The crass politicking of Harper’s trip to Israel was laid bare yesterday with an incident at the Western Wall when Conservative MP Mark Adler was caught on tape haranguing a PMO staffer about getting past the security line to get a photo with Harper at the wall. “It’s the million dollar shot,” he complained, and reminded him of the re-election coming up. Adler, as it happens, has a large Jewish vote in his riding, and he narrowly took the long-held Liberal seat, so he has reason to be worried. But that said, it demonstrates just how much this trip is more about domestic politics than it is about an actual commitment to international engagement in the region. Speaking of those domestic politics, an anti-gay pastor is a member of the Harper delegation. Naturally. And then there’s the question of Canada’s position on the settlements, to which Harper said our position is well known – that we’re opposed to them – but refused to articulate it, saying instead that he wasn’t going to “single out” Israel for criticism.

So that “fundraiser” held for Shelly Glover featuring members of the arts community, that was totally just friends of hers (and for which she disavowed and returned the money)? Well, it turns out that they weren’t friends, that the invitation was explicit that it was largely members of the arts and cultural community who were told that Glover wanted to hear their views. It doesn’t look good for Glover there, and yes, the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner is now looking into it.

Have a major cyber-security incident? Chances are, the minister won’t give specific details of any such incident, but as it turns out, he’s got a fill-in-the-blanks script to follow! Because message discipline is what really matters when it comes to issues of public safety and national security.

It looks like Correctional Services of Canada spent at least $5 million on the Ashley Smith inquest. Liberal public safety critic (and former Solicitor General) Wayne Easter says that if CSC had cooperated from the start, those costs could have been greatly reduced.

It looks like CBSA has designated a quota of stripping 875 refugee claimants of their status this year – four times the level of last year. They say it’s to improve the integrity of the refugee system, but refugee lawyers and advocates warn that this is not only alarming given that each claimant’s case needs to be decided on its own merits, but it’s also likely to cause more backlogs.

The Canadian Coast Guard is going to start mapping potential shipping routes or “safe marine corridors” in the Arctic, along with the territorial and local governments. This is likely to open up the Pandora’s Box of the Americans’ dispute over the status of the Northwest Passage.

It sounds like Newfoundland and Labrador premier Kathy Dunderdale is resigning today.

In the new riding of Calgary-Confederation, a provincial MLA wants to run for the nomination and to do away with the “Red Tory/Blue Tory “ divisions within the party – but another staffer in the Premier’s office who also wants to run says that it’s likely going to be a “family feud.” Err, except that’s exactly what many a nomination battle is, which is part of why many candidates find that the nomination is a tougher battle than the general election itself. Oh, and said MLA said that he won’t resign his seat until he wins the nomination, whenever that happens. CBC has a look at the open nomination process, particularly in Alberta, and how it plays out.

Canadian Business gets the response from the Finance Department and CBSA to the Access to Information documents confirming that Mike Moffatt was right about the “iPod tax” tariff changes. Remember that drafts “are not final, approved documents.” Apparently the bigger issue is over TVs and the tariffs applied to them.

Michael Petrou writes about the price of non-intervention in Syria, where new revelations of torture by government forces have surfaced, and he notes that not intervening and claiming we chose the path of peace makes as much sense as an infant claiming he disappeared by covering his eyes.

And my column this week looks at the issues of MPs and Senators charging speaking fees, and why that’s preferable to the alternative.