Attorney General David Lametti is appealing to Parliament to quickly pass a bill to “address the gap in the law” created by a May 13 Supreme Court ruling. Judges struck down as unconstitutional a provision that self-induced intoxication was no criminal defence: “I think this is lightning speed, quite frankly.”
A single bankruptcy, Sears Canada, was to blame for a tripling of claims under a federal wage compensation program, says a newly-released audit. Some 18,000 were thrown out of work when the retail giant collapsed in 2017: “They used their program payment to catch up on unpaid bills.”
An archaeological dig
on Parliament Hill
unearthed items
from the military barracks
that predated the legislative institution.
One artifact (c. 1827): a lice comb.
It appears
blood-sucking parasites
have thrived here
for ages.
(Editor’s note: poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, writes for Blacklock’s each and every Sunday)
Federal departments and agencies in the past two years spent $39 million hiring private contractors to censor documents sought by Canadians under the Access To Information Act. Records show a handful of companies were awarded millions in contracts to process paperwork: “Each file is different.”
Government caucus members on the Commons transport committee yesterday blocked disclosure of scientific data justifying on-and-off travel restrictions. “It’s not filibustering, it’s making a point,” said Liberal MP Vance Badawey (Niagara Centre, Ont.).
Transport Minister Omar Alghabra is rewriting regulations to grant airlines more leeway in denying cash refunds to customers for flight delays and cancellations. Terms are to be spelled out in a Regulatory Impact Analysis Statement as early as tomorrow: “It’s a question of legal interpretation.”
CEO Romy Bowers yesterday defended five-figure bonuses awarded annually to almost every employee at the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. “We have a very important role in providing services to Canadians,” said Bowers, who did not disclose her own bonus paid in addition to her $459,000 annual salary: “We conserve taxpayer resources.”
Cabinet yesterday reintroduced a bill exempting itself from a ban on third party use of Canadians’ personal information without consent. A previous bill introduced in 2020 lapsed in the last Parliament as federal agencies scooped data on millions of cellphone users: “That’s what I object to the most, the total lack of transparency.”
Attorney General David Lametti yesterday predicted soon-to-expire federal vaccine mandates will be upheld by courts. Numerous legal challenges have been filed against mandates on employees and contractors now set to expire June 20: “We’re on solid legal footing. That’s part of my job.”
A $40 million federal subsidy to a Russian-owned steelmaker in Western Canada included free cash, records show. Legislators have sought terms of payments to Evraz Incorporated: “What has the Government of Canada done to get our $40 million back?”
Governments are entitled to “look beyond the corporate veil” in awarding subsidies, the Northwest Territories Supreme Court has ruled. The decision came in the case of a Yellowknife tour company denied a pandemic grant after its sole director previously defaulted on a taxpayers’ loan: ‘This is prudent management of public monies.’
Federal regulators yesterday fined Bell Canada $7.5 million for breach of the Telecommunications Act. The media giant was cited for unfair practices in denying rivals’ access to its telephone pole network for home hookups: “It is really a key issue of how companies get access.”
The Commons yesterday gave Second Reading to a private bill to permit a year’s paid leave under the Employment Insurance Act for workers with illness or injury. “No one has ever gotten rich from being sick,” said the Conservative sponsor of the bill: “I do not need an expert to confirm that.”
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland last night called the Freedom Convoy a “core threat to the Canadian economy” but provided no figures to prove it. Members of a Special Joint Committee on the Declaration of Emergency challenged Freeland to justify cabinet’s use of the Emergencies Act against truckers: “I have many figures in my head.”
The federal agency that manages passports has most employees, 70 percent, working from home, records show. Social Development Minister Karina Gould told reporters she sympathized with Canadians waiting months for travel documents: “I can’t give you a clear timeline in terms of when things are going to return to normal.”
