Conservative MP Michael Chong is introducing another reform bill today, which would approach his proposed reforms to leadership reviews from another angle, via the Parliament of Canada Act, rather than the Elections Act, especially to address concerns brought forward by his caucus. That said, it still doesn’t address the fundamental issues of leadership selection, and the consequences of maintaining our current system of membership selection rather than caucus selection, or what happens to the legitimacy of a sitting Prime Minister when a caucus orders a leadership review, which is kind of a big deal. I will also be interested to see if this version contains the provision for a provincial nominating officer instead of a riding one, but there remain other problems with the original Reform Act that Chong tabled, so we’ll see how many this new one corrects.

The NDP have appointed a new national director, Anne McGrath, after their previous one left to work on Olivia Chow’s mayoralty campaign in Toronto. McGrath is promising open nominations, but I’ll believe that when I see an actual challenger to Joe Cressy in Trinity–Spadina, rather than have his nomination be an uncontested fait accomplit contrary to party rules (as what currently appears to be happening).

Thomas Mulcair, meanwhile, is taking swipes at Justin Trudeau, saying that he doesn’t really understand the middle class because he’s never really been part of it. Um, okay – because Trudeau never addressed this before during his leadership? Because he needs to be punished for being born into a famous family? Because he can only speak for the children of former prime ministers? Are we going to start with class warfare politics now? Also, does this mean that Mulcair cannot understand women, gays, visible minorities, or non-Quebeckers? Mulcair also noted that he’s the only federal leader who can vote in the Quebec election, which is self-evident, so I’m not sure why it’s being made a big deal of. Oh, right – because while Trudeau still represents a Montreal riding, he moved his young family to Ottawa so that he can spend more time with them. Again, not sure why this is supposed to be a big deal unless Mulcair wants to make some statement about politicians with young families.

What’s that? The Director of Public Prosecutions wasn’t consulted about the Fair Elections Act either, despite the fact that it proposes to put the Commissioner of Elections under his purview? You don’t say!

Public sector unions are filing a grievance with the government after Treasury Board instituted new performance guidelines for public servants to follow. These could mean demotions or lack of pay increases if performance is judged to be unsatisfactory, which doesn’t happen currently as everyone gets annual increases in five-step increments until they reach the maximum of their current salary ranges.

Access to Information documents show the six punctures in HMCS Athabascan’s Hull after a tugboat collision will cost $2 million to repair, and that in getting a tow from dock near St. Catharine’s, Ontario, to Halifax, tow lines snapped several times between the ships. So really, it seems like the Royal Canadian Navy can’t catch a break these days.

It’s been 20 years since the genocide in Rwanda, and Canadian soldiers who were in the country are still suffering from the psychological legacy of that time, including now-Senator Romeo Dallaire, whose struggles with PTSD are well known.

Here’s a look at Justin Trudeau’s recent spate of profane language, and whether or not it’s really part of a script that is trying to cast him in a different light to his staid rival. Sunday Edition talks about the media’s reluctance to actually spell out such profanities in this day and age, where We The Media seem more aghast at it than the public at large.

Here’s a look at political power couples in Canada, and whether Eve Adams and Dimitri Soudas fit into the narratives that we have established in this country.

Colby Cosh reads over the latest paper by Philippe Lagassé and James Bowden on royal succession and finds the argument persuasive – that our government, in passing a law that merely assents to the changes to succession of the UK Crown rather than changing the Canadian Crown, it reduces us to a colony state and exposes us to having our entire constitutional underpinning thrown out the window if the UK abandons their monarchy in a fit of republican pique. (Cosh’s characterisation of the Canadian republican movement is also priceless).

Incidentally, that group trying to challenge the Oath to the Queen are taking their fight to the Ontario Court of Appeal, because they don’t grasp the concept of a constitutional monarchy and the fact that the Sovereign is the embodiment of the state, and that is who they are swearing the oath to, not Elizabeth II as a natural person.

In the wake of the Quebec election, Paul Wells reflects on how star candidates tend to be a bad deal in the end, after the many times they have either fizzled or simply burned the leader that recruited them.

And here’s a list of countries who get left off of our Canada Day invitation lists, for various reasons both obvious and surprising.