When you mess with the abyss until you’re done, the abyss... well, guess

From Reuters:

OTTAWA (Reuters) - The Canadian Department of Finance announced it will hold a technical briefing on Thursday for reporters prior to a speech by Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, suggesting an important announcement is coming.

The technical briefing will start at 2:30 p.m. (1830 GMT) and Flaherty’s speech is scheduled to start at 3:50 p.m. (1950 GMT) in Victoria, British Columbia.

Our sentiments exactly, Reuters colleagues. A requirement that reporters sign a non-disclosure agreement before receiving embargoed information is something we’re more used to seeing with budgets... or mini-budgets. Which is what leads us (well, me) to suspect that while the Prime Minister has had his parliamentary secretary and HRSD minister stall the blue-chip-ribbon EI panel, he’s been preparing another shoe, which will drop this afternoon.

Chess, anyone?