A Human Rights Tribunal in a rare ruling has ordered a complainant to pay $25,000 in costs for filing a frivolous claim against his former employer. The accusations were so outlandish they appeared “designed to obstruct the Tribunal’s process,” wrote an adjudicator: ‘This has all the markings of a frivolous and vexatious complaint.’
Lawyers for the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms yesterday challenged Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s prorogation of Parliament. The Justice Centre in a Federal Court application said suspending parliamentary business for a Liberal Party leadership contest was “incorrect, unreasonable or both.”
Taxpayers stung by new capital gains rules never passed into law by Parliament will have no recourse but the courts, according to records of the Parliamentary Law Clerk. The Canada Revenue Agency yesterday warned effective March 3 it will begin collecting interest on unpaid capital gains taxes under amendments never passed into law: “What happens if the government provisionally collects a tax that ultimately never becomes law?”
Cabinet must release names of parliamentarians suspected of acting for foreign embassies prior to any Liberal Party leadership contest or general election, Opposition House Leader Andrew Scheer (Regina-Qu’Appelle) said yesterday. The identities of suspects were detailed in a confidential 2024 report: “Release those names.”
Two-term MPs have lost automatic pension eligibility with the prorogation of Parliament. A bill guaranteeing payments worth an average $77,900 a year for dozens of MPs has now lapsed: “We can show Canadians that we hear them.”
The Federal Court of Appeal has upheld a four-year prosecution of Rebel News Network over a 2019 book promotion. Judges dismissed the publisher’s appeal of a $3,000 fine over lawn signs: “The lawn signs opposed the Liberal Party.”
Commons rivals yesterday put cabinet on an 11-week death watch regardless of who Liberals select to replace Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. All opposition parties pledged a spring election after Trudeau announced his departure over “internal divisions,” the first resignation of its kind by a sitting Prime Minister in 129 years: “We have to go to an election.”
A federal program paid researchers to document supposed links between the Conservative Party and German Nazis and other hate groups, Access To Information records show. Government House Leader Karina Gould, who launched the “Digital Citizen Initiative” in 2019 under the guise of internet fact checking, yesterday had no comment: “Sowing of discontent and distrust in elected political leaders and the political process has significantly impacted how Canadians understand themselves.”
A bill to censor legal internet content yesterday lapsed with prorogation of Parliament. It marked the second time in four years that cabinet tried and failed to regulate blogs, Facebook posts and other social media deemed hurtful: “The government is close to the end of its mandate and does not have a lot of public support.”
An Alberta policeman disciplined for speaking at a Freedom Convoy rally has had his suspension without pay overturned. The punishment was “not justifiable,” ruled an Edmonton judge: “We are left in my view with factual distinctions.”
The Department of Foreign Affairs spent a record $84 million on special security at the Canadian Embassy in Kabul prior to abandoning it to the Taliban, documents show. Then-Ambassador Reid Sirrs, who had boasted of security preparedness in Kabul, fled the city the same day it fell to terrorists in 2021: “We failed. Look at us now.”
Cabinet used a costly “Digital Citizen Initiative” to fund partisan research at taxpayers’ expense, Access To Information records show. The Initiative launched by then-Democratic Institutions Minister Karina Gould polled Black people on whether they voted Liberal and hired Liberal publicists to monitor “anti-Liberal” media: “We decided to focus.”
Governor General Mary Simon and entourage billed nearly $37,000 in hotel charges to visit the Paris Paralympics last August, records show. The junket followed demands from MPs for greater scrutiny of Simon’s expenses that included silk jackets, limousine rides and gourmet meals: “The Governor General has shown a lack of respect for taxpayers.”
Canada saw a rush of foreign students claiming to be refugees after cabinet announced cuts to study permits, new figures show. A total 11,630 foreign students applied to remain in Canada as refugees from last January to August, the equivalent of more than 340 a week: “That isn’t the sign of a healthy system.”
Taxpayers in Canada Revenue Agency focus groups complained they were “gouged” and “overtaxed” by greedy auditors, says a pollsters’ report. The research followed cabinet’s threat to enact a $17.4 billion increase in capital gains taxes: “Impressions of Canada’s tax system focused on its complexity, lack of fairness and rates of taxation which were characterized as high.”
