Stephen Harper’s former advisor, and now accused fraudster, Bruce Carson, wrote a book. And as Colby Cosh noted, historians are forever grateful to those with nothing to lose. So while the Conservatives and NDP gripe about Carson’s current status, we have stories on how Harper wanted to move Jim Flaherty to industry in 2007 but he refused to go, and that Harper backed down because he didn’t want to lose him. We have a story on how Harper gave advice to Jack Layton in the 2008 election about trying to “bury” Stéphane Dion, and how Harper had Ambrose so busy doing other things when she was environment minister that she couldn’t pay attention to her actual file. And here’s a story on how Harper briefly thought he might have to step aside while the Cadman affair (remember that?) was in full swing, before being disabused of that notion by his staff. Could make for interesting reading.
Charles and Camilla completed their four-day royal tour in Winnipeg. As part of the visit to the Winnipeg zoo, Prince Charles fed a polar bear – good thing we’ve got a spare heir or two in the line of succession! They saw the local Winnie the Pooh exhibits, and Camilla visited the Royal Winnipeg Ballet while Charles visited a local facility for those with mental health needs. They also met with some Aboriginal leaders, including Manitoba Grand Chief Derek Neepinak who gave his opinions on the First Nations education legislation to the Prince (not that he can really do anything about it seeing as we have Responsible Government and all). Also with the end of the tour come the folks griping about the costs, never mind that we get our monarchy at a bargain. Here is a look at how one of the Prince’s charities is helping urban Aboriginals get caught up on their education and get jobs.
Justin Trudeau says he won’t turn to “gutter politics” in the next election. Famous last words, what everyone promises but few people ever adhere to once the election gets heated and the finish line gets closer in sight.
Speaking of Trudeau, the CBC seems fixated on the abortion non-story, saying that the party finds his stance confusing (err, it’s the party’s stance that they voted on in a policy convention and that he’s following as the leader), while Trudeau defends himself against Catholic criticism (I’m sure they’re still thrilled that same-sex marriage is also party policy), and they got a pollster to show that this is all groundwork for the 2015 election so that they don’t get flat-footed by the NDP and maybe even steal votes from them. (Really? Can we stop inflating this non-story yet?) Aaron Wherry notes that Trudeau’s “policy” sounds a lot like Harper’s, despite the Conservatives trying to call him out on it.
The tension between telecom companies and the Privacy Commissioner’s office is ratcheting up as we learn that three of the major companies would only release their information in aggregate form, and that the Privacy Commissioner’s office finally relented in order to get a handle on the scope of the problem, though they find the bulk of the data to be useless as it has no specifics. Telecom companies say they’re trying to walk a fine line between privacy rights and not antagonizing government or law enforcement. Meanwhile, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association is going to launch a Charter challenge of these warrantless access demands.
Ontario’s Privacy Commissioner has come out against the “overreaching surveillance powers” in the federal “cyberbullying” bill, which is less about actual cyberbulling and more about lawful access under another name.
Natural Resources is boosting its efforts to get cooperation from First Nations on pipeline projects.
What’s that? The government’s attempt to absolve themselves of responsibility over medical marijuana by turning over permit-granting powers to individual doctors has lead to possible cases of fraud? You don’t say! This on top of prices rising for users who are already on fixed disability incomes. It’s almost like they didn’t think the whole move through or anything!
Tinnitus and hearing loss are the top two causes of male RCMP disability claims, while PTSD is the top female RCMP disability claim, followed by depression and chronic lower back pain. Interesting, and important for the RCMP to know in order to address the issues.
The Lobbying Commissioner has big plans on rewriting the Lobbyists Code of Conduct over the summer, and well present a draft version to stakeholders in the fall.
The NDP and other civil society groups are calling the human rights report mandated by our free trade deal with Colombia to be a sham, where the government didn’t provide adequate time or notice for comment. One could also say that the government really narrowly views the requirement as only issues directly related to trade with Canada, which seems to go against the spirit of the agreement made (and from what I understand, more a reluctance on the part of the Canadian government than the Colombian).
Fantastic law professors Carissima Mathen and Paul Daly look at the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s Nadon decision, and note that Harper’s comments about Federal Court judges being made “second-class citizens” as a result only cast them in an unappealing light, and points to ways in which the Federal Court could instead be reformed. Meanwhile, further attempts to change the selection criteria of the court for language, gender or ethnicity will now be constitutional processes.
And Paul Wells writes about the success that Stephen Harper’s Maternal and Child Health plans are having, as an international conference on the topic will be held in Toronto next week.