NDP ready for fall session

The NDP has finished its caucus
retreat, and members are going to spend the fall session talking tough about the
economy, jobs, the Canadian Wheat Board and Montreal bridges. Those last two
may or may not be narrowcasting to certain voter bases.
They’re also ready to fight the lawful
access provisions
of the crime omnibus bill. And which caucus
heavyweight are they throwing at this effort? Charmaine Borg, one of the McGill

undergrads. I feel safer already.

Also, Thomas Mulcair still hasn’t
officially announced his candidacy, but yesterday morning we were told of the “groundswell
of caucus support behind him. A groundswell of three – which later grew to
four! Momentum is building!

Vic Toews says the PMO has been assured by Bob Dechert that nothing untoward happened with that Chinese journalist. I guess, since we can
obviously take his word on this, we can all go about our business now. Phew!
That was a close one.

Oh look – the federal government is cutting the network that has monitored the ozone layer for the past 45
years. Because it’s not like there’s a hole in said layer over the Arctic,
which Canada shares a huge part of, right? Oh, wait…

Australia now allows for a transgendered
designation
on passports. Sadly, Canada is likely to be a laggard on this
particular file as it won’t be a “priority” in these tough economic times.

And Kady O’Malley takes a closer look at
the whole “Harper Government” usage in government communications and comes up
with some interesting results that don’t necessarily follow with some initial
assumptions.

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