Chinese-Canadians in an internal Privy Council Office poll say cabinet must “stand up” to China’s Communist Party even if it brings worsening relations. “Canada was not currently doing enough to speak out against human rights issues,” citizens of Chinese ethnicity told federal pollsters: “Very few wanted to see the development of stronger ties.”
Mistaken payments of $2,000 monthly pandemic benefit cheques cost at least $5.3 billion, records show. It is the largest sum disclosed to date under the Canada Emergency Response Benefit program: “When creating a program as quickly as we did there is going to be some abuse.”
Complaints of racism in the Department of Immigration yesterday prompted MPs to recommend all interviews with visa applicants be recorded. The Commons immigration committee also sought appointment of an ombudsman to hear complaints of bigotry: “These problems do exist.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau considered the Freedom Convoy an international embarrassment, say secret minutes of a cabinet meeting. One minister called it a “concentrated effort to make this country look bad,” while Ambassador Ralph Goodale complained from Britain there was “disbelief that this is happening in Canada.”
The Public Health Agency spent more than $43 million hiring security guards to make house calls on returning cross-border travelers, records show. Private security firms completed almost 600,000 “door knocks” to enforce quarantine rules: “What recourse is the Agency making available to individuals who are harassed?”
There is no money in local private television says Canada’s largest private television corporation. BCE Inc. in a submission to the Senate communications committee said local stations have been money losers for nine years running: “Local private television has been unprofitable every year since 2013.”
Satellites essential for surveillance of Canada’s Arctic are “nearing their end” by 2026, the Auditor General warned yesterday. Analysts identified what they called significant gaps in federal know-how on who is active in northern waters and why: “This finding matters.”
Ongoing maintenance and refit costs for Canada’s submarine fleet now top $3 billion, according to documents. Most of the fleet spent another year in dry dock in 2022: “The force has been impacted by personnel shortages but remains focused.”
The Freedom Convoy was no threat to national security, says the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. The director of the federal spy agency opposed use of the Emergencies Act, the Public Order Emergency Commission was told yesterday: “They knew about all of this, correct?”
The Canada Revenue Agency paid pandemic subsidies to 56,000 companies that owed the Agency more than $700 million in unpaid tax, cabinet disclosed yesterday. Figures suggest the Agency grossly underestimated the number of insolvent firms that received the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy: “I think we are doing a very good job.”
Installing enough fast charging stations to meet cabinet’s electric car mandate will cost about $20 billion, says the Department of Natural Resources. Cabinet since 2016 has already spent $3.3 billion on rebates and subsidies to promote electric cars, by official estimate: “Our overall estimate for public charging infrastructure needs across Canada would represent a total investment of approximately $20 billion.”
The House affairs committee yesterday voted unanimously to compel documents regarding alleged Chinese Communist interference in federal campaigns. The committee earlier heard foreign agents sought to unseat Conservative MPs: “Canadians deserve answers.”
The Department of Public Works has polled Canadian businesses on service cuts, records show. Business operators are the heaviest users of the post office: “To what extent would you support or oppose an end to door to door home delivery and replacing it with community mailboxes?”
The Freedom Convoy threatened “mental health” but was not literally violent, Ontario’s deputy solicitor general told the Public Order Emergency Commission. The testimony followed evidence from the Ottawa Police Service that the protest “felt” violent: “No murders, shootings, robberies, stabbings, aggravated assaults, nothing of that sort.”
The Government of Alberta in 48 hours bought $826,000 worth of towing equipment at Kijiji and the Truck Trader to clear a border blockade, records show. Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino had claimed “no tow trucks were available” at the time, forcing the federal cabinet to invoke the Emergencies Act: “These were found by conducting online searches of websites like Kijiji and Truck Trader.”
