The Liberals have big questions about the NDP’s “branch office” in Montreal, which they claim is totally for coordinating parliamentary work and is totally not doing any partisan work – really! Note that the NDP complained when the Bloc had an office set up in Montreal paid for out of Parliamentary funds, but when they do it, it’s not problem. What I find intensely curious about the whole affair is not only the way in which several of these staffers have dual titles, and that a number of them are labelled as “outreach.” The thing that I finds a little disturbing is the way that this points to a concerning level of central control when it comes to their MPs and staff, far and above the particular level of centralisation they already have with staffers on the Hill. Suffice to say, it all does look a bit suspicious.

Stephen Harper met with the Ukrainian ambassador yesterday in advance of his trip to the country, and to discuss the imposition of new sanctions on Russian decision makers in the wake of the “referendum” in Crimea, and the possible outbreak of war in Ukraine.

Aaron Wherry looks at the sections of the Fair Elections Act that deal with public education – in particular, teaching students about elections. It certainly looks like Elections Canada’s ability to fund the Student Vote programmes will be in jeopardy, and civic education groups are concerned that objective source funding will disappear as a result.

Suspended senator Patrick Brazeau’s court case has been held over for six more weeks while his legal team comes to grips with the complexity of the case, and to be fair, there are some pretty hefty issues to be tackled with, because Brazeau did get clearance from Senate administration for claiming his primary residence in Maniwaki.

Oh dear – an internal audit at Transport Canada shows that their own auditors lack oversight, and lack enough direction in order to have clear objectives.  Those particular shortcomings only exacerbate the department’s well-known weaknesses in conducting and documenting inspections, which is especially under close scrutiny in this post-Lac Mégantic era. The minister says that she welcomes the recommendations and that the department is working to implement them.

An internal RCMP report shows that the Force expects the number of officers disabled while on duty to double in the next 15 years. Many of these disabilities will be PTSD-related.

The military nixed plans the government was trying to put into place for a special tribute to the Afghanistan mission during the Canada Day noon show because of concerns that it would signal a militarization of the event, which they wanted to avoid.

A former Senate staffer and one-time Conservative candidate in Quebec has been charged with fraud and breach of trust by the RCMP after he received payment while claiming he could influence contracts around the West Block renovations. What’s sad about this particular case is that it will rub off his former boss, Senator Pierre-Claude Nolin, who really is one of the best senators in the Upper Chamber.

Apparently it cost some $2300 for the Canadian delegation to park over five days at Davos for the World Economic Forum. Forgive me if I don’t take the Canadian Taxpayers Federation’s cheap outrage at face value when they say that they could have just taken the shuttle back to Zurich, since appearances and status do matter at events like these, and I’m not sure that it would serve our interests to look a Mickey Mouse outfit that has to take the bus.

Here is more about the resolution passed by the Parliamentary Press Gallery about our right to ask questions at any media availability of any parliamentarian, be it the Prime Minister, cabinet minister, MP or Senator. While a boycott was discussed, it was realised that it was unrealistic, and we have instead decided to affirm our rights. James Baxter writes more about this from an editor’s viewpoint here.

NDP organizer and former Paul Dewar leadership worker Joe Cressey has announced he plans to run for the nomination in Trinity Spadina. Cressey was also the mastermind behind a protest in the public gallery in the Commons back in 2009, and one has to ask that if he had contempt for Parliament back then by pulling such a stunt, why should we believe him that he has any more respect for the institution now?

Air Canada is suspending flights to Venezuela because of anti-government protests in that country.

The Supreme Court will rule on the Nadon reference on Friday.

Jesse Brown’s Canadaland podcast talks to Martin Patriquin about Pierre-Karl Péladeau.

Maclean’s talks to four important voices in Afghanistan as Canada completes its mission there, who each say that there is reason for optimism going forward.

Here’s a good Q&A on the situation with Alison Redford.

And Liberal would-be candidate Zach Paikin has opted not to run in protest over the party’s decision to block Christine Innes’ candidacy. Err, except that a) Paikin didn’t even file nomination papers, b) he said a bunch of really ignorant thinks about Ukraine last weekend that were likely to sour his run anyway, and c) anyone who thinks he’s a “star candidate” really needs to get out more.