The Senate’s leading opponent of fossil fuels in the past year jetted more than 100,000 kilometres to climate conferences from Casablanca to Mumbai, new records show. Senator Rosa Galvez (Que.), a Liberal appointee, called climate change “the greatest challenge of our time.”
Cabinet yesterday would not say how many taxpayer dollars it awarded to subsidize two weekends’ worth of stand-up comedy in Montréal. The undisclosed funding was marked “economic development.”
The Department of Industry in a briefing note says it is monitoring a newly-registered non-profit group that organized anti-Israel street protests. “The government is following this file closely,” said the note: “Complaints regarding illegal activities are referred to the RCMP.”
Cabinet yesterday said it’s starting over on equipping a new submarine fleet after spending $3 billion on second-hand vessels that spent more time undergoing repairs than at sea. No budget was detailed: “It should have been evident.”
The Commons ethics committee will meet in special session to question Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault’s business partners over the identity of a mysterious executive named “Randy.” It follows company texts involving “Randy” that Boissonnault insisted must be someone else: “I do not know who the other Randy was.”
Defence Minister Bill Blair inflated numbers on military spending, says a Budget Office report. It follows Department of National Defence in-house polling that found half of Canadians believe the military is underfunded: “Do you feel Canada’s military is underfunded, overfunded or receives about the right amount?”
An “angry, cranky” Green MP Elizabeth May (Saanich-Gulf Islands, B.C.) yesterday vowed to lead her Party into another election to show voters how they “f—ked this planet.” May, 70, in rambling remarks to reporters said she felt lucky to be alive and didn’t understand why Canadians have sharp opinions of Justin Trudeau: “This is not right.”
The RCMP yesterday appealed for tips from Chinese Canadians after confirming an investigation into election interference by Communist Party agents. The Mounties targeted suspected criminals victimizing Québec residents of Chinese ancestry: “Let’s fight interference together.”
Recommendations on job training and retirement planning from an all-labour committee are due by year’s end, says a Department of Employment briefing note. The committee was appointed last December for ideas to help workers “transition to retirement with dignity.”
Almost 14,000 ventilators bought under a $700 million Covid program were immediately warehoused as surplus including devices promptly sold for scrap, according to auditors. The figures were disclosed at the request of Conservative MP Cheryl Gallant (Renfrew-Nipissing, Ont.): ‘This is destruction of value for taxpayers.’
Climate Change Ambassador Catherine Stewart billed taxpayers $428 per night to stay at a hotel in downtown Paris to “inform” the French about Canada’s carbon tax, Access To Information records show. The hotel near the Eiffel Tower charged $22 for croissants and coffee: “Outreach was required to have candid conversations to help inform the development of a strategy.”
The Canada Revenue Agency polled Canadians on whether they resent tax avoidance by the rich. In-house records show the Agency hired researchers at $174,047 to poll public resentment about the tax habits of wealthy Canadians: “There was specific interest in gauging how respondents view the Agency’s treatment of ‘rich’ people without defining ‘rich.'”
Cabinet should decriminalize heroin nationwide, says a Black Justice Strategy report. One MP of Kenyan descent yesterday called the Department of Justice document “appalling.”
Elections Canada in a report to the China inquiry now says it knew of at least 149 complaints of foreign interference in the last two general elections. The agency two years ago assured MPs it was unaware of any claims foreign agents were at work: “I have no reason to believe the election was not a free and fair election.”
Canada’s Ambassador for Climate Change billed more than $254,000 in travel expenses in less than two years on the job, accounts show. Catherine Stewart charged for stays at luxury hotels ranging up to $623 a night, according to Access To Information records: “Climate change will bring unprecedented challenges.”
