The Québec Court of Appeal has thrown out a constitutional challenge of a royal succession bill. Law professors from the University of Laval argued Parliament could not endorse new rules on the monarchy without Québec’s approval: “It relates to who should be the head of state of Canada.”
A million Canadians now hold more than one job and typically work at least fifty hours a week, Statistics Canada said yesterday. The rate has more than doubled since 1978: ‘There are multiple reasons such as financial necessity.’
Parliament is expected to pass a first-ever federal tax on foreign real estate speculators after the British Columbia Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of a similar B.C. levy. Liberals and New Democrats both campaigned on taxing offshore buyers: ‘It’s to limit speculation that can drive up prices.’
Nearly $800,000 in public funding for a French-language radio station in north-central Alberta was intended to be a job creation measure, say Access To Information records from the Department of Industry. The Edmonton station directory names five employees: ‘It is uniquely positioned.’
A New Brunswick MLA paid $120,000 in legal fees to keep his $85,000-a year seat in the legislature. Court of Queen’s Bench declined to award costs in an election dispute that saw the MLA elected by one vote amid numerous irregularities: “The dispute was complicated.”
Labour groups spent a million dollars less this election than in 2015, according to Elections Canada filings. “You can continue to count on our government,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau earlier told Unifor members.
RCMP will not comment on their public account of a fatal Alberta shooting contradicted by an internal memo. Mounties published a misleading statement alleging a “confrontation” with a motorist who was in fact sleeping before he was abruptly woken and shot by police: “What response do you expect if you wake someone up in the middle of the night with guns drawn, banging on the window?”
Private “cost effective” managers hired to run a federal grant program brought in first-year spending sixty percent under budget, according to Access To Information records. The Department of Public Safety hired private accountants to manage the Memorial Grant Program to avoid any hint of favouritism in payments: ‘It requires highly specialized expertise we do not have.’
A Manitoba judge has awarded $109,804 in damages to a female university student targeted by campus gossip. Court of Queen’s Bench was told the remarks were especially hurtful to women of Muslim faith: “Such insinuations could travel.”
A third of suspects shot dead by the RCMP over a ten-year period were Indigenous men, according to an internal Department of Public Safety memo. Mounties acknowledged the number “may appear disproportionately high” but denied racial profiling: “All persons are treated equitably.”
Federal employees write too many English emails, says Official Languages Commissioner Raymond Théberge. The Commissioner in an Access To Information letter faulted public service managers for ignoring his repeated complaints on the subject: “They cannot be accepted.”
Three Green MPs will never support a Liberal motion of confidence in the minority Parliament without tougher climate change targets, Party leader Elizabeth May said yesterday. May proposed lowering greenhouse gas emissions to levels not seen since the 1982 recession: “It’s past time for Liberals to stop pandering.”
Tax Court has dismissed appeals by taxpayers stung in an audit of an Ontario charity suspected of running a receipt mill. Thousands of participants donated software and CDs to a children’s charity for inflated receipts: “They were to a certain extent willfully blind.”
Newly-released figures indicate only one in six voters watched the election campaign’s lone national English-language television debate. More CTV viewers tuned in to an episode of The Good Doctor, data show: “We will have to work very hard to make people care.”
A new cabinet will take office November 20 and won’t include any opposition members, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau yesterday told reporters. “It is not in our plans at all to form any kind of formal coalition,” he said. Trudeau added the first legislation in the 43rd Parliament will be a budget bill to amend the Income Tax Act: “Next decisions will be made in the coming days.”
