Filibuster on

At the time of this post, the filibuster in the House of Commons was well underway. We made it as far as the second reading, then Jack Layton, at the end of his 50-minute speech, moved a hoist motion to delay it for six months. And the debate continues.

The government has decided to shut down the special panel of parliamentarians and judges that were vetting the Afghan detainee documents because, apparently, there’s nothing to see here. Move along.

Terry Milewski talks about the interesting story of competing redactions in at least one documented case of mistreatment of an Afghan detainee.

Incidentally, here’s a look at the government’s use of the phrase “Taliban detainees” when referring to “Afghan detainees” to colour the debate.

Here is a takedown of John Baird’s assertion that the Afghan detainee document process cost $12 million. (Hint: It didn’t.)

And even former Alberta premier Don Getty has come out against the Senate-reform bill. BC Premier Christy Clark says reform if you must, but give BC 10 more senators. Apparently, she doesn’t realize that the upper chamber is balanced regionally and not by province (24 seats for Ontario, 24 for Quebec, 24 for the Maritimes and 24 for Western Canada). Increasing seats for one region will mean increasing seats for all regions. Can we please kill this thing with fire?

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