I suspect we are in for another round of procedural drama and possibly a meltdown or two as the Liberals have decided that they are going to put up House Leader Pablo Rodriguez to the Ethics Committee today, instead of staffers from PMO or the prime minister himself, as was demanded in a non-binding Supply Day motion last week. (More on the background in my weekend column here). I get why this is happening – the government is (rightfully) defending the notion of ministerial responsibility and the fact that we don’t call staffers to committee to testify, but at the same time the PM has already answered on the WE Imbroglio, and he’s got things to do, so they’re going to put up Rodriguez instead – and Rodriguez is going to be punchy and combative in ways that Justin Trudeau can’t be.

So I get this, but I also feel like this is just going to make things worse. The WE investigations have pretty much run out of steam because they’re just recycling the same material over and over again, and starting to delve into areas that are way beyond their ambit, but because the opposition has the votes on these committees, they’re content to let them spin off into never-ending witch hunts. And as for the sexual misconduct investigations in the military, it’s all going to end in Harjit Sajjan needing to fall on his sword before too long, so everyone is basically biding their time until that happens, so the pressure is on. In either case, things are just going to keep circling until either there is an election (so, not this spring) or the government inevitably ballses something else up and everyone moves on to the new shiny screw-up. Meanwhile, very little actual work will get done, and on and on it goes.

Good reads:

• Justin Trudeau called out China’s decision to sanction Michael Chong and members of the international human rights subcommittee.
• Here is some background on how vaccines get approved in Canada, and the reasons why COVID vaccines were able to be developed at a faster pace.
• Harjit Sajjan says that an official apology is in the works for descendants of Canada’s Black-only battalion from the First World War for the racism they faced.
• CBSA says that they have so far caught 30 people trying to enter the country with faked COVID tests.
• The woman at the centre of the allegations against Admiral Art McDonald has come forward, and says that some of the details leaked about the incident were false.
• Conservative insiders say that they were so focused on heading off anti-abortion motions at their convention the climate change vote caught them flat-footed.
• The Liberals in Newfoundland and Labrador won a slim majority legislature, but the unusual way the election was handled could still result in court challenges.
• Heather Scoffield tries to divine how the different parties will deal with the need for more childcare space on the other side of the pandemic.
• Susan Delacourt looks at the mounting pile of federal-provincial disputes, and supposes that they are going to be the real threat to Canada’s future.
• Chantal Hébert walks through the Supreme Court of Canada decision on the carbon price to see signs of where federalism may be headed, particularly on climate.

Want more Routine Proceedings? Become a patron and get exclusive new content.