As we make cuts to CIDA, Foreign Affairs, disband Rights & Democracy, eliminate Elections Canada’s ability to help with elections abroad, and compound our loss of a seat on the UN Security Council, it needs to be asked if we’re threatening our international reputation. The answer would seem to be a resounding “yes.”

As the fire ratchets up over the auditor general’s findings on the F-35 file, it looks like the Liberal MP on the public accounts committee wants to call a whole lot of names to answer questions about just what happened. We’ll see whether this actually happens or if the Conservatives will use their majority to shut this down. And just for fun, here are more quotes about the F-35 contract that was spoken about but apparently has never existed.

Here is more about the lapses in air transport safety that the auditor general’s report uncovered.

There are warnings that the public service cuts could be more than just 19,200 jobs because it could also mean that thousands of term employees won’t be renewed. There will be a big number of cuts from civilian employees at both DND and Health Canada.

The Speaker has found no prima facie breach of privilege in the fact that the Conservatives aren’t answering order paper questions as they should be. This is actually very bad news for the state of our democracy and the health of Parliament.

The team that blew open the Robocon story has obtained a training manual on aggressive tactics from conservative call centre RMG, which is employed by the Conservative Party, among others. It should be little surprise that the majority of people they call are retirees in rural areas – the Conservative Party’s base, in other words.

The owner of H2O Water Professionals wishes he’d never met Bruce Carson and his girlfriend, as his company has since gone bankrupt and he’s been forced to work abroad. Carson’s activities and alleged influence peddling are under police investigation, and nobody yet knows how a man with Carson’s past could obtain clearance to work in the heart of the PMO.

And here are a few of the barbs that Bob Rae and Thomas Mulcair have been lobbing at one another.

PS – Check out my latest video post, episode two of the Lord and Smith Commission.

And that was the auditor general’s report. Issues with border inspections, airline safety and, oh yeah, the F-35 procurement process, which was understandably scathing. DND didn’t run a proper procurement process and wasn’t upfront about escalating costs. As well, there are concerns about the regional industrial benefits from the purchase and the lack of a Plan B (caution: possible paywall). The government responded shortly thereafter with the plan to shift the procurement process to a special secretariat at Public Works and to address some of the other issues, but it does seem to be two years overdue. Meanwhile, here, courtesy of Aaron Wherry, is a collection of F-35 quotations about past points and their evolution. Philippe Lagassé looks at the bureaucratic practices and the ministerial responsibility for the decisions made, and John Geddes looks back at some other procurement debacles. I post some of my own thoughts on the mindset that enabled the whole thing to happen. Oh, and the parliamentary budget officer has pretty much delivered a “told you so.”

First they made some spectacularly bad appointments and broke it, and now the Conservatives are killing the Rights and Democracy agency. This, after the Conservatives announced ages ago that they wanted to create a new democracy-promotion agency and never moved on it. One wonders if this is further abandonment of that promise or a step in replacing Rights and Democracy with this new group they may still be planning. Paul Wells looks back at some of the drama here.

Liberal MP Sean Casey was trying to be clever and filed an order paper question, asking for the web histories of the ministers of justice and public safety for the course of two days as a means of demonstrating the effects of C-30. The Conservatives were trying to be equally clever and responded with name, address, email, phone number, IP address and service provider, which they say is all a lawful access request that C-30 would grant.

The failed Conservative candidate who ran against Irwin Cotler and was subsequently hired by the government as an “advisor” is no longer in his job, which means he is likely no longer operating as a “shadow MP” in the riding.

The procedure and House affairs committee’s attempt to get to the bottom of the Anonymous threats against Vic Toews is pretty much unable to support its own weight.

Here’s a look at the “one-man show” that was Peter Julian’s budget speech. He finished up today to leave a whole 45 minutes to move and debate the NDP amendment and Liberal sub-amendment before they were voted on (and, surprise, surprise, defeated).

And remember Bruce Carson? Well, it seems like the RCMP is stepping up its investigation into his alleged influence peddling. Just in case you had any other former Harper advisors you wanted to keep tabs on.

The auditor general’s report comes out today, and it’s expected to be exceptionally scathing to the F-35 procurement process. And rightfully so. Word has it that following the release, the government will turn over the process to Public Works, like they did the shipbuilding contracting process. You know, the one that was roundly praised? (Except we need to remember that said process wasn’t perfect and needs to have an eye kept closely on it.)

