Despite having already lost their star candidate for the riding, Thomas Mulcair remains confident that the NDP can still win Edmonton Centre in the next general election – never mind that the confluence of factors that favoured Linda Duncan aren’t really present in that particular riding. Mulcair then headed to Calgary, where he scoffed at the notion of Harper as national unifier, and pointed to the current voluntary national securities regulator project as an example of sowing divisions with provinces like Alberta, who don’t want to sign on. Erm, not sure how it’s relevant, or why the Supreme Court would shut down a voluntary scheme, but whatever.
The changes made to the Navigable Waters Protection Act and the unclear definition of “navigable” that exists in the new legislation means that the government can expect a series of lawsuits and for the courts to come up with that definition for them. Funny that a government that believes more in parliamentary supremacy than judicial “activism” would leave such a hole for the courts to be forced to fill on their behalf.
The CRA’s “snitch line” for offshore tax havens is now live, and of the 800 calls it has initially received, some 250 were actual tipsters, and 80 files are not open and being investigated.
The government is looking to crack down on foreign embassies who are bringing over workers from their home countries improperly, and against those who have been abusing domestically hired staff. There have been recent cases where abuses were reported, and one case where Philippine diplomats were cited for human trafficking of a worker they brought over (said diplomats have since left the country). It is, of course, delicate because we don’t want to have restrictions placed on our own diplomats who are abroad and the kinds of local staff that they can hire.
Stephen Harper has accused Hamas of using human shields and urges world leaders to side with Israel.
Brad Wall has joined the “let the Senate atrophy” crowd, in complete ignorance of this little thing called the Constitution. You know, something he should probably read as the premier of a province in this country and all.
Despite being in a jail in Panama for over a year, and despite allegedly suffering from Stage IV cancer – which he purports to be treating on his own – Dr. Arthur Porter continues to hang on in defiance of the odds.
Andrew Coyne laments that even though we’ve been talking about it since 1865, at the Quebec and Charlottetown conferences, interprovincial trade barriers remain in effect, never mind that the Fathers of Confederation gave the federal government the power to change things in the constitution.
And here’s some photos and video of the Sir John Carling building being demolished here in Ottawa. It’s pretty cool.