CEO Ian Scott of the CRTC yesterday was cleared of any wrongdoing in meeting privately with a telecom lobbyist in an Ottawa bar. A snapshot of the meeting was obtained by TekSavvy Solutions Inc. that complained of a breach of ethics regulations: “He paid for his own drink.”
TV broadcasters received more than $100 million in direct federal subsidies through the pandemic, the CRTC disclosed yesterday. The cash grants were in addition to waivers on millions in mandatory licensing fees: ‘There were significant declines to ad revenues.’
A third of Canadian tourism operators plan to sell their business or close for good, say Department of Industry researchers. Net losses due to the pandemic averaged more than $120,000 per operator: “The industry is now in the midst of an unprecedented situation.”
An army gunner sentenced to jail after feeding marijuana-laced cupcakes to troops during a live fire artillery exercise has lost her final appeal. It was the first case of its kind since Parliament legalized cannabis, noted the Court Martial Appeal Court: “They were in no condition to be firing high-powered artillery.”
A cabinet press aide who once told reporters false federal job creation claims were a “mistake” is now communications director for the Liberal Research Bureau. Danielle Keenan yesterday was granted a waiver under the Conflict Of Interest Act to take up her new post: “She is highly qualified to continue to be in the service of Canadians.”
Thousands of Canadians have suffered serious adverse reactions from using natural health products, says the Department of Health. The figures were detailed in a correction to an “error” in a legal notice: “Monitoring of products focused on reacting to complaints.”
A Liberal MP who pledged to work for housing affordability holds at least five mortgages on rental properties, according to newly-disclosed filings with the Ethics Commissioner. “We are addressing our housing affordability needs,” MP Taleeb Noormohamed (Vancouver Granville) said July 29: “The housing crisis is a Canada-wide problem that is especially hard hitting right here in Vancouver Granville.”
Foreign students in Canada are implicated in money laundering for organized crime, says a federal agency. Students from China and Hong Kong were named by the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre: “A number of suspected ‘money mules’ are international students.”
Competition in Canadian telecom is intense, lawyers for Rogers Communications Inc. wrote in a submission to the anti-trust Competition Tribunal. The company is attempting to counter a federal proposal to block its $26 billion buyout of Calgary competitor Shaw Communications: “Competition for wireless services in Canada is intense.”
Western Canada within 20 years will grow by a third while Newfoundland and Labrador will be smaller and greyer, Statistics Canada forecast yesterday. Nationwide the seniors’ population next year will eclipse the number of children: “If Canada’s population continues to increase in the future it will be mainly because of immigration.”
Canadian aid to Ukraine since the February 24 invasion by Russia now totals more than $3.1 billion. The figure includes grants, military aid and loans, said Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly: “Canadians stand with them in their defence.”
Thousands of Covid body bags were quietly bought up by the Department of Public Works at the same time political aides looked for “success stories” to tell the public, Access To Information records show. Authorities feared a shortage of bags in the first weeks of the pandemic: “Do we need special ones to deal with people who died from Covid?”
Canada’s most Liberal city, Toronto, stands to lose a seat in Parliament under federal redistricting. Election planners said as large as Toronto has grown, the rest of Ontario has grown larger: “Over-representation in Toronto has emerged due to uneven population growth.”
So many children have been infected with Covid there is increasingly “hybrid immunity” among elementary schoolkids, says the National Advisory Committee on Immunization. Most Canadian parents have not provided Covid shots to children under 12, the panel said: “Severe medical conditions in this age group should be rare.”
Cabinet is preparing to write numerous loopholes into a promised ban on foreigners’ purchase of residential real estate. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised the ban last August 25 while campaigning for re-election: “We’ll crack down on the predatory speculators.”
