MPs yesterday expressed incredulity on learning up to 200 employees at cabinet’s Major Projects Office are on half-salary from private corporations and were never vetted by the Ethics Commissioner. “Is this just something out of the goodness of their heart?” asked Conservative MP Branden Leslie (Portage-Lisgar, Man.): "You can see private sector companies have value in this." READ MORE
Housing Minister Gregor Robertson yesterday accused critics of scapegoating immigrants over the housing crisis though his own department said immigration contributed to housing shortages. Caught in Question Period, Robertson told jeering MPs: “There is a difference between immigrants and immigration.” READ MORE
Taxpayers are typically flustered, anxious and intimidated when they receive a Canada Revenue Agency letter in the mail, says in-house research. The Agency spent $79,760 on questionnaires to determine why Canadians typically hesitated to open compliance letters: "Notifications often prompted worry before taxpayers knew what the message was about with some assuming it would bring bad news." READ MORE
Cabinet’s claim to feed 400,000 children through its National School Food Program is false, according to figures submitted yesterday to MPs. Ministers have repeated the claim though documents show it's unfounded: "Two hundred million dollars per year from the federal government represents the equivalent of 22 cents per student per day." READ MORE
Senators yesterday said they suspected an unnamed MP leaked copies of a confidential committee report to media. Liberal MP Marcus Powlowski (Thunder Bay-Rainy River, Ont.), co-chair of the joint committee in question, did not comment: "It would be very difficult if not impossible – I would say impossible – to determine the source of the leak." READ MORE
The Canadian Transportation Agency is “incapable” of handling air passenger complaints despite hiring 120 employees to do the job, Government House Leader Steven MacKinnon said yesterday. Cabinet proposes to privatize the system: "What went wrong?" READ MORE
The housing department in a briefing note to Minister Gregor Robertson acknowledged for the first time that cabinet’s housing target will not be met this decade. Immigration was to blame in part, said the note made public yesterday: "One of the drivers of the housing shortage has been the strong growth in housing demand driven by immigration." READ MORE
Vietnam, China, North Korea, all have labour camps. All abuse human rights and rule of law. Perhaps these realities are too raw for Canadians. Instead we presume common interests and points of goodwill that do not really exist. These are not normal societies as you and I know them; normal gestures are pointless. Governments promote trade with communist countries but there is no evidence this diminishes the power of police states or has ever closed a single prison camp. I know how communists work.
