An unidentified automaker is drafting a secret plan to export Canadian-made passenger cars to Asia and the Middle East, Industry Minister Mélanie Joly said yesterday. MPs on the Commons industry committee expressed skepticism: "No company has come to any committee on Parliament Hill or gone to the media to suggest that this is a viable business plan." READ MORE
Canadians are resigned to failure in eliminating U.S. tariffs, says in-house Privy Council research. Federal focus groups were unable to reach any consensus on whether Prime Minister Mark Carney was “on the right track” after promising to negotiate a win for Canada: "Few thought that it was likely that an agreement could be achieved where all tariffs would be removed." READ MORE
Parliament has no business policing political speech to ensure its truthfulness, Government House Leader Steven MacKinnon said yesterday. It was up to voters, not the House of Commons, to “determine the truthfulness of claims” by public office holders, he said. READ MORE
The Commons yesterday by a vote of 199 to 139 rejected a Conservative motion to sustain property rights after a judge granted Indigenous title to 1,846 acres near Richmond, B.C. including private lots. One cabinet minister said she “agrees with some of the principles of the motion” but would not debate a judgment under appeal: "We recognize the Cowichan decision has caused uncertainty and anxiety." READ MORE
The Department of Employment says its Canada Summer Jobs program does help student hiring through 50 percent wage subsidies but cannot say how many jobs it creates. A first-ever analysis called it “a good policy tool” at more than a quarter billion a year: "How do you know if the program is achieving its objectives without measuring exactly that?" READ MORE
Cabinet will not disclose the budget for the June 8 swearing-in of the new Governor General. The ceremony is the first of its kind since Prime Minister Mark Carney promised to cut spending and “make tough choices.” READ MORE
Mark Carney misidentified the first Alberta prime minister in a videotaped tribute to “great Albertans,” records show. Carney’s office could not name the first Alberta prime minister when asked: "I think when I come to Parliament of the great Albertans." READ MORE
I remember one oldtimer telling me, “You don’t have to be smart or know all the answers to work hard. You can compensate for a lot with hard work.” I never forgot that miner’s advice. On completing high school I landed my first industrial job as a hard-rock miner for Copperline Mines Ltd. in Parsons, B.C. My mother Angeline had raised us at our home in Trail. My father Vincent worked at the Cominco smelter. Dad didn’t want me working there. Sickness robbed him of a happy retirement. So, I worked.
