The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board holds millions’ worth of stock in Chinese propaganda film studios even after the Commons censured China for genocide, accounts show. The Board five years ago had claimed to make human rights a “focus area of concern” when investing Canadians’ money: “This is our great homeland.”
A federally-subsidized history society in a published commentary says British Columbia should be renamed to purge its colonial past. “It’s not British; it never was,” Canada’s National History Society wrote in the August issue of its taxpayer-funded periodical: “These names direct us to a history of bloodshed and violence.”
Candidates in an expected Covid election must campaign with masks on, Canada’s chief public health officer said yesterday. Dr. Theresa Tam said even candidates who are fully vaccinated should be masked in the company of strangers: “Is it safe to do this right now?”
Liberal MP Will Amos (Pontiac, Que.) says he consulted a psychotherapist after being censured by the Commons June 7 for misconduct. “The assessments from my health team suggest I don’t have any mental health disorder,” Amos told local Québec reporters in a videoconference from his constituency office: “My new wellness plan specifically addresses stress.”
Most Canadians looking at federal rebates to buy an electric car have six-figure incomes and university degrees, says in-house research by the Privy Council Office. The Commons environment committee in a report on the plug-in auto market acknowledged zero emission vehicles remain out of reach for many: “Tesla has received the most subsidies from this program.”
Federal agencies pumped millions worth of subsidies into a failing Covid contractor even as the company was headed for bankruptcy court, accounts show. Spartan Bioscience Inc. of Ottawa received the aid after “good meetings” with aides in the Prime Minister’s Office: “We are in good shape.”
Few Canadians, only four percent, are aware Canada is still sending foreign aid to China, according to a Department of Foreign Affairs survey. Millions in aid last year included money for local Chinese projects on “empowerment” and “environmental justice.”
Kristina Namiesniowski, the former Public Health Agency president abruptly reassigned following the outbreak of the pandemic, has been formally reprimanded for late ethics filings. Cabinet transferred Namiesniowski to another $273,700-a year post as associate deputy minister in the Department of Employment: “I need a break.”
Labour Minister Filomena Tassi yesterday set the clock on enforcement of pay equity for federally-regulated private sector employers. Companies have until August 31, 2024 to draft equity plans, and up to five additional years to adjust wages for women: “I would love to have seen this corrected overnight.”
Too many professional people filing for bankruptcy consider ordinary labour “beneath them,” says a Nova Scotia adjudicator. The Court quoted Ayn Rand: “There is no such thing as a lousy job, only lousy men who don’t care to do it.”
One in six Canadians do not trust government news, says in-house research by the Privy Council Office. Skeptics numbered one in three in Alberta. The survey preceded a Department of Heritage directive to enforce federal standards on news reporting: “To what extent do you trust Government of Canada information?”
Library and Archives Canada yesterday defended erasing a longstanding web resource on John A. Macdonald as “outdated.” The First Among Equals feature originally unveiled by five prime ministers had praised the Father of Confederation as a good-humoured visionary who forged a nation: ‘It no longer reflects current understanding of history.’
Cabinet should be more willing to detail national security worries with everyday Canadians to “avoid rampant speculation,” says a Department of Public Safety report. The research coincided with cabinet’s refusal to disclose reasons why Chinese scientists were fired at a federal lab: “Most participants believe the government is not fully transparent about national security issues.”
Newly-appointed Governor General Mary Simon yesterday said she and the Prime Minister “have not talked about the election” expected after Labour Day. A cabinet bill setting out new rules for pandemic voting was introduced in the Commons but never passed: “I have not talked about the election at all.”
Provincial travel bans at the height of the pandemic were lawful, a judge has ruled. The decision by the Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court is the second to dismiss constitutional claims of mobility rights in a health emergency: “Does it matter that the person owns a home in each place?”
