Cabinet in confidential polling was told many Canadians supported the Freedom Convoy with a majority opposed to use of extraordinary police powers to end the protest, documents show. “Most felt this action represented significant over-reach,” pollsters told the Privy Council Office: “Participants were particularly unnerved by the reports of protesters and their supporters having their bank accounts frozen.”

Politics in Canada is toxic and bitter, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said yesterday. His remarks followed 2019 committee testimony by Trudeau’s Clerk of the Privy Council that “somebody’s going to be shot in this country.”

Department of Transport lawyers coached airlines on how to reject Canadians’ requests for vaccine waivers on religious grounds, according to Access To Information memos. Even passengers with legitimate claims were to be challenged every time they switched flights, wrote staff: “These types of exemptions are anticipated to be granted very rarely.”

The Privy Council Office spent $177,458 searching for Black and Indigenous appointees as deputy ministers, say Access To Information records. Corporate talent spotters found less than a handful of interested candidates: “The government expressed its priority to address systemic racism.”

Charging immigrants to take a citizenship test is not discriminatory, a federal judge has ruled. Lawyers had sought to certify a class action lawsuit claiming fees were unfair since other Canadians gained free citizenship by birth: “Canada is a country of immigrants.”