It really doesn’t take much to set Brad Wall off these days, and in ways that are both a bit unseemly and frankly nonsensical, and really, really unhelpful in the long run. Yesterday is was Quebec’s environment minister filing a court injunction related to Energy East, but unlike what everyone was up in arms about, it wasn’t to block the pipeline – he made several assurances that he had no opinion on it. Rather, he wanted TransCanada to submit paperwork with the Quebec government for their own environmental process, and TransCanada has thus far said no. It remains to be seen if Quebec’s position holds legal water (there was a precedent in BC that may or may not apply), but from the apoplexy coming from the likes of Brad Wall or Brian Jean in Alberta, you’d think Quebec had declared the project dead on arrival. Except they didn’t. Rachel Notley kept a level head saying she knows it’s not a veto, so she’s keeping her guns holstered. Justin Trudeau said he understands the province’s desire to get social license for the project, but listening to conservatives, both federal and provincial, you would have thought that those terrible lefties had put a stake in the heart of the oil industry. In fact, it’s the opposite of helpful when they are quick to declare a crisis of national unity when really, it’s Brad Wall fighting an election, and the Federal Conservatives and Wildrose party in Alberta trying to assert themselves into the debate in the most divisive way possible (and seriously, guys – that’s not how equalization works, so stop using it as a talking point). Suffice to say, everyone is acting like a bunch of petulant drama queens, demanding approvals to pipeline projects without actually going through the proper process, claiming that Trudeau politicized the process (err, except it was the Conservatives who changed the law so that Cabinet was given final sign-off on these projects, completely politicizing the process), and that if he doesn’t do things their way that he’s destroying the country. That’s a mature way to handle things, guys. Slow clap.

Well, we gave responsible devm't a shot for 3 mths…I guess we should go back to "no brainers", fights w ENGOs, threats of exploding trains

— Andrew Leach (@andrew_leach) March 1, 2016

https://twitter.com/inklesspw/status/704690026781786112

https://twitter.com/inklesspw/status/704691188327174144

https://twitter.com/emmmacfarlane/status/704715206543482882

Good reads:

• The government won’t release their advice on how to make government more transparent.
• The government is also considering paying interest on those GIS back-payments being owed to seniors.
• Former Justice Binnie has handed in his arbitration report on Senate expenses. It will likely be made public March 22^nd or so.
• A few Conservative senators are beating their chests and threatening to block the citizenship changes bill despite the dubious constitutionality of their stance.
• Here’s a look at the ethics screen that the Justice Minister faces with her husband’s lobbying activities.
• A senior RCMP Officer says that an external body is going to have to come in to oversee complaints of workplace harassment.
• Justin Trudeau’s brother has written to the government to call for the halt of deportation proceedings against an Algerian-born terror suspect.
• BuzzFeed gives a rundown on the Senate committee report recommendations on combating obesity.
• Kijiji partnered with some academics (including Lindsay Tedds) to research the second hand economy in Canada.
• Three climate change heavyweights in Canada write about the role the federal government can play in reducing GHGs.
• Susan Delacourt notes the rapid decline in government advertising in newspaper, essentially cutting back the indirect subsidy it provided.

Odds and ends:

Recurring story about MP attendance being a secret, with the spin that we can’t tell how often Stephen Harper shows up.

Aniz Alani, the lawyer suing the government over Senate vacancies, has offered to drop the suit in exchange for legislation mandating a time limit on filling seats.

Ralph Goodale offers assurances that yes, they’re still working on that parliamentary oversight committee for national security.