Federal managers have created yet more loopholes to avoid complying with cabinet’s “Buy Canadian” policy, Access To Information records show. The Department of Agriculture in an internal memo said it would only comply if it did not cost extra time or money and was “in the public interest.” READ MORE
Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne yesterday disclosed another Canada Post bailout, the third in 16 months to a total $2.72 billion. Terms of the latest line of credit were concealed though previous financing was interest-free without any repayment deadline: 'Revenues will not be sufficient pay all its operating and income charges.' READ MORE
The Mounties will not assure MPs a confidential partnership agreement with Chinese police signed by the Prime Minister excludes “transfer of personal information of Canadians or permanent residents,” records show. Pro-democracy activists cite Chinese police for atrocities including torture: "Police routinely arrest, detain and harass leaders and members of various ‘illegal’ religious groups." READ MORE
Canadian companies absorbed most of the cost of cabinet’s counter-tariffs on U.S. goods, the Bank of Canada said yesterday. Researchers called the short-lived policy a rare test of how much tariffs cost consumers in real time: "Tariff pass-through is significant but partial." READ MORE
Indigenous prisoners are about twice as likely to be gang members as other federal inmates, says the Correctional Service. The agency said Indigenous gang members also tended to be younger and more violent than other prisoners: "Family fragmentation, foster care, etcetera, all play a role." READ MORE
Staff in Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Privy Council Office attended a closed-door March 10 meeting to discuss which reporters would be blacklisted or “accredited,” Access To Information records show. Carney weeks later commemorated World Press Freedom Day by announcing: “A strong, independent and free press both defines and defends our values." READ MORE
Cabinet will maintain “advancement of religion” as a charitable purpose under the Income Tax Act, says Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne. The pledge followed a Commons finance committee report recommending an end to religious charities: "Canada is not considering amending the Act to remove the advancement of religion." READ MORE
He could be brutal, but he could be smooth. What a man. He would lace into you if he didn’t agree with you completely, but if he knew there was a little thread of an idea there, then he would join it with his threads. This is the guy with a fantastic brain. He’d put ideas together and it would be beautiful. He loved to play bridge to relax. Once a month he played with friends and kept the scores in his head. Brilliant, oh, he was brilliant. I loved him, and he loved me. That’s Arthur Meighen.
