The Boys reconvene after a hectic week to talk about, among other things, the outcome of the Conservative leadership race and the ongoing BC drama,

This week, freshly-minted Dr. David Moscrop joins us for an analysis and discussion of the ongoing B.C. electoral stalemate, the pitfalls of coalitions, the knife's edge upon which the B.C. Greens dance, and a discussion of his work on deliberative democracy and democratic decision-making.

It's a fun one!

The Boys dip into the BC election, regretfully close off a major avenue of discussion due to some personal updates, and go for a deep dive into the Parliamentary Budget Office. Features an interview with Professor Genevieve Tellier of the University of Ottawa.

This week, the Boys wrap up the sad saga of Liberal parliamentary reform (plus, you get to learn where the word 'filibuster' comes from), round up constitutional news and talk about why conservatives love the notwithstanding clause, give tips to overambitious MPs, and Laurent interviews Green Party of Ontario leader Mike Schreiner and gets owned.

This week, we are joined by a guest from the big city - Canadaland contributor Evan Balgord - to talk about Access to Information. Etienne and Laurent then talk about the LIBERTY BOMBSHELL in the CPC race and make full use of one of the finest pieces of music ever recorded.

The MB Jingle Remix (LIBERTY EDITION) can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99bsPtZ3T4Q

This week, the Boys discuss the Conflict of Interest Commissioner's ruling against former federal Cabinet minister Vic Toews, the BC election (which has Laurent pleasantly surprised), and another flareup in history's longest-running conflict, the US-Canada Softwood Lumber Dispute.

Note: Laurent (shamefully) gets the name of a former BC premier wrong. That should be Mike Harcourt, not Bruce Harcourt. He regrets the error.

The Boys serve up some greens: this week is all about the sticky nuggets we all love... wonky details about technical documents. Get your vitamins with a deep dive into government branding and Message Event Proposals, the new internal free trade agreement, and memoranda to Cabinet.

We also mention pot legalization. (And mess up the day it was introduced - Thursday rather than Good Friday. Woops!)

Notes and References:

Marland piece: http://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/april-2017/government-communications-under-trudeau/

Our episode on Cabinet committees: https://soundcloud.com/boys-in-short-pants/episode-5-cabinet-committees-the-neighbours-and-leadership-races

Example MEPs: http://www.cbc.ca/newsblogs/politics/inside-politics-blog/2010/06/from-the-cp-access-to-info-files-the-medium-is-the-message-event-proposal.html

Poletical Leadership Tracker: http://www.poletical.com/cpcldr-conservative-leadership.php

This week, the Boys discuss their recent conference adventures and Etienne gets Mad Online about political scientists and C-51. We host an out-of-town guest for an interview to talk about how Canadian democracy is doing.

Lot of thanks to go around this week: thanks to Upstream (@UpstreamAction) for the press pass (!) to the Closing the Gap conference, thanks to Jane Hilderman and Samara (@SamaraCda) for their time, and thanks to Loonie Politics (@LooniePolitics) for featuring us on their website.

The Boys blast out a hard-hitting, one-take episode, covering how Question Period works and what the point is, Scott Gilmore's lament for PCs gone by, the membership deadline for the Conservative leadership race, and more Brad Wall shenanigans.

This week, the Boys are back in town with that classic no-guest Etienne/Laurent format you've been craving. We talk the mechanics of releasing a budget, and how Brad Wall is bad, among other things. Laurent gets very French and Mad Online.

Note: Wow, we really could not have been more wrong about when Quebec's Legislative Assembly changed its name to the National Assembly! Turns out, it was done under Union Nationale premier Jean-Jacques Bertrand in 1968, at the same time as the abolition of Quebec's upper chamber.