Elections Canada yesterday insisted it sent a mail-in ballot kit to every eligible elector who asked for one. However Blacklock’s documented cases in which voters correctly applied for a ballot and never received it: “We have no way of knowing that.”
SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. yesterday became the first corporation in Canada to be offered an out-of-court settlement under a provision cabinet wrote into the Criminal Code in 2018. Critics had denounced so-called “deferred prosecution agreements” as a get-out-of-jail card: “Ordinary Canadians would not have access to this type of plea bargain.”
Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino’s department employs bigoted managers who made derogatory remarks about “lazy” Indigenous people, “dirty” Africans and Mexicans who emigrate to collect welfare, according to an internal report. The document is dated June 23 but only released yesterday: “If the natives wanted their land they should have just stood up.”
Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault’s web regulations would “make Canada’s internet one of the most censored and surveilled in the democratic world,” an advocacy group said yesterday. Open Media of Vancouver launched a petition drive to counter any reintroduction of two cabinet bills that lapsed in the last Parliament: “Our newly-elected government is cynically taking advantage of our political fatigue.”
Canadian taxpayers would directly subsidize millions in transit fares for money-losing city operators under a “potential federal option” proposed by cabinet, according to internal documents. Aides in the Prime Minister’s Office said the confidential proposal would redirect climate change grants to cover revenue drops due to falling ridership: “There is no mechanism in place for us to do this right now.”
A judicial recount is expected in the tightest election in Canada. Liberal MP Terry Sheehan narrowly won a third term in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. by 61 votes.
A federal judge has sealed evidence in the case of a former RCMP executive accused of breaching the Security Of Information Act. Media publication of documents could taint any jury, said Justice John Norris of the Federal Court: “The right to a fair trial is guaranteed by the Charter.”
Political aides in the Prime Minister’s Office offered a sole-sourced pandemic contract to a U.S. vendor by text, according to records. The message went to a Liberal Party contact at Tesla Motors Canada: “We will pay of course.”
The Prime Minister’s Office from the earliest days of the pandemic knew of a “massive shortage” of masks that would have to be rationed, according to an internal document. The Public Health Agency at the time publicly stated Canadians had no need for masks: “Everybody wants it, we won’t have enough to go around.”
Elections Canada last night calculated turnout in Monday’s general election was only the second-worst since Confederation. An estimated 58.9 percent of electors cast ballots compared to the record low 58.8 percent in 2008: “We will have to consider this.”
The 44th Parliament must raise taxes on corporations and wealthy individuals to pay pandemic debts, New Democrat leader Jagmeet Singh yesterday told reporters. Both the NDP and Liberal Party proposed billions in new taxes in their election platforms: “People are worried about who’s going to pay the price for the pandemic.”
Toronto again led the nation in voting Liberal. Updated ballot counts gave the Party a clean sweep of 25 Toronto ridings, enough to form a minority government: “People started to love Toronto a little bit better up in Ottawa and this is the love being returned.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last night won a third term with casualties including the loss of five Liberal cabinet ministers, parliamentary secretaries and committee chairs. Preliminary figures made Trudeau the first federal leader in Canadian history to win election with less than a third of the popular vote on low turnout, the lowest ever in a general election.
Three defeated cabinet ministers missed by mere days the deadline to qualify for a parliamentary pension that averages more than $71,000 a year. The former MPs required a minimum six years’ service to qualify: “It is calculated from the date of election.”
The CBC has expressed regrets over a garbled online story that depicted re-elected Conservative MP Rachael Harder (Lethbridge, Alta.) as “callous and ignorant.” Records detailed snide questions from a CBC Calgary reporter who falsely accused the MP of spreading misinformation about Covid: “I agree we have failed.”
