WE aren't done quite yet Did someone forward you this newsletter? Sign up here to get it delivered weekday mornings. Tories want to launch an anti-corruption committee that could revive the WE scandal. Liberals have responded by pitching a "special committee to oversee investments related to COVID-19." Tories say the Liberals are trying to squash a pile of controversy that could sink their government. Liberals say the Tories are flirting with an expression of non-confidence in the government. Welcome to the latest parliamentary brinkmanship. Pablo Rodriguez, the government House leader, penned a provocative letter for the opposition in which he defended the government's response to committee requests from last summer for extensive document disclosures. The opposition had complained about myriad redactions among the thousands of pages. In an artful fit of passive aggression, Rodriguez attached a collection of letters from deputy ministers justifying the blanked-out material. He also included a list of Justin Trudeau's speaking gigs before he took over his party's leadership (which, per CTV's Glen McGregor, were already in the public domain). Meanwhile, the WE Charity dumped its own documents yesterday, including fresh figures on paid Trudeau family appearances, the itemized expenses reimbursed by Bill Morneau earlier this year, and every interaction between WE staffers and any federal official—including cabinet ministers—dating back to the beginning of the ill-fated Canada Student Service Grant. Even the Kielburger brothers' annual compensation is now out in the open. The CBC's Janyce McGregor observed that yesterday's disclosures didn't quite match figures published earlier this year. This morning, Tory leader Erin O'Toole will talk about his party's opposition motion for the day. It's a mega-motion to strike an anti-corruption committee with so many clauses that it extends to (e)(XX)(d). Odds and ends: The Commons unanimously approved Bill C-3 at second reading yesterday. That's the legislation that would mandate federal judges training in "matters related to sexual assault law and social context." MPs passed an identical bill before before prorogation. The first version of the bill was tabled by former Tory MP Rona Ambrose back in 2017. Parliamentarians also debated C-7, the Liberals' attempted reworking of the medical assistance in dying law forced by a Quebec judge in 2019—and delayed by the one-two punch of pandemic and prorogation. Mi’kmaq rights: As four federal cabinet ministers commented on the crisis in Nova Scotia that has seen Mi'kmaq fishers repeatedly attacked by non-Indigenous perpetrators, a fundamental paradox divided the assembled Liberals. Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller said the Mi'kmaq, who have for centuries shown "extreme resilience and courage," have recently been "let down by the police, those who are sworn to protect them." A few minutes later, however, Public Safety Minister Bill Blair reported that "more police resources are being deployed." When a reporter pointed out that the local chief, Mike Sack, has lost faith in the RCMP, Blair said the Mounties were deploying the "right resources to do the job of keeping the peace and upholding the law." Earlier in the day, the Prime Minister's office published a readout of a conversation between Trudeau and Premier Stephen McNeil. They "agreed on the need for all parties to engage in respectful dialogue." Nurses who work for Indigenous Services Canada gave a sense of the limits of reconciliation in their department. More than 300 nurses responded to a government-commissioned survey, the results of which were recently published online, about their overall experience at work. Only 15 per cent said the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's recommendations had a "strong positive impact" in their workplace (37 per cent reported a moderate impact). Nearly half of Indigenous nurses reported minimal impact. Worth noting: On the heels of a $16.5-million settlement in a class action suit related to police overreach during G20 protests a decade ago, Blair's former colleagues at the Toronto Police Service issued a press release that (sort of) took responsibility for the force's mass detention of protesters: "We regret that mistakes were made." Blair was police chief at the time. Ontario Premier Doug Ford has recommended against trick or treating in the province's four COVID-19 hot spots (watch his full remarks). Ford's government had earlier published a flippant tweet to get the message across. Isaac Bogoch, a top infectious disease expert at the University of Toronto, said the advice "doesn't sit right" because the door-to-door candy trade poses such a low risk . Bogoch's colleague, David Fisman, posted a COVID-safe guide to Halloween . Recall that last week, our Shannon Proudfoot wrote that Halloween should not be cancelled because kids need a win in 2020. Outsourcing federal quarantines: By next March, the Public Health Agency of Canada may have found a third party to manage its network of 11 quarantine sites across Canada (which could expand to at least 10 more cities near "high volume" ports of entry). A notice on the federal procurement website alerted potential bidders to the possibility of a contract to be awarded next year. The feds also disclosed that PHAC has so far spent $37 million on accommodations, staff, food, security, cleaning, nursing and transportation at the quarantine sites. Thank god for federal public servants. The vigilant tweet-bot known as Government of Canada Wikipedia Edits alerts us to one bureaucrat's heroic effort, traced to a government IP address, to tinker with entries on an exhaustive list of Nintendo games. —Nick Taylor-Vaisey | 
