As machinations and protestations go, the current drama in the Senate is starting to try my patience, particularly because so many of the players seem to be getting drawn off onto silly tangents at the expense of the bigger picture. In particular, the Conservative senators continuing to push this conspiracy theory that all new independent senators are just Liberals in-all-but-name is really, really throwing them off the message that Senator Peter Harder is trying to destroy the Westminster traditions of the Senate, and has a stated goal of removing any sense of official opposition from the Chamber. But when the complaints about Harder’s machinations are drowned out by their conspiracy theorizing, they’re only harming their arguments by making themselves look petty. And it is concerning what Harder has been up to, his latest move being a closed-door meeting for all senators to “discuss short-term and long-term government business.” Add to this are a number of the more established independent senators, who previously felt shut out, excusing Harder’s actions because he’s trying to bring them in, oblivious to the fact that this is how he’s trying to build his little empire.

Add to this conversation comes former senator Hugh Segal who penned an op-ed for the Ottawa Citizen, bravely skewering straw men all around him about those darned partisan senators not giving up committee spots to independent senators (when he knows full well that it’s an ongoing process and that committees don’t get reconstituted until after a prorogation), and coming to the defence of Harder, with whom he worked together all of those years ago during the Mulroney government before Harder transitioned to the civil service. Poor Peter Harder, whose budget has been cruelly limited by all of those partisan senators and how he can’t get the same budget as Leaders of the Government in the Senate past (never mind that Harder has no caucus to manage, nor is he a cabinet minister as the Government Leader post is ostensibly). Gosh, the partisan senators are just being so unfair to him. Oh, please.

So long as people are content to treat this as partisan crybabies jealously guarding their territory, we’re being kept blind as to what Harder’s attempts to reshape the Senate are going to lead to. His attempts to dismantle the Westminster structure are not about making the chamber more independent – it’s about weakening the opposition to the government’s agenda. Trying to organise coherent opposition amongst 101 loose fish is not going to cut it, and Harder knows it. The Senate’s role as a check on the government is about to take a serious blow so long as people believe Harder’s revisionist history and back-patting about how great a non-partisan Senate would be. Undermining parliament is serious business, and we shouldn’t let them get away with it because we think it’s cute that it’s making the partisans angry.

Good reads:

• The government announced a plan to phase out coal-fired electricity by 2030…except for Nova Scotia, which gets an exemption. Brad Wall is furious.
• “Sources” say that cabinet could make a decision on sole-sourcing Super Hornets as early as today.
• The Indigenous Affairs department is having difficulty meeting its Indigenous hiring targets.
• A class action lawsuit is being filed on behalf of women harassed and bullied in the Canadian Forces.
• Cabinet is planning to gut the genetic discrimination bill, citing provincial jurisdiction despite the fact that no province has pushed back against it.
• The outgoing Chief Electoral Officer says that any attempt to further limit political fundraising will drive activities underground.
• Kirsty Duncan says that federal scientists have effectively been “unmuzzled” but there still needs to be a culture change among civil servants.
• While Conservative MPs howl that the government doesn’t plan to put any peace operations to a vote, history suggests the Conservatives never did either.
• As it turns out, weakening encryption (like police are demanding) would be more harmful to public safety. Gosh, you think?
• Althia Raj suggests that Maryam Monsef isn’t being forthright on electoral reform consultations.
• Kellie Leitch is complaining that the media didn’t report on her position on lifting visa restrictions to Mexicans, except she didn’t send a release to reporters.
• Shockingly, Peter Van Loan is endorsing Leitch. He dated her in high school.
• Charlie Angus looks to be ready to jump into the NDP leadership race.
• Stephen Gordon looks at the phenomenon of low-skilled high-wage workers and why they are not so much in decline as the rest of the economy has caught up.
• Andrew Coyne looks at the arguments against pricing carbon as making us uncompetitive, and how those same arguments were used against free trade.

Odds and ends:

Here’s a look at the possibility of using airships to serve communities in the North.

It’s recommended that employees of CSE don’t play Pokemon Go because of the way the game tracks their movements.