The Department of Public Safety in internal memos acknowledged the Freedom Convoy was not a national security threat. The Access To Information documents contradict sworn testimony by Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino and were withheld from Blacklock’s until Parliament adjourned for Christmas: "The RCMP is not aware of any national security criminal activity having taken place during the protest." READ MORE
Senators yesterday endorsed another budget increase to almost $127 million a year. Figures show in six years the Senate payroll grew by a third while overall spending jumped 70 percent: "We are a publicly-funded monopoly. We don’t have an incentive to change." READ MORE
Cabinet should act against “irresponsible speculation” by media that Chinese Communist agents targeted 11 candidates in the 2019 election, Senator Yuen Pau Woo (B.C.) said yesterday. Woo claimed allegations had turned into a witch hunt: "Why is the government not calling out this egregious example of disinformation?" READ MORE
Millions in promised federal funding to retrain oil and gas workers has gone unspent, records show. The figures follow complaints cabinet was “very slow off the mark” in fulfilling its pledge to find jobs for energy workers through a Just Transition program: "It’s seven years since they’ve had notice they had to work on this." READ MORE
Happy Days has escaped Canadian TV censorship. A national broadcasting panel yesterday upheld programmers’ right to rerun an old episode of the 1970s sitcom even if “it is highly unlikely it would be produced in today’s environment.” READ MORE
Of thousands of new vehicles bought by federal departments and agencies in the past two years a small fraction, less than five percent, was electric. Records show Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault’s department bought gas burners even as he warned Canadians to do their part for climate change: "We need to be doing something about it." READ MORE
Foreign fugitives have a better than 50-50 chance of dodging deportation, new records show. Of thousands of foreigners ordered out of the country in the past six years fewer than half, 48 percent, were actually deported: "I don’t quite understand why we would tolerate this." READ MORE
From outside it sure looks like reporters and politicians and prominent lobbyists are too close to each other, chummy in fact, a set if you will — a view solidified by the knowledge the government has extended close to half a billion dollars to Canada’s media. To ask embarrassing questions of the membership of a club (this would be the Ottawa Press Gallery) whose only task is (supposed to be) asking hard questions of the government which is richly subsidizing so many of them. what an impertinence. Call the cops. Shut their office. Out with them.
