The Department of Veterans Affairs says it didn’t have time to invite Afghan War veterans to speak at the ceremonial groundbreaking for a National Monument to Afghan War dead. The 40-minute ceremony did hear from non-combatants including Veterans Affairs Minister Jill McKnight: "Why?" READ MORE
Owners of a heavy duty Russian cargo plane grounded in Toronto by cabinet order are appealing to the Federal Court of Appeal to remove the airline from a federal blacklist. Volga-Dnepr Airlines LLC told judges it played no role in the Ukrainian war, and had freighted cargo in the past for Canada’s Department of National Defence: 'It transported military cargo for countries around the world including NATO support.' READ MORE
Building a single high speed railway tunnel to the Island of Montréal will cost taxpayers more than $2.5 billion, the Budget Office said yesterday. The calculation was included among figures showing cabinet underestimated the cost of its regional electrified rail project by billions: 'Tunnels are major construction cost drivers.' READ MORE
Cabinet must uphold criminal sanctions on drug trafficking following a Charter Of Rights ruling by a Vancouver judge, Opposition members said yesterday. Conservative MP Frank Caputo (Kamloops-Thompson, B.C.), former Crown prosecutor, predicted greater public disorder if cabinet does not act: "There is no constitutional right to sell heroin." READ MORE
Taxpayers will “make a lot of money” on oil exports to Asia, Prime Minister Mark Carney said yesterday. Carney declared permits for a new $43.7 billion pipeline from Bruderheim, Alta. to Pacific terminals at Delta, B.C. will be fast-tracked within 12 months: "It is clear this is a project of national interest." READ MORE
Cabinet proposes to launch a Canadian version of the European Union’s Solidarity Corps, a youth volunteer program. It follows earlier federal programs promoting youth volunteerism that cost taxpayers millions: 'In Norway, the European Solidarity Corps offers opportunities for young people. The government is looking into the possibility of developing its own civic corps in Canada.' READ MORE
Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday omitted all reference to Indian Residential School graves or genocide in observing National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. It followed the Senate's defeat of a motion endorsed by the Assembly of First Nations to criminalize “denialism.” READ MORE
We only had the CBC. It was hard to take. That’s all we had. Honest to God, it was deadly. It was also dangerous, absolutely dangerous. You had a situation where the government perpetuated the CBC as a monopoly provider. This was television in Canada. Private TV was not just about making money. It was to liberate the country, to provide new, fresh ideas, to have a new and different perspective on the world. This was like a holy war. They lost.
