There was some abysmal job numbers released yesterday, which sent the dollar plummeting, and a fresh round of wailing and gnashing of teeth from opposition MPs who demand a jobs strategy, which one imagines pretty much means new infrastructure programmes. Maclean’s Econowatch says that the numbers are showing that Flaherty’s wait-and-see approach to the economic recovery seems to be failing.

It appears that the government has already spent some $1.7 billion on the Sikorsky Cyclone helicopters, despite only a couple of training versions having thus far been delivered (but not actually accepted by the government because they’re not up to snuff). The price tag and the fact that the government decided to proceed with the process as is leads critics to believe the procurement has become “too big to fail.”

James Moore has announced that there will be another wireless spectrum auction in 2015, and this one will have smaller geographic allotments in order to try and prevent stir up more competition.

Peter MacKay says that there’s nothing wrong with medical marijuana. But doesn’t that make your position on criminalisation and prohibition that much less tenable?

There are grumblings within the Canadian Forces that the constant demands for personnel and equipment for politically motivated historical commemorations are make it difficult for them to plan, given that they are under-funded, and there are concerns that these commemorations are taking away from their current operational needs. But this is the government that stands up for our men and women in uniform!

The third suspected suicide of a Canadian soldier in a week had Thomas Mulcair penning an open letter to Stephen Harper to address the “suicide crisis” in the Canadian Forces. The PMO fired back that it was irresponsible to suggest that services weren’t available. Way to go on politicising this, guys.

Treaty talks between the government and First Nations have broken down after several AFN national chiefs ordered the process ended, despite the objection of two other national chiefs and several abstentions. Some $400,000 was spent on the process, which seemed to be making some incremental progress in laying out some groundwork, however there were concerns that mandates weren’t clear and that senior bureaucrats assigned to the file weren’t empowered to make decisions. Nevertheless, the process isn’t dead, but can be restarted once things start to better resolve themselves.

Former cabinet minister Jim Prentice says that people need to move on past the “distraction” of the Keystone XL debate and start taking a look at the larger picture of fuel consumption and transportation standards, as well as renewables and a greener continental energy grid.

Canadian taxpayers are footing the $8000/month rent that former RCMP Commissioner William Elliott is paying in Manhattan while he’s working for Interpol, on top of his $200,000/year salary.

Tobi Cohen goes through what will and won’t fall under the new “cyberbully” legislation when it comes to the “distribution of intimate images.”

Laura Payton looks at the ways in which the 2015 election campaign has already begun, including visuals that look like previous campaign backdrops, and other aspects of the “permanent campaign.” (But hey, fixed election dates are great for predictability, and so on and so on).

Greg Weston finds that Chuck Strahl isn’t the only member of the Security and Intelligence Review Committee that has ties to the oil industry, as one other member is a board member of Enbridge and another a former board member of TransCanada Pipelines. Not that any of them have actually come into a conflict of interest, but this is all about public perception, and so on.

The RCMP have filed an Information To Obtain request with the courts about former Senator Mac Harb, related to mortgage fraud. Which really has nothing to do with his role or expense claims as a Senator, but partisans can say, “Look! The Liberals are just as bad as Duffy and Wallin!” to make themselves feel better.

John Geddes talks to Thomas Mulcair, whose fairly impressive performance in the House isn’t resonating with the broader public. One line in particular struck me from the piece, where Mulcair boasts, “Look at the unity and discipline in our caucus. Look at the discipline in our message.” Erm, that’s not exactly something that I would boast about. Anyone can read a script that’s handed to them. Anyone can vote on command. It’s too bad that diversity of opinion or some independent voices or thought seem to be absent from that particular framework of party construction. Or maybe I’m just asking for too much when I want MPs to have some personal autonomy.

Jen Gerson talks to Rob Anders and some of his prospective opponents in the upcoming nomination battle, and she also looks at the riding’s electoral history where there has been a Red Tory/Blue Tory tension historically. Not that it adds to Anders’ credibility when he calls out anyone who doesn’t agree with him as a commie.

Alberta Conservative MP Brian Jean, who represents Fort McMurray, resigned quite suddenly yesterday, effective Friday, and didn’t offer much of a reason other than the usual “more time with family.”

And Brent Rathgeber writes a thoughtful blog post about the Bedford decision, and the complications around coming up with a new set of laws around prostitution that will respect the intent of the decision. In other words, not the Nordic Model, even though that’s what it looks increasingly like the direction that the government is headed in.