Fighting back . . . in the courts

As the bill to kill the long-gun registry
is debated in the House of Commons, the government of Quebec plans to fight the
federal Conservatives on the issue, and hasn’t ruled out legal action. As it
happens, legislating the destruction of records may in fact contravene other
pieces of legislation. Meanwhile, John Geddes at Maclean’s takes apart some of the contradictory rhetoric that the
Conservatives keep using about the registry.

The Canadian Wheat Board is fighting back and taking the government to court over the manner in which it’s trying to legislate the CWB’s end. Oh, and the ethics commissioner said those seven Conservative MPs don’t have to recuse themselves.

Both the Liberals and the NDP are objecting to the new auditor general because of his unilingualism.

A slightly different version of the
proposed seat allocation bill was leaked last night, although James Moore took
to the Twitter Machine to intimate that it, too, was wrong. Regardless, here is
the breakdown under that version.

There is talk that the Conservatives are ramming through their agenda now, using time allocation continually, to get through the backlog of policy they haven’t been able to pass so that
they can prorogue and start a new session with a new throne speech laying out
their long-term plans by the spring, likely before the budget.

Susan Delacourt looks forward to what could
be a renewed all-party women’s caucus on the Hill.

And Paul Dewar is laying out an urban
agenda
as part of his leadership campaign.

Keep Reading

Trans issues didn’t doom the Democrats

OPINION: The Republicans won ending on a giant anti-trans note, but Democrats ultimately failed to communicate on class

Xtra Explains: Trans girls and sports

Debunking some of the biggest myths around trans girls and fairness in sports

How ‘mature minor’ laws let trans kids make their own decisions

Canadian law lets some youth make medical or legal decisions for themselves, but how does it work?

To combat transphobia, we need to engage with the people who spread it

OPINION: opening up a dialogue with those we disagree with is key if we want to achieve widespread social change