Bracing for cuts

If you work in the public service, brace
yourself – the government is expected to start releasing details about job
cuts today.

Because some people care about this, Justin
Trudeau beat Senator Patrick Brazeau with a TKO at Saturday’s charity boxing
match (video here). John Geddes of Maclean’s
writes quite eloquently about it here.

The government is expected to chop some

280,000 would-be immigrants from the backlog and refund their fees.

Over in the Alberta provincial election, a
PC staffer tweeted comments about Wildrose leader Danielle Smith’s fertility,
prompting Smith to put out a release to discuss her infertility issues. It’s
loathsome campaigning and a sad reminder in a province where these kinds of
attitudes about a woman’s worth being based on her fertility are still far too
prevalent.

New Brunswick potato farmer Henk Tepper is back in Canada after a year in a jail cell in Beirut. This is thanks in large
part to the efforts of Liberal Senator Pierrette Ringuette, who was a tireless
advocate for Tepper’s case, while Diane Ablonczy and her staff are trying to
dispute this.

And here’s a recounting of Craig Scott’s
first day in the House. Hint: it wasn’t all hugs and smiles.

PS – Whereas I indicated on Friday that the
House wasn’t sitting this week, I was mistaken. It is sitting until Thursdsay
this week, and the following two weeks will be constituency weeks.

A reminder that Hill Queeries is now only
for the daily political roundup. For QP recaps and other blogging goodness, go
to Routine Proceedings.

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