Over in the francophone media, Thomas Mulcair has been talking about his promise to never ever appoint senators ever if he were to become PM and form government. Of course, that kind of talk is beyond ridiculous and is in direct contravention to the constitution – the same sections that the Supreme Court gave a whole lot of clarity on in the recent Senate reference decision. Mulcair claims he would try to push the provinces to abolish the institution, but good luck with that – all of which tends to put a lot of doubt into just how seriously Mulcair would take is constitutional obligations should he ever assume the position. The interview did give rise to this post, which speculated on the conditions by which a Governor General might reasonably start appointing senators without waiting for advice from the PM, if said PM was obstinately refusing to put forward names for appointment. While we are going to start hearing from the courts on this matter sooner than later, with an active challenge now underway in BC, I’d have to agree with both Emmett Macfarlane and Philippe Lagassé on this one – having the GG make direct appointments would put us into a constitutional crisis because it would violate the principles of Responsible Government, but said GG could also note that the PM was refusing to act within his or her constitutional duties, and dismiss them, inviting someone else to form government instead. It would still be a bit of a crisis, mind you, and there would be all manner of wailing and gnashing of teeth in the media about it, but it would be much more in line with the principles of Responsible Government than making the appointments without advice. Let’s just hope that it doesn’t come to that, and that our current and future prime ministers start taking their jobs of making these appointments far more seriously.

https://twitter.com/EmmMacfarlane/status/551049830416777216

https://twitter.com/EmmMacfarlane/status/551050184713838593

https://twitter.com/pmlagasse/status/551049183608967169

https://twitter.com/pmlagasse/status/551050993983848448

https://twitter.com/pmlagasse/status/551051201836777473

Good reads:

• Six MPs talk about facing cancer, and how they plan to run again this year anyway.
• The Ottawa Citizen talks to MPs who were former police officers, as well as Senator Vern White, a former police chief.
• CRA tried to learn lessons about cyber vulnerabilities after the Heartbleed Bug.
• It’s the end of the federal per-vote subsidy, meaning parties will be pushing even harder on the fundraising appeals.
• Mark Bourrie talks about his new book on government message control.

Odds and ends:

Here’s a look at who federal Conservative MPs are supporting in the Ontario PC leadership race.

The premier of Newfoundland and Labrador is asking all MPs and Senators from his province to state their position on the CETA compensation package not being delivered.