With the Senate back in session, the uncertainties of how it will operate in this new environment are starting to make themselves be seen. With each passing day, the lack of Senate Question Period becomes a little more awkward, and until new government legislation starts coming down the pipe, much of their debates right now are about just how they plan to organize themselves. Part of these are the debates about breached privileges – not only the continuation of the investigation of the prima facia breach from the previous parliament about the leak of the AG report, but also Senator Housakos’ complaint that the lack of a government representative doesn’t allow senators to properly do their jobs, and a new complaint today about how the rights of independent senators are being breached in the way that committees are currently organising themselves. In this case it was Senator Wallace, who recently left the Conservative caucus of his own volition, essentially complaining that he couldn’t get a committee assignment that he’d asked for (and the only one that was offered to him he turned down). And it’s already been raised in this parliament that the way committee assignments are determined are a problem for independent senators, and it’s a debate that needs to be had – particularly if there is to be a new batch of independent senators on the way in (though I don’t expect them all to remain independent, nor should they, really). And until some real work starts to land on the Senate’s docket, these kinds of organizational debates are going to dominate for the weeks to come, which may start to reshape how the organisation functions as a whole. If Trudeau did one thing in his non-constitutional Senate reform promise, it was to force the chamber to reform itself from within. One just hopes that the end result hasn’t broken it for the sake of better optics.

Good reads:

• After meeting with Justin Trudeau, Denis Coderre struck a more agreeable tone about pipelines Trudeau comes out of this looking like the grown-up.
• The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruled that the government has been discriminating against First Nations children in welfare funding.
• The government promise to ditch sick leave changes in the public service means undoing $900 million in booked savings – though that figure was always dubious.
• Stéphane Dion signalled that Canada will follow its allies in lifting sanctions on Iran, which will help companies like Bombardier.
• Canadian diplomats warned the previous government not to trust Iran in the fight against ISIS.
• Those election law changes around robocalling have a loophole that allows unlimited third-party robocalling during a writ period.
• The NDP are moving a motion to try to limit how much committees can go in camera.
• Continued staffing shortages in the Canadian Forces means that it could see its lowest numbers in years. Special Forces, however, are expanding.
• Susan Delacourt finds the Energy East pipeline debate to be digging up old ghosts and playing old lines over again.

Odds and ends:

Some prominent Alberta Conservative MPs and riding associations are backing the call to end the party’s stance against same-sex marriage.

Mohamed Fahmy is calling for the creation of a charter to protect Canadians who are arrested abroad.

Here’s a look at Ottawa’s urban renewal going on right now (with an interactive map and everything).