Photos of our prime minister, shirtless and on vacation, continues to make people lose their minds. A week later, and it remains an item of discussion – or derision – and feeds this particular faux cynicism about media coverage, despite the fact that it clearly is not what is topping the headlines. The fact that other countries mention it triggers our inherent Canadian desire to go “Look! Other countries are talking about us!” and we report that, and suddenly it’s “all anyone can talk about” when clearly it’s not the case. And then come the lame attacks based on it, like the latest round of Conservative ads, where they accuse the media of focusing on Shirtless!Trudeau instead of the economy.

https://twitter.com/CPC_HQ/status/762742848445943808

https://twitter.com/CPC_HQ/status/762779942627053568

The problem with that narrative is that the economic news was clearly the headline for the days in which those numbers got released, but hey, so long as we can try and keep up this narrative that the PM is a selfie-obsessed pretty boy who’s too stupid to manage the economy, the more we think it’ll do something to bolster our own numbers (never mind that being effectively leaderless is not helping the poll numbers of either opposition party).

So with that in mind, here’s Jen Gerson telling everyone to relax about Shirtless!Trudeau because it’s August, we’re all on vacation anyway, and that this isn’t just about Trudeau but about the sea change in tone that has taken place in this country over the past year, and that people need to lighten up.

Good reads:

• Critics say that the justice minister’s new Legal Affairs Officer was critical of the Supreme Court ruling assisted dying, and that could have implications.
• Public service unions think that Minister Foote was disingenuous regarding what she knew when with regards to the Phoenix pay debacle.
• Nathan Cullen wants the electoral reform committee to start considering particular (proportional representation) models.
• NEB hearings for the New Brunswick portion of the Energy East pipeline are now underway.
• Apparently Bill Morneau has been exploring the possibility of a sugar or pop tax.
• Erin O’Toole is also talking about a leadership bid, at which point we’ll have around half of the previous cabinet either running or thinking about it.
• The government apparently prefers a “proactive” rather than legislative approach to dealing with the issue of pay equity.
• The government is finally, finally, consulting on what to do with the old US Embassy, which may yet become the long awaited portrait gallery.
• Stephen Gordon weighs in on the carbon tax vs size-of-government debate.

Odds and ends:

The National Post’s Tristin Hopper trolled the Senate’s self-nomination process by applying (which was equally parts amusing and infuriating).