The Quebec bar association is now demanding that the issue of Justice Marc Nadon’s eligibility to sit on the Supreme Court as a Quebec judge be sent directly to the Supreme Court to have a swift ruling, seeing as the usual process of litigation could take some five years to work its way through. Because hey, let’s politicise this appointment even further, and set a potentially dangerous precedent for these kinds of challenges. Of course, given that this issue was foreseen (witness the legal opinion it came with), the Prime Minister could have actually avoided it all by appointing a different candidate instead.
Status of Women minister Kellie Leitch wasted no time in taking hold of the torch Christian Paradis was carrying around abortion funding and women aboard who are victims of rape or forced marriage, and ran with it. More nutritious babies instead, everyone!
The responsibility for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency is being moved from Agriculture to Health. Apparently it was a move that Stephen Harper wanted kept secret until the last minute. The move is not such a crazy idea, considering that people often pointed out the conflict of interest with Agriculture, whose job it is to promote the food industry, with CFIA’s mandate to promote food safety.
The government has made the decision that the naval resupply ships will be first off the line at the Vancouver Seaspan shipyards, pushing the new icebreaker until after the planned retirement date of our current heavy icebreaker. That leaves us dependent upon our allies for critical capacities because of the yard bottleneck – a bottleneck which will cost us an extra $55 million.
Doctors in BC are talking about taking the health minister to court over her move to shut down their access to clinical heroin for medical trials and treatment for worst-case addicts. Dan Gardner’s reposted a piece from his archives about the success of this kind of treatment in Europe – a decade ago.
An official from the PBO has jumped ship to take a job with his old boss, Kevin Page, at the University of Ottawa as they work to build a public finance institute as part of the nascent school of government that the university is building. Page had been hoping that Sahir Kahn would be his successor in the Parliamentary Budget Office, and says that Kahn was passed over for the wrong reasons.
Conservative MP Ryan Leef says that his call for an inquiry into missing and murdered Aboriginal women isn’t breaking party ranks, but simply standing up for his constituents. Well, so long as that’s clear… The RCMP have also taken to social media to highlight the disappearance of ten Aboriginal women, out of the estimated six hundred missing and murdered women. They also say that the campaign’s timing – coinciding with the visit of the UN special rapporteur – was a coincidence.
While in PEI, former Prime Minister Paul Martin said that the Senate expenses issue shows why it’s important for governments to be open and transparent. And yes, he reiterates the value of the Senate as an institution rather than playing cheap politics on the back of it.
Michael Den Tandt looks at the landscape of the brewing debate over the fate of the middle class, looks at where the parties are likely positioning themselves, and what will likely be some of the prescriptions to solve that problem (if, of course, it does indeed exist).
Toronto Centre Liberal candidate Chrystia Freeland just closed the sale of a house in that riding, with the assistance of her parents to get the mortgage as she is currently no longer employed.
Economist Andrew Leach looks at carbon pricing versus regulation of GHGs, and how carbon pricing may actually not be the better way to go.
And iPolitics imagines what the four party leaders are packing for the return of Parliament.