The recent scandals involving senators offer more reasons to question the Senate's continued existence. Senators currently control investigations into other senators' ethics, spending, attendance and actions overall. This is a completely ineffective system undermined by rampant conflicts of interest -- and senators are not even talking about changing it. While there are many proposals to reform the Senate, they all leave or create more problems than they solve, and all require changes to the Constitution (as Prime Minister Harper will soon learn when the Supreme Court of Canada rules on his reference case) -- so abolishing the Senate is no more difficult than any other option.

While many policy areas influence -- positively or negatively -- equality of opportunity, education is first among equals. The very idea of progress is under real threat in this country, for the first time in generations. The Canadian promise, that if you get educated and work hard, you can guarantee a better life for yourself and for your kids, is being seriously questioned. Canadians are rightly concerned that their leaders have lost focus on the policy that is at the heart of this promise: access to affordable, high quality education. In short, the core of Liberal economic policy should be to make Canada the best educated country on Earth. So what should the federal role look like?

As a candidate in this leadership race I believe we have a responsibility during this campaign to define where we stand; we must be clear in our convictions; and speak honestly to Liberals and to Canadians. And therein lies the difference between my friend, colleague and fellow candidate Justin Trudeau and myself. =

The jet lag has passed and the Christmas decorations (for some of us at least) are put away in storage. With 2013 stretching out before us, let's reflect on the year that was 2012 in Canadian politics. The best and worst political stories, the best and worst politicians and the biggest sellout.

Every May 26, Australia has a National Sorry Day to remember the forcible removal of Aboriginal children from their homes. Why not a day of sorrow and acknowledgment for those that have suffered past racist and discriminatory actions for the sake of our national interest?

The single woman entrepreneur operating a start-up business in a remote village of Bangladesh is just as important as the large multinational company employing hundreds of thousands of people around the globe. CIDA works with both to help alleviate poverty in the developing world. Our government will continue to be there when humanitarian crises strikes the globe's most vulnerable. But our long-term goal is to help people help themselves, so that they can move themselves and their families from poverty to prosperity -- a result I believe all Canadians can take pride in.

The Liberal Party is split on who is best positioned to win -- but we seem to agree on one thing: it's gonna be a girl. This isn't some instance of affirmative action. From every conversation I've heard, Liberal partisans want the most qualified person to be Premier. It's just that most Liberals believe the best person is either Sandra Pupatello, the front runner, or Kathleen Wynne, her clearest rival.

If voters sit down and scrutinize the political and economic policy proposals put forth by each party in 2012, it becomes apparent that it is nearly impossible to tell where one party stops and another begins. So unless you sit slightly to the right -- in which case every party embodies your politics -- the next time a canvasser, pollster, government official, or public figure asks, "which political party do you support?" consider responding "none of them." Can you really be considered apathetic?

I read NDP MP Helen Laverdière's piece in the Huffington Post with great interest. I find it ironic that the NDP, a party that wishes to impose a $21-billion carbon tax on Canadians and more than $50 billion in radical spending measures while we face global economic uncertainty, now wants to give advice to developing countries on their economic development. Let me take this opportunity to enlighten the MP and the NDP about the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and dispel their myths.

Last week, the Harper Government announced that it is putting Ridley Terminals Inc. (RTI), a relatively small federal Crown Corporation, up for sale. In the last early 1980s, the Trudeau government spent $250 million to build this coal terminal in the hope that coalmines would magically appear. Well, they didn't, and RTI has been a taxpayer-funded sick hole ever since.

Should we challenge mental health experts? Challenge the justice system on the grounds that we do not agree with a single, solitary verdict? On the grounds that the crime is particularly horrendous? Should we accept that a government is using a single, solitary court decision that it disagrees with and that causes public outcry to change the laws?

At a recent political event, outgoing Premier Dalton McGuinty touted his legacy as leader of Ontario. "Our government hasn't been perfect," he said. "But when it comes to the big things that families count on us to get right -- schools, health care, the environment, and the economy -- we've gotten it right every time." As is often the case, there's a gap between rhetoric and reality. That's certainly the case when it comes to McGuinty's claim about the economy.

Nine months ago, you could scarcely open a newspaper without reading all sorts of scary allegations about the Prime Minister's secret army of robo-men and their efforts to systematically rig the 2011 election through ambiguously deceptive phone calls. But if you're still jonsing for a Robocall fix, fear not!

Anti-Muslim bigots have gone too far in criticizing Justin Trudeau for his anticipated speech at a major Islamic conference that is going to be held towards the end of the month in Toronto. I find it disheartening to have hate-mongers trying to muzzle a convention like this one where people gather from all over the continent to nourish their souls.

I always knew I'd be supporting Kathleen Wynne for Ontario Liberal leader. But a Conservative proved my choice right before she'd even launched her leadership bid. I'm supporting Kathleen Wynne because of her character and her progressive principles. I'm also supporting her because I know she can win a general election.

The most exciting by-election on Thursday is in Calgary Centre, where polls indicate a three-way race between the Conservatives, the Liberals and (deep breath) the Green Party. So if you live in Calgary Centre and are an NDP voter, a Green voter, a Liberal voter, then I suggest you consider yourself, first and foremost, a progressive voter.

The Canada Border Services Agency just announced that it had deported 16,511 people in 2011-2012, dubbing it a "milestone year." Every year tens of thousands of migrant workers are coerced to leave after getting hurt on the job or because their work permits are revoked or have been completed. This is euphemistically called "repatriations." Canada is implementing a revolving door immigration policy, with high deportations and a shift to migrant work. It is clear to see who is paying the cost of these policies. Are we okay with this? It's time we slow this down.

Ontario can lead Canada in job creation again, but it's not going to happen without a plan. One of the real, achievable things we can do to get us there is to break traffic gridlock in the economic heart of Ontario: the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA). My party put this forward as one of our key proposals to kick start our economy.

In a move that comes with an unsettling brand of legislative style, tongue-in-cheek humor, the Canadian government passed a bill on Halloween that aims to outlaw masked protestors during riots or "unlawful assemblies." In a way, it's not surprising. Canada has had a tricky few years for riots and protest related carnage. Evidently, this catch-all legislation that sets out to ban masks from any protest that the government or the police designate as illegal, is an imprecise knee-jerk reaction to the growing problem of violent protests in Canada.

Last week's much anticipated report on reforming social assistance programs -- "Brighter Prospects: Transforming Social Assistance in Ontario" -- presents an opportunity for Ontario to make choices that will define our province. Unfortunately, the prospects for making these important reforms don't look bright at the moment.

Just as the 2012 budget is dubbed the "jobs and growth" budget while it slashes at least 20,000 jobs from the civil service, Bill C-377 is being presented as a measure to increase transparency and accountability, when it is nothing but an attempt at attacking and distracting a key element of civil society -- labour unions.