First Reading (11/06/09)

Today's essential political reads:

1) Canada's Chief of Defence Staff has ordered the Canadian Forces to prepare to withdraw from Afghanistan. CBC News learned this late last evening, and the Ottawa Citizen's David Pugliese spoke to CDS Walt Natynczyk for this morning's paper as well. (For comparison's sake, it's worth reading the interview Maclean's posted earlier this week with former Ambassador-turned-Conservative-candidate Chris Alexander -- the military's preparations notwithstanding, he thinks there's still going to be a debate about Canada's role post-2011.)

2) A senior federal official told The Globe and Mail that down the road, Canada needs more than one vaccine manufacturer to deal with a pandemic like H1N1.

3) If you missed it yesterday, Peter Van Loan is not impressed with a RCMP report on how police use the gun registry. Plus, the chattering classes continue to analyze Wednesday's vote: Riley calls it 'an appalling betrayal', Ibbitson blames rural overrepresentation in the House of Commons, the Post editorial sees this as an occasion to spotlight the Liberals' rural problem, while the Globe's editorial says illegal handguns matter more.

4) Susan Lunn gave you a taste of the MP spending reports that came out yesterday, but the Sun's entire bureau dives right in to the details this morning: Thomson, Raj and Harris tease out the angles. 

5) Looking forward to Monday, L. Ian MacDonald previews the four by-elections about to unfold, with his views on what they mean for each party's bigger picture.