Roundup: Buh-bye once more, Rob Anders

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And it’s buh-bye once again to Rob Anders, as he failed his second attempt at a nomination race, this time in the Southern Alberta riding of Bow Valley. There, the mayor of Brooks won the race, in spite of his questionable choices in haircut, beard and waxed moustache (seriously?), after he labelled Anders a “drop-in candidate.” Anders must have secured the party’s consent to contest a second nomination, but now it remains to be seen what he’ll do next. Oh, and he didn’t even bother to show up at the nomination meeting that he ended up losing in. Apparently Alberta has tired of him and his antics. I just can’t wait for him to denounce that riding as having been infiltrated with liberals and communists, as he tries to find the last vestige of a people who wear their prejudices as proudly as they drive their pick-up trucks.

Conservatives in the Senate are trying to resort to procedural trickery to restart debate on the union disclosure bill, C-377, and to try an introduce rule changes that will allow for time allocation on private members’ business – something that typically doesn’t happen in the Senate – possibly in the hopes that they can get it pushed through now that its opponents don’t have Senator Hugh Segal to rally around.

At the G-20 finance ministers’ meeting in Sydney, Australia, Joe Oliver is encouraging European countries to engage in the kinds of “targeted stimulus” that Canada did during the recession. Never mind that our spending came too late and that we were already on the road to recovery when said spending happened, and that much of the debt we accumulated wound up being unnecessary, but there you have it.

The government has started invalidating the passports of Canadians who have gone overseas to fight with radical groups in places like Syria. The estimate is about 30 Canadians in Syria, and about 130 fighting elsewhere.

Jean Chrétien has doubts about our mission to Iraq, and that it won’t become a combat mission. It may be the case, but it also bears reminding that this is a very different situation than we were in during 2003.

What’s that? Soldiers may be hiding their health problems to protect their incomes and pensions in the event that they are given medical discharge before they fully qualify? You don’t say!

The site of the famous “Kitchen Accord” that was an important milestone toward the constitution has been demolished, despite attempts by the Senate to save it. Apparently the site was damaged by flood in 2013 and contained asbestos, so that as renovation work at the Government Conference Centre (where said kitchen is located) started undergoing renovations, it wasn’t preserved despite specific requests to do so.

The man in charge of the West Coast oil spill response says that things are improving, a year after harshly criticising the federal government. He also seems to be toning down some of that criticism as well, for what it’s worth.

There are concerns that the military equipment we are donating to Ukraine may end up in the wrong hands because there is a lack of proper safeguards – along with endemic corruption in that country – that has already seen American military equipment wind up on Internet auction sites. There are added concerns about far-right and neo-Nazi groups operating in the area, despite denials.

Justin Trudeau once again competed in the Army Run in Ottawa over the weekend – something our other national leaders have yet to do. (I’m not sure that either Harper or Mulcair would be considered athletically inclined).

Richard Madden visits HMCS Toronto as she prepares to head off to the Black Sea.

Tabatha Southey has questions about Dimitri Soudas’ new consulting agency’s website.

And Scott Feschuk is at his best, talking about Harper’s use of adjectives to solve the world’s problems rather than, you know, doing something.