The Commons yesterday placed an order for 6,000 bottles of fine wine to “maintain expected standards of hospitality” in the Parliamentary Dining Room. The stocking of the wine cellar came four days after Prime Minister Mark Carney’s budget lamented the plight of “hardworking Canadians struggling to get by.” READ MORE
Newly-declassified records show the RCMP from the close of the Second World War spied on the Royal Canadian Legion in a hunt for Communists. The Mounties in one confidential 1947 memo named dozens of Legion members as subversive: "The menace of Communist infiltration and disruption was brought to the attention of the Dominion President." READ MORE
Cabinet says it was never told who gave a custom sculpture of Chief Justice Richard Wagner to the Supreme Court of Canada for display in its Grand Entrance Hall. The Court’s Registrar yesterday said it was “reviewing the relevant information.” READ MORE
The post office promises to Buy Canadian in its seven-year program to replace all doorstep mail delivery with community mailboxes. Cabinet put conversion costs at over a billion: "What are the details of each contract?" READ MORE
Old Age Security costs will top a record $92 billion this year, more than forecast by the Department of Finance, says the Chief Actuary. The number of Canadians over 65 is growing by a half million people annually in a country that statistically is becoming as grey as Japan or Italy, actuaries told Parliament: 'Examine historical short to long term trends and apply judgment.' READ MORE
Green MP Elizabeth May (Saanich-Gulf Islands, B.C.), 72, in her final address to Parliament as Party leader said she felt foolish for siding with Liberals when it counted in past confidence votes. “I was a fool,” she said: "I see clear-eyed now." READ MORE
Federal agents have not seized a single shipment of slave-made imports in Canada in the last 10 years, new records show. Cabinet in a 2021 Ministerial Mandate letter had promised to “eradicate forced labour from Canadian supply chains and ensure Canadian businesses operating abroad do not contribute to human rights abuses.” READ MORE
My grandfather worked as a school custodian for decades in the Toronto District School Board, a man who swept and mopped the floors, who kept the classrooms tidy and locked up at the end of the night so that children had a place to learn and teachers had a place to work. I carry his story with me. When I was 15 years old, I failed the Ontario literacy test. At the age of 30, I was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. As long as I am honoured to call myself a Member of Parliament, I hope I can be a walking, talking reminder that people should never give up.
