We heard confirmation yesterday from Duffy’s lawyer that he does indeed plan to return to the Senate despite some serious health concerns, not that he’ll find many friends there, which could make things more awkward than they’ll already be. In talking with one senator yesterday, I heard largely that he had few friends there to begin with, and because he spent his time fundraising for the party instead of doing actual Senate work, he never really got to know or ingratiate himself with his actual Senate colleagues, so it’s not like he’ll have a long list of people looking to welcome him back with open arms. And, because it’s unlikely the party will welcome him back, Duffy may continue to find himself on the outside. His lawyer also suggested that perhaps he should be paid back for the time in which he was suspended without pay, but you will find that argument will quickly go down in flames as senators will remind you that their internal discipline process is separate from the criminal trial, and his suspension without pay was internal discipline. And we’ll get a bunch of pundits lazily declaring that the Senate is still lax in its rules and processes, which it isn’t (and I would argue really wasn’t when Duffy was taking advantage of it), and oh look – Scott Reid did just that. Kady O’Malley admits her surprise in the ruling, while Andrew Coyne takes umbrage with “not criminal” as a standard that seems to be emerging. The Winnipeg Free Press editorial board notes how the new, better appointments could help to restore the Senate’s credibility, while CBC looks at what effect the Duffy verdict could have with future prosecutions of other senators’ questionable conduct.

Good reads:

• Debate has now begun on the assisted dying bill, and the minister said it couldn’t just be a cut-and-paste of the Supreme Court decision; her department’s analysis notes that it could have issues being Charter compliant.
• The biggest item most people won’t grasp in the budget implementation bill is the restoration of parliamentary authority over borrowing.
• Niki Ashton didn’t bother with the full quote or context when Trudeau mentioned colonialism in Canada, but when does that matter for manufactured outrage?
• The Senate is considering legal options after seven of its former members missed the deadline for filing their repayments for questionable expenses.
• There remain questions as to whether the CEO of the Canadian History Museum was too close to the previous government.
• Cabinet is holding a retreat in Kananaskis country in the mountains near Calgary.
• Here is a long read about the Supreme Court dismantling the Conservative “tough on crime” agenda.
• Jason Kenney has decided that the planned increase in the Conservative Party membership fee is a bad thing. (Leadership? What leadership ambitions?)
• Susan Delacourt writes about the tactical regret of Conservatives who found their courage after losing the election.

Odds and ends:

Maher Arar is setting up shop as an entrepreneur in the social justice app world.

That was fast. https://t.co/mU32Livy9U

— Elizabeth Thompson (@LizT1) April 22, 2016