General

ITQ Committee Lookahead Thingy

So sorry, y’all, for the delay in posting today’s roundup, but at least it’s Wednesday, which means afternoon-only meetings. Anyway, without further ado:

Welcome back, Justice committee! Maybe you’ll be able to stick around for the full two hours this afternoon, huh? After all, the opposition got smart in drafting the latest 106(4) request (as sleepily noted here), although that doesn’t mean the chair can’t do his usual mad dash out the door. ITQ will be there, of course – we’re always there.

If Art Hanger bolts, ITQ will, of course, be very disappointed, although we feel we should point out that such a calamity would, however, give the liveblogger just enough time to make it to the Senate Banking, Trade and Commerce committee, where Canadian director David Cronenberg will envision the bleak, dystopian future of the Canadian film industry should the government succeed in its attempt to deny tax credits to films deemed obscene or contrary to the public interest.

We’re also issuing a Grade A Filibuster Alert – we really need to come up with a system for ranking the status of parliamentary dysfunctional by colour – for Environment, which is about to begin clause by clause consideration of C-474, another one of those pesky opposition private members bills that send government members into fits of strategic loquaciousness.

At the same time that Cronenberg will be mesmerizing senators with his dark prophecies, the Legislative Committee on C-20 will muse over the fate of the Senate itself – or, at least, how the next generation of inhabitants will be chosen – with the help of the Canada West Foundation.

Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl – who is having quite an eventful week; he has not one but two bills before the House (specific land claims and matrimonional property rights, to be precise) – undergoes the traditional Main Estimates hazing ritual, courtesy of the Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development committee.

Strahl can comfort himself in the knowledge, however, that he isn’t the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, who is in the crosshairs of two separate committees over proposed changes to immigration policy. Even more inconvenient for her staff is the fact that those committees – Finance and Citizenship and Immigration – always seem to be meeting at the same time, and, not infrequently, in different buildings. Oh well, at least they have BlackBerries. Until RIM comes out with a time-turner, that will just have to do.

Black market cigarettes – don’t smoke ’em if you got ’em. In fact, don’t get ’em. And if you know anyone who does have ’em, report ’em to the RCMP. There, now you can safely skip this afternoon’s Public Safety meeting. You’re welcome.

Finally, the selfless members of the Afghanistan Mission committee once again sacrifice their Wonderful Wednesday – which would otherwise likely be spent enjoying the glorious nearly-summer weather that has finally embraced the nation’s capital. Instead, they’ll be sitting in a dingy West Block meting room, being briefed by David Mulroney, who heads up Privy Council’s Afghanistan Task Force.

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