A proposed ban on replacement workers in the federal private sector will give small union locals disproportionate control over the Canadian economy, employers yesterday told MPs. Business and farm groups asked the Commons human resources committee to repeal or rewrite Bill C-58: “This is a bad idea.”
The Commons’ standing ovation for a Nazi collaborator was horrifying, the Canadian Polish Congress yesterday told the House affairs committee. MPs continue to investigate the September 22 incident that saw VIP treatment for a member of the Waffen SS, a criminal organization: “There is no ambiguity.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau yesterday testified it “wasn’t appropriate” to expel MP Han Dong (Don Valley North, Ont.) from the Liberal caucus though he was under security surveillance. Trudeau said he assumed it was up to Elections Canada to determine whether Dong had contacts with foreign agents: “Did you ask for further investigation?”
Cabinet aides in a secret 2017 memo told Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to avoid public criticism of China despite evidence Communist Party agents were committing crimes in Canada. Cabinet was attempting to negotiate a Chinese free trade pact at the time: “This could be deemed illegal by Canadian courts.”
Federal election monitors were supposed to keep a lookout for Russian agents not Chinese, Government House Leader Karina Gould said yesterday. No Russian agents were ever found while cabinet received numerous warnings of illegal activities by the Communist Party of China: “The primary focus was really on Russia.”
The China inquiry tomorrow meets in special session over a censored, top secret memo proving the Prime Minister’s Office was warned of illegal activities by Chinese agents. Federal lawyers did not disclose the document until late last Sunday evening after crucial witnesses had already testified: “The question would be, why?”
The National Research Council paid out more than $85 million in subsidies to pharmaceutical companies from the start of the pandemic, records show. Staff at the time complained of overwork in processing payments: “How much federal funding has been provided?”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office in 2019 was told MP Han Dong (Don Valley North, Ont.) was under security surveillance but kept him in the Liberal caucus, records show. Trudeau’s chief of staff in 2023 had denied the subject was ever raised: “I am not quite sure what is being referred to.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office in 2023 was given explicit warning of illegal conduct by Chinese agents that posed an “existential threat to Canadian democracy,” the China inquiry disclosed yesterday. Trudeau had denied he was ever told foreign agents breached the Elections Act: “It truly is a remarkable document.”
Cabinet had to follow “due process” before firing suspected Chinese spies working at the National Microbiology Laboratory, says Health Minister Mark Holland. Scientists with links to the People’s Liberation Army came under surveillance in August 2018 but remained on the job until July 2019: “Do you think they were eminent scientists or eminent spies?”
The Canadian Armed Forces are more than a quarter below “target strength” with resignations and poor enlistment rates, says a Department of National Defence briefing note. New recruits average just 7,600 a year: “We’ve actually seen greater attrition.”
The Canada Border Services Agency says it has no idea how many stolen vehicles have been shipped through the Port of Montréal by black marketeers. The Agency in a report acknowledged it intercepted few over a five-year period: “The Agency cannot provide an estimate.”
Costly new Covid ventilators sold for scrap by the Department of Public Works were still in their original factory wrapping, says a paramedic who bought 51 units at bargain prices. Dissembled units that sold for $6 apiece cost taxpayers more than $22,000 each, according to figures earlier submitted to the Commons ethics committee: “They are still sitting in my driveway.”
Large cash contributions by Chinese agents to friendly public office holders breached the Elections Act, says an internal 2022 federal memo. Repeated warnings of at least $250,000 in illegal political donations were known to cabinet-appointed election monitors but never made public, the China inquiry learned yesterday: “We were not a court.”
Federal 2021 election monitors knew Chinese agents sought to re-elect the Liberal Party, document show. Witnesses at the China inquiry have questioned why monitors failed to issue any public warnings of foreign interference: “A Liberal minority was the preferred election outcome of the People’s Republic of China as the Liberal Party was perceived to be ‘friendlier.'”
