Defence Minister David McGuinty yesterday said cabinet for the first time will meet its minimum 2 percent NATO target on military spending by month’s end. MPs have noted the NATO calculations include budget line items of little military value like unarmed Coast Guard lifeboats: "We just can’t have creative accounting to get to 2 percent. We actually need capability to protect Canada." READ MORE
Weak growth forecasts for 2026 will get weaker yet, Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem yesterday told reporters. A January 28 outlook is already out of date, he said: "It looks like it is going to come in lower than what we previously forecast." READ MORE
A federal labour board has upheld the firing of a Statistics Canada supervisor for dishonesty. Managers said the misconduct did not impact any statistical reports but breached the Agency’s Code Of Conduct that states, “Trust is the defining characteristic of an effective and useful statistical system.” READ MORE
The Canada Revenue Agency yesterday confirmed it is suspending its fax line for charity filings at month’s end. It is the first federal office to eliminate fax lines since Xerox Corporation introduced the dial-up facsimile machine 60 years ago: "We simply don’t seem to be able to modernize and move quickly." READ MORE
A Laval, Que. constable who tracked down the author of an insulting Facebook post has been cleared of abuse of authority. Numerous Québec municipalities including Laval enforce local bylaws against “insulting or abusing a peace office or a municipal employee in the performance of his or her duties.” READ MORE
Average spot prices for regular gasoline have jumped 24 percent since the outbreak of war in Iran, the Department of Natural Resources said yesterday. Diesel is up 28 percent: "Obviously this could affect growth and inflation." READ MORE
The Commons industry committee is recommending cabinet reverse a decade of Trudeau-era tax policy. Canada should be more competitive with the United States, wrote MPs: 'Examine the impact of tax rates on entrepreneurship.' READ MORE
The Charter Of Rights in Canada is all about minority rights, not majority rights. The idea that Parliament wants to deal with all these difficult issues is simply a fiction. There’s been a lot of criticism of so-called judicial activism. This is but one example. They said we were reckless. I realized the sky was not going to fall. I mean, there are times when the courts have to act. To me it was an issue we didn’t need to go on debating indefinitely.
