After an incident where a group of Sikhs were not allowed to wear their ceremonial kirpan daggers into the National Assembly in Quebec, the Bloc Québécois has decided it wants to take that fight to the House of Commons, where a couple of Sikh MPs carry kirpans. Because we need to have another fight on multiculturalism and religious freedom in Ottawa after the matter has been settled by the Supreme Court. (Ujjal Dosanjh, who is Sikh, gives his take here.)
While Jack Layton (who is concerned about Harper’s plans on capital punishment and abortion) is putting out signals that his big budget demand is money for seniors (which would also be a big win for Julian Fantino’s profile – just saying), this “leaked” NDP memo talks about how ready they are for an election.
Kady O’Malley’s look into the use of Harper’s Hill office in the latest round of attack ads (well, that one was slightly less on the attack) continues to get more interesting as there seems to be confusion between the non-partisan PCO, the PMO and the Conservative Party’s headquarters – which should be really concerning in that party and government are becoming blurred.
Susan Delacourt offers some insight into the Harper/Mansbridge interview, noting that it was a bit more Old Harper than New Harper.
The Toronto Star’s retrospective series on Stephen Harper’s five years as prime minister continues with a look at Harper’s rightwing, tax-cutting agenda and the loss of our place in the world.
And the parliamentary budget officer is set to take a look into the government’s deficit-elimination program (and in all likelihood will reveal it to be window dressing with zero actual details).
PS – Sad news regarding Senator Elaine McCoy, whose husband passed away last weekend. My condolences.
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