Canadians rate plastic a lesser environmental risk than marijuana smoke or flushing prescription drugs down the toilet, says in-house Department of Health research. Only a third of Canadians, 34 percent, said they worry about single use plastics: “Fewer are concerned.”
Federal excise taxes on marijuana totaled more than a quarter billion a year prior to the pandemic, according to Canada Revenue Agency tables. Cabinet had pledged to initially limit its share of taxes to $100 million a year to aid provinces with enforcement expenses: “Organized crime does not share its data with us.”
The number of family-run small businesses crashed in Canada from pre-pandemic levels, the Department of Industry said yesterday. The figures are the latest to gauge the scope of the small business recession: “There has been a substantial decline in the percentage of small and medium sized enterprises owned by members of the same family.”
A federal board is reviewing posthumous honours for Alexander Graham Bell due to his “controversial beliefs,” according to records. Bell died a hundred years ago. Designation of Canadian landmarks like the Halifax Citadel and Crowsnest Pass are also up for review under a cabinet policy against “colonialism, patriarchy and racism.”
Most vehicles in cabinet’s multi-million dollar motor pool are American made, records show. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had pledged to ensure “vehicles of the future are made right here in Canada.”
A Department of Public Works manager has been fired for cronyism. The department would not name the person but said in a notice that conflicts of interest would not be tolerated: “Public servants must act at all times in a manner that will withstand the closest scrutiny.”
Cabinet must consider steps to “secure a foothold for French in the public realm by way of political, cultural and economic status,” says a guide issued by Languages Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor. Staff complained after 53 years of federal bilingualism only seven percent of English-speaking Canadians know French words: “There is a decline in French across Canada including in Québec.”
Refusal to take a ratepayer’s cheque as payment for a bus pass has prompted a formal apology and change of policy by the City of Calgary. The dispute is only the latest over use of paper cheques: “Cheque recipients have become harder to engage.”
MPs, provincial legislators and city councillors are known to be in the pay of foreign agents, a former espionage officer yesterday told the Commons ethics committee. The foreign agents’ source country was not named though cabinet has accused China of clandestine activities: “What we know for sure is we have various foreign countries that succeeded in recruiting elected officials – again, municipal, provincial or federal.”
The Commons ethics committee yesterday by a 6 to 5 vote ordered the RCMP to comply with its demand for data on any spyware surveillance of MPs. The Mounties earlier dismissed a similar request: “Nobody is talking about preventing the spyware from being used in the first place.”
Federal departments from the outbreak of the pandemic increased by 66 percent the number of managers earning $100,000 or more, according to Access To Information payroll records obtained by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. Cabinet to date has resisted attempts to name individual six-figure earners under a federal Sunshine List: “All they saw was political landmines.”
Senator Sarabjit Marwah (Ont.), a Liberal appointee who doubled his legislative pay with corporate directorship fees, has taken another board appointment. Senate ethics rules do not prohibit legislators from serving on corporate boards while drawing a salary from taxpayers: “The Senate itself is not considered a full-time job and that you can maintain interests.”
Most Canadians limit their gambling to lottery and raffle tickets with 92 percent reporting they never placed a sports bet, Statistics Canada said yesterday. Analysts compiled the figures to gauge the impact of a bill that legalized bookmaking in Canada for the first time since 1892: “The results serve as an important baseline of gambling behaviour in Canada.”
RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki refuses to say whether federal police used spyware to monitor MPs’ smartphones. The chair of the Commons ethics committee yesterday described the secrecy as “troubling.”
Members of the Commons ethics committee yesterday expressed alarm over RCMP use of spyware capable of activating microphones and cameras on smartphones. MPs only learned of the practice in a routine House tabling of cabinet documents: “A lot of work has to be done to ensure privacy is actually respected in our government.”
