Spending at Rideau Hall increased 11 percent last year, according to Financial Statements from the Secretary to Governor General Mary Simon. Cost of the vice-regal office is now approaching $40 million annually: “Irresponsible spending by the Office of the Governor General has caused outrage.”
Christmas is discriminatory, says a Canadian Human Rights Commission report. Observance of Jesus’ birth is “an obvious example” of religious bias rooted in colonialism, wrote the Commission: “No one is free until we are all free.”
The Department of Finance has failed a major security audit. An internal report said the department that guarded confidential data from parliamentarians and the public was slack in watching its own staff: “The employee may divulge secret information in exchange for money.”
Newly-declassified records show Prime Minister Brian Mulroney was wary of Conservative MPs’ “small town values” in amending 1980s-era obscenity laws. “Intercourse was alleged to happen all the time even in the government caucus,” said confidential minutes of one cabinet meeting: “Perhaps the idea of ‘current community standards’ should be revisited.”
Cabinet should promote plastic recycling instead of banning products, says Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre. The remarks followed a federal judge’s decision to strike the 2021 federal blacklisting of all plastic products from building materials to children’s toys as toxic: “None of this is backed up by any science or evidence.”
Electric vehicle subsidies to date will cost taxpayers up to $50 billion and counting including debt financing charges, says a Budget Office report. The figure is triple the value of annual production of the entire Canadian auto sector: “As soon as we publish a report that sets the record straight there are accusations we have not understood the problem or have a bone to pick.”
Canada’s leading proponent of a home equity tax faced an empty Parliament Hill pressroom Friday. No reporters, MPs, senators or political aides attended remarks by Professor Paul Kershaw of the University of British Columbia, a CMHC consultant: “That’s fine.”
Ontario replaces Exit signs in
malls, public places,
for the benefit of newcomers
who can’t read
English.
The new design
shows a little green man
running.
By certain conventions,
this could mean
“Aliens go this way”,
which some newcomers
might consider
offensive.
But that’s the least of their concerns.
As they rush to safety,
they’ll stop in front of a closed door
with a sign that says:
EMERGENCY EXIT ONLY.
SECURITY ALARM WILL SOUND
IF DOOR IS OPENED.
By Shai Ben-Shalom
Cabinet will almost certainly appeal a Federal Court ruling on plastics regulations, Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said last evening. The Court upheld a manufacturers’ complaint that blacklisting all plastic manufactured items as toxic was “unreasonable.”
Federal spending on consultants is up 16 percent this year to a record high despite cabinet’s promise to curb the practice, the Parliamentary Budget Office said yesterday. Federal managers earlier paid almost $670,000 to consultants for advice on how to save money on consultants: “Spending on professional services continues to increase.”
The Canada Border Services Agency yesterday acknowledged it recovered a small fraction of stolen vehicles believed to be exported through the Port of Montréal. New figures followed the launch of an investigation by the Commons public safety committee: “Everyone here knows someone whose car was stolen.”
The Canada Revenue Agency yesterday in a tax notice said employers offering private dental insurance must report the fact on their 2023 tax slips. The measure is intended to track companies that drop coverage: “We’re not going to insure our employees anymore for dental care because now it’s being covered by the government.”
Taxpayer grants for children’s postsecondary education do not go to families that need it most, says a federal report. Families that claimed the maximum $500 a year subsidy were typically able to save without assistance, wrote auditors: “Almost all parents care about postsecondary education but many for various reasons have not saved for it.”
Liberal MP Judy Sgro (Humber River-Black Creek, Ont.) yesterday distributed a Commons motion asking that cabinet “work together with Ukrainian fact-checkers” to monitor internet content. It follows a 2019 proposal by the Ukrainian-Canadian Congress to ban “false attacks” on politicians: “Work together with Ukrainian fact-checkers and disinformation specialists on ways of damage control.”
The Parliamentary Budget Office is checking Alberta’s claim to most of the Canada Pension Plan. A report earlier released by Premier Danielle Smith claimed Alberta was entitled to 53 percent of funds worth a third of a trillion: “I am requesting a custom tabulation that includes historical contributions.”
