Federal debt charges have surpassed the $26.5 billion national defence budget, the Parliamentary Budget Office confirmed yesterday. Debt charges were $31.2 billion and rising, it said: “Public debt charges are projected to more than double.”
Air Canada couldn’t count to 10, a British Columbia small claims court judge has ruled. The Civil Resolution Tribunal ordered the airline to pay $775 in damages and costs for garbling its arithmetic at the expense of a North Vancouver couple: ‘Explain how to count 10.’
The RCMP in a briefing to deputy ministers the very day cabinet invoked the Emergencies Act falsely claimed Freedom Convoy protesters had weapons outside Parliament. They didn’t. A police memo attributed the rumour to “intelligence information.”
RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki when testifying at parliamentary hearings must appear “self-confident and firm,” speak slowly and beware of trickery by MPs. The advice is detailed in a five-page tip sheet written by the Mounties’ government affairs unit: “Smile and pause.”
The Commons immigration committee yesterday by a 6 to 5 vote rejected a review of records showing now-Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino backdated documents to mislead a federal judge. Liberal and Bloc Québécois MPs called the incident a simple mistake: “There’s something fishy that has happened here, something strange.”
The onus is on cabinet to justify extraordinary police powers used against the Freedom Convoy, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association said yesterday. Civil rights lawyers are participating in a judicial inquiry that opens today at 9:30 am Eastern: “The burden is on them, not the other way around.”
Cabinet yesterday enacted regulations to speed the deportation of foreigners involved in organized crime. The Canada Border Services Agency complained under old rules it had to hear and re-hear evidence against immigrants already convicted of serious offences before deporting them: “I don’t quite understand why we would tolerate this.”
A CBC News claim that falsely suggested Russia was behind Freedom Convoy protests should have “been caught before broadcast,” says the network’s ombudsman. The claim by CBC announcer Nil Koksal was unattributed and made without evidence: “I am disappointed it took others to point out to CBC the question was ‘off.'”
Minister Marco Mendicino’s office yesterday claimed he had no involvement in backdating documents to mislead a federal judge. Internal emails show documents were sent to Mendicino’s office. Staff did not explain the discrepancy: “We’re just waiting for MINO’s approval.”
Internal Department of Public Safety reports confirm there was no evidence of violence by Freedom Convoy supporters outside Parliament. One report issued the very day cabinet invoked the Emergencies Act said the protest was small, peaceful and had little impact on federal operations: “Disruption to government activities is so far minor.”
A fifth of the federal cabinet will testify at the Freedom Convoy inquiry, investigators said yesterday. Eight of 39 cabinet members will be cross-examined under oath on why they invoked the Emergencies Act against protesters outside Parliament: “The issue is not whether it helped the police but whether the powers they already had could have resolved the problem.”
A now-retired judge enrolled in a charity scheme subsequently shut down by the Canada Revenue Agency as a tax shelter, records show. Documents filed in a Tax Court dispute indicate David Crane signed the charity papers in his chambers while a presiding judge at Superior Court in Hamilton, Ont.: “I did business and I was deceived.”
Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino’s department censored hundreds of pages of documents sought by MPs reviewing security measures against the Freedom Convoy. “It makes no sense,” said Bloc Québécois MP Rhéal Fortin (Riviere-du-Nord, Que.): “Look at the documents we received here.”
The federal spy agency in a secret memo discounted cabinet claims the Freedom Convoy was infiltrated by Nazis. A lone swastika flag spotted outside Parliament was offensive but not representative of protesters who considered themselves “patriotic Canadians standing up for their democratic rights,” said the Canadian Security Intelligence Service: “Only a small, fringe element supports the use of violence or might be willing to engage in it.”
Internal Privy Council polling shows most Canadians are weary of federal pandemic management. “Several felt the federal approach at present lacked direction,” cabinet was told: “More participants felt the federal government was performing worse.”
