Politics

Importers of popular electronics such as big-screen TVs and MP3 players are ramping up their fight against federal tariff changes, accusing the government of misleading them by offering tariff breaks that it planned to claw back later.

A Conservative MP said Thursday the prime minister will not appoint new senators until there is "substantial reform" to the Senate — but a spokesman for Stephen Harper swiftly contradicted the claim.

The Federal Court says it won't throw six MPs out of their seats over allegations of widespread vote suppression through automated robocalls in the 2011 federal election. But Judge Richard Mosley did find that fraud occurred in the election.

While many senators are talking about the expense scandal this week, one senator from Saskatchewan has remained mum about a separate controversy involving an off-shore trust.

Read the draft version of a Senate committee report into the expenses claimed and then repaid by Senator Mike Duffy and compare it to the committee's altered final report.

Letters between Senator Mike Duffy and Senator David Tkachuk, head of the committee looking into his expenses, reveal that Duffy was at times an active participant in the committee's investigation.

Beset by three so-called scandals at the moment, Barack Obama has been meeting his accusers and the press head on, Neil Macdonald writes. The same cannot be said for how Stephen Harper operates.

Nik Nanos digs beneath the numbers with CBC New Network's Power & Politics to get to the political, economic and social forces that shape our lives. This week: Few Canadians believe the current political environment will result in positive results.

Speaking as an independent Saskatchewan senator for the first time, Pamela Wallin is not answering any questions about whether or not she has repaid expense money.

As Ottawa waited to see whether Prime Minister Stephen Harper takes questions on the Senate expenses scandal in Peru this afternoon, CBC Politics blogger Kady O'Malley took readers questions on the latest controversial developments.

Not only is abolishing the Senate next to impossible, it's also a bad idea. An Upper Chamber filled with provincially-elected representatives would be far better and address a major flaw in Canada's parliamentary system.

Evidence obtained by CBC News suggests Eritrea's top diplomat in Canada is again soliciting taxes from the Eritrean community despite a threat by Canada eight months ago not to renew his credentials if he kept at it.