The Tories won't debate abortion Did someone forward you this newsletter? Sign up here to get it delivered weekday mornings. Every time Conservatives hold a policy convention, the party answers the same questions about social conservatives in its ranks. Will they force a debate about abortion? Will they be silenced? What will the Tories talk about? The party posted policy proposals and constitutional amendments that'll be on the table in a little less than a week . Abortion is not on the agenda. But the grassroots has a lot to talk about. Party members will debate a "three strikes and you're out" policy that would support empowering the federal ethics commissioner with "more punitive options for repeat offenders" of ethics laws. The delegates from Steveston-Richmond East, B.C., submitted a proposal that every opposition party champions before it wins power: an access-to-information law that punishes departments for missing disclosure timelines. Another proposal would replace the words fossil fuels with the less politically charged hydrocarbons in energy policy. And in keeping with the times, the party might well replace Aboriginal with Indigenous on all related policy. Ontario Premier Doug Ford sparked an uproar when he accused NDP MPP Sol Mamakwa of "jumping the line" to get his second dose of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine. Ford claimed "a few chiefs" were "pretty upset." Mamakwa tweeted earlier this month that Sandy Lake First Nation invited him to a clinic to receive his vaccine and "promote vaccine uptake in fly-in First Nations." The premier's office claimed Mamakwa's shots predated Indigenous people being declared a priority population. But CTV's Colin D'Mello found evidence that disproved that claim. Watch the full exchange. How many people can Canada actually vaccinate every day? In her latest Vaxx Populi entry, Patricia Treble uses Manitoba's detailed rollout estimates as a guide to forecasting how soon Canada might get every adult in the country inoculated. "Canada would have to vaccinate 263,000 people a day, or 11,000 an hour, to inoculate all adults by Canada Day," she writes. But can we do better? Treble's number-crunching might make you feel a whole lot better about the future. The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada published a new report on government outsourcing. The federal union claims the feds doled out $11.9 billion to various consultants and contractors between 2011 and 2018—a trend that has spawned a "shadow public service of consultants and temporary staff operating alongside the government workforce." PIPSC says the work typically goes to male-dominated industries and exacerbates gender inequity in the public service. Exhibit A: Innovation, Science and Economic Development just awarded a $565,000 contract to KPMG for "expert analysis on national and global biomanufacturing, vaccine and therapy production sectors and related trends." Asked by Maclean's why the feds have to find a consultant to do that work, the department defended the practice. "The engagement of external experts is common course for government departments engaged in complex and time-sensitive work," read a statement. The newest version of a federal bill on medical assistance in dying came to a vote yesterday in the House of Commons. Liberals and Bloc Québécois MPs teamed up to limit debate on Bill C-7, even as Justice Minister David Lametti lamented that he's "not a fan of closure." Tories and New Democrats warned the government didn't properly consult disability advocates on new provisions, inserted as Senate amendments, that extend assisted dying to those suffering solely from mental illness. The NDP will oppose the amended bill. The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops is advising Catholic worshippers against taking the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, which the organization claims faces questions about the "moral permissibility of receiving vaccines whose development, production, and/or testing has involved the use of abortion-derived cell lines." The response from scientists: the building blocks of AstraZeneca's shot are commonly used in laboratories, and have been for decades, to create effective vaccines. The two Michaels: After the English-language Global Times newspaper in China reported that Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor would go to trial "soon," both Global Affairs Canada and Kovrig's employer, the International Crisis Group, said they were not aware of any developments. —Nick Taylor-Vaisey | 
