bouchard. I think that says it all about how poorly thought-out the nomination process was. A senior NDP staffer also received the medal from Nycole Turmel, so it wasn’t just Conservatives, apparently. In even stranger news, apparently Brian Mulroney once offered Jacques Parizeau a Senate seat while he was trying to win support for Meech Lake – as an independent Senator, mind you, but still.

The lieutenant government of Ontario has planned a dinner for all MPPs in order to try and turn down the partisan temperature. While it may be an admirable sentiment, however, it does seem to be getting a touch to the activist side for the role of a lieutenant governor, and he should be very cautious about overreaching in his mandate. After all, it’s far more damaging to the institution if he starts gong out of his way to be an activist in the name of a fuzzy concern for the health of Ontario’s democracy. Democracy can survive some partisanship – it was never meant to be a campfire where people are singing “Kumbaya” around it.

Prince William has concluded his military service, and will now take up more royal duties, especially with respect to charities, and take up the slack from his aging grandparents.

On Power Play, Susan Delacourt talks about her new book, Shopping For Votes, which looks at the use of political marketing in this country.

And Andrew Potter gets emails – specifically, those purporting to be from the Queen, by way of a Chinese publicist, of course.