Harper had his bilateral meeting with
President Obama and scored an invitation to the White House next month. Oh, and
they’re going to keep working on the various files that are plaguing us in
Canada, even though Harper assures us that it’s more about the “political
season” in the States than it is about anything else. Well, so long as we’re
clear about that, I guess we can keep treating the files with benign neglect,
since everything will obviously get sorted – right?
What’s that? This government has a problem
actually getting money out the door after it’s been allocated? You don’t say! It’s
not like creating paper-trail-less processes, trying to ensure projects are
awarded to Conservative ridings or trying to push too many projects through
the door too quickly with unprepared departments isn’t a part of the problem either
– right?
The Commons law clerk has rendered his legal opinion on the matter of the Conservatives demanding the CBC access-to-information documents for the committee on access to information, privacy and ethics, and finds that not only does it violate the sub judice principle that Parliament should not interfere in the courts,
but it would be akin to the committee asking to see people’s income tax
returns to see that they’ve paid. In other words, this is bad news, but we’ll
see if the Conservatives keep up this fight by trying to bully it through with
their majority.
With the builders of the F-35 fighter jets now
lining up for the contract for replacement search-and-rescue planes (which we
are in dire need of), there are new fears of sole-source contracts, statements
of requirement tailored to suit only the one aircraft, and other political
ham-fistedness. But hey, they’re committed to an open contract process,
everyone! Really!
With the addition of a last-minute
candidate – a riding president from Lethbridge, Alberta – there are now five
candidates for the job of Liberal Party president. Sheila Copps, being the highest-profile
candidate, is already being called the frontrunner.
And further strange tales of the former
chair of the security and intelligence review committee are coming out, like
how a particular shady lobbyist decided he was too much trouble to do business with.
Why you can trust Xtra
