Rob Nicholson is so very hard done by

Poor Justice Minister Rob Nicholson. It must be so terrible when the media doesn’t want to take the lines you feed them and they actually challenge you on the spin you’re pushing. Well, journalists other than Evan Soloman, who gave you questions so soft they might as well have been fluffy kitties and didn’t challenge you on any single piece of utter nonsense that you spouted (such as being assured by Corrections Canada that they have the capacity to handle all the new prisoners that these minimum sentencing bills would engender, when you and I both know that’s patently false). But judging from his crankiness at yesterday’s press conference, I have no doubt that you feel just so put out by such uncooperative free media who are doing their jobs. I almost feel as bad for you as when certain Senators lay the smackdown on you for distorting what goes on in the Upper Chamber.

Nicholson also isn’t concerned about the diplomatic note the government sent to the United States on the disposition of Omar Khadr. Not that this is a surprise, given that any deviation would mean having to learn all new talking points, including on where to appropriately feign outrage in a wooden manner.

The government has a solution to the problems facing the embattled Rights and Democracy agency – appoint a former Separatist-turned-Canadian Alliance candidate to head it. Because they have such a stellar track record when it comes to appointing their own partisan hacks and cronies to these kinds of positions.

(Ignatieff, by the way – not a fan of the choice.)

The NDP budget suggestion of the day yesterday was on… seniors. Again? Okay. This time it was about raising the GIS.

And finally, over in Alberta, the premier says he’s planning on holding a new round of Senate “consultative elections” as the current list is due to expire before too long. Of course, these are nothing but one big farce, from the lack of actual constitutional legitimacy, to the fact that they’re run in a largely disorganized manner with virtually no advertising, so that for most voters (and even run alongside provincial or municipal elections, the turnout was really, really poor), people are simply told to pick four or so from a list of names that mean nothing to anyone. No, seriously – that’s how they do it, and I looked at the Alberta Elections filings from the last time around. More than half of the “candidates” (and I use the term loosely) had declared zero dollars on advertising. It’s a mockery of actual democracy, of the legitimacy they want to give the Senate, and it’s not something that Harper or any political leader should seriously be endorsing.

Up today – the NDP are apparently taking a page from the Liberals’ playbook and are hosting a panel discussion on the future of health care today on the Hill.