The Conservatives plea bargained down
charges in the in-and-out affair, where they pled guilty to a few lesser
charges and paid the maximum fine on the books, in exchange for the four
individual names at the centre of this being dropped (which includes two
sitting senators). And what did the Conservatives then do? Put out a press
release declaring victory. Because they’re tough on crime – except when it’s
them doing it, apparently.
Political considerations have sidelined the
Keystone XL pipeline . . . until after the next US presidential election.
The Liberals have released a white paper on
party renewal, which contains a number of suggestions, from some structural
reorganization of the various provincial wings (but doesn’t seek
to eliminate them in favour of one central organization, it should be noted), to
the very bad idea of an open primary for leadership selection (we’ve discussed
why this is a very bad idea before), to setting up a fund to defend said future
leader against the inevitable attack ads. With the party holding a convention
in January, I guess we’ll see if this document leads them to some further frank
discussion about their future.
Meanwhile, Liberal party presidential
hopeful Sheila Copps is looking to the Alberta Liberals’ experiment of a
quasi-primary system. You know, the one that got a displaced Progressive
Conservative MLA elected as leader before he’d even joined the caucus. Err, is
that the best system to adopt?
NDP MP Laurin Liu (of the robot hands) talks to students in her old high school (which she graduated from three years
ago) about getting involved in politics.
The tales of sexual harassment that are
coming out from women serving in the RCMP continue to tarnish the force’s
image. There is some discussion that a union could possibly have helped if they
weren’t forbidden to form one.
And the chair of the committee for security and intelligence review resigned yesterday, before MPs could start
demanding his resignation in QP. Now what will they have to talk about next week?
Why you can trust Xtra
