Owners of a subsidized Regina mill that hosted a 2018 tour by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau are now making steel for Putin’s war machine, the Commons was told yesterday. A cabinet announcement on new general sanctions against Russian investors was abruptly postponed: “There may be some impacts.”
The CRTC yesterday would not comment on Access To Information records suggesting its CEO personally arranged a meeting with a telecom lobbyist in an Ottawa barroom. Ian Scott had told MPs all his meetings were recorded: “Presumably your meeting in that bar wasn’t recorded.”
Federal budgeting leaves taxpayers with little ability to “follow each and every dollar,” Budget Officer Yves Giroux said yesterday. Current practice sees cabinet propose billions in spending with little oversight, he said: “Essentially what the government is telling you is, ‘Trust us.'”
Cabinet yesterday faced demands it target Russian investors in Canada including billionaire owners of a federally-subsidized Regina steel mill once toured by Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland. Punishing Russia for its invasion of Ukraine “may involve some sacrifice from us,” said a Liberal-appointed senator: “What has the Government of Canada done to get our $40 million back?”
Taxpayers have bought snowmobiles for Northerners, the Department of Crown-Indigenous Relations yesterday disclosed. Free machines were purchased under a multi-million dollar program to promote Indigenous hunting and berry picking: “What does that mean?”
Materials used by the renewable energy sector are often produced by slave labour, the Senate human rights committee has been told. Forced labour including children are used in supply chains that produce electric car batteries and wind turbine parts: “Look at issues like modern slavery and the environment.”
Cronyism and nepotism remain rampant in federal hiring, says the Public Service Commission. A majority of staff, 53 percent, “believe appointments depend on who you know,” the Commission said yesterday: “There are still areas for improvement.”
Cabinet is now hiring consultants to check the work of other consultants in the multi-billion dollar Phoenix Pay System failure, the Commons government operations committee was told yesterday. Treasury Board President Mona Fortier would not explain large consulting contracts to fix software that garbled cheques for most federal employees: “It’s an insult to Canadian taxpayers.”
Liberal MPs on the Commons finance committee yesterday rejected a two-year ban on the sale of Canadian residential real estate to foreigners abroad. The Liberal Party promised a ban in the September 20 election campaign: ‘One of my frustrations is the slow pace which the Liberal government undertakes to meet its own commitments.’
Federal regulators yesterday would not commit to enforcing a parliamentary ban on foreign propaganda by Chinese state TV. The Commons voted unanimously for a ban targeting the Kremlin-financed television service Russia Today: “RT has no place on our airwaves.”
Cabinet yesterday banned Russian oil imports to Eastern refineries. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau acknowledged trade was marginal but said the ban “sends a powerful message.”
The Public Health Agency yesterday said it is now almost fully stocked with pandemic medical supplies two years after the outbreak of Covid. The Agency to date has not explained why it ignored its own planners in failing to maintain a four months’ supply of masks, medical gowns and other goods: “It’s unacceptable to get that kind of dissembling to direct questions.”
A majority of English-speaking Canadians cannot carry on a conversation in French despite 53 years of official bilingualism, says in-house federal research. Cabinet as early as today will reintroduce a bill mandating use of French in the federally regulated private sector: “I am just not interested.”
Freedom Convoy truckers were rapists, claims Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino. Testifying at the Commons public safety committee, Mendicino said “threats of rape” by political protesters justified use of the Emergencies Act: “Will you undertake to provide this committee with proof of the allegation?”
Canadians are wary of cabinet’s climate change plan to ban the sale of gas and diesel-fueled cars, pickups and SUVs in the name of “personal choice and freedom,” says in-house Privy Council Office research. Cabinet is mandating that all sales be electric by 2035: “There was anxiety with many believing costs for consumers would go up.”
