Day one of the Sona trial, and we find that he discussed American-style voter suppression at some point during the campaign. Not that he had any intention of acting upon it, or that he had the means to do so, or that he said he had engaged in it – just that he discussed it. Sona’s lawyer also got some of the witnesses to admit that they got promotions and hefty raises after they talked to Elections Canada about Sona – which is all very curious, but no doubt a big part of Sona’s strategy of undermining the credibility of his accusers.

The Americans unveiled their new coal-fired electricity regulations, and the Conservatives were all “Thanks for following our lead – we did that two years ago!” with no apparent awareness that the one sector that they continue to delay regulating – oil and gas – is where our emissions are growing, so it’s the problem we should be tackling rather than simply acting smug.

Word has it that the selection committee in charge of looking for a new privacy commissioner had another preferred candidate in mind, but that the PMO had its heart set on Daniel Therrien rather than someone with more privacy experience. Odd, yes, but I’m not sure that I want to jump to conclusions just yet. Every time there’s a new appointment and We The Media go “This one looks more like a lapdog than a watchdog,” said appointee immediately starts pushing back at the government. Is it unwise to assume that Therrien wouldn’t do the same?

The government released its report on consultations into the prostitution issue yesterday, and wouldn’t you know it – a self-selecting survey with few controls showed that two thirds of people favour the Nordic Model! Looks like all of those church groups getting their congregations to fill out those surveys got numerical results. Qualitatively, however, there is no indication as to what meetings with sex workers actually said, and whether or not the government will take their needs into consideration rather than using this survey to justify introducing legislation around the Nordic model (which it looks increasingly like that’s the case, given the way that Peter MacKay highlighted this result).

What’s that? Reducing the number of nursing hours available in federal corrections facilities will put more stress on both the nurses and other corrections staff? You don’t say! Who also believes that this is about reallocating resources and not cost reductions? Anyone?

It looks like the NDP are going to have to repay the Commons for thousands of mass mailings touting Thomas Mulcair’s leadership during a by-election. And cue another round of grousing by the NDP in which they call the Board of Internal Economy “partisan” (but only because it didn’t go their way this time) and questioning the Speaker’s integrity. Yeah – because that will end well.

The new US Ambassador to Canada laid out his priorities in a speech last night, and among them are the Beyond the Border initiative, reducing GHGs, intellectual property issues, and the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

The Canadian top commander at NORAD told a Senate committee that our signing onto ballistic missile defence would result in smoother decision-making in a crisis situation, given that we are not privy to high-level information about potential threats from rogue states with missile capabilities.

Fifty-one soldiers have been injured and five more killed in Light Armoured Vehicle rollovers since the vehicles were first introduced in 1999. There are questions as to whether the vehicles are too tippy after a rollover on a training mission killed on soldier last month.

Here’s a look at our CF-18s flying over Romania every day now thanks to the crisis in Ukraine.

Law professor Adam Dodek and others have more concerns about the consultation process by which Supreme Court justices are selected, with another lawyer who has sat on the consultations for other judicial appointments that the previous system was closed but had more trust, where as the “more transparent” process that Harper implemented is a poisoned chalice of politicization.

Economist Stephen Gordon breaks down regional variations in employment rates across the country to try and give a clearer picture of employment capacity to find where the “missing jobs” in the economy tend to be.

Aaron Wherry muses about enforcing a rule whereby ministers make statements in the Commons and not in front of backdrops around “real people,” so as to reinforce the notion of the relevance and primacy of the chamber.

Paul Wells reflects on Harper’s speech about the evils of communism, and how it fits into his worldview.

And Conservative MP Cheryl Gallant left her briefing binder behind in the Ottawa airport on the way to the NATO parliamentary meeting in Lithuania, where she is part of the Canadian delegation. And it was found by Sheila Copps – good thing she’s a member of Privy Council! And yeah, this doesn’t look good on Gallant, even if the binder didn’t contain classified materials.

Up today: Stephen Harper heads off to D-Day commemorations in France, then to Poland to mark their emergence from communism, and then a G-7 summit in Germany. Good thing he and Mulcair got in a week’s (read: two days) worth of QP exchanges in yesterday.