Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s long term deficit reduction plan is not believable, the Parliamentary Budget Office said yesterday. Freeland in her April 7 budget predicted the federal deficit will fall from $113.8 billion to $8.4 billion by 2027, a 93 percent decline: “I personally don’t believe it’s credible.”
Deputy Justice Minister François Daigle last night said he supported use of emergency powers against the Freedom Convoy after watching TV news coverage of the truckers’ blockade. Members of the Special Joint Committee on the Declaration of Emergency expressed unease with Daigle’s testimony: “I saw by watching TV.”
Almost a quarter of the nation’s airport security screeners were laid off as a pandemic cost savings, Canadian Air Transport Security Authority figures disclosed yesterday. The Authority said contractors were scrambling to rehire staff amid hours-long waits for travelers: “It is not a funding problem.”
Canada’s fastest growing provinces are short dozens of seats under electoral redistricting, the House affairs committee was told yesterday. A cabinet bill C-14 would guarantee Québec a minimum 78 seats and permit other provinces to gain additional representation: “The Band-Aid that we are applying today is only going to have to be ripped off.”
Cabinet yesterday introduced a bill guaranteeing three Indigenous seats on a federal board responsible for historic designations. It follows a 2019 order that historic plaques address “colonialism, patriarchy and racism.”
Chief Electoral Officer Stéphane Perrault yesterday recommended Parliament prohibit foreign meddling in elections prior to the start of a campaign. It followed a similar proposal in a private Senate bill that lapsed three years ago: “It is a critical exercise.”
Defence Minister Anita Anand yesterday said the military will launch a new recruitment campaign for the army, navy and air force. Anand in testimony at the Commons defence committee made no mention of the recent loss of Canadian Armed Forces members due to a vaccine mandate: “We have to make sure we have the right number of people.”
Achieving climate goals will be difficult and painful, a Liberal MP said yesterday. MP Ryan Turnbull (Whitby, Ont.) said all Canadians are “going to have to switch our lifestyles” to meet emissions targets: “That is going to be painful.”
Canadians’ paper mail would have more privacy protection than email under a cabinet bill pending in the Senate, a federal lawyer testified yesterday. Liberal-appointed senators have opposed Bill S-7 An Act To Amend The Customs Act: “What’s the worst that could happen if the legislation is passed?”
A federal agency had ample warning of rising passenger volumes before hours-long delays at airports, figures show. The Canadian Air Transport Security Authority knew for months that travel volumes were predictably doubling and tripling from 2021 levels: “Additional funding will be necessary.”
The Public Health Agency yesterday said it will fund new research on the effects of Covid on the nation’s children. It follows an earlier report that school closures and lockdowns were more disruptive than the coronavirus: “There is much we still need to know.”
Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault and five staff billed more than $100,000 to attend a United Nations climate conference, newly-released records show. Air fare for the six cost more than $37,000 including $11,246 for Guilbeault, who called for urgent action on climate change: “We need more environmentalists in the House.”
A Saskatchewan Conservative MP is the first parliamentarian in 75 years to be barred from her Commons seat. MP Cathay Wagantall (Yorkton-Melville) said she was escorted off Parliament Hill Friday by the Sergeant-at-Arms after declining to disclose her vaccine status. The last MP barred from the House was a Communist spy: “There is nothing that validates this kind of behaviour.”
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland is “too busy” to mind her budget bill, say MPs. Opposition members of the Commons finance committee submitted a rewritten bill with dozens of amendments: “We have suggested to delete, delete, delete.”
Federal agencies are warehousing millions of rapid Covid test kits only weeks after Parliament voted to spend billions more with suppliers. Total spending on rapid tests is more than $4 billion to date including millions of kits the government could not give away: “We are just actually in the midst of loading up.”