Here are some smart ideas about revamping the estimates review process by MPs – you know, the very core of their actual job of holding the government to account – and yet everyone involved is pretty sure these suggestions will go nowhere, because MPs simply don’t care as the estimates won’t get them votes. And I’m sure they also have a press conference on their eleventieth private member’s bill that will never see the light of day coming up, so they’re just too busy to work about math.

The information commissioner is facing an involuntary budget cut, despite the fact that she has proven that her department’s activities are already running tight budgets. She’s also concerned that government departments might start using budget cuts as excuses for not responding to access-to-information requests in a timely manner.

With new attempts at thinning the borders with the States come new concerns from the privacy commissioner about more of our personal information being shared with the Americans to our detriment.

Among the budget cuts is Assisted Human Reproduction Canada, which struggled amidst bad legislation and non-existent regulations. And because assisted reproduction is an issue that affects queer families, it’s something that you should know more about.

The government quietly released its final report on the Afghan mission last week. Apparently we achieved 33 of our 44 development goals.

Here’s more from New Brunswick potato farmer Henk Tepper, his ordeal in a Lebanese jail, and what looks like inaction from the Canadian government.

Here is the tale of the interesting connection between the Historica-Dominion Institute and RMG, one of the Conservative-linked call centres that has been part of the whole Robocon saga.

Here’s a bit of a look back at the National Round Table on Energy and the Economy, which is being scrapped in the budget. Who was its first chairman? None other than current Governor General David Johnston, back when the program was created under Mulroney’s government.

And in case you missed it, here’s the April Fool’s “smackdown” between MPs Megan Leslie and Michelle Rempel.

If you work in the public service, brace yourself – the government is expected to start releasing details about job cuts today.

Because some people care about this, Justin Trudeau beat Senator Patrick Brazeau with a TKO at Saturday’s charity boxing match (video here). John Geddes of Maclean’s writes quite eloquently about it here.

The government is expected to chop some 280,000 would-be immigrants from the backlog and refund their fees.

Over in the Alberta provincial election, a PC staffer tweeted comments about Wildrose leader Danielle Smith’s fertility, prompting Smith to put out a release to discuss her infertility issues. It’s loathsome campaigning and a sad reminder in a province where these kinds of attitudes about a woman’s worth being based on her fertility are still far too prevalent.

New Brunswick potato farmer Henk Tepper is back in Canada after a year in a jail cell in Beirut. This is thanks in large part to the efforts of Liberal Senator Pierrette Ringuette, who was a tireless advocate for Tepper’s case, while Diane Ablonczy and her staff are trying to dispute this.

And here’s a recounting of Craig Scott’s first day in the House. Hint: it wasn’t all hugs and smiles.

PS – Whereas I indicated on Friday that the House wasn’t sitting this week, I was mistaken. It is sitting until Thursdsay this week, and the following two weeks will be constituency weeks.

A reminder that Hill Queeries is now only for the daily political roundup. For QP recaps and other blogging goodness, go to Routine Proceedings.

Among other budget fallout, the Conservatives have signalled that they will reform EI to try to cut down on its “reliance” by those in seasonal industries, which makes some people on the East Coast nervous that it could mean a mass migration westward. Legislation on MP pensions will likely come in the fall. The death of the Public Appointments Commission Secretariat – which hasn’t done any work – is another scrapped promise of Harper’s earlier days. Jim Flaherty says that the budget changes won’t leave the provinces short – and then went on to pick a fight with Ontario. Here are some questions raised by the changes made to innovation tax credits. The diplomatic community is warning of the true cost to Canada’s reputation by the plans to scale back diplomatic residences (and the plan really is pretty boneheaded when you look at the realities of diplomacy, which this government still has no knack for six years later). And First Nations in BC are preparing to fight the government attempts to “streamline” the environmental assessment process of the Northern Gateway pipeline.

Thomas Mulcair is starting to play the game of issuing separate releases for Quebec than the rest of the country, as he did with the budget. Bob Rae, meanwhile, is put out by the New Democrats' choice to use their right of unlimited time in budget debate to shut them out of any debate on Friday.

Susan Delacourt examines how, from robo-calls to DDOS attacks on online voting, computers and machines are becoming important players in our democracy.

Rob Anders, no longer on the veterans' affairs committee, writes a typo- and grammatical-error-ridden letter to The Prince Arthur Herald about further loosening gun regulations in this country.

Stephen Harper’s sixth communications director has resigned. If Harper’s d-comms were wives of Henry VIII, I believe Angelo Persichilli would be Anne of Cleves.

Here is a bit of an obituary, if you will, for the humble penny.

And here’s Bev Oda’s verbal slip from QP on Thursday about eating babies, which got edited out of Hansard.