The Commons yesterday by a 295 to 22 vote rejected a New Democrat bill to impose new restrictions on military trading with the United States. However 15 Liberal MPs defied cabinet in voting for the measure described by Foreign Minister Anita Anand as “irresponsible.”
The Department of Foreign Affairs has hired another Washington consultant for tips on how to “communicate information” to Americans, records disclosed yesterday. The department has 16 offices and 486 employees in the United States but was unsure how Americans “consume information online,” according to a contractor’s notice.
Two-term New Democrat MP Lori Idlout (Nunavut) yesterday defected to the government caucus five days after appearing as guest speaker at a Party rally for leadership candidate Avi Lewis. “Our love is an infinite thing,” one New Democrat said in describing the event.
The president of the nation’s leading LGBTQ rights group yesterday abruptly resigned on complaints the community has failed to confront anti-Semitism. Federal agencies would not say whether funding for Egale Canada would be reconsidered: “The minister now has an option to immediately terminate a contract.”
Cabinet yesterday formally repealed its 100 percent tariff on Chinese battery electric cars as promised by Prime Minister Mark Carney. The industry department claimed Chinese manufacturers would “create new auto manufacturing jobs” in Canada but provided no details: “These are the most affordable and energy efficient and innovative vehicles in the world.”
Cabinet is trying to “put the house in order” on borrowing, Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne said yesterday. Champagne did not explain past misses on deficit targets: “We are a nation that does big things.”
The Commons government operations committee yesterday in a rebuke to cabinet voted 5 to 4 to recommend reinstatement of ex-Budget Officer Jason Jacques a week after his dismissal. Liberal MPs opposed the motion: “You know something is going to break.”
Canadians are owed “solid proof” of unmarked graves at Indian Residential Schools, Alberta Senator Scott Tannas said yesterday. “How do we address deniers when we don’t have any kind of solid proof?” Tannas asked the Senate committee on Indigenous peoples: “How do you see this ending?”
The CBC yesterday would not release an internal guide detailing which public figures are banned from interviews by the news department. Travis Dhanraj, a former CBC-TV host, told the Commons heritage committee he had seen the guide and a companion blacklist of 45 names: “Do not go near these people.”
A Commons committee yesterday proposed sweeping changes to Employment Insurance. Temporary benefits for the jobless should offer “equitable income replacement that respects the dignity of workers,” it said.
Defence Minister David McGuinty included costs of tree-planting in attempting to meet a minimum 2 percent NATO target on military spending, Access To Information records show. The defence department still fell billions short: ‘It’s for the ongoing planting of approximately 14,450 trees at strategic locations.’
The Department of Transport promises its $90 billion regional high speed rail venture Alto will never go over budget. The department in a report to senators said “challenges are expected,” but did not elaborate: “How will Transport Canada make sure?”
Immigration Minister Lena Diab’s office yesterday declined comment over its refusal to speak to independent media. Only newsrooms that meet criteria for government approval will be granted questions, according to a Department of Immigration notice: “The department must be satisfied.”
Trade with the United States is compromising Canada’s “moral compass,” a Commons committee chair said yesterday. Liberal MP Salma Zahid (Scarborough Centre-Don Valley East, Ont.) said internal American immigration enforcement raised “serious human rights questions.”
Order of Canada recipients are too old, male and English-speaking, says a Privy Council memo. Cabinet aides in an Access To Information memo said work was underway to “modernize” civil honours: “Nominators are mostly older, male and English speaking and are extremely likely to nominate older male candidates.”
