The Commons public accounts committee last night ordered the Department of Public Works to surrender secret Covid vaccine contracts for scrutiny. Pfizer executives threatened Canada could lose its “reputation” and foreign investment if MPs insisted on reading contracts that cost taxpayers $5 billion: “It makes me wonder, what is so damaging?”
Now-Independent MP Han Dong (Don Valley North, Ont.) yesterday joined 171 opposition Members in demanding a public inquiry into alleged Chinese Communist interference in elections. Refusal by the Prime Minister to comply with the Commons vote would risk a finding of contempt of Parliament: “The evidence is mounting.”
Governor General Mary Simon had an RCAF flight crew log nearly 3,000 kilometres so she could attend a six-minute ceremony, records show. Simon earlier said it was “up to all of us to act responsibly” to fight climate change: “How we do things is just as important as what we do.”
The Department of Immigration billed taxpayers $137 a day for room and board to shelter illegal immigrants at Niagara Falls hotels, records show. Refugee claimants bused in from Québec stayed months at a time with no obvious processing of their claims: “We just had people show up on our doorstep.”
Revenue Minister Diane Lebouthillier will not disclose how many employees were fired for defrauding a pandemic relief program. MPs have repeatedly sought the number from the Canada Revenue Agency: “The Agency has terminated the employment of a number of employees.”
The Commons today is expected to order a full public inquiry into suspected Chinese interference in Parliament. Debate last night grew heated as members shared a Global News report on surreptitious contact between now-Independent MP Han Dong (Don Valley North, Ont.) and Chinese diplomats. “It is important that all Members of Parliament vote on this.”
MP Han Dong (Don Valley North, Ont.) last night abruptly quit the Liberal caucus following a Global News report he admitted to personal contact with China’s Consul in Toronto. Dong the day before denied any impropriety or secret contacts with Chinese Communist agents: “The truth will protect us.”
A pandemic business loan program paid more than $2 billion to borrowers who never qualified for subsidies in the first place, new data show. Figures excluded borrowers rejected at the outset on suspicion of fraud: “How much?”
Governor General Mary Simon billed more than $800,000 for a four-day junket to a German book fair including the cost of two photographers, newly-released records show. The Bloc Québécois forced disclosure of all travel expenses after Rideau Hall concealed the $1.15 million cost of Simon’s 2022 junket to Dubai: ‘People spend $200 for groceries that are barely enough to feed a family.’
A score-settling interview by a CBC Radio host was “testy,” “unfair” and failed to comply with journalistic standards, says a network ombudsman. Robyn Bresnahan was cited for a broadcast in which she hectored a Conservative politician with snide remarks on media relations: “Okay, so it’s our fault?”
Federally-incorporated companies face a yearly requirement to publish names of their owners under a cabinet bill introduced yesterday by Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne. The “beneficial ownership” bill does not apply to the large majority of firms incorporated in their home provinces: “Transparency and accountability are needed.”
Small business has been shortchanged on carbon tax rebates promised five years ago, says an advocacy group. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business yesterday calculated rebates to date are a fraction of what operators pay in higher fuel costs: “They have received little or nothing at all.”
A Liberal MP accused of secret contacts with Chinese Communist agents yesterday said he was a proud Canadian. “I cannot defend myself against an unverified anonymous source,” MP Han Dong (Don Valley North, Ont.) told reporters: “To my knowledge I was not offered, I was not told, I was not informed nor would I accept any help from a foreign country.”
The Commons yesterday by a vote of 177 to 147 rejected a Conservative motion for a full committee investigation of alleged election fraud by Chinese Communist agents. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in a last-minute concession agreed to have his chief of staff Katie Telford take MPs questions: “I think we take this a step at a time.”
MOTION of Conservative MP Michael Cooper (St. Albert-Edmonton), seconded by Conservative MP Terry Dowdall (Simcoe-Grey, Ont.) “that given reports of foreign interference in Canada’s democratic processes by or on behalf of the Communist regime in Beijing,” the Commons ethics committee be empowered and instructed to study all aspects of foreign interference in relation to the 2019 and 2021 general elections, and that:
a) Katie Telford, Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister, be ordered to appear before the committee as a witness, for three hours on her own, under oath, no later than Friday, April 14;
b) the following individuals be invited to appear as witnesses before the committee on dates and times to be fixed by the Chair of the Committee, but no later than Friday, May 19:
• Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland;
• Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair;
• Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino;
• Canadian Security Intelligence Service Director David Vigneault;
• Privy Council Clerk Janice Charette;
• Morris Rosenberg, former CEO. Trudeau Foundation;
• John MacBain, former chair. Trudeau Foundation;
• Élise Comtois, former executive director, Trudeau Foundation;
• Liberal, Conservative, Bloc Québécois and NDP 2019 and 2021 national campaign directors;
• John McCallum, former Canadian ambassador to China;
• Jennifer May, current Canadian ambassador to China.
• James Judd, author of a 2019 Critical Election Incident Protocol report;
• All members of 2019 and 2021 election interference fask forces.
