Ramming it all through

With five sitting weeks left in the
calendar year, the government plans to ram through as many bills as humanly
possible before the winter break. One of those bills – the one to increase seat
distribution in the House – also has provisions about “streamlining” the
boundary readjustment process to halve the number of days for consultation and
demand a final report two months sooner, all in the name of ensuring that the
new boundaries are in place before a 2014 election. Because we all know that
rushing the process totally helps make everything better.

As was hinted at during question period,
the NDP was found to be in violation of the Elections Act, with its Layton

memorial fund that was to be directed toward the nascent Broadbent Institute. The
NDP has since returned those donations while setting up alternate ways for
donors to give to the would-be think-tank.

The CBC has released some of its access-to-information documents to the Commons ethics committee – under protest, and
some of them in a sealed envelope with instructions not to open them until the
resolution of the current court challenge. Meanwhile, the committee’s hearings
are cancelled until the Speaker can rule as to whether the investigation
is valid after the concerns raised by the Commons law clerk.

Despite other routes being considered “sub-optimal,”
it seems that the Keystone XL pipeline’s owners have agreed to reroute it so
that it won’t pass through Nebraska. Not that there won’t be additional delays
while they conduct new environmental assessments.

For all this government’s talk about Arctic
sovereignty, it looks like we’re going to have to rely on American logistics to
keep our own Forces operational in the North. Naturally.

The public swearing-in ceremony of our two
new Supreme Court justices took place yesterday. This means they now have
their scarlet robes with white mink trim for formal occasions.

Alykhan “ethical oil” Velshi returns to
Parliament Hill – this time in the prime minister’s office.

And we have new polymer $100 banknotes,

just for future reference.