Executives in Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Privy Council Office last year awarded themselves bonuses worth nearly $28,000 each, records show. Virtually all executives won an award even as Carney appealed to other Canadians for sacrifices: "We won't play games." READ MORE
Cost of a new GST credit estimated by cabinet at $5.8 billion will come closer to $14 billion including debt interest charges, the Budget Office said yesterday. Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne did not dispute the report: "We are going to meet the moment." READ MORE
Liberal MP Bill Blair (Scarborough Southwest, Ont.), 71, yesterday was named High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. The appointment followed Blair’s dismissal from cabinet after a judicial inquiry found he “dropped the ball” on foreign interference. READ MORE
Federal regulators yesterday disclosed the Bank of Montreal had paid $3.6 million in compensation after it was caught overcharging 101,091 depositors on discounted fees. Bank managers ignored hundreds of complaints from customers, said the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada: 'They received over 500 complaints.' READ MORE
The Federal Court of Appeal has ordered a new hearing into a WestJet employee who questioned women co-workers about breastfeeding and puberty. Judges overturned a labour board finding that the workplace comments were not sexual harassment though admittedly “outside the normal boundaries." READ MORE
Health Minister Marjorie Michel’s department has sealed internal reports on vaccine and drug injuries for 15 years, records show. The documents run to “several million pages," it said. READ MORE
Farm Credit Canada confirms its $458,000-a year CEO in a speech to staff praised Fidel Castro as an impressive and visionary leader. The Crown bank had no comment on remarks by Justine Hendricks, who also praised Communist Party management of Cuba: "It’s Fidel Castro. There’s all sorts of aspects of Fidel Castro." READ MORE
As a Sunni Muslim we learned we were on the correct path and everyone else was going to hell. Minorities were suspicious people who harboured questionable loyalties. I immigrated to Canada at 19. I went from being a member of a privileged majority to a visible minority. Sometimes it was a sideways glance or remark: “He’s a Muslim,” “He’s an Arab”. I’ve lived on both sides of prejudice. The insight it’s given me is invaluable. There is no substitute for empathy and courtesy.
