Blacklock's Reporter

Conservative MPs yesterday introduced 904 amendments to the budget as a filibuster entered its second month. Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre said MPs would use all means possible to block the budget bill until cabinet caps the carbon tax and commits to eliminating the deficit: “If the government does not meet these demands we will use all procedural tools at our disposal to block the budget.”

Only a tenth of air travelers are using the costly ArriveCan app since it was made voluntary, records show. Use of the app had been mandatory until last October 1: “Canadians have been able to cross the border without it for decades and even centuries.”

The Privy Council in an Access To Information memo proposed a legal requirement that the CBC broadcast government messaging in a “national crisis.” Cabinet aides complained they had to buy advertising during the pandemic: “There could be new possibilities to create partnerships to respond to future crises.”

The Privy Council secretly polled Canadians on pandemic vaccination tactics, Access To Information records show. Researchers tested options from paying Canadians to take a Covid shot to punishing the unvaccinated by denying them access to “certain activities.”

A month-long Conservative committee filibuster of cabinet’s budget bill has spilled into the House of Commons. MPs on Friday voided a whole day’s worth of debate on Bill C-47 as cabinet fumed: “It was actually a point of order on the process for raising points of order during points of order.”

Jobseekers polled by the Department of National Defence rate a new recruitment campaign as too technical and “a bit desperate.” Researchers said the air force, navy and army face a “highly competitive job market.”

A bill for independent oversight of the Canada Border Services Agency will not address “problematic behaviour” by management, employees have told the Commons public safety committee. The Agency is the only police force of its size in Canada without a civilian oversight board: “Make real change.”

Liberal and New Democrat MPs last night saved David Johnston from a summons to testify on his dealings with the Trudeau Foundation. The Commons public accounts committee by a 6 to 4 vote adjourned debate on an order compelling Johnston to appear as a hostile witness: “It is like a subpoena from a lawyer. There are legal consequences.”

The chair of the Senate agriculture committee yesterday would not comment on an Italian junket so costly other senators expressed unease with the expense. Senator Robert Black (Ont.) submitted a $66,940 budget to lead a four-member farm delegation to Italy in July for a study of “soil conditions in Canada.”

Jody Thomas, national security advisor, yesterday said she was on holiday and never read a secret July 20, 2021 pre-election memo warning that Chinese agents had targeted a Conservative MP. Thomas testified at the House affairs committee the “integrity of my statements here” should not be questioned: “You want Canadians to believe that?”

A federal registry mandating disclosure of payments to all foreign agents “will provide us with very important tools,” Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair said yesterday. Cabinet has yet to set any deadline for introduction of a bill: “Is there something that gives hesitance or pause?”

Cabinet is unsure of the scope of tobacco smuggling nationwide, according to a report to Parliament. Manufacturers have estimated bootleg cigarettes are worth billions in lost tax revenue: “This has been driven mainly by persistently high rates in Ontario estimated at 35 to 40 percent and a recent explosion in British Columbia where we estimate the rate has grown to 35 percent.”

The Commons yesterday voted 174 to 150 to fire David Johnston as cabinet’s “special rapporteur” on Chinese subterfuge. Johnston rejected the vote, saying he didn’t answer to MPs: “My mandate comes from the government.”

The Freedom Convoy was a “far-right extremist movement” that “terrorized” Ottawa, a Liberal-appointed senator said yesterday. Remarks by Senator Ratna Omidvar (Ont.) contradicted police evidence that Parliament Hill demonstrators were neither extremist nor violent: “What is the government doing to track this? Specifically, are you tracking how these extremists are influencing politicians in Canada?”