Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne misled Canadians on the size of his near-record 2025 deficit, Budget Office figures disclosed yesterday. Analysts said there is now a 99 percent chance the finance department will miss ongoing targets: "What credibility do you think you have on any fiscal matter?" READ MORE
The Senate yesterday rewrote a hate crimes bill to restrict the public display of the noose. The amendment came on a personal appeal by Senator Wanda Thomas Bernard (N.S.) who recounted her own experience with anti-Black bigotry: "They yell profanities at you and tell you to go back to Africa.” READ MORE
Cabinet’s $90 billion regional high speed rail venture will “change life as we know it,” Government House Leader Steven MacKinnon yesterday told MPs. MacKinnon acknowledged the service will be inaccessible to most Canadians, but said it would create “new worlds of intercity travel” for some Ontarians and Québecers: "You’re a businessperson, someone who wants to go to a hockey game or a baseball game and come back the same evening." READ MORE
Canadians’ faith in public institutions is in decline, a Treasury Board executive yesterday told the Commons ethics committee. The remarks during a statutory review of the Lobbying Act followed disclosure that several individuals in breach of the law escaped prosecution: "There are a lot of challenges in maintaining the public’s trust." READ MORE
A Canada Post experiment to save rural post offices by turning them into "community hubs" had mixed results, says a management report. The post office would not say how much it earned or lost on the venture: "Currently there are no plans to launch additional locations using the ‘community hub’ format." READ MORE
The Senate yesterday by a 41 to 32 vote quashed a proposal to criminalize Indian Residential School “denialism” under threat of two years’ jailing. The vote came moments after cabinet announced it opposed the amendment: "Senators may have already noticed the online backlash to the amendment has begun." READ MORE
Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday in his first Question Period appearance in a week sat silently as Conservative MPs recited stories of jobless workers. Carney repeatedly wished Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre a happy 47th birthday in an attempt to be lighthearted: "Will the Prime Minister stop being so flippant about the suffering he has caused?" READ MORE
On February 15, 1996 then-Prime Minister Jean Chretien attended a Flag Day ceremony at a park in Gatineau, Que. Dozens of us had arranged to demonstrate. It was a peculiar moment, seeing and hearing the Prime Minister lose control and behaving in an erratic manner. It was a powerful image. Here was the head of government attacking a protestor. There was symbolism here that went beyond the event itself.
