The cost of an $8 million solar-powered warehouse at Rideau Hall was buried in a Crown corporation’s budget and never scrutinized by the Department of Public Works, MPs were told yesterday. Members of the public accounts committee expressed astonishment: “Who else is looking at these budgets?”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau yesterday rejected a carbon tax break for homeowners heating with natural gas. “There will absolutely not be any other carve-outs or suspension of the price on pollution,” Trudeau told reporters.
Federal agents are unable to track and deport all foreign fugitives, the Canada Border Services Agency said yesterday. The admission followed new data indicating 29,248 foreigners banned from Canada remain here: “I think targets of 100 percent are rarely achievable.”
Canadians support a universal free school lunch program without income testing, Social Development Minister Jenna Sudds’ department said in a report yesterday. No cost estimate was disclosed: “Universality reduces stigma.”
The Commons heritage committee yesterday by a 6 to 4 vote rejected extended hearings to question CBC chief executive Catherine Tait over the network’s Middle East coverage. “The CBC has not told the truth,” said Conservative MP Rachael Thomas (Lethbridge, Alta.): “I have very important questions for Ms. Tait.”
The Privy Council polled Muslims on the “lack of equity for their religion” in Canada, new records show. The research was conducted following the Prime Minister’s appointment of an advisor on Islamophobia: “Several described what they viewed as limited accommodation for rituals such as daily prayer.”
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe yesterday served notice of a carbon tax strike after cabinet lifted the fuel charge on Atlantic constituents. “How is that fair?” asked Moe: “As Premier it is my job to ensure Saskatchewan residents are treated fairly and equally with our fellow Canadians in other parts of the country.”
Public debt charges jumped 42 percent last year due to continued federal overspending and higher interest rates, records show. Costs of carrying the federal debt will rise an additional 26 percent this year: “Many economists have told us we could be laying the groundwork for a recession.”
Federal regulators should undertake a national count of vacant homes, New Democrat MP Bonita Zarrillo (Port Moody-Coquitlam, B.C.) yesterday told the Commons human resources committee. Zarrillo questioned whether unoccupied properties could be used by the homeless: ‘Is there any discussion about the federal government buying some of these empty condominiums?’
Police using a national DNA database last year identified more than 5,000 criminal suspects, records show. Police have endorsed a Senate bill to expand DNA sampling to Canadians convicted of non-violent offences like fraud or drunk driving: “The main goals are simple.”
Senators are complaining of poor service from one of the country’s largest insurers. One Senator said his wife spent more than an hour and a half on the phone trying to explain a routine medical expense claim to Canada Life Assurance Co.: “I don’t know who the idiot was who decided this was a good program.”
Federal authorities Saturday would not comment on revocation of the Order of Canada for Buffy Sainte-Marie as a fake Canadian. Full members must be Canadian citizens under a 1967 cabinet order: “The Office of the Secretary to the Governor General does not comment on the possibility of honour terminations.”
A judicial inquiry into use of emergency powers against the Freedom Convoy cost $17.5 million, new records show. The Privy Council to date has refused to disclose how much went to lawyers: “Applicants who requested funding provided varying degrees of detail.”
CMHC admits it must “do better” after building 12 homes in eight years under a federal program to convert surplus Crown lands into affordable housing. “That does take some time,” an executive told the Senate banking committee: “We want to do better for sure.”
Cabinet should launch a job matching service for discharged soldiers, sailors and air crew, says the Commons veterans affairs committee. MPs complained even the Department of Veterans Affairs doesn’t hire veterans: “These are men and women who have served our country with distinction.”
