A short note on unfortunate news.
Bloc Quebecois MP Francine Lalonde announced last week that she has been diagnosed again with cancer and, as a result, she will not be seeking reelection. Over the last three years of observing Parliament and its players, Ms. Lalonde has distinguished herself in these eyes as a passionate, insistent voice pushing this place to consider difficult matters: euthanasia, the treatment of Afghan detainees, Omar Khadr. Last week she was part of a Public Policy Forum discussion on the role of Parliamentary committees and indeed, whatever her original reason for entering federal politics and whenever an election does bring her time in Ottawa to an end, she will depart as a parliamentarian, a title that should be reserved for those most honourably committed to this institution as a true and valuable forum. The House will be poorer in her absence, but made richer by her time here.