Ratepayers in four provinces face steeper hydro bills, as much as 15 percent more, under draft Clean Electricity Regulations released yesterday. “It’s time to roll up our sleeves,” said Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault: “Higher incremental rate increases are expected.”
Government-issue digital currency is unnecessary and would only be feasible if most Canadians asked for it, the Bank of Canada said yesterday. Consumers would have to “drive its use,” said a Bank report: “Acceptance and use of a central bank digital currency could be challenging.”
The Supreme Court of Canada yesterday declined to hear petitions from church groups challenging pandemic bans on in-person worship. No reason was given. “We are disappointed,” said Marty Moore of the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms that acted as counsel in two cases: “Prohibiting in-person worship is not a matter of national importance.”
Cabinet yesterday for the first time acknowledged “highly suspicious and abnormal” activity in Chinese-language media targeting an Opposition MP. The Department of Foreign Affairs said while it was impossible to prove the Chinese Embassy was involved, “China’s role in the information operation is highly probable.”
Ottawa and Toronto lobbyists boosted attendance at the Prime Minister’s annual Calgary Stampede fundraiser, records show. A fifth of donors to the Laurier Club event were Ontario lobbyists and political aides: ‘Thousands of Canadians are chipping in.’
Poutine would became Canada’s dish under a Commons petition sponsored by Independent MP Kevin Vuong (Spadina-Fort York, Ont.). Petitioners asked that an Act of Parliament proclaim fries, gravy and cheese curds our national food: ‘We can generally agree it is delicious.’
Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan yesterday said he will investigate conditions on the waterfront following a two-week strike at West Coast ports. Another strike or lockout is “not good enough,” he said: “It’s high time we dig into these underlying issues.”
Air Canada has been ordered to pay $1,000 per passenger as compensation for flight delays that landed a Kelowna, B.C. couple at their destination three days late. The onus is on airlines to justify extraordinary delays, said a British Columbia adjudicator: “Air Canada is in the best position to provide evidence explaining the delay of its own flights.”
More than a quarter of Chinese diplomats assigned to a Toronto Consulate have left the country since the last general election, data show. Figures on accredited staff were updated yesterday for the first time since the expulsion of a Chinese spy: “It does make me wonder.”
Federal agencies have awarded hundreds of thousands in subsidies to farm geese on Hudson Bay. One government memo called it a climate change initiative: ‘It is to promote consumption of light geese that can contribute to restoring Inuit food sovereignty.’
Commons Speaker Anthony Rota’s office yesterday justified a $150,496 junket to Australia as uncommon but necessary. Rota and seven guests including wives spent three days in Canberra: “It provides speakers with an opportunity to discuss procedural and administrative challenges.”
A Department of Fisheries report proposes First Nations join the Coast Guard in policing marine traffic in whale habitat including commercial shipping lanes. “Whale species are significant to Indigenous peoples’ cultures,” wrote the department: “There was a desire to have shared responsibility and authority.”
Fewer than half of Canadians surveyed consider the RCMP accountable, says in-house research. The findings follow the resignation of Commissioner Brenda Lucki: “They award lower marks when it comes to the calibre of its leadership.”
Canadians welcome immigrants but cannot see where they’re supposed to live, says in-house research by the Department of Immigration. Housing worries followed the highest immigration quotas in Canada’s history: “It is too much, too fast.”
A South Pacific junket led by Commons Speaker Anthony Rota cost taxpayers more than $150,000, records show. Guests invited to a three-day conference included a Liberal-appointed Commons clerk who resigned after he was accused of sleeping on the job: “Cooperation is a prerequisite for furthering people-to-people contact.”
