Roundup: Trying to game the committee

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As we heard late last week, the NDP’s democratic reform critic, Nathan Cullen, has been pushing his new idea of a “proportional” committee to better examine electoral reform options and come up with an idea that can be presented to Canadians. It’s a gimmick, of course, and it one has to be cognisant of Cullen’s agenda, which is of course a certain kind of proportional representation system that his party favours, just like Cullen’s other suggestion of “trying” an election with a new system and then asking voters for forgiveness by means of a referendum after the fact. It’s trying to game the system in a way he prefers, as Colby Cosh pointed out over the weekend, which should raise any number of red flags for those who take Cullen’s proposition seriously.

Good reads:

  • There is talk that the federal government is unwilling to help Bombardier unless it makes some changes to its governance.
  • It looks like the new government is going to carry on with protecting CSIS sources from a lawsuit that led to people being tortured abroad.
  • The Privacy Commissioner wants more information from the Government Operations Centre, which tracks protests that happen in this city.
  • A new StatsCan computer system for census data is behind and over budget, thanks in large part to Shared Services Canada. Look surprised, everyone!
  • Rona Ambrose was in Atlantic Canada to meet with her provincial counterparts to figure out how they can work together to rebuild.
  • John McCallum assures us that the refugee resettlement is still going according to plan.
  • Lawyers representing thousands of Roma refugee claimants were found guilty of misconduct and disbarred – but those Roma who were deported are in the lurch.
  • The Ukrainian Ambassador doesn’t buy the Conservative fear mongering that renewed diplomatic relations with Russia means we’re abandoning Ukraine.

Odds and ends:

Here’s an “exit interview” with our outgoing ambassador in Washington, Gary Doer.

The plan for the next phase of the ISIS mission in Iraq and Syria will be unveiled today.