One of the aspects of the new electoral reform bill that I was always wondering about – leadership fundraising – is being changed. Once it comes into force, contributions to leadership campaigns can be annual instead of lifetime, so that means that some of those former leadership candidates can start to fundraise from the same donors again. The bill doesn’t change the enforcement of those old debts, which was basically unenforceable. Meanwhile, Jason Kenney has said that the government would consider amending the bill at committee to include a ban on veiled voting, after a question by the Bloc about this. While David Christopherson may warn that it’s a dangerous game to find a wedge issue like this, he seems to forget that his party was also in favour of banning veiled voting when it was an issue in the Commons a couple of years ago. Stephen Maher points to the various flaws in the bill that require correcting – and all party support to make the whole endeavour legitimate. Andrew Coyne wonders just what problems the bill was intending to solve, because the provisions in the bill seem to be reflecting problems that aren’t actually there.

There is cautious optimism around the Prime Minister’s announcement yesterday of a new framework around First Nations education, which will be led more directly by First Nations, which will include indigenous language and culture as part of instruction, and which will include new funds for both education and infrastructure as well as a 4.5 percent funding escalator – though most of the new funds won’t be in place until 2015 or so. There are still questions to be asked and more consultations to be had, but it does seem like a good start, and more First Nations are onside with this proposal than the previous one.

While at his budget shoes photo-op yesterday, Jim Flaherty indicated that there would be measures in the budget to crack down on charities that launder funds for organised crime or terrorists. He wouldn’t say anything about environmental charities other than for them to be cautious in their political activities.

The Commons ethics committee submitted its report on changes to the Conflict of Interest Act, which ignored most of the recommendations put forward by expert witnesses including the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, Mary Dawson. Both opposition parties submitted minority reports, but seeing as the Conservatives have the majority on the committee, they were able to pass their own report with a mere sixteen recommendations, most unrelated to that testimony, and forward it to the House.

Detailed schematics of the military’s signals intelligence listening post at its Leitram Road operations centre showed up on the Internet, attached to a Public Works tender for a fit-up of its ops room. Apparently there are the kinds of details in these diagrams that could be used to “reverse engineer” the capabilities of the facility, which is kind of a big deal. And yes, the Auditor General has often warned about lax security concerns, especially with these kinds of contracts, and yet it happened again.

James Moore announced the new framework for Canada’s space programme, which is largely about focusing on our strengths, like robotics, but there is no new money attached. Marc Garneau, the former head of the agency, says that it’s all well and good, but you need money because that kind of research and results don’t come for free. The plan will also help pave the way for more cooperation with the private sector and various research bodies around the country.

There are concerns that the “lost Canadian” provisions in the new citizenship bill may fall short, but there is a sense that they will have to see all of the details first.

Two private members’ bills – the one on “union transparency” and the one on single sports betting – are in legislative limbo in the Senate and will likely wind up dying there, given that the union bill faced too much pushback by Conservative senators, even though it’s a Conservative bill, and the betting bill is fatally flawed and never got a proper vote in the Commons.

Canada is sounding the alarm about a bill in Afghanistan that would erode women’s rights in that country.

Priority resolutions at the Liberal policy convention are starting to take shape, including one to launch a Royal Commission on the tax system in Canada to make it more streamlined, simpler, and competitive, rather than the labyrinthine system of boutique credits and exceptions like exists currently. It also sounds like there may be talk of proportional representation (sigh), and that the BC wing of the party has withdrawn their resolution on legalising and taxing prostitution in the wake of the Supreme Court decision on the Bedford case.

Elizabeth May went to Washington DC to attend Obama’s prayer breakfast, and to speak with American lawmakers about climate change.

The Aga Khan will address parliament later this month.

Stephen Wicary writes about Cuba’s slow change that doesn’t actually give up communism but rather transforms its socialism in different ways.

And iPolitics has their own satirical preview of next week’s budget speech, keeping in theme with the Olympics that everyone will be focused on instead.