Kady O'Malley Bio

As the countdown begins to the end of what has been, by any measure, one of the newswildiest weeks on the Hill in recent memory, MPs will spend the final hours remaining on the Commons clock diligently working their way through the legislative to-do list, beginning -- and, barring a sudden burst of cross-aisle unanimity, likely end -- with a bill to "fight foreign corruption" that has already been passed by the Senate, and now awaits the scrutiny of the House.

Later this afternoon, Liberal MP John McKay will get his first chance to convince his colleagues to back his latest private members' bid to increase transparency on Canadian mining companies operating abroad, which would require that all payments made to foreign governments be reported to the foreign affairs and natural resources ministers.

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As reported by CBC's Laura Payton moments ago, Federal Court Judge Richard Mosley has handed down his ruling in the Council of Canadians robocalls electoral challenge - and it's a doozy.

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau has put his challenge to the PM to release the details of that now notorious $90 K 'gift' from his now former chief of staff Nigel Wright to Senator Mike Duffy in writing.

Thanks to the motion passed -- under closure -- yesterday evening, the pre-recess legislative blitz mode as the Conservatives scramble to get as many bills through the Commons as possible before the clock runs out. 

On the House to-do list today: report stage debate of the government's bid to modernize the rail safety regime, as well as its proposal to tighten up the witness protection system.

Outside the Chamber, Liberal MPs Marc Garneau, Ralph Goodale and Judy Foote hit the National Press Theatre, where the trio will detail the questions that, in their view, the PM 'must answer' on what the party has dubbed 'the PMO ethics scandal.'

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In the wake of the recent revelation of that now notorious $90 K gift from then-PMO chief of staff Nigel Wright to then-Conservative Senator Mike Duffy, it's worth noting that, according to documents tabled in the House earlier this week, just 1 in 5 of Wright's now former colleagues are making more than $100,000 or more for their service to the PM.

Government House Leader Peter Van Loan will take the rare step of invoking closure -- not time allocation, but straight closure -- later this afternoon in order to force a vote on his proposal to extend the sitting hours until the House rises in June.

It's worth noting that, if Van Loan's bid to lengthen the sitting day had stopped there, he may well have garnered the grudging support of the opposition, who would be mindful of the need not to appear to be shirking their parliamentary duties by objecting to the notion of sitting until midnight -- or later -- every night but Friday. 

Instead, the government chose to up the ante by including heavy, if temporary, restrictions on the ability of other parties to focus the attention of the House on non-legislative business -- specifically, concurrence motions and emergency debates.

This, not surprisingly, went over like a lead balloon with the New Democrats, who dubbed it 'superclosure', and fired back with an amendment that would give Van Loan his extra hours, but scrap the additional -- and, it could be argued, somewhat unnecessary -- limitations on debate, while simultaneously doubling the time allotted for Question Period from 45 to 90 minutes.

That amendment will, of course, almost certainly fail when it comes to a vote, which, under the aforementioned closure motion, will likely happen later today, although there are still a few procedural tricks left in the box that could delay the inevitable until Thursday.

While that battle rages in the Commons, the Senate expense scandal continues to consume the Other Place, where Government Leader Marjory LeBreton is expected to unveil her vision for a more stringent regime later this afternoon. 

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Last week, Government House Leader Peter Van Loan unveiled a new proposal to keep the Commons fires burning until midnight every night but Friday until the summer break, ostensibly in order to ensure passage of as much as legislation as the newly extended hours would allow.

The motion also contained what was almost immediately viewed as a procedural poison pill by the opposition, in the form of a provision that would drastically limit the ability of opposition parties to put forward issues not on the government's to-do list: namely, concurrence motions, and requests for emergency debates, both of which would be consigned to the wee small hours of the morning after government business had wrapped up for the day.

Today, the New Democrats responded to what the party has dubbed, somewhat sardonically, as "superclosure" with a counter-proposal that would give the government every minute of extra House time envisioned in the original pitch -- without, however, the additional limitations on debate, and, perhaps most mischievously, with a new provision that would double the length of time currently allotted to Question Period from 45 to 90 minutes.

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A week after his office was engulfed in what may turn out to be the most serious ethics-related scandal to hit his government since taking office in 2006, the PM is set to make his first public appearance on the Hill when he takes the floor at a special -- but not, according to PMO, 'emergency' -- mid-morning meeting with MPs later this morning, during which the traditionally cloistered caucus room will be opened, albeit briefly, to reporters, who have been invited to watch his opening address.

As is traditional at such events, the PM will not be taking questions -- not, that is, from the media, or in public -- nor will he be in the House to do so this afternoon; after the meeting wraps up, he'll head off to the airport, where a waiting jet will whisk him off to Peru to begin a four-day trade-related sojourn through South America.

Fortunately for those reporters who are unable to query the PM directly, Justice Minister Rob Nicholson -- who, as attorney general, is also the chief law officer of Canada -- will hit the mic in the Commons Foyer at noon, ostensibly to discuss the latest backbencher-backed crime bill that his government intends to support -- which, at last count, would be pretty much every one that has been introduced thus far, so not exactly a shocker -- before opening the floor to the media to quiz him on anything that happens to be on their collective, or respective, mind.

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