In 2006, Stephen Harper’s Conservatives won a minority over Paul Martin’s Liberals. The campaign consisted of two main themes: the sponsorship scandal and tax cuts. One must wonder why the Conservatives won: was it in protest against the Liberal sponsorship scandal? Was it because the GST was promised to be cut by 2%? Or was it because the votes were rigged?

Public Safety Minister Vic Toews doesn’t like to have his private life exposed but is keen on exposing the lives of Canadians with Bill C-51, renamed to C-30, which would give the government and authorities unrestricted and unwarranted access to everything you do online and on your smartphones.

In light of Harper’s “major transformations” to the pensions of ordinary Canadians, it is time we take a look at MP pensions. MPs are eligible to take home half of their $157,000 per year salaries starting at 55 as pensions and receive benefits as long as they serve for 6 years. This is way more than the pennies any working Canadian will ever see at 65 – now imagine 67. Many more senior MPs get significantly more than that.

The NDP have disclosed documents that prove that Tony Clement had a say in how the $50 million G8 “slush fund” was managed. In response to their findings, NDP MP Charlie Angus is calling on Tony Clement to turn himself in to the police. Clement fought back claiming that the NDP were only reusing old facts and changing the notion of recommendation into order.

The documents obtained under the Access to Information Act found a contradiction in Clement’s testimony.

The NDP leadership race is soon coming to a close and they will crown one of  8 people as their new leader. The media has claimed a two-way race between Thomas Mulcair and Brian Topp for leader but this speculation is useless as it will be the card-carrying NDP members that will make the final verdict. Based on Liberal failures in the past 6 years, here are some pieces of advice and caution:

The Department of National Defense is one of the departments slated for cuts as Harper searches for $4 billion in savings. However, as 2,100 employees are packing their stuff and moving out of their offices, renovations have been slotted as new spending. These renovations, at a cost of $379,000 tax payer dollars, can be found in the deputy defense minister’s office.

While skeptics fought a reasoned fight against some of the Liberal Party’s new constitutional amendments, the party voted with sufficient numbers to pass some of former President Alfred App’s controversial departure gifts. In doing so, they also took a stab at new policy conventions and voted for a “Bold New Red.”