A shortage of oil and gas workers is a big problem, says Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan. His remarks follow a report that cabinet’s climate change plan threatens 170,000 energy jobs, by federal estimate: “Are you spinning us here? Are you serious?”
Federal Covid vaccine mandates would be unlawful under a private bill tabled yesterday in the Commons. “These mandates have been nothing more than a cruel attempt to demonize a small minority and they are absolutely unnecessary and without any scientific basis,” said Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre (Carleton, Ont.), sponsor of the bill: “End this discrimination.”
Canada Revenue Agency whistleblowers must be shielded from management reprisals, Privacy Commissioner Daniel Therrien yesterday told the Commons ethics committee. Therrien’s remarks followed the naming of Agency staff who alleged corrupt practices in the treatment of offshore corporate accounts: “Obviously a whistleblower should be protected.”
Thefts and losses at federal departments and agencies total more than $1.2 million, records show. Incidents detailed by cabinet ranged from stolen wine at the Department of Foreign Affairs to rampant misuse of credit cards at Parks Canada: “Public servants shall act at all times in a manner that will bear the closet public scrutiny.”
Former transport minister Marc Garneau and 13 other Liberal MPs yesterday joined New Democrats in attempting to decriminalize heroin. An opposition bill failed on Second Reading but not without support from senior Liberals including three committee chairs and a former provincial finance minister: “Its time has come.”
A hasty stock sale cost a federal agency more than $3.7 million, records show. The Canadian Race Relations Foundation disclosed losses stemming from a single decision by panicked directors to dump shares at the outbreak of the pandemic: “We can’t pay the going rate for people who are knowledgeable on the inside workings of investments.”
A cabinet bill permitting cellphone searches by border guards is so vague it is certain be fought in court, the Senate national security committee was told yesterday. Civil rights groups opposed the measure: “A personal digital device is analogous to crossing the border with almost every piece of mail a person has ever received or sent.”
Attorney General David Lametti yesterday would not define the scope of a new crime of “downplaying” the Holocaust. “I don’t have to define it,” Lametti testified at the Senate legal and constitutional affairs committee reviewing his bill: “I mean, the word has a plain language meaning in English.”
A military vaccine mandate has seen nearly 1,600 soldiers, sailors and air crew resign, face discharge or be disciplined, the Department of National Defence said yesterday. The number is in addition to 307 civilian employees suspended without pay for declining to show proof of vaccination: “It is expected a portion of the Canadian Armed Forces will be non-compliant.”
UN Special Envoy Mark Carney yesterday appealed for cash donations to a Liberal Party think tank. “Please chip in,” said Carney. A United Nations ethics code prohibits conflicts of interest by envoys: “I hope that you will join in and share your ideas and if you’re able, please chip in today.”
Mental Health Minister Dr. Carolyn Bennett yesterday decriminalized personal possession of cocaine for the first time in 111 years, but only in British Columbia. “Today we take the first steps in the much needed bold action,” said Bennett: “This is not legalization.”
There was “no one act that you could point to” that made the Freedom Convoy blockade harmful, a New Democrat councillor yesterday testified at the House affairs committee. Ottawa Councillor Catherine McKenney said the “pure chaos” of the protest was a cumulative impression: “I’ll be clear here, I’ve never suggested it was the trucker from Saskatchewan or Canmore or anywhere.”
The Commons yesterday by a 169 to 153 vote endorsed an ethics committee report proposing tougher conflict laws. It followed a committee review of cabinet dealings with We Charity: “We need to make sure that we do not fall into the practices of other failed states where kleptocracies rule.”
Wait times for veterans filing disability claims are at least twice the service standard claimed by the Department of Veterans Affairs, auditors said yesterday. Ex-military can typically wait more than a year for a decision and reassessment: “No, everything is not alright.”
