The Department of Immigration is eager to show it's “delivering results” in a costly shelter program for illegal immigrants and refugee claimants, says an Access To Information memo to Minister Lena Diab. Managers complained of media focus and Opposition criticism of a hotel program that cost taxpayers billions: "Recent reporting and Opposition motions question overall costs." READ MORE
The Federal Court says it will see a record 30,000 immigration cases this year, five times the average. Administrators served notice of long delays in paperwork affecting all plaintiffs and defendants: "This persistent surge is causing significant and sustained operational pressures on the Court." READ MORE
A charity assigned to crowdfund renovations to 24 Sussex Drive will solicit donations from federally-regulated corporations, records show. Prime Minister Mark Carney, former director of the Rideau Hall Foundation, denied any conflict: "They will be raising funds." READ MORE
Prime Minister Mark Carney faces a Commons ethics committee probe on whether he stands to personally benefit from a proposed $1.45 billion taxpayers' bailout of distressed condos in Metro Vancouver. Carney told reporters he had no idea of whether trustees managing his stock portfolio were speculating in British Columbia real estate: "I actually don’t know whether or not I have an actual conflict, thank you." READ MORE
A Liberal-appointed trustee who quit the Canadian Museum for Human Rights over an anti-Israel exhibit says he was “berated by board members for my views.” Mark Berlin, former director with the federal Department of Justice, told a B’nai Brith podcast the Museum was “a tool of propaganda.” READ MORE
Banks effective next year will be compelled to obtain depositors’ permission for electronic transfers. The anti-fraud measure follows legal rulings regarding bankers’ duty of care owed their customers: "The true number of fraud instances in Canada could be between 1.1 million and 2.2 million." READ MORE
Poet Shai Ben-Shalom writes: "Join the celebration this Canada day. Do the little things that make a difference, a flag in hand, a pin to the collar..." READ MORE
I felt we had freedom of speech on the web, that I could basically post whatever I wanted in whatever language I chose, and I wanted my day in court to fight them. What was my point? As a free society, we have a right to put on the internet our content in whatever language we want without government control. We don’t need Big Brother watching over you on the internet. They had to put in their two cents, they had to regulate. How could there be a medium out there over which they had absolutely no control? I mean, isn’t that part of government’s philosophy?
