As the hearings on C-51 resume, the government has come out swinging with what they consider to be a star witness – the sister of slain soldier Patrice Vincent, who of course thinks that the bill is necessary. The problem, of course, is that she really has no credentials other than being victim of a tragedy, and if you ask me, the government is pretty unseemly in exploiting her grief to push legislation that actual experts are not convinced about. It’s not the first time they’ve used this tactic, and it hasn’t always worked – remember Amanda Todd’s mother, who wasn’t ready to hand over civil liberties to try and halt the spectre of cyber-bulling. Not that it stopped Stephen Blaney from touting Louise Vincent over and over again in QP yesterday, and he’s likely to repeat her praise for the bill today and going forward whenever criticism is levelled at the bill. Other witnesses yesterday included former Conservative Senator Hugh Segal, who wants more oversight in the bill, and at least one other small-c conservative commentator, who has her own doubts about the bill, in case you were wondering if all of the opposition was coming from the “loony left.” Elsewhere, Conservative MP Michael Chong is now adding his voice to those who want more oversight, while the National Firearms Association, who have expressed a great deal of scepticism over the bill, has pulled out from testifying.

Good reads:

• It was a day of drama on the Hill, between a topless protester in the Commons and white powder being mailed to senators’ offices.
• While Stephen Harper makes his case to extend and expand the Iraq mission today, Mark Kennedy walks us through the difficult decision the Liberals face on Iraq.
• Military intelligence is warning of the trend of terrorist groups harassing the families of military personnel over social media.
• The Canadian Press took their Baloney Meter™ to the reactions to Harper’s rural gun statement last week.
• Laura Stone has lunch with Sophie Grégoire-Trudeau. But could headline writers please stop this “First Lady” nonsense? This isn’t America.

Odds and ends:

Lawyer and long-time public servant Joe Friday is the new Public Service Integrity Commissioner (and he’s a journalism grad from Carleton).

The Ethics Committee voted down a bid to further investigate Diane Finley’s granting funding to that centre against all good judgement.

It was the first day of Patrick Brazeau’s trial on charges of assault and sexual assault, but many details are under a publication ban.