Chinese Communist agents are targeting MPs, senators and political aides, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service yesterday told the House affairs committee. “We are very concerned about targeting,” testified Michelle Tessier, deputy director: “Did the Chinese Communist regime interfere in the last federal election?”
The Freedom Convoy was “calm, festive and family oriented” the day cabinet invoked emergency powers, according to an internal memo by Ontario Provincial Police. Protesters and their children were playing hockey, quoting the Bible and “wishing everyone a happy Valentine’s” at the moment cabinet claimed the streets were lawless, said the memo: “Speakers were again telling people to walk away from agitators and thanked the police.”
Most federal employees continue to work at home, Treasury Board President Mona Fortier said yesterday. The Canadian Chamber of Commerce petitioned cabinet to suspend the practice introduced in 2020 as a pandemic precaution: “Some public servants are back in the workplace at least two days a week.”
Immigration Minister Sean Fraser yesterday proposed to let nearly 1.5 million immigrants into Canada within three years despite fears of a recession. Cabinet’s latest immigration plan follows in-house research showing Canadians are skeptical of federal claims immigrants create jobs: “Go to a machine shop and see if they get talent on the shop floor to fill the orders.”
Media and political leaders falsely characterized the Freedom Convoy as an extremist movement, according to confidential emails between Ontario Provincial Police commanders. There was no evidence convoy members were anything but political protesters, said one commander: “It is not an ‘extremist’ movement.”
Cabinet and political aides schemed on ways to perpetuate media coverage depicting Freedom Convoy members as “crazies,” the Public Order Emergency Commission was told yesterday. A lawyer for the truckers read out text messages in which Liberal aides contemplated a media campaign to depict protesters as violent, adding: “We need something to back this up.”
Hate thought leads to hate crime, Senator David Arnot (Sask.), a former Saskatchewan human rights commissioner, said yesterday. Arnot’s remarks came amid testimony at the Senate human rights committee that claimed the Freedom Convoy was rooted in hatred of Muslims: “Hate thought, hate speech, begets hate crime. We know that.”
Federal regulators polled Canadians on support for potential postal service cuts and a 36 percent hike in stamp rates. A Department of Public Works report complained of “ongoing financial losses” at the post office: ‘Do you agree Canada Post should be allowed to deliver letters less frequently than five days a week?’
Auditors have found more improper contracting at Canadian missions aboard, this time involving embassies and consulates in Central and South America. Auditors in Mexico City expressed dismay over a mysterious $500 million bookkeeping entry later dismissed as a coding error: “No mission has a budget of that magnitude.”
Secret cabinet minutes disclose Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suggested using the Emergencies Act days before the extraordinary measure was invoked against the Freedom Convoy. Cabinet at the time publicly assured Canadians the Highway Traffic Act was sufficient to deal with protesters outside Parliament: “The Prime Minister set up the conversation.”
Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino was “very persistent” in discussing the Freedom Convoy, according to RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki. The remark is detailed in minutes of a police meeting. Mendicino denied directing police operations: “My Minister very persistent.”
Rideau Hall last year paid out more than $319,000 in settlements to four unidentified employees, records show. The payments followed then-Governor General Julie Payette’s abrupt resignation over allegations of workplace harassment: “Everyone has the right to work in a safe and healthy environment.”
A federal handgun sales ban will not “meaningfully” reduce gun crime, the RCMP union and Regina’s police chief testified at the Commons public safety committee. Federal authorities have sought to enforce a ban through cabinet order: “The issue is people who are criminals.”
The federal Leaders’ Debates Commission paid $8,500 to settle out of court a defamation claim by Rebel News Network Limited. The payment was disclosed in Public Accounts tabled in Parliament: “There is room in the nation for the expression of opposing points of view.”
“Canada: The Last Best West!” was his slogan. Clifford Sifton, a brilliant interior minister, crafted far-reaching immigration policies that are still with us. The Ottawa house he lived in for 25 years is not. His home might have been saved as a memorial to the man who built the West. Instead it was demolished to make way for a grey apartment building.
