RCMP officers have posed as Canada Post workers and FedEx drivers in undercover drugs-on-delivery sting operations, according to court records. Federal law doesn’t allow police to intercept mail in transit: ‘A package from China was delivered by Canada Post – at least, it looked like Canada Post.’
Cabinet yesterday said it will withdraw billions invested in oil, coal and natural gas projects abroad but did not explain how or at what cost. The Department of Environment made the announcement at a United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow: “I have every confidence in Canada’s ability to blaze a trail.”
Managers in Auditor General Karen Hogan’s office spent staff time playing online puzzle games as a “team building activity,” officials confirmed yesterday. The fun, hours-long exercise came after Hogan complained to MPs her office was under “tremendous challenges” due to Covid and budget constraints: “This was not an office-wide activity.”
Statistics Canada yesterday updated a new round of double-digit food cost increases for everything from cabbage to pork ribs at grocery stores nationwide based on actual check-out prices. The new data come six months after a former Bank of Canada governor urged consumers “not to worry about inflation.”
Whole sectors of Canada’s economy will “shrink significantly” under climate change programs, the deputy governor of the Bank of Canada said yesterday. Toni Gravelle predicted “sharp declines” but made no estimate of lost jobs: ‘It might generate market losses.”
Indigenous people are more likely than other Canadians to decline a Covid shot, the Angus Reid Institute said yesterday. A nationwide survey also found Canadians who self-identified as visible minorities were likelier than white people to decline immunization: “It is government overreach.”
Municipalities may restrict fast food restaurants under zoning bylaws, the Québec Court of Appeal has ruled. The decision came in the case of a Montréal borough that sought to limit the number of drive-thru restaurants in the name of promoting healthy lifestyles: “Most of these establishments mainly offer food and beverages whose nutritional value is generally low.”
The Department of Environment yesterday would not detail the cost of sending Canada’s 277-member delegation to a climate change conference in Glasgow. Former environment minister Catherine McKenna attended as a VIP. The department did not reply when asked if she traveled at taxpayers’ expense: “Say things like, ‘Our house is on fire.’”
Legislators ridiculed CBC executives for suspending local TV suppertime newscasts from the outbreak of the pandemic, according to Access To Information correspondence. The network temporarily cancelled TV newscasts in thirteen local markets for the first time since 1952: “This lack of understanding and focus as to the proper role of a public broadcaster is deeply concerning.”
A federal agency has waived penalties for a staffer who regulated utilities while owning shares in one of the country’s largest hydroelectric companies. “There was a breach of the Code Of Conduct,” said an Access To Information memo at the Canada Energy Regulator: “Integrity is the cornerstone of good governance and democracy.”
An Alberta post office yesterday was named a “model” for 6,026 outlets nationwide in offering expanded services and consumer loans under a trial program to boost Canada Post revenues. “This is wonderful,” said the mayor of High Prairie, Alta., population 2600: “We understand the post office has to find a way to get those deficits down.”
More than a fifth of Canadians were victims of credit or debit card theft in the past two years, says in-house research by the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada. Thefts involved unauthorized transactions on cards: “The issue of internet security is not lost on Canadians.”
Consumers face an expected double-digit increase in retail prices for milk and dairy products this winter. The federal Dairy Commission approved wholesale price hikes it blamed on higher pandemic costs for farmers: “We know higher prices are challenging Canadians and making it harder for them to cover their bills.”
Few Canadians can work from home, says Statistics Canada research. The agency estimated only 39 percent of workers “hold jobs that can plausibly be carried out from home,” typically office workers with university degrees: “What have we learned so far?”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau yesterday repeated an election campaign pledge to abolish thermal coal exports by 2030. Exports for use in foreign power plants account for about four percent of Canada’s coal production: “Climate action can’t wait.”
