OTTAWA - Two major events affecting political life in Ottawa are taking place today each about a five-hour drive from Parliament Hill in opposite directions.
The first will see Veterans Affairs Minister Julian Fantino meeting in Quebec City with groups representing former soldiers upset with the government's veterans charter.
But there are already complaints that this effort to reconnect with veterans doesn't include groups that have threatened to campaign against the governing Conservatives.
The second story will unfold in Guelph, Ontario, where a former Conservative staff member convicted in the 2011 robocalls scandal faces sentencing.
The Crown is asking that Michael Sona spend at least 18 months behind bars for his role in the plot to misdirect voters on federal election day in 2011.
Sona's lawyer Norm Boxall has argued his client should get a suspended sentence or, at most, a six-to-12-month conditional sentence with house arrest, parole and community service.
Back in Ottawa, here are some other events happening around the Hill:
— NDP Leader Tom Mulcair will speak to municipal leaders at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities annual conference;
— And Finance Minister Joe Oliver will defend his government's latest budget implementation bill in front of the Senate finance committee.
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