Each week, the Maclean’s Ottawa bureau sits down to discuss the stories behind the week’s stories in our politics podcast, On The Hill.

They also gather in the OMNI studios to talk about the stories that matter. This week, John Geddes and Aaron Wherry join Cormac MacSweeney to deconstruct the impact of Auditor General Michael Ferguson’s headline-making report into Senate expenses. They also talk about the prospects, or lack thereof, for a similar accounting of House of Commons spending. Before they adjourned for the weekend, the panel assessed the effect on Quebec’s political landscape of former Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe’s reemergence as party leader just months before the next federal vote.

THE HEADLINES

• 
  ON HISTORY
  Chris Alexander’s odd memory

• 
  ON SENATORS
  Bonus: Includes real Hansard quotes

• 
  ON PROMISES
  World leaders plan the end of carbon

• 
  ON PAYING BILLS
  Sometimes you need to get creative

• 
  ON PROVINCES
  Where they stand on Senate reform

• ON DUCEPPE
  The Bloc leader’s final act begins