OTTAWA - Opposition leader Tom Mulcair is calling on the prime minister to release all the documents connected to a $90,000 payment to a now-disgraced senator. Stephen Harper's chief of staff resigned over the weekend after it was revealed he gave Sen. Mike Duffy the money to pay back taxpayers for his disallowed housing expenses. Mulcair says the series of excuses and explanations Harper's government has deployed since the scandal broke don't add up.

OTTAWA - The prime minister is jetting out of Ottawa today, leaving behind one of the worst political storms ever faced by his Conservative government, to contemplate a trade alliance membership in South America that many consider unnecessary. Before he leaves, though, Stephen Harper is expected to address the Conservative caucus and talk about his right-hand man, Nigel Wright, who resigned Sunday as a result of his role in a ballooning controversy involving the disallowed expenses of Sen. Mike Duffy.

TORONTO - Premier Kathleen Wynne says she's pleased the New Democrats will support her budget and avert a provincial election. Now that the threat's over, she says she'll look at dates for two byelections in London and Windsor. The seats were vacated in February by former cabinet ministers Dwight Duncan and Chris Bentley. NDP Leader Andrea Horwath says her party will prop up the minority Liberals for now because they've met enough of her demands. Horwath says Wynne didn't give them everything they wanted, but it's enough to gain NDP support.

OTTAWA - Conservatives gathered Monday night to mourn the passing of a key architect in their rise to power — and to brace for the toughest test Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government has faced since taking office on a promise to clean up politics in the national capital. A who's-who of Tories had few words for the handful of assembled journalists at Ottawa's National Arts Centre, where a memorial service was being held for Conservative senator and party stalwart Doug Finley, who died earlier this month.