The Transportation Safety Board released their recommendations following the Lac-Mégantic disaster, which not only includes phasing out the DOT-111 tanker cars (though there is no mandated timeline), but also choosing the safest routes, better emergency measures along those routes, and limiting train speeds along the routes that carry dangerous goods. Routes should also be inspected twice a year. The government accepts the recommendations, but because things are complicated and the systems integrated across North America, talks continue between governments.

In Jordan, Stephan Harper pledged an additional $100 million in aid for the country to help deal with the influx of Syrian immigrants that are straining their resources.

Mark Adler wants you to know that his demand for the “million dollar shot” at the Western Wall was just a joke. It was all tongue-in-cheek! Really! Err, except that’s not exactly the tone in the video, but whatever, right?

Jonathan Kay and Emma Tietel both write about the particular manic zeal that Stephen Harper has for all things Israel, but in the process is making his support more about support for Netanyahu than about Israel itself.

The government gets letters, many of which are critical of their Middle East policies.

Kady O’Malley looks at the issue of the PMO’s relationship with ethnic media, and looks at the ones who are excluded as well as the ones that were being courted and who asked fawning questions at that closed-door event. That there is an added relationship when it comes to ad buys adds an interesting dimension to the issue.

At a stop in Alberta, Justin Trudeau said that he’s watching those two American states that have legalised marijuana with an eye to drawing on best practices. Trudeau also told the Okotoks audience that Harper’s inability to come up with a comprehensive environmental policy is what’s holding back Keystone XL and giving the oilsands a black eye.

Gerry Ritz seems to think that there’s reason for optimism in the ongoing dispute with the Americans over country-of-origin labelling.

Auditors at Veterans Affairs have found that tens of thousands of veterans’ graves in Canada require repairs, as do four of our war monuments in Europe. Small wonder that said auditors say that a more efficient approach than a twelve-year cycle is needed.

Errors in Attawapiskat’s financial statements weren’t caught by either an outside audit firm or the Department of Aboriginal Affairs. It makes you wonder about the quality of oversight.

Some people seem to think that the government’s talking down the value of the dollar is a mere attempt to paper over the actual structural challenges that our economy faces, while they try to race to a balanced budget before the election.

With the announcement that Ontario has named former Prime Minister Paul Martin as a special advisor on a proposed provincial pension plan, John Geddes parses the reactions, including how Minister of State Kevin Sorensen’s talking points differed from Stephen Harper’s own position.

Paul Wells writes briefly about the eight-year anniversary of Harper coming to power.

With the PQ polling ahead in Quebec, Michael Den Tandt sees that the federal Liberals are likely to be the only party that can benefit from this turn of events.

Veteran NDP MP Jean Crowder has announced that she won’t be seeking re-election.

Here’s last night’s PostMedia political roundup.

And BuzzFeed ranks our 22 prime ministers in order of hotness. No, seriously.