Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson yesterday weighed consequences of an Alberta Court of Appeal decision striking cabinet’s signature climate change plan, the carbon tax. “What’s your Plan B if the Supreme Court rules against the government?” asked a reporter. “I’m not going to speculate on what the Plan B is,” replied Wilkinson. READ MORE
An MP yesterday disclosed records indicating the federal spy agency in 2019 warned the University of British Columbia of its close cash dealings with Huawei Technologies Co. Conservatives demanded an investigation of China’s reach into Canadian universities: "I have a couple of hundred pages of emails." READ MORE
Cabinet has apologized after concealing from Parliament nearly $183,000 in contracts it awarded to an environmental group. The figure was reported as “nil” in a statement signed by Natural Resources Minister Seamus O’Regan. A Conservative MP spotted the error: "This shows no respect for the process." READ MORE
The chair of a Department of Canadian Heritage panel advocating mandatory registration of internet news media yesterday mistakenly claimed the nation’s largest newspaper chain is already federally licensed. It’s not: "Let me be clear." READ MORE
Rewriting a continental trade pact follows years of job losses that saw automakers “go to the cheapest place you can”, a Unifor executive yesterday told the Commons trade committee. The Department of Industry in internal memos acknowledged Canada lost auto jobs to Mexico under the old 1992 North American Free Trade Agreement: 'It's decades of damage and neglect.' READ MORE
Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller will not disclose names of private New York donors who contributed to his 2019 election campaign. Under the Elections Act candidates must divulge all contributions over $200: 'It was at a Canadian citizen's home in New York City.' READ MORE
New green fuel rules expected to raise the price of gasoline are coming soon, says the Department of Environment. Cabinet has disputed claims the regulations will have four times the price impact of the carbon tax: "This is not some left-wing, radical policy." READ MORE
Information technology changes the balance of power. It changed the balance of power in society, and it changed the power balance in Ottawa – and Ottawa is all about power. So, it’s very threatening. What you can’t change, you desperately try to control. Eventually of course it gets ripped out of your fingers. It’s not about telling people what to do; it means, ‘Here’s the information – you come to your own conclusions.’ Government isn’t good at that.
