Opposition MPs seek parliamentary hearings into an attempt by the Department of National Defence to conceal a 2023 training session with members of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army. “Canadians deserve answers,” Conservative MP James Bezan (Selkirk-Interlake, Man.), vice-chair of the committee, said yesterday. READ MORE
Posting photos of homeless people or street addicts on the internet would be criminalized under a Commons petition sponsored by Deputy Government House Leader Arielle Kayabaga. The petition follows complaints, including from MPs, of public disorder in major cities: "There are needles around on the street. There is excrement on the street." READ MORE
Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday claimed cabinet will generate billions through foreign management of the nation’s largest airports though all are currently under 60-year leases with local authorities. The Opposition sought details: "We want to see how it is going to save money for Canadians, because if it doesn’t save money, then why do it?" READ MORE
Newly-declassified records show then-Prime Minister Brian Mulroney cautioned his cabinet that abolition of the Senate was “not an acceptable political option” for Canada. Confidential accounts of the 1992 meeting were disclosed through Access To Information in advance of a first-ever referendum in Alberta to “abolish the unelected federal Senate.” READ MORE
A Toronto consulting firm in a written mea culpa to a Senate committee says it was wrong when its co-founder testified in 2017 that robots would cost 42 percent of Canadian jobs. “If even a fraction of these projections come true, it’s still a huge number,” Abishur Prakash warned at the time. READ MORE
Foreign Minister Anita Anand in 2023 had experts with the Canadian Armed Forces train members of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, newly-disclosed Access To Information records show. Internal records indicate staff tried to conceal the fact, but were warned to be truthful if asked: "We know we will be training and we have Minister approval to do so." READ MORE
Newly-declassified cabinet records yesterday disclosed then-Prime Minister Brian Mulroney was “astonished” by the 1992 failure of the Charlottetown Accord and blamed the Reform Party and media for its defeat. Mulroney in one secret meeting compared himself to a First World War general who would fight on: "The Prime Minister, like Marechal Foch, will be attacking and will be around to lead the next campaign." READ MORE
The Battle of Vimy Ridge was “a wild show,” he wrote. He listed a half dozen close calls. A university friend was killed by a sniper while they were shaking hands. An enemy shell made a direct hit on the post he had just turned over to a new officer and “blew him to pieces.” Another shell landed six feet away and failed to explode: “If it had exploded we would be going yet.” Percy traded in his uniform and returned to Ottawa where he lived out his life serving God and the Presbyterian Church.
