The question of Syrian refugees in the aftermath of the Paris attacks has reached ridiculous proportions, as a number of American state governors declared that they were going to let ISIS win and terrorize them, by insisting that they didn’t want any Syrian refugees in their states. Because it’s the refugees that have been responsible for mass shootings in the States, right? Closer to home, Saskatchewan premier Brad Wall decided he was going to be the one to try and crank up the concern trolling over refugees to eleven, saying that he wants the whole thing suspended because he thinks that security screening is being compromised in order to reach the “quota” and “deadline,” despite there being zero evidence to that effect, and the fact that in order for people to be registered refugees under the UNHCR, most of these kinds of background checks will already have been completed. Unfortunately, Wall is also cynically pandering to populist sentiment that has been stoked by the hysteria of what happened in Paris, in defiance of logic and fact. What is fortunate, however, is that pretty much every other province has disavowed this kind of nonsense and is ready to push ahead, with Quebec and Ontario ready to accept some 16,000 refugees, Rachel Notley being okay with the accelerated timeline, Greg Selinger saying that Manitobans are excited to welcome newcomers, and Christy Clark recognizing the urgency to bring refugees over. So it looks like Wall is the outlier on this one, but that’s not exactly a surprise, considering that critical thinking hasn’t been his strongest suit on a number of other files *cough*Senate reform*cough*.

https://twitter.com/saladinahmed/status/666337468132761600

Good reads:

• The government has officially dropped the appeal to the court decision on the niqab ban.
• The government has also requested the courts halt any proceedings to strip Canadian citizenship from convicted terrorists – just as France proposes to do it.
• Here’s an interview with an extremism expert about the post-Paris questions. And hey, wouldn’t you know, our security landscape is different from France’s!
• Also out of the G20, Trudeau told Putin to end his interference in the Ukraine, that Canada will make military contributions in Iraq (but not air strikes), and will strengthen relations with China.
• Laura Stone got a look into the RCMP investigation of senators’ expenses once the Auditor General’s report was released.
• Here’s a look at how Dominic LeBlanc plans to help make Commons committees more independent.
• As part of the Canada 150 celebrations, plaques will go up around the city to mark where the Fathers of Confederation lived.

Odds and ends:

Here’s the official notice for the summoning of Parliament.

The race is on for the new Speaker of the Commons, which will be elected by preferential ballot this time.