Critics of the government fear that they will use threat of ISIS to mute any criticisms about expanding CSIS’ powers while also not increasing any oversight, transparency or accountability for it or other national security agencies. The government claims that any such measures would be “duplicative,” which is risible.

While Stephen Harper makes dire warnings about the spread of Ebola, here’s a look at how the country’s Ebola response mechanisms work, with laboratory testing, notifications and protocols. Not that we’re likely to see any real cases.

Everyone is talking about Justin Trudeau’s memoirs, released this week, with some of the surprising revelations therein, his father telling him not to feel pressured to follow in his footsteps, the discussions they had about possibly merging with the NDP before deciding the gulf was too wide and laid that idea to rest, and his willingness to lay out his own flaws in the book. Trudeau, meanwhile, says that he is working on better discipline going forward when it comes to making these comments on the fly that seem to get him into trouble.

Trudeau, incidentally, told a French-language interview in Quebec that he may be open to reversing planned Conservative tax cuts in favour of investing in infrastructure, education or research.

The government won’t say how they plan to spend the surplus, which is just as well because you realise that the surplus depends on the continuation of the austerity programme, right?

The number or people looking to become permanent residents as part of the programme for live-in caregivers has ballooned to 60,000. The government says it’s because people have been abusing it as a backdoor family reunification programme, and hopes that their new immigration system, launching next year, will clear things up.

Business groups frustrated by border delays are asking the government to turn to “private sector whiz kids” to seek solutions in some kind of “hackathon.” Apparently such “hackathons” have worked with previous US government problems, so they’re hoping this one might also yield positive, innovative responses.

The RCMP are setting an ambitious target of having 50 percent of their new recruits be women as of next year. It’s a benchmark and not a quota, and it will be tough to achieve, but they want to at least lay a marker. Currently 21 percent of the Force is female, and they are hoping to get it to 30 percent by 2025. There is still that barrier of masculine police culture that needs to be addressed, mind you.

Here’s a look at how FINTRAC helps to follow the money flowing into the coffers of terrorist groups like ISIS, and a look at CSIS and the RCMP keeping tabs on those Canadians who have gone abroad to fight and those who have returned home.

It’s been five years since 76 Tamil migrants arrived aboard the Ocean Lady, and many are still waiting for their refugee claims to be resolved, and others are hiding because they can’t afford to launch an appeal, but are afraid of arrest and torture if they return to Sri Lanka.

With a year to go before the next general election, Stephanie Levitz takes a look at what the government has and has not yet accomplished out of their last Throne Speech.

The second part of the Ottawa Citizen’s series on the coming Big Data election looks at one company trying to target voters without resorting to inaccurate polling data by trying to look at broader factors, not the least of which is where they are geographically.

Justice Marc Noel was named Chief Justice of the Federal Court of Appeal.

And over in Alberta, Rachel Notley has won the provincial NDP leadership.