Cabinet yesterday abruptly reworked plans for an Indigenous funding announcement to avoid using the John A. Macdonald Building across the street from Parliament Hill. One cabinet member earlier said it was “uncomfortable coming into this building” because of a heritage plaque bearing Macdonald’s name: ‘He was complicit in this Residential School system.’
We Charity won a string of sweetheart contracts prior to cabinet’s 2020 approval of a $43.5 million pandemic grant that prompted a public uproar, records show. A year-long investigation by the Procurement Ombudsman yesterday revealed departments typically called We Charity with confidential contract offers, then worked out the price later: ‘It was an unfair advantage.’
An expected September general election must focus on repayment of Covid expenses, New Democrat leader Jagmeet Singh yesterday told reporters. Unprecedented spending raised the federal debt ceiling 56 percent: “Who is going to pay for this? It’s a legitimate question.”
The Department of Public Works hired offshore consultants to check if federal agencies bought slave-made goods from Asian contractors. The $70,531 study by the University of Nottingham was completed in May but not made public: “I take this situation very seriously.”
Canadians are confused by a Department of Finance proposal for “open banking,” do not understand the concept and are skeptical even once it’s explained, says in-house research. The department detailed findings of online focus groups following the release last Thursday of an advisory panel report: “Who are these people?”
The federal Leaders’ Debates Commission will monitor Twitter traffic for real-time voter reaction to televised exchanges as part of a $99,412 research project. Twitter posts will help the Commission understand what voters like and why, it said: “This study will analyze how debates are covered and discussed via social media.”
A legal activist who lamented the “shameful history” of John A. Macdonald and opposed citizenship tests is now a federal judge. Avvy Yao-Yao Go had been director of a Toronto law clinic that criticized Canadians for “anti-China sentiment and white supremacy.”
Opposition MPs propose a federal law endorsed in principle by all parties to ban imports of slave-made goods. Two similar private Liberal bills lapsed in the last Parliament and Senate banking committee: “I’m really shocked.”
The Supreme Court says there was no need for Justice Rosalie Abella to recuse herself from a case in which her husband worked for the appellant. The Canadian Judicial Council cautions all judges should avoid “reasonable suspicion” of conflict: “Judges should be attentive to both actual conflicts between their self-interest and their duty of impartial adjudication.”
Foreign offshore speculators face a first-time federal equity tax of $10,000 to $12,000 a year in Canada’s priciest housing markets. The Department of Finance detailed the tax to take effect January 1: “We don’t want to encourage any sort of speculation on housing.”
The Department of Transport surveyed Canadians on whether they’d take a flying taxi. Most said it was not a good idea. The research cost $61,168: “Some feel the sounds would disturb them, others feel flying taxicabs sound like an accident waiting to happen.”
“We need to help immigrants,”
says Sylvain,
sinking his teeth
into a Double Angus Burger
he gets at Harvey’s.
“Agree,”
says Stephanie,
sipping Iced Mocha Latte
from Tim Hortons.
Anne joins them,
unwrapping the chicken donair,
tabouli, and baba ganoush
she gets at the Lebanese bakery.
(Editor’s note: poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, writes for Blacklock’s each and every Sunday)
Management of a crack military Cyber War unit assigned to counter Chinese and Russian threats is so haphazard it “lacks direction” despite half a billion in spending, says a Department of National Defence audit. Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan had boasted his department was on the cutting edge of technology. Auditors instead found cyber analysts had to take cabs to access computer networks scattered across Ottawa: “This can result in up to $200 in taxi fares a week for one person.”
The Liberal Party has summoned reporters to a confidential meeting Monday to discuss campaign logistics. New Democrats said it appeared Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was “plunging the country into an election.”
Six million Canadians eligible for Covid shots who’ve declined to get vaccinated to date may lose “certain privileges,” the Public Health Agency said yesterday. The remarks followed the Prime Minister’s suggestion that government employees and those in the federally-regulated private sector be forced to vaccinate: “That’s also a live issue.”
