China’s foreign ministry yesterday said it will not tolerate the “politicization of sports” at the Beijing Winter Games. The Commons last February 22 by a 266-0 vote censured China for crimes against humanity and agreed to petition the International Olympic Committee to relocate the 2022 Games: “We’re pragmatic.”
Visitors to federal prisons will require proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test though the rule doesn’t apply to inmates. The Correctional Service said it preferred education to coercion in dealing with prisoners themselves: “Inmates are not required to get the Covid-19 vaccine and must consent to being vaccinated.”
Public comment by Attorney General David Lametti on the constitutionality of a particular law is insufficient for sentencing, an Alberta court has ruled. Parliament makes laws not Lametti, wrote an Edmonton judge: “His opinion does not reflect the will of Parliament.”
Department of Veterans Affairs pension rolls still include widows and orphans of First World War veterans 103 years after the Armistice. Their dwindling number is down to 31: “The average yearly payment is $10,757 or about $896 per month.”
A long-promised federal law for Canadians who lose work due to climate change regulations will be introduced in Parliament shortly, says Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson. The Just Transition Act was promised in 2019: “What do you mean by just transition?”
There is no reason to believe everyone who declines a Covid shot will contract the coronavirus, says Canada’s deputy chief public health officer. Dr. Howard Njoo earlier told reporters he considered vaccination a “personal choice” though he himself is fully immunized: “Is it safe to say if you’re an adult in this country and you haven’t been vaccinated you’re going to get Covid?”
A federally-funded media monitor accuses two former premiers of “pushing conspiracy theories and disinformation.” The Canadian Anti-Hate Network, an agency subsidized by the Department of Canadian Heritage, did not respond to questions: “We have always stated at the Canadian Anti-Hate Network that leaders have to lead.”
The national flag last evening was raised on Parliament Hill for the first time in more than five months only to be lowered again this morning for Indigenous Veterans Day. New rules of flag protocol saw the Assembly of First Nations recommend its own banner fly over all federal buildings: “It is an irrefutable part of our present.”
Rates of police-reported family violence actually fell under Covid lockdowns, Statistics Canada data showed yesterday. Figures indicated the vast majority of families happily spent more time together despite official claims that “people are not necessarily safe in their homes.”
The Treasury Board yesterday claimed credit for a 98 percent vaccination rate in the federal public service after threatening reprisals against unimmunized staff. However data confirm the vast majority of employees already had their Covid shots before cabinet issued an October 6 ultimatum: “It’s working.”
The Department of Environment yesterday said coal-fired electricity generation must end but did not explain how to replace thermal plants in Atlantic Canada or the Prairies, or the impact on utility costs. A 2018 federal report warned of 12 percent rate increases if coal plants were to be abolished: “It may seem impossible.”
RCMP officers have posed as Canada Post workers and FedEx drivers in undercover drugs-on-delivery sting operations, according to court records. Federal law doesn’t allow police to intercept mail in transit: ‘A package from China was delivered by Canada Post – at least, it looked like Canada Post.’
Cabinet yesterday said it will withdraw billions invested in oil, coal and natural gas projects abroad but did not explain how or at what cost. The Department of Environment made the announcement at a United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow: “I have every confidence in Canada’s ability to blaze a trail.”
Managers in Auditor General Karen Hogan’s office spent staff time playing online puzzle games as a “team building activity,” officials confirmed yesterday. The fun, hours-long exercise came after Hogan complained to MPs her office was under “tremendous challenges” due to Covid and budget constraints: “This was not an office-wide activity.”
Statistics Canada yesterday updated a new round of double-digit food cost increases for everything from cabbage to pork ribs at grocery stores nationwide based on actual check-out prices. The new data come six months after a former Bank of Canada governor urged consumers “not to worry about inflation.”
