CMHC-funded researchers yesterday proposed a $6 billion annual equity fee on taxpayers it depicted as lazy homeowners. The federal insurer paid $250,000 for the study by University of British Columbia researchers who complained rising real estate values see longtime homeowners get rich “while they sleep and watch TV.”
The Department of Public Works yesterday faced demands for a full accounting of emergency field hospital equipment contracted through SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. One MP questioned the whereabouts of 200 hospital beds complete with ventilators and self-contained generators bought as back-up for overcrowded intensive care units: “We want to know where that money went and what it actually did.”
More than a thousand members of the military have applied for medical and religious exemptions from vaccination, according to Federal Court records. Six soldiers, sailors and air crew filed a legal challenge of the Canadian Armed Forces policy threatening discharge for those who decline a Covid shot: “They are opposed to a vaccine mandate.”
Reid Sirrs, the ambassador who fled Kabul though Canadian citizens remained trapped in Afghanistan, will be recalled for questioning. The Opposition yesterday said Sirrs must testify at committee hearings after cabinet hurriedly reassigned him to another foreign post over Christmas: “He can explain what exactly happened.”
The military will introduce gender-neutral uniforms to allow soldiers, sailors and air crew to “choose the uniform that makes them most comfortable,” says a Department of National Defence briefing note. The department yesterday did not say when the dress code will be rewritten: “Non-binary members would have the option to describe themselves as they wish.”
Each Canadians’ share of the net federal debt last year topped $24,000 for the first time in history, Statistics Canada said yesterday. The figure represented a 43 percent increase from pre-pandemic levels: “We are at the brink.”
Court documents detail the scope of an alleged $5 billion bread price-fixing scheme with seven of Canada’s largest retailers named as defendants including Walmart Canada and Loblaw Companies. An Ontario judge unsealed records gathered by federal anti-trust investigators over two years: “Victims of the conspiracy are alleged to be millions, or perhaps tens of millions, of consumers.”
Canadians driving gas and diesel cars should be taxed to finance green rebates, says an electric auto trade group. Environmentalists have also petitioned the Commons finance committee to impose a $4,000 SUV tax: “Make polluting passenger vehicles pay.”
The pandemic prompted more tax avoidance, says the Canada Revenue Agency. Expanded use of internet sales “amplified the risk online that income is not reported or is under-reported by individuals and businesses especially since it cannot be identified using conventional techniques,” said an Agency report.
More than a third of doctors are routinely bullied or threatened by patients, says the president of the Canadian Medical Association. A majority, 75 percent, have been harassed at some point since the outbreak of the pandemic, Dr. Katharine Smart said in a letter to senators: “We are witnessing an escalation.”
Commons Speaker Anthony Rota yesterday said China-made pandemic masks will be banned from Parliament Hill by month’s end. MPs earlier passed a motion invoking a similar boycott at federal offices nationwide: ‘We have notified our supplier of our requirement.’
Federal budgeting to pay out legal claims has increased more than fifty percent in four years, says the Treasury Board. Anticipated costs were mainly related to Indigenous settlements not including a $40 billion payout to be detailed today: “That’s significant dollars.”
The military paid out more than $6 million in Covid danger pay, figures show. Soldiers reassigned as nursing home attendants were given the same hazard bonus as members of bomb disposal units: “The military served in these facilities for months while being away from their families.”
Accidental marijuana poisonings now account for more non-fatal hospitalizations than opioids, the Public Health Agency disclosed in a year-end report. Most patients were teenaged girls: “Cannabis use is becoming increasingly prevalent in Canada.”
Mining promoters are petitioning MPs for federal tax credits on moon exploration. Cabinet two years ago declared outer space was a national asset: ““Canadian mining corporations would typically be entitled to a foreign tax credit.”
