The Department of Transport gave favoured suppliers the inside track on sweetheart contracts, according to a review by Procurement Ombudsman Alexander Jeglic. “It appears Transport Canada treated bidders unfairly,” wrote Jeglic. “Some received more relevant information than others.”
Ottawa’s deputy chief oil and gas regulator, Kathy Penney, says she has avoided all dealings with a major energy company that employs her son. Penney in federal ethics filings also said she would avoid “any communication with government officials” regarding TransCanada Energy Corporation: ‘My son Ben participates in a performance share unit program.’
A cabinet policy to ban Canada Summer Jobs subsidies for pro-life groups appears headed for the Supreme Court after federal judges issued contradictory rulings on free expression. Legal challenges date from 2017: “The most sinister threat to free speech is compelled speech.”
Threatening unvaccinated federal employees with loss of pay, health benefits or their jobs is constitutional, says legal counsel with the Department of Health. The new opinion contradicts a previous statement by the same department that mandatory immunization was legally impossible in Canada: “It cannot be made mandatory because of the Canadian Constitution.”
Free speech advocates are demanding Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault disclose the findings of a two-month public consultation on internet censorship. Guilbeault’s office earlier acknowledged it did not receive a single letter of support for first-ever web regulations: ‘Government is keeping this hidden from the public.’
Québec cannot lose any seats in the Commons even with its dwindling share of Canada’s population, says Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet. The province under redistribution stands to lose one House seat for the first time since 1966: “The stakes are high.”
The Public Health Agency has begun tracking doctors’ medical waivers for unvaccinated patients. Dr. Howard Njoo, deputy chief public health officer, said regulators must make sure “only the really valid medical exemptions are issued.”
A World Health Organization scientist wanted for questioning by the Commons health committee instead granted an interview to the subsidized press in Ottawa. Dr. Bruce Aylward, a Canadian epidemiologist who’d praised China, made no mention of the parliamentary summons: “The mission was a success.”
Going downtown
on Remembrance Day
and wearing a poppy
is the Canadian way.
Staying home
cracking a beer
and watching a hockey rerun
is equally Canadian.
We believe in
the choice not to say Sorry
the right to sit during the anthem
the freedom not to vote on election day
the liberty not to follow the masses
the value of diversity.
If you don’t share these views,
that’s Canadian too.
(Editor’s note: poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, writes for Blacklock’s each and every Sunday)
Sixteen-year olds can marry in Nova Scotia but require a court’s approval in Québec. Twelve-year olds can work in Alberta with a note from Mother, but in Manitoba must obtain permission of the Minister of Labour. “In Yukon, the law requires youth to stay at home until they are legally adults” – at 19 – “and those who leave before that are considered runaways,” explains The Law Is (Not) For Kids. Authors Ned Lecic and Marvin Zuker review the hodgepodge of provincial regulation of minors in this intriguing book.
“We think Canadian youth should be asking for more legal rights,” authors explain. “At the same time, we will say very little in this book about exactly what rights we think you should have. That is a very complex question, and we encourage you to think for yourself about what rights adults should give you, and to find good reasons why you should be given those rights.”
Lecic is a skillful writer. Zuker is a former Ontario judge. The Law Is (Not) For Kids is written for minors but remains a compelling review of rules and reasoning since Confederation.
Take spanking, a legal right of parents upheld by the Supreme Court in 2004. The law dates from the 1892 Criminal Code written by then-Attorney General John Thompson, a Catholic father of nine who by all accounts was a loving husband and father
“Ordinarily, hitting someone makes you guilty of ‘assault’, which is a crime,” authors write. “Yet even though assault is against the law, section 43 of the Criminal Code still allows the use of ‘force’ as a way of disciplining a child.”
Authors argue for repeal and advocate other wholesale changes to laws along the lines of Norway’s Children Act that forbids “use of violence and frightening or annoying or other inconsiderate conduct towards the child.” Readers may disagree – and millions of Canadian parents would – but the authors are so passionate in their arguments The Law Is (Not) For Kids makes for a snappy read.
Can my parents kick me out of the house? Can I make any decisions on my own before I’m 18? If my parents divorce, can I decide which one I’m going to live with? The Law Is (Not) For Kids occasionally blur lines between rights and mere grievances, but examines all these questions in a frank and informative way.
“We wrote this book because we believe that children and teenagers are people like everyone else and that adults should not be able to make decisions for them based only on what adults want or simply as a way of asserting their power,” write authors: “We also believe that, as far as possible, youth should be able to make their own decisions, depending on how mature they are. The law should not consider them incapable of making choices independently simply because they are under some magic age.”
By Holly Doan
The Law Is (Not) For Kids, by Ned Lecic and Marvin Zuker; Athabasca University Press; 304 pages; ISBN 9781-7719-9237; $22.99
The Department of Citizenship yesterday said it placed no restrictions on domestic use of a vaccine passport for Canadians immunized against Covid, but did not expect it to be used for ID. Parliamentary committees have repeatedly opposed any attempts to introduce a national identity card, while one privacy commissioner last year ruled Canadians cannot be forced to surrender health information for ID purposes: ‘No person shall require an individual to produce a health services number as a condition of receiving a product or service other than a health service.’
Federal employees opposed to compulsory vaccination yesterday launched a $1,000-per worker fundraising drive to mount a legal challenge of the cabinet order. The campaign came as a former privacy commissioner described vaccine mandates as abhorrent: “We have to preserve our personal freedom and liberty and not give into the dictates of governments.”
The CBC yesterday said it will seal all its buildings from unvaccinated visitors in the most extreme Covid precaution of any Crown corporation. The ban on unimmunized people includes the general public, contractors and TV and radio guests: “Any individual who does not meet this requirement will be refused access.”
A threatened vaccine order on air and rail passengers will not apply until November 30 at the earliest and will not be compulsory, the Department of Transport said yesterday. Unvaccinated domestic travelers can board with proof of a negative Covid test, similar to rules for international travelers introduced last winter: ‘Details on exceptions will be provided in coming days.’
A federal gun buy-back program is already 34 percent over budget, according to Access To Information records disclosed yesterday by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. The Parliamentary Budget Office earlier warned an identical program in New Zealand doubled in cost: ‘It has all the makings of another boondoggle.’
