Canadian drug dealers have become a top source of global marijuana shipments since Parliament legalized cannabis in 2018, says Department of Public Safety research. Black market dealers now ship tons of marijuana annually: "Canadian vendors are willing to ship anywhere in the world." READ MORE
A dramatic increase in RCMP disability claims is due in part to tinnitus, says federal research. Mounties’ disability benefits will cost nearly a half-billion dollars a year by 2023: "Hearing loss is the most prominent medical condition among released members." READ MORE
Federal regulators yesterday rejected a request from airlines for a blanket exemption from a decades-old rule that they calculate basic fares on all routes. “The fare, in Canadian dollars, must be identified,” wrote the Canadian Transportation Agency. READ MORE
Liberals yesterday were stripped of party status in the Senate for the first time in 152 years. The loss of committee assignments and $410,000 in research funding came as another Liberal appointee crossed the floor: "We are embracing the future." READ MORE
Federally-sponsored Syrian families had higher unemployment and were more likely to rely on welfare than refugees sponsored by private charities, churches and community groups, says a Department of Immigration report. Current funding of Parliament’s $859 million Syrian resettlement program expires next fiscal year: "Some challenges remain." READ MORE
A federal judge has dismissed the latest “natural persons” challenge of the Income Tax Act. Auditors estimate thousands of Canadians have filed false tax returns as “natural persons” and claimed more than a half-billion dollars in refunds: "It's in the dictionary." READ MORE
Federal consultants are being hired to monitor a $4.5 million-a year program to invite French-speaking immigrants to settle in cities where only one percent of residents speak French. Researchers are to interview neighbours with questions like: “Do community members and newcomers trust and understand each other?” READ MORE
Among my treasured keepsakes is a Billy Squier cassette tape, Everybody Wants You. It was the last thing my brother Fabian heard the night he died as passenger in a Ford Mustang driven by a drunk driver. Fabian was 19. The cassette and the driver survived the wreck. My brother didn’t. I regret I never told Fabian that I loved him.
