In her cave,
Ula the Neanderthal
tries to calm her baby.
“Gases. Again. Tried everything!”
She looks at her man.
Oug sits by the entrance,
gazing at the billion stars.
He appears to be thinking.
“One day,” he says,
“they will find a solution.
It may take many sunrises,
but they will solve this problem.”
“And the common cold too”, says Ula,
sneezing.
By Shai Ben-Shalom
The Commons government operations committee yesterday ordered disclosure of 12 years’ worth of federal contracts involving selected suppliers. It followed testimony from a Québec subcontractor who said he could prove sweetheart dealing involving “bad apples” in senior ranks of the federal public service and favoured suppliers: “I think personal benefit is something that could be the cause of this.”
Former Opposition Leader Erin O’Toole yesterday asked MPs to find whoever hid evidence of Chinese interference against Conservatives in the 2021 campaign. O’Toole said his staff warned election monitors of suspicious activity including voter intimidation and saw no action taken: “Who made the decision to say there was no significant cause for concern in the 2021 election?”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau yesterday removed the carbon tax on home heating oil in Atlantic Canada until after the next election. Atlantic voters last elected 24 Liberal MPs: “This is an important moment where we are adjusting policies so they have the right outcome.”
The Commons human resources committee yesterday rejected a $54 million-a year tax on real estate investment trusts. Critics including cabinet’s Housing Advocate blamed current tax breaks for “financialization of housing.”
A windfall profit tax on oil and gas companies would raise $4.2 billion, the Budget Office said yesterday. Green MP Mike Morrice (Kitchener Centre), who requested the figures, said Parliament must impose heavier taxes on energy firms: “We are not going to ask.”
Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault yesterday promised federal regulators will not step into provincial jurisdiction on impact assessments. The comments followed two court challenges by Ontario against interference in local projects: “What is going to happen to projects that aren’t just in federal jurisdiction?”
The economy will be worse in 2024 than expected, Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem said yesterday. Macklem six weeks ago predicted there would be no recession but said now it cannot be ruled out: “We expected a slowing. We’re seeing a little more slowing. It’s hard to be super precise why it slowed a little more.”
The Commons yesterday by a 208 to 115 vote passed a private Liberal bill to ban junk food advertising to children. Advertisers said the ban would cost a billion a year: “Those revenues, nearly $1 billion, would be lost by Canadian media operations.”
The Covid recession caused more business closures than the 2008 financial panic, Statistics Canada said yesterday. Data confirmed the phenomenon of “zombie businesses” whose owners never filed for bankruptcy but simply walked away: “Formal insolvencies are not the whole story.”
The Commons yesterday by a 205 to 114 vote rejected a private Conservative bill prohibiting any revival of federal Covid-19 vaccine mandates. The last mandates expired October 1, 2022: “The Prime Minister had the temerity to go on television about three months ago and claim he never forced anyone to get vaccinated.”
Chinese-Canadian dissidents yesterday named domestic media and community groups they considered friends of the Communist Party. Awareness of Party propaganda “is relatively lacking on the part of the Canadian public,” said the Falun Dafa Association: ‘Newspapers have been regurgitating propaganda.’
Federal Housing Advocate Marie-Josée Houle in a report to Parliament suggested MPs consider decriminalizing drug trafficking in tent cities. The proposal was among “potential solutions shared with the Advocate during her engagement so far.”
Housing Minister Sean Fraser yesterday would not comment on complaints against a Toronto landlord he singled out for praise as an affordable housing provider. The landlord faces allegations of rent gouging in a tenants’ strike: ‘Rent increases were excessive and unwarranted.’
Cabinet yesterday rejected a petition signed by almost a tenth of MPs demanding a ceasefire in Israel. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suggested a brief “humanitarian pause” instead. The 33 petitioners included nine Liberal committee chairs and parliamentary secretaries: “Every country has the right to defend itself.”
