Claims that cabinet needed emergency powers to save lives during a 2021 strike at the Port of Montréal were fabricated, Access To Information records show. Then-Labour Minister Filomena Tassi claimed the strike was a matter of “life and death.” Documents show the main issue was spoiled fruit: “Fearmongering is not a valid or compelling argument.”
Cabinet has evidence justifying emergency powers against the Freedom Convoy, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said yesterday. His remarks came as another allegation of unruly misconduct by truckers, the desecration of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, was disproven: “Canadians are increasingly wondering whether the Liberal government even had the evidence at all.”
The Ottawa Police Service yesterday said it identified a mystery woman who jumped on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier during Freedom Convoy protests but dismissed the case as insignificant. The woman was not from Western Canada and had nothing to do with the convoy, police said: “There was no admitted association to the Freedom Convoy truckers.”
Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault yesterday defended a green rights bill one senator called a field day for litigators. The cabinet bill is the first to invoke a “right to a healthy environment” without defining the term: “You’re right. You know this may be litigated.”
Canadian diplomats are “always there” to help citizens abroad, Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly yesterday told the Senate foreign affairs committee. Joly made no mention of diplomats’ hurried departure from Afghanistan that was so abrupt one army commander called it embarrassing: “We were the first embassy to depart.”
The economy is “not going to play out exactly the way we forecast,” Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem last night told the Senate banking committee. Macklem made the remark when asked to predict the likelihood of another recession: “We’ve never come out of a pandemic before.”
The Commons heritage committee yesterday opened hearings on whether to ban hate symbols in Canada. Liberal MPs proposed hearings in response to the Freedom Convoy but deleted a specific reference to “the swastika and the Confederate flag” after one Conservative suggested the ban also apply to blackface: “This cannot continue.”
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland yesterday permanently put in force regulations requiring crowdfunding platforms to report cash donations over $10,000. The rule was introduced as a temporary precaution during the Freedom Convoy: “What we are facing today is a threat to our democratic institutions.”
Cabinet must educate parents on how to avoid accidental cannabis poisonings of young children, Families Minister Karina Gould said yesterday. Poisonings rose sharply after Parliament legalized cannabis in 2018: “We certainly don’t want to see children going to emergency rooms.”
Overland flooding knocks an average eight percent off property values, says a University of Waterloo report commissioned by CMHC. It follows a federal recommendation that cabinet mandate homeowners’ purchase of climate change insurance: “Canada is an outlier among many advanced economies offering some form of nationalized flood insurance.”
Cabinet relied on CBC stories for justification in using emergency powers against the Freedom Convoy, Attorney General David Lametti testified last night at parliamentary hearings. Lametti said he invoked the Emergencies Act after CBC News falsely reported foreigners bankrolled the protest: “There were reports. CBC reported.”
Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino last night repeated false claims Freedom Convoy protesters attempted to burn down an Ottawa apartment building. Mendicino made the remarks in committee testimony as MPs and senators puzzled over why cabinet declared a national emergency to end the protest: “It’s unacceptable, almost irresponsible.”
Federal managers suspended without pay more than 2,500 employees for declining to show proof of vaccination, records show. Employees stripped of salary and benefits included 66 at the Department of Health and Public Health Agency that spoke against coercive vaccination: “The federal government violated human rights knowing few people can afford to sue.”
Cabinet must protect whistleblowers who allege wrongdoing at the Canada Revenue Agency, Conservative MP Kelly McCauley (Edmonton West) yesterday told the Commons government operations committee. Agency executives are accused of manipulating tax rulings for corporate lobbyists: ‘Will they be protected from retribution for exposing corruption and wrongdoing within the CRA?’
The Canadian military had only two aircraft in Kabul when the city fell to the Taliban last August 15, says Immigration Minister Sean Fraser. Canadian diplomats commandeered one of them to flee the city leaving behind thousands of Canadian citizens and Afghan allies: ‘The U.S. had 110 planes on site; Canada had two and one of them wasn’t in great working order.’
