Subsidized newspapers face hard times without more federal concessions, a publishers’ lobbyist has written MPs. Jamie Irving of New Brunswick’s billionaire Irving family said dailies are in dire shape despite hundreds of millions in taxpayers’ grants: "News publishers are facing an existential threat." READ MORE
China’s Winter Olympics “remain a priority for international diplomacy,” says a Department of Canadian Heritage briefing note. MPs voted unanimously to petition to relocate the Games from Beijing in protest over human rights atrocities: "I don’t think the athletes are concerned," READ MORE
Politicians may not be privately prosecuted for vaccine mandates, a judge has ruled. The decision came in the case of an Ottawa man who tried to file claims against Ontario Premier Doug Ford under an obscure section of the Criminal Code: "None of this has an air of reality." READ MORE
The Commissioner of Elections yesterday confirmed a Calgary MP is the first member of the 44th Parliament to be censured for breach of the Elections Act. Liberal George Chahal (Calgary Skyview) was videotaped stealing a rival candidate’s mailbox literature: 'It can contribute to a loss of public confidence in the political class.' READ MORE
The Department of Natural Resources yesterday said it is contracting tree experts to fulfill a forestry promise made by cabinet two elections ago. Then-Environment Minister Catherine McKenna in 2019 promised to create thousands of jobs planting billions of trees: "We harvest less than one percent of our forests in Canada." READ MORE
Canada’s official inflation rate reflects only a fraction of true increases in the cost of living, a former chief analyst with Statistics Canada said yesterday. Actual inflation is much higher than StatsCan’s benchmark Consumer Price Index, the Commons finance committee was told: "I am sure the inflation rate in Canada is much higher than 4.8 percent." READ MORE
Political aides yesterday declined comment on federal security measures for a Truckers For Freedom convoy. A similar 2019 rally had the Privy Council Office clear rooftops overlooking Parliament Hill and distribute staff emails claiming truckers wanted to arrest Justin Trudeau: "I’m worried that somebody’s going to be shot." READ MORE
I cross the border about once a month. Last fall while crossing at Emerson, I saw a lady wandering in the 200 yards of “no-man’s land” between the Canadian and American customs posts. She had a toddler and an infant. All they had were the clothes they were wearing and a My Little Pony suitcase on wheels. I rolled down the window of my truck and asked if she needed help. She was from Djibouti, East Africa and spoke some French but very little English. The woman was agitated, the baby was crying and the little boy appeared frightened. All she could say was: “Go to Canada. Help.”
