Oh, the things we obsess over in this country – like the Prime Minister’s air travel. Perpetual source of media copy, as are the strange figures that get attached to it. As previously mentioned, Justin Trudeau and family went on vacation to the Caribbean island of St. Kitts-Nevis, and apparently rented a villa there (which they paid for out of pocket), and got a bit of tabloid attention, because why not? Also, apparently there was a bit of diplomacy as he met with the country’s prime minister and foreign minister, but that’s beside the point. The point is that while Trudeau has promised to reimburse the public purse for the equivalent of economy fares for the trip, the media continues to bring forward the dollar figure of $10,000 per flying hour to operate the Challenger jets, which the PM is obligated to take for security reasons. The problem with using that $10,000/flying hour figure is that it never places it in the context of it being a military aircraft, and it’s not just sitting around waiting to shuttle the PM around – they’re in use for other operations, and even when they’re not, they still get flown empty because those military pilots need to keep up flying hours aboard them. It’s a Thing, but nobody ever mentions it. Instead, when the PM wants to go somewhere on personal business, we drag up the $10,000/flying hours figure because we want a bit of cheap outrage, and if there’s anything that Canadian media loves, it’s cheap outrage. It is a little curious that Trudeau is reimbursing at the economy fare rate, but I guess we’ll see what that rate looks like once it’s repaid. While Paul Martin made it the practice to repay double the going business-class rate, Stephen Harper would occasionally reimburse it at what was alleged to be the lowest possible economy fare, though most of the time when reporters tried to find equivalent flights for what Harper repaid, well, it couldn’t be done. I would say that if anything, repaying less than the economy fare is almost more insulting than not repaying anything and saying “I’m Prime Minister, I can’t fly commercial, so deal with it” because it almost looks like you’re showing contempt than respecting the taxpayer (which is the born-again motto of the Conservative Party post-election). So really, we should suck it up (provided that the trips aren’t egregious) but I see little chance of that happening anytime soon.

Good reads:

• The government looks set to begin a consultation process as they get set to revamp national security legislation, including the former C-51.
• The Prime Minister and cabinet have been reaching out to condemn the pepper spray attack against Syrian refugees in Vancouver.
• New fisheries minister Hunter Tootoo is promising a science-based approached to marine conservation areas.
• The former Veterans Ombudsman says he can’t believe it took five years for the government to start tracking homeless veterans.
• The lawyers who fought the Justice Nadon appointment are going back to court to get their costs reimbursed.
• Ruh-roh! It looks like a military hard drive with recoverable data was found at a Halifax recycling depot.
• The DND plan to have more private sector companies do ship maintenance is facing a rough ride with accountability problems and a reluctant bureaucracy.
• The Canadian UN ambassador to Geneva is helping to restart nuclear non-proliferation talks.
• Law professor Carissma Mathen talks to The House about the Supreme Court hearing on extending the doctor-assisted dying ruling today.

Odds and ends:

The Nipigon Bridge in Ontario has cracked under the cold weather, effectively severing the country’s east-west road link. No, seriously.

I was on the radio, talking electoral reform.