Federal scientists refused to speak with Canada’s doctors on pandemic planning “in light of the election,” says the Canadian Medical Association Journal. The chief public health officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, said she could not discuss the incident: “We are trying to help.”
Farm gate prices have seen their largest increase in 42 years due to drought and rising exports to feed China, according to Statistics Canada data. Researchers said consumers should expect to pay more for groceries, but within limits: “Even a doubling of wheat prices will have little impact on the price of bread.”
The CEO of Porter Airlines of Toronto took a 100 percent pay reduction in a bid to cut costs, according to submissions in a federal labour arbitration case. Managers predicted the company will take years to recover from Covid despite layoffs and subsidies: “The pandemic has been devastating to the airline industry.”
Blacklock’s Reporter pauses today to observe the 127th Labour Day in tribute to Canadian workers nationwide. We will be back tomorrow — The Editor
I stare at a picture
of giant flakes
on a cereal box.
At the bottom,
fine print:
“Enlarged to show texture.”
An ad for a dating site
pops on my screen.
(Editor’s note: poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, writes for Blacklock’s each and every Sunday)
Federal agencies considered issuing garbage bags to nurses for use as medical gowns, according to an internal email from the Prime Minister’s Office. Authorities were so short of rationed supplies they also suggested front line health care workers try aprons and coveralls: “Explore fallbacks should everything else be insufficient, for example heavy duty garbage bags.”
A cabinet order by Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland that extends temporary election-time relief cheques for the jobless will cost more than $2.1 billion, by official estimate. Cheques worth $300 a week were to run out just after Election Day: “I am so grateful to Canadians.”
A federal labour board has upheld the firing of a Department of Health manager who wrote in an email she’d like to shoot her supervisor. The work environment in the department’s Burnaby, B.C. office appeared “toxic” but did not warrant death threats, wrote an adjudicator: “In hindsight, it might not appear that the danger was imminent.”
The Canadian Human Rights Commission in a report to the United Nations says it is investigating a lack of diversity in federal management. The Commission’s own senior management is comprised entirely of white women lawyers: ‘The Commission is a fierce ally in the fight against racism.’
Most RCMP members surveyed, 76 percent, say their job is stressful and negative media perceptions of their work make it worse. Findings were based on a union questionnaire following the pandemic and Black Lives Matter protests: “Many of the key stressors facing RCMP officers at this time are not related to the job itself.”
A former Liberal MP’s company was in direct contact with federal agencies in negotiating a $237 million contract, says a memo from the Prime Minister’s Office. Frank Baylis’ business partners were warned he should “personally recuse himself.” Both statements contradict testimony at the Commons ethics committee: “Baylis Medical was involved in the contract negotiations.”
A re-elected Liberal cabinet would strip Canadians of any legal right to challenge mandatory vaccination orders, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said yesterday. The federal Privacy Commissioner has warned compulsory vaccines breach the Privacy Act: “It is an encroachment on civil liberties.”
The Liberal Party yesterday detailed a $393 million-a year proposal to cut tax credits for top income earners. “We really welcome scrutiny,” said Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland: “This is a responsible platform; it is a transparent platform.”
The Canadian Labour Congress sought federal funding for private sector pension plans that lost income in the pandemic, according to a memo in the Prime Minister’s Office. The Congress within days of the Covid outbreak also petitioned cabinet for a national moratorium on foreclosures and evictions: “We know some companies will fail during this pandemic.”
Cabinet yesterday exempted a quarter-million truck drivers, marine shippers and other federally-regulated private sector employees from new “work-life balance” regulations. Parliament three years ago passed a bill regulating shift changes and rest breaks for the sector: “Employer and employee groups expressed diverging views.”
