It could be easy to get comfortable in the relative peace and quiet that break week brings to Ottawa — but this time, we have the tireless Senate constitutional and legal affairs committee around to keep us in check.
The committee has been hosting day-long meetings all week, hearing from upwards of 20 witnesses each day. Even beyond this jam-packed week, it looks like the sober second thinkers have been giving the sweeping crime legislation a more thorough review than MPs offered (to be fair, the senate committee isn’t operating under the threat of time allocation the Commons committee was).
Today, the Senate committee’s long list of witnesses includes representatives of the Parole Board of Canada, Correctional Service of Canada, the Office of the Correctional Investigator Canada, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Canadian Parents of Murdered Children and Survivors of Homicide Victims Inc., and the John Howard Society of Canada.
Outside of Ottawa, the prime minister is back on the circuit today with a trip up, up north to Iqaluit, Nunavut, where the wind chill is bringing the temperature down to -40 C. Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq will join him to make an announcement at the Nunavut Arctic College.
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, meanwhile, is in a balmier Toronto this morning, participating in an event to highlight a new initiative geared to helping family caregivers.
Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Keith Ashfield will start his day in Moncton, N.B. to speak to representatives of local small and medium-sized businesses at a supplier development information session being organized as part of the Atlantic Shipbuilding Action Plan. Later, he heads to Oromocto, N.B. to make an announcement about helping local youth.
Tonight, Veterans Minister Steven Blaney is scheduled to take part in a discussion in Levis, Que. about the impacts of war, particularly for youth.
Human Resources Minister Diane Finley is hitting the road, heading to Edmonton to highlight what the Government’s Youth Employment Strategy has accomplished. Later, she’s expected to head to the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce to deliver a speech on Canada’s changing demographics, similar to earlier this week.
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Treasury Board President Tony Clement has an early start in Vancouver, where he will speak with North Vancouver’s Chamber of Commerce on social media and the Open Government initiative.
Liberal Treasury Board Critic John McCallum, meanwhile, will go before the cameras to demand transparency around the imminent cuts that will eventually be unveiled once the budget is tabled.
Interim NDP leader Nycole Turmel is slated to be in Gatineu, Que. again today, to speak at the international tennis tournament, for which she was made honourary president.
Liberal leader Bob Rae has spent this entire break week in Quebec, and shows no sign of leaving, with a visit to Groupe Refraco in Chicoutimi.
Several Conservative MPs will be out and about making announcements about helping local youth:
– Steven Blaney will be in Levis, Que.
– Keith Ashfield is in Oromocto, N.B.
– Kellie Leitch will be in Toronto
– Scott Armstrong will be in Halifax
– Rober Sopuck in Minnedosa, Man.
Last but not least, NDP foreign affairs critic Helene Laverdière will be in Toronto to talk about a private member’s bill, C-398. The bill aims to make it easier to get Canadian medicines to developing countries where people are suffering with HIV/AIDS and malaria. The NDP has previously tabled similar legislation. During the last Parliament, the party managed to get the bill through the House and into the Senate, but the election killed the proposed legislation, along with hundreds of other bills.
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