And with the likelihood that charges will be laid against Nigel Wright, the ClusterDuff exploded all over again yesterday, as an 81-page court affidavit from the RCMP investigator was made public. There are some fairly shocking revelations in there – things like how Wright was in communication with Senator Irving Gerstein as Gerstein made back channel contacts with a partner at Deloitte to inquire about the progress of the Duffy audit and how the repayment would affect it – and that such partner is a top Conservative donor, and that the firm also audit’s the party’s finances. Or that the Prime Minister was told “in broad terms” that Wright was helping Duffy out with the repayment – though it also says clearly that Harper was not told the particulars. That Gerstein considered using party funds to repay Duffy when they thought it was a $32,000 price tag. That there are a number of problems with Duffy’s various speeches in the Senate where he painted himself as some kind of unwitting victim. And that there was a heavy PMO hand in the attempt to change the audits, though there was pushback (including from one of LeBreton’s staffers, Chris Montgomery), and frustration on Wright’s part because the Senate was not responding as they would like when it came to the management of the crisis. Why, it’s terrible that Wright and the PMO were confronted by the notion that the Senate is an independent chamber of parliament that is institutionally independent from their control. The horror! There was even apparently an incident where the Senate clerk had to have words with Senator Carolyn Stewart-Olsen about her partisan behaviour on the steering subcommittee of the Internal Economy Committee. (Mark Kennedy has some highlights here.)

In response, we got statements from Nigel Wright’s lawyer, the PMO, and Senator Tkachuk. Here is an updated timeline of the whole affair as it stands. John Geddes looks at how these new revelations reflect on the top Conservatives and players in the affair. Andrew Coyne notes that the thread that the Prime Minister is clinging to is rapidly fraying by this point. Paul Wells looks at the whole sordid affair, including the recent revelations in the Michael Sona case, and ties it all together. The At Issue panel gives their thoughts here. And given the talk about the influence of the PMO in the Senate and how that impacts the chamber’s independence, here is my post on how Harper precipitated this state of affairs through his own neglect.

The government decided to put forward their cyberbullying bill yesterday after QP, though perhaps it is more apt to call it a “cyberbullying” bill since it’s most of the contentious stuff from their previous lawful access bill stuffed into a fifty-page omnibus crime bill under the veneer of combating cyberbulling. Instead, it’s full of things like authorised seizures of computers for more than just cyberbullying or “revenge porn,” but also hate materials as well, and to top it all off, there are even provisions in the bill about stealing cable. No, seriously. And Peter MacKay refused to answer questions about why more was stuffed into the bill – though we know that it’s so that the government can accuse opposition parties of not wanting to stand up for the victims of cyberbullying like Amanda Todd and Rehtaeh Parsons when they balk at the same provisions that the government opted not to go ahead with in the old C-30.

Transport Minister Lisa Raitt has issued a protection directive to have railway companies inform municipalities about the dangerous substances that are being transported through them by rail. The problem is the information will be months old, which Raitt acknowledges that isn’t a preventative measure, but will hopefully give better preparation for the management of a potential future disaster. Everyone seems to agree that this is more of a first step.

Documents obtained under Access to Information show that the National Energy Board was coordinating with RCMP and CSIS in order to get intelligence on environmental groups opposed to pipeline construction. Ostensibly the NEB was concerned about threats to the pipeline hearings and their members, even though there was no indication of direct threat at the time.

The NDP want to create a “science watchdog” to monitor if the government is using science to shape its policies. Um, sorry? I wasn’t aware that Canada was a technocracy ruled by its bureaucrats, or that the public service dictated policy rather than advised the government of the day. And hey, let’s create yet more “watchdog” positions who are accountable to no one and pretend that they are above politicking! Because that’s the way things work in a parliamentary democracy!

The lack of a bilateral meeting between Stephen Harper and Chinese president Xi Jinping might be pointing to some new tensions in our relationship.

Nova Scotia senator Gerald Comeau, who is also the current chair of the Internal Economy Committee, has announced that he’s retiring early – next week, in fact – and that no, it has nothing to do with the current scandals that are dominating the chamber’s coverage.

And Pundit’s Guide looks at the by-election advance polling numbers, and notes the big decline in Bourassa numbers.