Another interesting twist has emerged in the saga of the satellite offices, and the quixotic quest to have the Board of Internal Economy decision challenged in Federal Court. While the NDP crowed that the court accepting their “expert opinion” affidavit, it seems that the legal opinion given to the Board is that this is a Very Bad Thing that needs to be challenged, because allegedly this sets up some kind of terrible precedent. As well, because the acceptance of the affidavit was by a court official and not a judge – meaning probably a prothonotary – this is also somehow significant and material to the challenge. I’m certainly not an expert in civil procedure, and welcome the comments of those who are, but my own particular reading of this is that this is apparently something that should have been laughed out of court right off the start, rather than allowing a judge to actually get the affidavit, read it through, and then telling the NDP to go and drop on their collective heads in a scathing judgment because there is such a thing as parliamentary privilege and it’s an important concept that parliamentarians govern their own affairs. Which of course may explain why the NDP were so giddy as to alert the media that their affidavit was not laughed out of the room in the first place, even though I will remind you that having an affidavit accepted is a far cry from actual victory. Mind you, I do think that this is an issue of parliamentary privilege (for which I explained the reasons here), so perhaps the Commons’ legal advice is worth noting that it means that the affidavit should have been refused after all. But like I said, I’m not an expert in civil procedure, so I await responses from those in the know.

Good reads:

• Fisheries minister Hunter Tootoo has resigned from cabinet and left the caucus in order to deal with “addiction issues,” apparently stemming from an incident at the Liberal convention last weekend.
• Bill C-14 has now passed the Commons with four Liberals dissenting. It starts in a hostile Senate tomorrow with a Committee of the Whole quizzing of the ministers.
• The Procedure and House Affairs committee won’t pursue The Elbowing any longer after Ruth Ellen Brosseau said she accepts the PM’s apology and won’t pursue it.
• The full cost of the Washington DC trip was around $250,000 and included quite a few staff members (in part because of the number of files being discussed).
• The Conservatives are trying to paint a spendthrift image by complaining about other travel and office renovations. Mind you, the Liberals are not hiding their expenses in department books like the Conservatives often did.
• The Liberals are promising legislation to open up the Board of Internal Economy by the fall, while Peter Julian still wants to turn it over to bureaucrats.
• The Environment Commissioner warns about unreported issues with cosmetics and household products, as well as the need for more weather-resistant infrastructure.
• Justin Trudeau is meeting with China’s foreign minister in advance of an official visit to that country.
• Veterans Affairs had another privacy breach involving members of the Royal Canadian Legion accessing said records.
• Maxime Bernier released his first leadership platform plank, which is the ending of Supply Management.
• Susan Delacourt argues that while Trudeau may have achieved power by ignoring his critics, he is now in a place where he needs to listen to them.

Odds and ends:

Cheryl Gallant continues to Cheryl Gallant, this time unloading on the new ambassador to the US.