Sunday Morning Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Louise Arbour's interview with The House includes both her compelling criticisms of both the Cons' terror bill, and the Libs' failure to stand up against C-51. And the Canadian Press reports on Justin Trudeau's continued fecklessness, as he won't even take a position on whether the bill is constitutional after having ordered his party to support it.

- Crawford Kilian writes that while it's too late to atone for the death of Alan Kurdi, we should have no hesitation in making sure the same doesn't happen to other people we can help. Doug Saunders highlights three mistakes we're too prone to make in answering the needs of refugees. And Susan Delacourt rightly notes that voters can be more than spectators in ensuring that refugees find a home.

- But of course, it's also worth looking back to see how the current crisis came to pass. On that front, Lee Berthiaume reports that it was the Cons who passed the rule which they now point to as an excuse for denying entry to Kurdi's relatives (and which continues to operate as a barrier to Syrian refugees). Bruce Johnstone points out that the refugee crisis merely reflects the Cons' general dearth of will to assist anybody and a lack of competence, while Martin Lukacs writes that Kurdi's case is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the damage the Cons have done.

- Elly Alboim notes that the refugee crisis represents a clear test as to whether our political parties are willing and able to respond to important new events in the course of a campaign. Chantal Hebert points out that the Cons aren't the least bit interested in learning from their mistakes, or indeed deviating a word from their existing anti-humanitarian script. And Robin Sears sees that line of attack as the epitome of heartless and mindless message control at the expense of people's lives.

- Finally, Andrew Coyne reminds us that there are many questions as to what will happen in the aftermath of an election result which leaves any room for interpretation - which should serve as motivation to make sure Stephen Harper has absolutely no argument to remain in power.