Sexism in Canadian politics was, unfortunately, in the spotlight on Thursday.

Chatter about "ladies" and their "favourite virtue" was front and centre. So were online personal attacks directed at a female Cabinet minister, Michelle Rempel.

In the case of Rempel, she flagged some tweets attacking her Twitter profile picture. Check out the good, the bad, and the ugly:

Photo: @michellerempel

Looking for someone to blame for Canada’s economic ills and fiscal problems?

Well, don’t blame supposedly greedy unions. (Here's looking at you, Tony Clement.)

According to statistics from Labour Canada, highlighted on Thursday, the average union wage settlement in 2012 hit a 14-year low of 1.7%. This barely matched the inflation rate of 1.6%.

Public sector settlements averaged just 1.7% as well, and many workers were hit by outright pay freezes.

These settlements locking in low wage increases will last for an average of three years.

Community economies surely cannot prosper if working families are failing to make progress.

Photo: underneath. Used under a Creative Commons BY 2.0 licence.

Trans fats, called "the worst of the worst" of food ingredients, have been regulated all over the world. And yet Canada's Conservative government, after promising to cut them in processed foods, has continued to side with industry over the advice of its own experts.

This position just got a whole lot harder to defend. That's because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced on Thursday it was cracking down on trans fats, one of the leading causes of heart disease in the U.S.

If enacted, the proposal to declare partially hydrogenated oils (the source of trans fats) no longer "generally recognized as safe" will result in their elimination in foods sold in the U.S.

Back in the 2007, the Conservative government, acting on the advice of an expert panel, promised to bring in regulations if Health Canada's voluntary approach to reduce trans fats in foods didn't work. When the voluntary approach failed, the government broke its promise.

The Conservative government said no, telling the food industry it need not worry about regulations any time soon. It didn't matter that heart disease was responsible for 29 per cent of all Canadian deaths.

So here we are. The FDA looks poised to take strong action, based on a finding by the Institute of Medicine that "there is no safe level of consumption of artificial trans fats." 

The Conservative government's motto? Experts: who needs 'em?

Photo: joelshine2. Used under a Creative Commons BY 2.0 licence.

It looks like the B.C. Liberal government is getting set to hand the oil and gas sector a big win.

The Globe & Mail got its hands on Thursday on secret government documents that show how Agriculture Minister Pat Pimm is planning to ask cabinet to "effectively dismantle" the Agricultural Land Commission and hand over land use decisions to the B.C. Oil and Gas Commission.

The agricultural body was created 40 years ago by Dave Barrett’s NDP government to protect dwindling farm land from developers.  

Fast-forward to today, and here’s more proof of how Canadian conservatives are in thrall to Big Oil and Gas.

The Agricultural Land Reserve appears to be in the industry’s way, so why not transfer responsibilities for land use to the B.C. Oil and Gas Commission, where unfettered development without consideration for the environment or local communities will be an easier sell.

Pimm, who spent years working in the oil and gas industry before joining the cabinet table, is looking just like his allies in the federal Conservative government. 

Instead of taking a measured approach to resource development, the Conservatives in Ottawa work in lock-step with the oil and gas industry – where it looks like the two work together behind the scenes to synch up messaging and co-write the government’s playbook.

This way of working doesn’t yield a balanced approach. Balance would require a plan to reduce climate pollution and a strong emissions monitoring system.

But the Harper government has no such plan. It has also dismantled emissions monitoring capacity. And we're still waiting for the government's twice promised emissions regulations for the oil and gas sector. 

Even with regulations, Canada will fail to meet our modest target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 17 per cent of 2005 levels by 2020. 

Gutting B.C.'s Agricultural Land Commission isn't balanced – and neither is the Harper government's approach.

Photo: bcgovphotos. Used under a Creative Commons BY 2.0 licence.

Here we go again - more legal troubles for the Conservative Party over election spending.

On Thursday, Elections Canada's case against Peterborough MP Dean Del Mastro chugged along with a date in a local courtroom. Del Mastro, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's point man in the House of Commons on all ethics matters until he himself got into trouble, is facing four charges, along with his official agent, related to the 2008 campaign.

The allegation is Del Mastro failed to report a personal contribution of $21,000 and exceeded the maximum spending limit. Sound familiar? Del Mastro's former colleague in the Conservative caucus, Peter Penashue, got into trouble over election spending during the 2011 campaign, and eventually stepped down - but not before Harper defended him.

And don't forget about the Conservative Party's "in and out" election financing scheme during the 2006 election. The party cut a deal in 2011 so Elections Canada charges against four senior party officials, including two senators, were dropped. Instead, the party paid $52,000 in fines to settle the case. Senator Irving Gerstein, head of the Conservative Fund, remains in the Conservative caucus, and is now embroiled in the ongoing Senate scandal.

No such luck for Del Mastro. He left the caucus in September after Elections Canada laid the charges, and sits as an independent in the House of Commons for now.

Del Mastro, though, did enjoy plenty of support from Harper and other Conservative colleagues before things heated up.

//www.youtube.com/embed/ZV24yEEXXLA

Photo: leadnow. Used under a Creative Commons BY 2.0 licence.