Liberal MPs last evening invoked national security in concealing records concerning Reid Sirrs, Canada’s last ambassador to Afghanistan. Sirrs was the first G7 ambassador to close the embassy and flee Kabul with staff aboard a half-empty military plane, according to eyewitness accounts: “What went wrong?”
A federally-subsidized report yesterday complained media are subject to “online abuse” from Canadian social media users and Freedom Convoy sympathizers. Authors stopped short of endorsing federal censorship of Twitter and Facebook: “We are holding this event here on Parliament Hill, a place where so many journalists have been exposed to trauma and harassment.”
Small Business Minister Mary Ng faces questions for a second time over contracts to Toronto friends and ex-colleagues. A Conservative MP uncovered a sole-sourced contract awarded by Ng to a former campaign aide and CBC pundit: “This is regrettably just another installment.”
Janice Charette, a federal executive critical of the Commons over a China spy scandal, yesterday was appointed Clerk of the Privy Council on a permanent basis. “Janice’s leadership and expertise as head of the public service of Canada is vital,” the Prime Minister said in a statement.
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation yesterday named annual winners of its dubious Teddy Awards for wasteful spending. Canadians face a “huge tax bill” for record deficits, said the Federation: “Canadians want to leave their kids and grandkids with a shot at financial success.”
Cabinet is invoking confidentiality in refusing to detail actual cash payments to individual publishers under a $595 million press bailout. Newspaper executives mandated to help cabinet design terms of the bailout in 2019 agreed to conceal payments: “They chose the people they wanted to get the answers they wanted.”
A cabinet bill detailing legal grounds to search travelers’ cellphones and laptops may lead to political witch hunts, says a Liberal-appointed senator. “Travelers could be targeted for phone and computer searches based on their political views,” Senator Paula Simons (Alta.) said yesterday: “It will put the privacy rights of thousands of Canadian travelers in real jeopardy.”
A Québec court will rule on whether to certify a class action lawsuit alleging poor performance of electric cars in winter driving conditions. The allegations target the Chevrolet Bolt once hailed by auto writers as Canada’s 2017 Green Car of the Year: “The range of the Bolt electric vehicle does not even reach 300 kilometres.”
Immigrants drawn to “ethnic enclaves” in Canada’s largest cities typically earn less than if they lived somewhere else, says a federal study. “What are the effects of living in an ethnic enclave?” asked CMHC researchers: “Immigrants who landed in ethnic enclaves earned less on average.”
Forest fires in northern Canada are no more frequent than they were in the 19th century, says the Department of Natural Resources. Cabinet has blamed wildfires on climate change: “The current rate of burning is still lower than historic levels.”
Replacement of the old Department of Indian Affairs with two new departments saw the hiring of nearly 2,000 more federal employees, new data show. Total spending jumped 79 percent under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s program to replace what he called “colonial structures.”
Liberal MPs have blocked disclosure of cabinet documents detailing Canadian diplomats’ hurried flight from Afghanistan aboard half-empty military aircraft. MPs on the Commons Special Committee on Afghanistan successfully filibustered a motion to compel release of the records: “We need this.”
Alleged wage fixing by grocers raises questions about “what else is happening that we don’t see” in the sector, the Commons industry committee was told. A cabinet bill would criminalize wage fixing under threat of 14 years’ imprisonment: “Workers are directly and indirectly affected by Canada’s competition policy every day.”
Canada Revenue Agency staff have so much time on their hands they run side businesses at work, claims a former manager. The allegation came in the case of a $65,000-a year assessments officer fired for attending school meetings during work hours: “I didn’t feel that I was stealing.”
Cabinet will not explain the abrupt resignation of Cynthia Garneau, the $318,000-a year CEO of VIA Rail. Garneau quit Friday though two years remained in her contract: “It will now be up to another driver to lead the organization.”
