The Commons yesterday re-elected Liberal MP Anthony Rota (Nipissing-Timiskaming, Ont.) as $274,500-a year Speaker of the House. Rota in the last Parliament sided with MPs in disputes with cabinet over disclosure of records: “Now that we have a Speaker it’s time to get back to work.”
Cabinet yesterday restricted development in a Montréal suburb to save a rare, inch-long frog. The order under the Species At Risk Act also forbids tree pruning, off-road bicycling and “maintenance work on any infrastructure” under threat of $50,000 fines: ‘Suburban sprawl threatens the species’ survival.”
Transport Minister Omar Alghabra confirmed unvaccinated air passengers may seek exemptions from Covid shots under vague rules to take effect next week. Enforcement will fall to individual airline agents under threat of Aeronautics Act fines of $25,000: “Starting November 30 there will be very few exemptions to allow unvaccinated travelers to travel.”
It is “probably going to be quite difficult” to convince all parents to immunize young children against Covid, says the Public Health Agency. The pandemic is blamed for six deaths among more than 6 million unvaccinated children under age 15: “I have a small child. I’m not happy about injecting him with strange things.”
A total 201 federal employees are in Federal Court today to challenge Treasury Board orders that they disclose their vaccination status. No federal judge has yet ruled on whether the November 15 order is constitutional: “They refuse to be vaccinated for reasons that vary.”
A doctor reprimanded for “inappropriate” tweets about Covid lockdowns and vaccines is appealing the censure. Ontario Superior Court rejected her free speech claim in the case until a 2022 regulatory hearing is complete: “I refuse to live a lie.”
The labour department on Saturday enacted reforms passed by Parliament three years ago to aid employees with lost wages due to company bankruptcy. Claims jumped 15 percent last year amid Covid lockdowns: “That program has grown quite a bit.”
If you haven’t been to a war zone,
witnessed the devastation
air strikes and artillery shelling
cause to roads, sidewalks,
seen frantic drivers
desperately manoeuvre
between gaps,
holes,
craters –
visit my Canadian city
at the end of winter.
You’ll get the idea.
(Editor’s note: poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, writes for Blacklock’s each and every Sunday)
Proposed internet controls in Canada are “something you might expect out of China or Russia,” says a former CRTC commissioner. The remarks came in a podcast hosted by Saskatchewan Senator Pamela Wallin: “Do governments think they’ll be able to stay in office forever if their critics are silenced?”
Proposed cabinet regulation of online “hate speech” is so far-reaching it would censor lawful comments that are not hate speech at all, says B’nai Brith Canada. The advocacy group in a report acknowledged “significant concerns” with internet controls: “It remains to be seen what the fate of this bill will be.”
British Columbia flooding has added “an element of urgency” to the proposed introduction of a national insurance plan, Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair said yesterday. The proposal affecting a million homeowners on flood plains across Canada has been under consideration for two years: “Canada is the only G7 country without a national coordinated approach to flooding.”
Paperwork is missing in up to a third of approved grant applications at the Department of Foreign Affairs, says an internal audit. The findings follow investigations that uncovered oddities like unspent disaster relief money in the Philippines that was used to buy karaoke machines: “It was too much and too fast.”
Almost all Canadians filled out their 2021 Census forms without a threat of jail time. Statistics Canada yesterday said compliance rates were “outstanding” though this year’s coast to coast questionnaire was the first since Parliament abolished jail for scofflaws: “I want to see the list of Canadians who support putting people in jail for not filling out forms.”
A Green Budget Coalition whose directors once included Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault yesterday petitioned cabinet for a $4,000 SUV tax. The levy should apply to all makes and models of passenger vehicles with internal combustion engines, the Coalition said: “Minister Guilbeault himself was directly involved with the Green Budget Coalition at one point.”
British Columbia MPs yesterday compared severe flood damage in their province to a long-feared catastrophic earthquake. Insured losses to date are unknown but will run to the billions, said MPs: “We have heard for many years that we are going to have a big earthquake one day and the Lower Mainland could be cut off from the rest of the province. Well, that just happened.”
