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.”
Federal debt charges will top $53 billion by 2024, says the Parliamentary Budget Office. Costs of interest payments on the federal debt will nearly double federal spending on children’s benefits: “That is something that will have a major impact on public finances.”
Minor hockey players and parents oppose a federal “concussion passport” as an invasion of privacy, says internal research by the Department of Canadian Heritage. “The possibility that individuals’ highly confidential medical information could be shared potentially outside the health care system was a fundamental concern,” wrote researchers: “Divulging information about their health should be their decision and theirs alone.”
Tips are GST taxable but only if mandatory, says Tax Court. The rare ruling on sales tax treatment of gratuities came in the case of a caterer that charged all customers 15 percent regardless of whether they enjoyed themselves: “To discourage behaviour one taxes that behaviour.”
Blacklock’s Reporter today pauses for Remembrance Day observances with gratitude to all who honoured our country. Thank you for your service — The Editor.
A truckers’ blockade in Windsor, Ont. was so relaxed local police complained they couldn’t earn enough overtime, records show. However “the food provided was top notch,” said a police department report submitted to the Freedom Convoy inquiry. Cabinet had pointed to the Windsor blockade as a contributing factor in its use of the Emergencies Act: “The food provided was top notch and officers were extremely grateful.”
Costs of Canada Day festivities on Parliament Hill have nearly doubled since the Department of Canadian Heritage assumed responsibility for all expenses, records show. Accounts indicate cost of the one-day observance is up to $6 million: “The information is based on actual costs.”
The Federal Court of Appeal has rejected a final petition in Canada’s longest-running petition for veterans’ disability benefits. The case dated from 1954 and was carried into court one final time by a former airmen’s aged widow: ‘We have to apply the law, no matter how heart-rending, whether we like it or not.’
All new handgun sales and transfers in Canada were yesterday outlawed by cabinet effective at 9:05 am Eastern. Applications to transfer firearms received by regulators prior to the deadline would still be processed, said the Department of Public Safety: “Firearms violence is a complex issue.”
