Tease the day: McGuinty reverberates, doesn’t dominate

Nick Taylor Vaisey is at your service: What should he watch on Parliament Hill?

<p>Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, right, is pictured at a news conference at Queens Park in Toronto on Friday, June 15, 2012. The premier spoke to reporters about his threat to call for an election over the Ontario budget. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young</p>

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, right, is pictured at a news conference at Queens Park in Toronto on Friday, June 15, 2012. The premier spoke to reporters about his threat to call for an election over the Ontario budget. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

Chris Young/CP

The echoes of Dalton McGuinty’s resignation reverberate in today’s newspapers. Every storyline—his record and legacy, his controversial prorogation of the legislature and, yes, his possibly potential federal leadership ambitions—get some kind of treatment across the board. The premier didn’t dominate headlines entirely, though. The Globe and Mail thought President Barack Obama’s debate performance merited front-page treatment. And although the National Post and Toronto Star found other stories for their front pages, they both led with Obama on their websites.


What’s above the fold this morning?

The Globe and Mail leads with President Barack Obama bouncing back in last night’s U.S. presidential debate. The National Post fronts an editorial cartoon atop a John Ivison column hinting at a federal Liberal run for outgoing Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty. The Toronto Star leads with the news that McGuinty told cabinet ministers interested in his job to resign from those positions. The Ottawa Citizen plasters its front page with a story about the prorogation of the Ontario legislature. iPolitics leads its coverage with the “disturbing level of harassment” in the federal public service. National Newswatch puts the spotlight on a CBC News story about questions surrounding federal Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Peter Penashue’s election spending.


Stories that will dominate the HillStories that will be (mostly) missed
1. Food safety. The opposition will continue to hammer Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz on food safety related to the XL Foods E. Coli crisis. André Picard’s column today in The Globe and Mail adds fuel to the fire, not that critics needed the push. 1. Public service harassment. An iPolitics analysis of a federal employee survey suggests 29 per cent of over 200,000 public servants surveyed claim they’ve been harassed in the workplace, just in the past two years.
 2. Canadian Museum of History. The renaming of the Canadian Museum of Civilization will still have the opposition skeptical of Heritage Minister James Moore’s intentions—even if, as he says, Samuel de Champlain’s astrolabe is politically neutral. 2. Northern Gateway. iPolitics broke the news last night that a group of Conservative parliamentarians met for a briefing on the controversial pipeline’s progress. The group’s known as the “Pipeline caucus,” and the opposition was unaware of its existence.

What should I cover?

It’s time for a little experiment. I’m going to tell you about a few things happening today on Parliament Hill, and then you tell me what I should go watch—and, following that, report on. There’s plenty of action on the Hill today. Eight parliamentary committees, including three Senate committees, are talking about various studies and pieces of legislation. The list is below. So tell me: Where should I go?

Aboriginal Affairs and Northern DevelopmentBill C-27, First Nations Financial Transparency Act
Veterans AffairsBriefing on the functionality and development process of the new Benefits Browser
Environment and Sustainable DevelopmentUrban Conservation Practices in Canada
FinancePre-budget Consultations 2012
Public Safety and National SecurityBill C-42, Enhancing Royal Canadian Mounted Police Accountability Act
Banking, Trade and CommerceFive-Year Parliamentary Review of the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act
Foreign Affairs and International TradeBill S-10, An Act to implement the Convention on Cluster Munitions
Legal and Constitutional AffairsBill C-290, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (sports betting)

If you think those committees are boring and know about something, you know, more interesting, pop it in a comment. You could also send it in an email or—gasp!—a Twitter DM, but why keep secrets from everyone?