Cabinet must ensure quotas go “way, way, way down” in its updated Immigration Levels Plan due by month’s end, Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner (Calgary Nose Hill) said yesterday. The call was prompted by the Prime Minister’s remarks to New York journalists that “some controlled increase in the population” was a matter of timing.
Cabinet is quietly concealing more records than ever, Information Commissioner Caroline Maynard has written the Senate. The warning followed a single clause in an omnibus budget bill, C-31: “My office was not consulted.”
Lumber and steel lobbyists yesterday cautioned senators there is no global substitute for the American market. Canadian automakers have similarly warned production will disappear if the tariff war continues: “Are you saying this is not going to compensate for what we are losing?”
NHLer Alexander Ovechkin would be prohibited from playing in Canada as a Putin sympathizer under a Commons petition introduced yesterday. The petition was sponsored without comment by Liberal MP Yvan Baker (Etobicoke Centre, Ont.), chair of the Canada-Ukraine Friendship Group: “Individuals sanctioned by Canada may be rendered inadmissible to Canada.”
High rates of foreign hiring at select Tim Hortons restaurants are not typical of all franchisees nationwide, corporate managers said yesterday. The operator of an Eastern Ontario chain of six restaurants wrote in a bankruptcy court filing that migrant workers accounted for up to 83 percent of staff at some outlets: “Figures at these restaurants in question do not reflect the hiring reality.”
The nation’s largest newspaper chain yesterday said it will end century-old print runs for six Northern Ontario dailies including the legendary North Bay Nugget, and close a regional weekly. The cutbacks at Postmedia Network Inc. follow millions in federal aid: “Decisions that impact our people are difficult.”
Then-Prime Minister Jean Chretien in 1995 opposed a federal tax on financial trades and transactions as a non-starter “despite its possible merits,” newly-declassified records show. Legislators as recently as 2025 have advocated for a so-called Tobin Tax on a promise of billions in revenue: “Despite its possible merits, its implementation would require unanimity.”
It’s up to federal departments to decide what text messages they conceal from the public, says the Treasury Board. Electronic records may be destroyed “as appropriate” under a policy drafted 26 years ago: “Isn’t there a risk to destroying text messages? Yes.”
The Senate human rights committee yesterday spent 1 hour and 27 minutes debating a single executive job cut, eliminating the position of Deputy Chief Human Rights Commissioner left vacant since 2022. The committee was told nobody could remember what the last appointee actually did: “There is nothing spelled out in particular for the Deputy Chief Commissioner to do.”
New federal proposals to curb lawful strikes followed a direct appeal by shippers, according to Access To Information records detailed yesterday by journalist Peter Nowak. The labour department “acknowledged the group had been lobbying” to designate port and rail workers as essential employees forbidden from striking: “Strikes were costing Canada billions.”
Hiring practices by select Tim Hortons franchisees saw foreign workers account for 60 to 80 percent of payroll at some restaurants. Figures were disclosed in bankruptcy court filings by one operator who blamed “changes to Temporary Foreign Worker programs” for insolvency: “Recruiting employees is challenging.”
The RCMP are defending their $934 million-a year Alberta policing contracts, saying one of their constables costs less than a municipal police officer. A costing report followed a provincial vote to make Alberta the third province to manage their own police: “Providing clarity on these factors is not about influencing the decisions of municipalities or the provinces.”
Misconduct at the Canada Border Services Agency has cost taxpayers millions in legal fees and out-of-court settlements with complainants, new records show. The Agency admitted to 91 settlements since 2020: “There are hundreds of young women currently working as officers at the Agency who are afraid to say something.”
Cabinet’s bill to regulate legal internet content will attempt to determine “what constitutes legitimate and illegitimate discussion,” says Heritage Minister Marc Miller. The bill was introduced June 10 but has yet to be called up for Second Reading debate in the Commons: “What about Reddit?”
Union leaders have expressed support for legislation limiting their right to strike, claims Labour Minister Patty Hajdu. She did not identify any by name: “I don’t think all labour is upset. I’ve spoken with labour unions that are not upset.”
