Government-paid publishers are petitioning MPs to maintain annual payroll rebates worth up to $29,750 per newsroom employee. The rebates, initially promised to be temporary, are set to roll back to $13,750 by year’s end: ‘Reward those who maintain newsroom employment.’
Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday proposed a trillion-dollar expansion of the power grid but would not say who would pay for it. Analysts have warned of substantially higher costs for ratepayers: “Get it wrong and Canadians will pay higher utility bills.”
Hundreds of Muslims in Canada have faced workplace discipline over their political views, says a Department of Justice report. The figure was attributed to an advocacy group: “Individuals have experienced job loss.”
Foreign Minister Anita Anand’s department in private talks with Chinese authorities said it regretted the “mass grave at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School,” Access To Information records disclosed yesterday. “Canada strongly urges China not to repeat Canada’s past mistakes,” said one memo.
A former Canadian Human Rights Commission appointee has fallen short in his bid to raise $200,000 through crowdfunding to finance multiple defamation suits. Records showed Birju Dattani struggled to raise less than a quarter of the amount $50 and $100 at a time, including one donation under the name of a retired MP: “These are tough times.”
CBC managers will not tell the Budget Office how they plan to spend an extra $150 million added to their 2026 budget, records show. The additional funding raises the Crown broadcaster’s annual parliamentary grant to a record $1.6 billion this year: “Abuse of taxpayer dollars when Canadians are struggling for financial survival has contributed to the ‘defund the CBC’ movement.”
Vaping by young adults threatens to undermine a longstanding federal campaign to cut smoking rates to five percent of the population by 2035, says a Department of Health report. Researchers noted legalization of marijuana also had consequences: “Cannabis consumption begins as early as 13 or 14.”
Record-high natural gas stocks of more than a trillion cubic feet helped overcome the cold winter, federal regulators said yesterday. Homeowners and industry “relied heavily” on fuel in storage, said the Canada Energy Regulator: “To meet demand, central and eastern Canada relied heavily on withdrawing gas from storage.”
Canadians with drug convictions are not barred from becoming federally licensed marijuana dealers, says the Department of Health. Regulators would not say how many of the nation’s commercially licensed growers, processors and retailers have criminal records: ‘The framework does not automatically disqualify individuals with past cannabis or drug-related convictions.’
Federal managers sought to copy a Liberal Party website in promoting a housing program, Access To Information records show. Opposition MPs have complained numerous federal departments are in breach of a directive stating taxpayer-funded advertising must be free of partisan references: “It is clear the shape of the house comes directly from the Liberal video ‘Building Canada Strong.'”
Canada Post yesterday said $673 million in credits voted by cabinet March 30 represented a rollover of lapsed loan funding for a total $2.04 billion to date, not $2.72 billion as reported. The correction came as the Budget Office questioned the scope of service cuts including rural post office closures: ‘We continue to build a modern postal service that meets evolving needs without burdening taxpayers.’
Retired Supreme Court of Canada judge Jack Major, 95, yesterday said the country had entered an era of “judicial supremacy and court overreach.” Major’s comment came in the forward to an essay critical of the current Supreme Court by the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, an Ottawa think tank: “The trend of court overreach is regrettable.”
The National Research Council yesterday placed a five-year order for lab rabbits. It followed a long-running campaign by advocates including Laureen Harper and the Humane Society to curb animal testing in labs: “All animals must be delivered in good health.”
Federal managers have created yet more loopholes to avoid complying with cabinet’s “Buy Canadian” policy, Access To Information records show. The Department of Agriculture in an internal memo said it would only comply if it did not cost extra time or money and was “in the public interest.”
Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne yesterday disclosed another Canada Post bailout, the third in 16 months to a total $2.72 billion. Terms of the latest line of credit were concealed though previous financing was interest-free without any repayment deadline: ‘Revenues will not be sufficient pay all its operating and income charges.’
