A Vancouver lawyer has decided to launch a constitutional challenge about the fact that the Prime Minister has refused to fill the 16 vacant seats that are currently in the Senate, and it’s about time. In some provinces, half of their allotted seats are vacant, which has a real impact on their representation, all because Harper is both smarting from his string of poor appointments in 2008 when he elevated Duffy, Wallin and Brazeau to the chamber, but also because he’s petulant and is pouting after the Supreme Court gave him and his reform proposals a black eye (and with very good reason). And because of the pace at which justice unfortunately moves in this country, this challenge may not even be heard until after the next election happens, and a new government may be in place that will actually make appointments – imagine that! But either way, it would ne nice to get some kind of jurisprudence on the record, so that if other future prime ministers decide to be cute and not make appointments, there will be some common law in existence to show how it’s a constitutional obligation and not an option.

Good reads:

• Here’s an excellent Q&A with Senator George Baker. Be sure to watch the video, where he shows what the new prostitution bill and Dick Tracy comics have in common. It will blow your mind.
• While Michael Sona plans to appeal his conviction, the Crown has announced that it plans a cross-appeal, saying that the sentencing was too light for the gravity of the crime.
• Justin Trudeau is turning to executives from TD Bank and BlackBerry, along with some noted economists like Kevin Milligan and Mike Moffatt, for economic advice.
• Paul Wells writes an excellent treatise on Harper’s bitter history with Ontario, and how that informs his current spat with the premier.
• The RCMP are featuring stories of their own members combating PTSD in order to help fight the stigma that surrounds it.
• CBC has a look at the wide range of acceptance rates by the Refugee Appeal Division, and what may be to blame.
• Liberal MP Scott Simms is asking the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner to look into whether two Conservative MPs broke the rules when the voted for the Fair Elections Act when they own a voter identification app.
• The Federal Court of Appeal upheld the injunction that allows some medial marijuana users to grow their own, in advance of the main trial next year.

Odds and ends:

The National Post explains the new prostitution law using Lego. It’s as awesome as it sounds.

The government shuttered 12 military recruitment centres, and now wonders why they’re facing a personnel shortfall.

Dear gods on Olympus, could we please not start handwaving about coalitions again?