I don’t know about you, but I am really tired of being threatened with violence and other unpleasantness by some native leaders. I’m also pretty tired of hearing that I’m never doing enough to help fix native problems.

I did find yesterday summit particularly annoying. Stephen Harper gave an embarrassingly groveling speech, which was immediately followed by a speech from chief Shawn Atleo demanding more… “We see today’s Gathering as only the first step in a commitment to a renewed relationship. Next must come new fiscal relationships that guarantee and deliver sustainable, equitable services based on mutually agreed standards and shared responsibility.” Why do I have the feeling someone’s about to reach deeper into my pocket?

Stephen Harper can talk about economic self-sufficiency until he goes blue in the face, as long as the federal government keeps handing out billions of dollars to band councils without normal levels of accountability, nothing will change and we all know it. But for some weird reason, nobody ever seems willing to tell the chiefs to put a sock in it and fix their own problems themselves. We grovel and promise more, more and more. Why?

Are we afraid? Chiefs like Terry Nelson don’t seem to mind making threats – he said, back in 2007, that there “were only two ways of dealing with the white man. Either you pick up a gun or you stand between him and his money.” Or Chief Stewart Phillip who warned Monday that an Arab Spring-like aboriginal uprising was inevitable unless Stephen Harper gives clear indications that he takes his concerns seriously.

You know, a native uprising is not a pleasant prospect. One such scenario is detailed in the novel Uprising by military expert Doug Bland (a book I helped edit), and I don’t think I’m going to spoil the book for you by telling you it doesn’t end well for anybody. An uprising would be a disaster for everybody. But this endless blackmail some chiefs subject us too isn’t pretty either.

Canadians – aboriginals as well as non-aboriginals – deserve better.

Should we extend the ban on burkas and other face coverings beyond citizenship swearing-in ceremonies, as some Muslims are asking of Immigration Minister Jason Kenney? Yes.

What the Muslim Canadian Congress is asking for is federal legislation making people remove any face covering when working in the public sector or doing business with government officials. More or less like Quebec’s Bill 94, which was introduced almost two years ago, with the support of the province’s largest women’s group.

As Premier Jean Charest explained at the time: That bill is “a symbol of affirmation and respect — first of all, for ourselves, and also for those to whom we open our arms. This is not about making our home less welcoming, but about stressing the values that unite us.” And two fundamental values that have to be respected are the equality between men and women, and the secular nature of public institutions.

The Muslim Canadian Congress is not asking Jason Kenney to consider banning the burka or the niqab from the streets. It’s only asking for the current ban on face coverings to be expanded to public-sector jobs and dealings with government officials. Kenney said he was prepared to consider the suggestion, and added that he didn’t see the existing ban to be controversial, and neither do Canadians. In fact, his recent move to ban face coverigns from swearing-in ceremonies is supported by 81% of us.

I would like to see the existing ban expanded. I might even push it all the way to a full ban on veils and other face coverings, like they have in France. I don’t have a problem with head scarves. But I draw the line at the niqab and the burka. I don’t care what your religion is – in a free and open society like Canada, honest people show their faces when they interact with one another.

It’s not about religion, it’s about culture. In this country, men and women are treated equally under the law, and both go about their business in public the same way. Our behaviour should reflect that. We shouldn’t settle for anything less.

Yes, they’re out of office – mostly. But even with just a handful of MPs after a historic thumping in the last election, the Bloc Quebecois still manages to make our blood boil. And yes, of course, it has to do with money. Our money, which they’re taking and abusing without even so much as a thank you.

There was an explosive story in La Presse Saturday morning claiming that between 2004 and 2011, Bloc leader Gilles Duceppe had used money from his House of Commons budget to pay the salary of a top party staffer. We’re talking about amounts that get very close to $1 million in total. Of money that’s supposed to be used for parliamentary purposes – gone instead to the party, which is a big no-no.

The party is trying to defend itself. Mr. Duceppe and his former chief of staff saying all this had been “known” for many years, that the Bloc had never tried to hide anything. I’m sure this will impress investigators. Some people are even suggesting that the party or Mr. Duceppe ought to repay that money. Well, yes. Absolutely. Take it out of Mr. Duceppe’s lavish, $140,000/year pension, maybe?

There is, however, a little bit of good news in this story. The fact that the party didn’t have enough money to pay everyone and was “forced” to divert funds from parliamentary sources to pay its own staff shows you that normal people in Quebec don’t give money to separatist parties. As my friend and Sun News colleague Eric Duhaime explained just before last year’s election, about 80% of Bloc funds come from taxpayer subsidies. Oh, and also: The Harper government is finally getting around to canceling some of those subsidies, and the Bloc will soon be weaned off this free taxpayer money.

Left to its own devices, the Bloc will die a slow painful death (or at least suffer greatly) because without money you can’t keep the dream alive for very long. It sure makes it hard to win elections when you have no budget for ads. Or staff. Or signs.

So the bad news is, you’re still being played for chumps, with your own money. The good news is, it’s almost over. I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait.

How old are you? If, like me, you’re 45 or younger, chances are you’re not really thinking about retirement. And why would you? You’re unlikely to be able to afford it. You know it, I know it, everybody knows it. We do our best to save anyway – we contribute to RRSP or other investment vehicles, and if we’re lucky we work for an employer who chips into our retirement savings, usually dollar for dollar.

The idea of retiring at 55 with a pension of $53,000 a year is almost comical it’s so far-fetched. Yet that is what our members of Parliament get on average, some are entitled to less, but some are entitled to much more – Gilles Duceppe is entitled to $140K a year… And as the Canadian Taxpayers Federation explained yesterday, us taxpayers contribute $23 for each dollar MPs contribute to this fund, making it the richest pension fund on the planet. Oh! And MPs qualify for their pension after only 6 years on the job.

This is, not to put too fine a point on it, obscenely unfair. Why should people who have nowhere near that kind of retirement plan pay for such a lavish scheme? Are MPs so special that they deserve something that’s several orders or magnitude better than what the average Canadian gets? No. And it’s high time we made them give it up. And what kind of system should we demand they put in place instead? I’m so glad you asked.

Here’s my idea: Let’s increase the base salary for MPs, from the current $157K a year to, say, $200 a year, and kill the pension fund altogether. Just eliminate it. Let MPs save their money by themselves, like most of us do. With such a generous salary, they should be able to put something away fairly easily, right?

See, the system as it is now encourages MPs to stick around as long as they can – because the longer they stay in office, the bigger their pension. What’s good about that? I don’t want to encourage people to become career politicians. Politics should be something you do as a service to the nation – as a way to give something back. It shouldn’t be seen as winning the retirement lottery. It’s high time we got rid of this ridiculous scheme.