Hot off the Sunday morning long weekend presses comes the official statement of resignation from now former PMO chief of staff Nigel Wright

For your Victoria Day long weekend parliamentary wonkery reading pleasure, here's the full transcript of the conversation between CBC News senior correspondent Terry Milewski and retired House of Commons law clerk Rob Walsh that aired on Friday night's edition of The National.

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 Prime Ministerial communications director Andrew MacDougall wraps up what has likely been a surprisingly busy parliamentary off-week with a background briefing on his boss's trip to South America, which will see the PM jet off for Peru on Tuesday.  

It's worth noting that, due to that pre-existing travel commitment, the PM will not be in his seat in the House when the Commons gets back to business on Tuesday, but will instead leave the task of fielding the inevitable flurry of queries on the recently revealed financial arrangement between his chief of staff and the senator he personally selected to represent Prince Edward Island in the Upper House to one of his cabinet colleagues.

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Are the Conservatives plotting an early escape from Parliament Hill?

Earlier today, Government House Leader Peter Van Loan released the text of a motion that would keep the Commons fires burning until midnight every night but Friday until the summer recess, which is currently scheduled to begin on June 21.

There's nothing particularly unusual about the move to extend the sitting hours -- it's traditional, in fact, although during minority days, Van Loan's efforts to do so were regularly rebuffed by the opposition, who would instead seize upon the ensuing debate to air their respective and collective grievances over his heavy-handed House management style before ceremoniously voting down his motion.

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New Democrat ethics critic Charlie Angus is raising the possibility that Nigel Wright's "so called 'gift'" to embattled Conservative senator Mike Duffy could violate the Parliament of Canada Act. 

With his chief of staff ensnarled in ever-deepening controversy over his $90 K bailout of embattled Conservative senator Mike Duffy, the PM will escape the glare of the media spotlight for at least a few hours as he journeys to New York, where he's set to take questions on Canada's energy policy, environmental oversight and emissions reductions plans at an event hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations.

In the aftermath of today's revelation that the the PM's right-hand man Nigel Wright cut embattled Conservative senator Mike Duffy a personal cheque for more than $90,000 to close the books on his controversial expense claims, there has been no shortage of confusion over what, exactly, constitutes a permissible "gift" under the Senate Conflict of Interest Code.