Inside Politics

Orders of the Day - Let the countdown to adjournment begin!

With both the behemoth omnibudget and copyright behind it and little to no prospect of giving the third reading stamp of approval to any other bills before it's set to rise for the summer later this week, the House has officially switched from last-minute legislative blitz mode to one best described as Let's Just Sit Here Quietly And Run Down The Clock.

On the Chamber to-do list for today: second reading debates as far as the eye can see, with the Canada-Panama free trade agreement the only item currently under time allocation, thus making it the most likely to make it to committee before time runs out. Which, given the heat wave hovering over the capital, poised to transform the precinct into one big humidor, could be even sooner than expected, provided a majority of recognized parties can agree that it's past time that MPs spent some quality time in their respective ridings. Otherwise, they'll just sit in the Chamber and broast until Friday. 

On the committee front, the in camera wrangling over the fate of the F-35 inquiry continues at Public Accounts, which, at this point, seems unlikely to report its findings back to the House before sitting wraps up later this week.

Over at Ethics, the NDP-initiated investigation into the privacy implications of social media continues, although the agenda for today does include unspecified "future business", which may or may not include Liberal MP Scott Andrews' almost certainly doomed attempt to look into the allegations currently swirling around Conservative MP and fellow committee member Dean Del Mastro. Either way, it's a safe bet that the government will force the meeting behind closed doors the instant that it comes up.

Finally, the newly struck Special Committee on Cooperatives, which was brought into being as a direct result of a Liberal opposition day motion that managed to garner the full support of the House, holds its inaugural meeting later today.

Running the media circuit today: NDP deputy environment critic Anne Minh-Thu Quach drops by the Charles Lynch Press Theatre for a quick pre-briefing on her participation in the upcoming Rio +20 Summit in Brazil.

Later this morning, NDP Leader Tom Mulcair will join members of his Quebec caucus and the Proprio-Beton Coalition to "speak with media" about the "pyrrhotite problem" that, according to the advisory, "is destroying hundreds of new homes in Mauricie," and specifically, role of the federal government therein.

Also on the Hill today:

  • University of British Columbia political science professor and one-time xx candidate Michael Byers teams up with the Rideau Institute for the release of a new report on "the case for a made-in-Canada fixed-wing search and rescue fleet"
  • Engineers without Borders launches a new campaign that will "challenge Canada to make cash-strapped foreign aid more effective by taking smart risks"
Elsewhere in Ottawa, Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq makes "a tobacco-related announcement."
Meanwhile, in Los Cabos, Mexico, the G20 summit continues. For up to the minute dispatches from the precinct and beyond, keep your eye on the Parliament Hill Ticker below -- or, alternatively, bookmark it and check back throughout the day. 

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Tags: blackberry jungle, orders of the day