The Department of Public Works yesterday would not disclose terms of a sole-sourced contract to a Québec supplier for “last resort” mask sterilizing machines. The devices retail at up to $125,000 apiece through U.S. distributors: “Definitely a last resort.”
MPs will ask the new Parliament to revive Covid investigations, Opposition Leader Erin O’Toole said yesterday. The September 20 election campaign interrupted committee reviews of millions of pages of internal documents on pandemic mismanagement and the firing of Chinese scientists at a federal lab: ‘It will have to be re-examined.’
A federal judge has dismissed Canadian Pacific Railway’s claim for a perpetual tax holiday under an 1880 contract signed by then-Railways Minister Charles Tupper. The railway paid $758 million worth of income tax last year.: “As of 1880 the federal government did not directly tax the income of individuals or corporations.”
Conservative MPs yesterday deferred any leadership review of Erin O’Toole. The Opposition Leader accepted personal blame for the loss of nearly 492,000 votes and two seats in the minority 44th Parliament: “Changing the leader every two years after every election is not the way.”
A window manufacturer accused of trying to “bully” clients who left negative customer reviews online has been ordered to pay $166,687. The company had tried to sue negative reviewers for defamation: “In my view the plaintiffs brought this lawsuit to bully the defendants into removing their reviews from the internet.”
Infrastructure Minister Catherine McKenna and staffers spent nearly $42,000 and tens of thousands of litres of aviation fuel on a farewell “climate change” tour of Canada, accounts show. McKenna logged 22,600 kilometres by air in ten days to make speeches on global warming: “We need to reduce air pollution.”
Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan in her last act in cabinet yesterday was fined for breach of the Conflict Of Interest Act. Jordan failed to report details of her personal finances as required, according to a notice from the Ethics Commissioner.
A federally subsidized hi-tech firm hailed as a “bright star” success story is the target of a $100,000 government lawsuit alleging copyright breach. Executives with the basement start-up received hundreds of thousands in grants and contracts: “This is a program that we are very proud of.”
Chinese-Canadian children are less likely to drop out of high school and more likely to get university degrees than white students, Statistics Canada said yesterday. Young Canadians overall are now the best educated in the nation’s history: ‘They generally have a higher level of education than their counterparts across OECD countries.’
In a rare case of plagiarism in court, judges in Saskatchewan have overturned the expulsion of an admitted plagiarist from a nursing college. The student acknowledged claiming credit for others’ written work but was denied a fair hearing, said the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal: “She did not commit an honest mistake.”
The CBC and five subsidized press associations pledge to “advocate for initiatives to reduce if not prevent online harm,” according to a network statement. The advocacy comes ahead of internet censorship bills by Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault, including a proposal to block websites and appoint a chief censor called the Digital Safety Commissioner: “We think industry-wide data will help us to advocate.”
Opposition MPs and reporters are merciless in exposing scandal and should be avoided at all cost, says Michael Wernick, former $326,000-a year chief clerk of the federal public service. Wernick in a book published Saturday also described officials such as the Ethics Commissioner as status-seekers who like to appear busy with pointless investigations: “Someone on the other side is there ready to climb over the boards and punch you in the face.”
Cabinet members avoided public comment on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Tofino, B.C. beach holiday on National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. A British Columbia newspaper published a photo of Trudeau with a glass of beer on the patio of a beachfront vacation home: “I can’t speak to other people’s scheduling.”
A third of Ontarians and 14 percent of Albertans are environmental skeptics who resent paying higher prices in the name of ecology, says an in-house study by the Department of Environment. “This group skews male and younger, under 44,” wrote researchers: “Cost is by far the most common barrier.”
Compulsory vaccination of the largest workforce in the country will be “a complicated program to roll out,” said Dr. Theresa Tam, chief public health officer. Cabinet has said it will require all 300,540 federal employees to be vaccinated by month’s end: “Should people show proof upon entry to different buildings?”
