Canadian Politics Roundup

• It's budget day, and it looks like an interesting one - for once. Apparently, $2.5 billion in new money is going towards carbon reduction this year. As much as I would've preferred to see a more active government plan, I have to say, $2.5 bil isn't bad at all. If we can keep that level of funding for the next few years - and spend it intelligently - we might actually be able to do some good. We probably won't meet our Kyoto targets, however.
• Paul Martin has apparently closed the door on Canadian participation in Star Wars. Good for him. At the same time, the existing infrastructure of NORAD will still be used for missile defense, which makes sense. Really, Bush should've known this was never gonna happen - Canadian skepticism is to high, the Canadian military would've wanted control over any facilities, but the US would have had to foot the entire bill. A number of Canadian interests prevented this from happening.
• Ontario is bringing in it's gay marriage law. There is no opposition expected from the opposition parties. The bill is expected to pass within a week. Holy crap. I love Ontario Conservatives.

One of the funnier traditions in Canadian budgeting has to be the press lockup. The press corps for the particular legislature literally gets locked up in a room and has their cell phones and blackberries confiscated, as punishment for being journalists.

Actually, it's to make sure that nobody get's to steal the government's thunder. Still, journalists deserve it, and worse. Of course, there are stories of particularly attractive young reporters making it our of the lockup with a bat of their eyelashes...