Canadian Pacific Railway is owed a perpetual tax holiday under terms of a contract endorsed by John A. Macdonald, an executive said yesterday. The House of Commons and Saskatchewan legislature have voted unanimously to repeal terms of the contract written into the 1881 Canadian Pacific Railway Act: “We say we shouldn’t pay unconstitutional taxes.”
Founding Unifor president Jerry Dias accepted a secret $50,000 commission from a Covid supplier whose test kits he promoted to employers, union executives disclosed yesterday. Dias in his last appearance at a parliamentary committee lamented the lack of corporate ethics in Canada: “The thinnest book in the world is the book of corporate ethics.”
The Canada Revenue Agency paid millions in wage subsidies to insolvent companies, data show. Revenue Minister Diane Lebouthillier in a report to Parliament would not disclose total costs of subsidies paid to failing firms: ‘It is due to confidentiality provisions of the Income Tax Act.’
Federal departments and agencies last year spent more than $600,000 on payments to tweeters, bloggers and other social media influencers, records show. Local celebrities including a CBC-TV Dragons’ Den personality were hired to praise government’s work: “Communication is a fast-paced environment.”
A promised federal dentacare program will cost about $4.6 billion a year by 2025, according to Parliamentary Budget Office figures. Introduction of free dentistry for 6.5 million people is among terms of a vote swap between Liberal and New Democrat MPs: “The New Democratic Party is basically the government.”
Parliament will ban replacement workers in the federally regulated private sector by December 31, 2023 under terms of a Liberal-NDP vote swap. New Democrat leader Jagmeet Singh yesterday compared the pact to a political marriage: “I am not going into this hoping for it to fail.”
Canada’s largest Coca-Cola bottling plant is justified in suspending unvaccinated workers without pay, a labour arbitrator has ruled. Employees work in close quarters on the factory floor, the arbitrator noted: “An employee’s personal beliefs cannot override the employer’s interest in doing everything possible to maintain the health and safety of the workplace.”
Canadian Pacific Railway and 3,000 Teamsters yesterday agreed to binding arbitration to end a brief shutdown. The nation’s largest rail network suspended freight for 60 hours: “We are opposed to back-to-work legislation. We would discourage that as a process.”
Canada’s last ambassador to Kabul last night said he fled the city leaving 1,250 Canadians behind because it was too dangerous for diplomats. “We all saw on TV it was two planes after ours that the people were hanging off the airplane when people fell off it,” said Reid Sirrs. “So it was quite close for us.”
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland yesterday said Bank of Canada disclosure of a media enemies’ list was an isolated occurrence. Blacklock’s recorded a Bank manager stating authorities would not be “allowing Blacklock’s to be asking questions” while giving preferential treatment to Bloomberg News: “The comment in question was an isolated occurrence.”
It is up to the Coast Guard to enforce a federal ban on Russian vessels in Canadian ports, Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said yesterday. Alghabra said a handful of Russian-owned vessels were already warned to clear out of Canadian waters: “We will not hesitate to enforce any breaches.”
A shutdown at Canadian Pacific Railway is ill-timed, Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan said yesterday. Cabinet would not comment on whether it would invoke back to work legislation to end the dispute between management and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference: “So you’re not ruling it out?”
Decriminalizing heroin and other street drugs is no answer to preventing deaths, Addictions Minister Dr. Carolyn Bennett said yesterday. Legalization of marijuana did not stop users from buying on the black market, said Bennett: “Decriminalization still means people go to the street to get their drugs.”
An attempted arson linked by media to the Freedom Convoy had nothing to do with the protest, Ottawa detectives said yesterday. Legislators who voted to invoke the Emergencies Act repeatedly pointed to the incident as proof truckers were violent and lawless: “Take a moment to think what that means.”
A federal judge has cited the Leaders’ Debates Commission for unfairly blacklisting certain media from asking questions at campaign events. Justice Elizabeth Heneghan sharply criticized the Commission for blacklisting Rebel News Network Ltd. at debates last September: “There is room in the nation for the expression of opposing points of view.”
