Prime Minister Mark Carney’s abrupt reversal on electric car mandates followed in-house federal polling that showed only a third of Canadians supported sales quotas, according to records. Opposition ran hottest west of Ontario including a majority of drivers in British Columbia, where Liberals held 20 seats: "We are making strategic decisions." READ MORE
The Senate must open special committee hearings to hear from business, labour and local authorities on impacts of rolling tariffs, says the Opposition Leader in the Senate. Existing trade committees in the Senate and Commons have not met in months: 'Thousands of Canadian jobs hang in the balance.' READ MORE
CBC News publicly cancelled an editorial order 30 minutes after learning of cabinet’s disapproval, records show. The TV network has repeatedly denied following Liberal “political winds or influences,” according to former CEO Catherine Tait: "Independence is critical to the trust Canadians place in us." READ MORE
Canada Post has removed 600 city sidewalk mailboxes this year as a cost-cutting measure. Removal of what management called “street furniture” came as the corporation ran up $482 million in pre-tax losses for the first six months of the year: "Changes are critical." READ MORE
Federal judges have upheld a $20,000 cap on compensation for pain and suffering under the Canadian Human Rights Act. Legal commentators including now-Governor General Louise Arbour had criticized the limit set a generation ago by Parliament: "Removing the cap on damages would go a long way to increase access to justice." READ MORE
Poet Shai Ben-Shalom writes: "You envision a world of perfect harmony..." READ MORE
Poverty is called a trap, though millions of Canadians have escaped it using subtle methods. The Department of Employment, an anti-poverty agency, is not good at this. “The welfare state, which imposes order from above and requires specific outcomes, fails on many levels,” write Joe and Stephanie Mancini. “Access to basic necessities of life is often denied because someone does not fit into bureaucratic categories, or because they cannot navigate complex rule-based systems.” The Mancinis’ Transition To Common Work is a crisp critique of the welfare state written by a devoutly Catholic husband and wife committed to aiding the poor. This is not a rant about the dole. It is an eloquent account of the subtle, human remedies for despair. READ MORE
My father was offered cabinet posts by the Liberal Party. They wanted to appoint him to the cabinet in 1945, but he declined. The Liberal Party used a lot of our ideas, I think, but my father never wanted to be a Liberal. He always maintained he wanted to achieve his purpose through democratic socialism. That’s what he was. That’s how he lived. He thought all people were entitled to a decent life, that no one should suffer from poor housing and poor health. His whole life was devoted to improving conditions for the common man.
