First it was the Liberals offering their amendments to C-51 on Thursday, and yesterday it was the NDP. Monday we will get a laundry list from the Green Party, and now we hear that on Tuesday, the government will have amendments of their own, demonstrating that they’ve listened to at least a few of the criticisms on the bill, in particular removing the word “lawful” from demonstrations, and clarifying that CSIS won’t have arrest powers – changes that they hope will tone down the hysteria from activist groups who have been proclaiming that they would soon find themselves on terror watch-lists for dissenting against the government. Not so, the government insists – they want to keep the focus on the real terrorists. But they’re not doing anything more for oversight, and as far as they’re concerned, parliamentary oversight is a dead letter. What strikes me in all of this, however, is the way in which this is playing out like it did with amendments to the Fair Elections Act. Then, as with C-51, the government is making a few minor amendments that won’t have a very big impact on the bulk of the bill and its powers, but by at least proposing those small changes, they can turn around and look like they’ve been reasonable about listening to their critics. That way, they’ve barely put much water in their wine, but still try to come out looking like heroes, and letting politics once again triumph over good policy.

Good reads:

• The Ottawa Citizen has a fantastic preview of the upcoming Duffy trial, along with a timeline, a who’s who of witnesses, and a look at the lasting impact it’s having on the Senate itself.
• A closed-door briefing by Foreign Affairs officials for opposition members said that the best long-term strategy to defeat ISIS is a political solution in the region, but we don’t hear much about that from the government.
• Thomas Mulcair announced yesterday that an NDP government would tax stock options to eliminate child poverty. Erm, except it’s not likely to get that much money, it would hit middle-class earners as much as CEOs, and you also need a realistic measure of the poverty you’re trying to eliminate.
• In a 5-4 decision, with all three Quebec justices dissenting, the Supreme Court has ruled that the federal government can delete Quebec’s long-gun registry data.
• Kady O’Malley looks at the UK enacting the royal succession changes, and how the court challenges to Canada’s sham process could create problems.
• Colby Cosh writes about the end of the flat tax in Alberta.

Odds and ends:

The Ethics Commissioner has waived the cooling-off period for Peter MacKay’s former policy advisor to join a lobbying firm.

The government tabled a standalone bill to implement their family tax package including income splitting, not waiting for the budget, and adding yet another bill to the Order Paper with 9 weeks left.

Here’s the Ottawa Citizen’s Gargoyle roundup of smaller stories from the week.