Such a pressing issue

Because it’s an issue of such national
importance that it needs to be passed immediately, the Conservatives have
invoked time allocation on . . . the bill to kill the Canadian Wheat Board. And yes,
this is the third time they have invoked time allocation since the fall session
began. Because heavens forbid our MPs actually debate the merits of
legislation.

Meanwhile, Jason Kenney went before the
citizenship and immigration committee to argue that we need to lower the number of immigration applications we receive in a year because of the backlog and
said that this was all because of irresponsible policies that the Liberals

brought in. I’m quite sure that it also had nothing to do with the fact that
the Conservatives didn’t fill vacancies on the IRB – the body that decides
these cases – which allowed the backlog to grow as a result, just like the auditor general pointed out. Right?

Over at the finance committee, they have
now agreed to look at the renewal of the Bank of Canada’s mandate, despite having
been “too busy” earlier. Scott Brison, however, has a motion that they consider expanding the
scope of their study of the mandate to look at alternative targets, rather
than just inflation.

Not surprisingly, the commissioner of ethics and conflict
of interest has rejected a Conservative complaint, saying that unions
sponsoring the last NDP convention didn’t break any rules, but it didn’t really
fall under her jurisdiction anyway (as almost nothing does), but the NDP can
feel vindicated nevertheless.

With the death of Moammar Gadhafi, Harper says that our military deployment in the region will be coming to an early end.
The NDP especially wants to end the military mission to focus on rebuilding.

The Liberals scored a rare victory and used
Conservative absences at the veterans affairs committee to push through a study
on the proposed cuts to the department. When the Conservatives tried to
complain, they were overruled. They may try to find a procedural mechanism to
kill this new study, but I’m sure that Sean Casey will be savouring his victory
while he can.

And in the spirit of the renewed It Gets

Better campaign in the wake of the death of Jamie Hubley, Scott Brison recalls his own tough experiences growing up gay in rural Nova Scotia in the Montreal
Gazette.