AFN National Chief Shawn Atleo is optimistic and sees progress after sending a strongly worded letter to Aboriginal Affairs minister Bernard Valcourt over the proposed First Nations Education Act, and Valcourt has been willing to consult further in order to get the bill right. (Strongly-worded letters – so very Canadian). Atleo nevertheless wants education funding boosted in the next budget, before the bill passes, which has been one of the sticking points of their negotiations.

Canada Post CEO Deepak Chopra (no, not that Deepak Chopra) says that ending door-to-door delivery is necessary to turn Canada into a leader of electronic commerce. He also reiterated that most of the staff cuts will come through attrition as people retire, and that they’ll pare down their executives as well. Chopra is due to be at the Commons Transport committee meeting today in order to answer questions MPs have of the changes.

Peter MacKay says that he might consider making marijuana possession a ticketable offence as police chiefs have suggested, but it shouldn’t be considered a “softening” of the stance, since it widens the net.

Glen McGregor tallies the number of words spoken by MPs in official scrums in the Foyer after QP, and finds the Conservatives’ have dropped precipitously, while Thomas Mulcair has been quite loquacious. That said, the caveat is that this is just official scrums captured by Gallery microphones – one can get many an MP in a one-on-one situation more often than not (less so with ministers, mind you).

On a similar note, anonymous Conservatives say that nobody is afraid of the PMO of chief of staff Ray Novak anymore. Err, except they won’t go on record to say it, which implies that perhaps they are still afraid of them but are trying to talk tough to journalists. Yay backbones!

Not that it’s a big surprise, but Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson has declined Democracy Watch’s request to probe the ClusterDuff affair, on the grounds that it’s not in the public interest to do so while the RCMP is investigating. I’m also not sure how much of it would fall into her rather narrow mandate, mind you.

The Canadian Army plans to park some of its aging medium and heavy trucks in favour of keeping tanks and light armoured vehicles running instead.

A Saskatchewan First Nation is being subjected to a forensic audit after complaints that the chief and council were using social assistance money for personal purchases.

In his year-end interview, Jason Kenney says that he’s made some progress on the Canada Jobs Grant file, but doesn’t want it to detract from other important areas like skills recognition across provinces.

While Jim Flaherty insists that he’s going to run again in the next election, there are mounting concerns about his health.

The case to get Ontario Police documents related to residential school abuses turned over to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission is now before the courts.

Ontario’s health minister says that her province is getting far less in the way of federal transfers than other provinces – 3.4 percent instead of the promised six percent.

The Competition Bureau plans to look at whether Google is abusing its market dominance in Canada.

Huffington Post profiles CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais, and finds someone dedicated to public service as he tries to steer the arms-length regulator toward a more consumer-focused position instead of one simply concerned with protecting Canadian industry. Nevertheless, the fact that his priorities seem to align with the government’s raises questions, though he bristles with the Conservatives take credit for his decisions, while industry finds that he’s too arm’s length for their liking.

Justin Trudeau overtakes Stephen Harper in Google searches. This means something – right?

Bernard Landry is apparently considering a run for the Bloc Québécois leadership.

In my column this week, I look at how Commons Speaker Scheer has undermined his own authority through weak rulings, the inconsistent application of rules and a lack of gravitas.

And Against Reform author John Pepall also finds the leadership selection section of Michael Chong’s Reform Act to be a major flaw in the bill, which I also agree on.