The brief sitting of Parliament last week saw some committee shenanigans already underway, despite the new era of hope and optimism. Because of political considerations, as in not having enough members for official party status, the Bloc were denying unanimous consent to form new committees as they won’t have a voice on them. While they relented on the creation of the special joint committee on assisted dying – which they nevertheless still want a voice on even if they can’t vote – they continued to deny the formation of the Finance Committee, which means that it now can’t hold any pre-budget consultations. So while rules are the rules around who can sit on committees, and we were reminded when these tactics were going on that the Bloc themselves were adamant that they be followed to deny NDP and PC MPs seats on committees back in the nineties, times change apparently, and now they want to throw their weight around. As for the Liberals, they’ve already undermined their promise not to have parliamentary secretaries sit on committees by assigning the House Leader’s parliamentary secretary to the Procedure and House Affairs committee, but he insists that he won’t vote – just assist other members. That sounds suspiciously like the PMO still trying to bigfoot the committees, and exert undue influence on what should be independent operations that have a duty to hold government to account – something that becomes more difficult when you have a someone charged with assisting the government in the ranks. One hopes that they come to their senses and knock it off before things really get underway, but it is a disappointment that they are not living up to the spirit of that promise, if not the letter. (Also, Charlie Angus is lamenting the partisanship on committees? Has he looked in a mirror lately?)

Good reads:

• There is now a climate agreement coming out of Paris, which means now the hard work in Canada of a federal climate agreement comes next.
• Stéphane Dion says that the request has been made for our refuelling and surveillance aircraft to stay in the Syrian mission, which he is considering.
• There are questions as to whether production and training delays with the new Cyclone helicopters will leave us with enough capacity as the Sea Kings retire.
• A new government in power reminds us about whether or not cabinet ministers should be tweeting in both official languages.
• Here is a good look at the political considerations around the processing of Syrian refugees, and how the timelines changed with the new government.
• Economists say that the government could run deficits up to $25 billion and still lower the debt-to-GDP ratio.
• A Canadians for Tax Fairness report interviewed current and recently retired CRA employees willing to break their oaths to highlight problems with the system.
• Robyn Urback discusses the demise of the previous government’s cyberbullying law.
• Kevin Milligan gives a bit of a reality check on the discussions on basic income.

Odds and ends:

Apparently there is a desperate attempt to find a Conservative political heir to take on Trudeau, as evidenced here.