The Canadian Taxi Association in a submission to the Senate confirms at least thirteen Covid deaths among drivers based on incomplete data, it said. Cabbies asked to be included among front line workers in a pandemic remembrance bill: “Honour the courage, selflessness and dedication of essential workers who work in all sectors.”
Mandatory body worn cameras by the RCMP will not be in place until 2023 at the earliest. The Mounties have resisted demands for cameras dating from the videotaped 2007 death of a Vancouver man in police custody: “It will take approximately 18 months for the majority of cameras to be rolled out.”
The Department of Crown-Indigenous Relations will not comment on a $200,000 contract to ex-senator Murray Sinclair’s law firm. The payment for two months’ work covered the period Sinclair worked as a federal negotiator in settling an Indigenous child welfare claim: “I spoke to Murray Sinclair last night.”
Complaints from a Toronto Star reporter prompted the national archives to order a Saturday night purge of webpages deemed offensive, according to Access To Information records. Chief archivist Leslie Weir within hours of reading a Saturday Star headline announced she wanted pages “modified or taken down ASAP” though staff were not assigned to work the weekend: “Thank you for your collaboration on this urgent situation.”
Freedom Convoy sympathizers whose accounts were frozen by cabinet order will have their files marked for life, the Canadian Bankers Association said yesterday. Bankers also disclosed they froze accounts of individuals who never appeared on an RCMP blacklist of 257 names: “If in fact they illegitimately froze a bank account they would face zero legal consequences.”
Public Works Minister Filomena Tassi has brought in the lawyers to conceal the value of a sole-sourced lease to a longtime Liberal Party donor. Tassi’s department refused multiple requests to disclose payments to a Québec landowner whose property was used to process illegal immigrants: “This was the ideal location.”
The Covid standstill in air travel cost a federal agency a fortune last year, according to records. The Canadian Air Transport Security Authority had relied on mandatory $14 to $26 security charges from air passengers to cover its cost of operations: “The civil aviation industry struggled.”
Small Business Minister Mary Ng denies any conflict in awarding a lucrative federal contract to former colleagues at Ryerson University in Toronto. Ng denied meeting a Ryerson lobbyist when the contract was up for review last July, a claim contradicted by Commissioner of Lobbying records: “I have many meetings with many, many stakeholders.”
Canada’s chief archivist Leslie Weir personally ordered removal of “offensive” content on thousands of national archives webpages, according to Access To Information records. Employees complained the purge was so sweeping they were left to guess what historical content met Weir’s disapproval: “Flag anything lacking Indigenous perspectives or that ignores or dismisses the impact of colonialism.”
Freedom Convoy fundraising was blocked on GoFundMe after Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson’s office claimed political protesters committed “acts of violence” and “destruction,” according to the crowdfunding site’s lawyer. Watson, a longtime Liberal, was referring to neighbourhood allegations, a spokesperson said: “Nowhere ever did I see in any of the reports shared that there was violence, threatening behaviour and damage and destruction.”
Canada as it enters Year Three under Covid must focus on easing societal disruption says Dr. Theresa Tam, chief public health officer. This Friday marks the anniversary of the outbreak of the pandemic that has killed nearly as many Canadians as the Second World War: “How will we know if the pandemic is over?”
Cabinet’s use of the Emergencies Act has prompted a private bill to prohibit political discrimination in federal law. Most provincial human rights codes already ban discrimination over politics: “The justice minister explicitly demonstrated political views were a factor in considering whose bank accounts should be frozen.”
In Death of a Salesman,
Biff talks about jobs he had,
pointing out suffering
fifty weeks each year
for the sake of a two-week vacation.
Evidently,
Death
wasn’t referring
to the Canadian federal bureaucracy
where even an entry-level position
grants you a three-week annual leave.
With so many days to enjoy Life,
the rest of the year
just flies by.
(Editor’s note: poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, examines writes for Blacklock’s each and every Sunday)
Cabinet claims that Freedom Convoy political protesters were largely foreign funded were false, MPs learned yesterday. Executives with crowdfunding sites that attracted millions for truckers said individual donations were small and overwhelmingly Canadian: “Our records show 88 percent of donated funds originated in Canada.”
The cost of living will climb even higher than the Bank of Canada forecast just five weeks ago, Governor Tiff Macklem said yesterday. The Bank has repeatedly raised its forecast to keep pace with climbing expenses: “With oil prices rising further in recent weeks we can expect inflation to move up again.”
