Vic Toews vs the Mounties

It has been revealed that Vic Toews, the minister of public safety, wanted the RCMP to back off and stay away from a controversial peace conference here in town because he didn’t want the government associated with it in any way. The RCMP were prepared to be there anyway, for “National Security Community Outreach,” to monitor hate speech, and because hey, it’s not all terrorism apologists and conspiracy theorists. I’m having a hard time trying to decide who’s on the moral high ground here, but considering that Toews’ motive is likely to be that of this government’s Christian Zionist policy of supporting Israel at all costs (and there would be a lot of things critical of Israel at said forum), I’m not sure his reasons entirely stand up.

Remember how Harper’s softwood lumber deal was going to resolve our differences forever? Yeah, apparently not so much. Here we go for round eleventy…

In Toronto, Rob Ford wants to eliminate the five-cent levy on plastic bags, but evidence shows that it’s worked in reducing their use by up to 80 percent.

Here are the 10 MPs that Postmedia considers to be “up and comers.”

Oh, backbench revolts in the UK. Something that could never apparently happen here, unfortunately.

And in case you missed it, here’s the governor general’s New Year’s message.

Dale Smith is a freelance journalist in the Parliamentary Press Gallery and author of The Unbroken Machine: Canada's Democracy in Action.

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