A Canada Border Services Agency executive last night predicted a smooth launch for a costly, complex, once-delayed computer program to digitize all tariff collections at the border. Executive Vice-President Ted Gallivan’s testimony was immediately contradicted by shippers who warned of looming chaos: “This is launching in about four weeks and we still don’t really know what we are doing.”
Canada is boycotting meetings of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank but has not cashed out its US159.2 million in shares, records show. Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland announced an “immediate halt” to all dealings with the Bank 15 months ago: “Does this activity remain halted or has it resumed?”
Elections Canada does not automatically verify that political donors comply with federal law, Chief Electoral Officer Stéphane Perrault disclosed yesterday. Testifying at the Commission on Foreign Interference, Perrault said he relied on the general public to spot illegal foreign donors: “We have asked questions, for example, if we see a cheque from a foreign bank.”
The Budget Office is investigating cabinet estimates that a $17.4 billion increase in capital gains taxes will affect a fraction of one percent of Canadians. The Commons finance committee yesterday heard contradictory testimony on the 0.13 percent figure: “We haven’t done that study yet.”
Criticism of media is an attack on Canada, Government House Leader Karina Gould said yesterday. Gould’s comments followed an on-air apology by CTV National News for deceptively editing comments by Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre: “By attacking the media he is attacking Canadians.”
Indigenous contracting is rife with unscrupulous practices by “token Indians,” a director of the Assembly of First Nations yesterday told MPs. The Commons governments operations committee is investigating incidents of fake claims to take advantage of an Indigenous set-aside in procurement: “This is huge.”
Canada’s largest theatre chain is challenging a record $38,978,000 penalty imposed by federal anti-trust lawyers. Cineplex Corporation denied claims it breached the Competition Act by charging online customers a $1.50 booking fee: “We are shocked.”
In-house Privy Council researchers have polled Canadians’ willingness to adopt a vegetarian diet for the sake of climate change. Only seven percent of people surveyed identified themselves as vegetarian or vegan: “How frequently or infrequently have you made efforts to eat a more plant-based diet?”
Taxpayers must “rally around” Northvolt, the subsidized Swedish electric auto battery maker, Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne said yesterday. Northvolt confirmed sweeping job cuts at its Swedish operations: “We have to rally around them and help them.”
Green technology supply chains are tainted by slave labour, the Commons trade committee was told yesterday. Chinese concentration camp inmates are forced to mine lithium and manufacture solar panels, one witness testified: “Uyghurs are being used as a source of slave labour.”
Green Party leader Elizabeth May (Saanich-Gulf Islands, B.C.) yesterday told the Commons that climate change is driving farmers to suicide. May gave no source for the claim: “People living on farms are experiencing suicide because it is an extremely difficult life right now.”
Telecom service to thousands of Canadians has been disrupted by copper theft, says Telus Corporation. The company in a petition to MPs appealed for tougher penalties under the Criminal Code: “Most of these crimes result in minor charges.”
The Canada Revenue Agency’s Taxpayer Bill Of Rights is not a bill and does not convey any rights, says a federal judge. The ruling came in the case of a tax filer who appealed reassessments dating back 24 years: “It would probably be better if the document were given a different name.”
Ex-Conservative leader Erin O’Toole in a sworn statement says “lovely” and “flirtatious” young Chinese women approached his campaign in incidents “he believes may have constituted foreign interference.” It followed the targeting of a former Conservative MP by a friendly female employee of the state-run Xinhua News Agency: “Mr. O’Toole described them as ‘lovely.'”
The federal Liberal Party’s national director testified he did “not know” if Chinese Communist Party agents helped elect a Liberal MP in 2019. Azam Ishmael’s comments came under rapid-fire questioning at the Commission on Foreign Interference: “I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know.”
