Military reserves are now 25 percent short of their targeted minimum strength, records show. The Department of National Defence in an in-house report said reserves were so poorly managed they did not spend more than a billion approved by Parliament to get them up to strength: 'Lack of coherence has repercussions.' READ MORE
Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday said he will recuse himself from any dealings with Brookfield Asset Management, the New York-based conglomerate that paid him the equivalent of $9.8 million in stock options last December 31. The Opposition said Carney’s conflict was so glaring he should immediately dump all stock holdings: "Let’s say there’s a decision that will have a major impact on Brookfield." READ MORE
Donors to a defamation fund for Birju Dattani, ex-Liberal appointee to the Canadian Human Rights Commission, urge that he “free the world from Zionism” and “take them all down.” The comments were posted by donors to a crowdfunding site where Dattani is attempting to finance a libel suit against three Jewish defendants: "Bring them down!" READ MORE
A rare forensic audit has identified hundreds of thousands’ worth of budget irregularities at a small northern Saskatchewan First Nation. The Department of Indigenous Services yesterday would not disclose its complete audit of Makwa Sahgaiehcan First Nation at Loon Lake, Sask., population 1,815: "The purpose of the forensic audit was to conduct an independent investigation into allegations." READ MORE
Taxpayers Ombudsman François Boileau yesterday faulted the Canada Revenue Agency for cutting off benefit cheques to foreigners found to be in the country illegally. Boileau said the Agency policy, though technically correct, was a hardship for people “whose status is expiring.” READ MORE
“Look inside yourself,” Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday told reporters questioning his refusal to divulge his stock options. Both the Prime Minister and Mrs. Carney were paid by federal contractors prior to his swearing in Friday: "What possible conflict would you have?" READ MORE
Cabinet should repeal carbon tax legislation altogether after eliminating the 18¢ consumer charge on a litre of gasoline, Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre said yesterday. The 18¢ break is “ultimately a trick” as long as the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act remains on the books, he said. READ MORE
There had been discrimination against Catholics and Jews and Blacks and Indigenous and Ukrainians and the Irish and it was wrong. Yet if you were homosexual you could be fired, you could be denied an apartment, you could be prohibited from marrying. In those days, in the 1970s and 80s, the prevailing sense among the public – and even those who were homosexual – was not to discuss it. We’d all been brought up with this being a very deep social taboo. The word was so difficult to say. Many people choked on it. Even media preferred not to publish any stories about homosexuals. They didn’t like to use the word. And politicians never wanted to expend any political capital legislating equality for an unpopular minority.
