The Native Women’s Association yesterday questioned if Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had “suddenly seen the light” after he apologized for observing Truth and Reconciliation Day with a beach holiday. “Do better,” said Lynne Groulx, CEO of the Association: “This moment of contrition comes after much public pressure.”
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland yesterday detailed a vaccination program for federal employees that exempts more than 200,000 workers and does not require automatic proof of immunization. Exempted employees include call centre operators, federal judges, meat inspectors, park wardens, postal workers, tax auditors, Commons and Senate staff, soldiers, sailors and air crew and members of the public entering federal buildings: “The Canadian public service is vast.”
A Québec woman has been ordered to pay $15,300 in damages after berating a Muslim family out for a restaurant meal. Witnesses said children burst into tears as the woman shouted “get out of my country” and videotaped the family’s reaction to post on Facebook: “I’m talking to you, the one with the veil.”
Canadian travelers face a hodgepodge of unwritten rules on Covid immunization under a federal program detailed yesterday. Authorities acknowledged a requirement that all passengers be vaccinated will not be fully enforced until November 30 under regulations yet to be spelled out: “These are among the kind of issues we will be working through in the coming weeks.”
The Department of National Defence faces another lawsuit alleging sexual misconduct, this time involving schoolchildren. The Army Cadet League, the longest-running federal youth program, is named in a $5 million lawsuit alleging it employed a pedophile: “It implemented and maintained a system which was designed to cover up the existence of such behaviour.”
The Department of Public Works yesterday would not disclose terms of a sole-sourced contract to a Québec supplier for “last resort” mask sterilizing machines. The devices retail at up to $125,000 apiece through U.S. distributors: “Definitely a last resort.”
MPs will ask the new Parliament to revive Covid investigations, Opposition Leader Erin O’Toole said yesterday. The September 20 election campaign interrupted committee reviews of millions of pages of internal documents on pandemic mismanagement and the firing of Chinese scientists at a federal lab: ‘It will have to be re-examined.’
A federal judge has dismissed Canadian Pacific Railway’s claim for a perpetual tax holiday under an 1880 contract signed by then-Railways Minister Charles Tupper. The railway paid $758 million worth of income tax last year.: “As of 1880 the federal government did not directly tax the income of individuals or corporations.”
Conservative MPs yesterday deferred any leadership review of Erin O’Toole. The Opposition Leader accepted personal blame for the loss of nearly 492,000 votes and two seats in the minority 44th Parliament: “Changing the leader every two years after every election is not the way.”
A window manufacturer accused of trying to “bully” clients who left negative customer reviews online has been ordered to pay $166,687. The company had tried to sue negative reviewers for defamation: “In my view the plaintiffs brought this lawsuit to bully the defendants into removing their reviews from the internet.”
Infrastructure Minister Catherine McKenna and staffers spent nearly $42,000 and tens of thousands of litres of aviation fuel on a farewell “climate change” tour of Canada, accounts show. McKenna logged 22,600 kilometres by air in ten days to make speeches on global warming: “We need to reduce air pollution.”
Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan in her last act in cabinet yesterday was fined for breach of the Conflict Of Interest Act. Jordan failed to report details of her personal finances as required, according to a notice from the Ethics Commissioner.
A federally subsidized hi-tech firm hailed as a “bright star” success story is the target of a $100,000 government lawsuit alleging copyright breach. Executives with the basement start-up received hundreds of thousands in grants and contracts: “This is a program that we are very proud of.”
Chinese-Canadian children are less likely to drop out of high school and more likely to get university degrees than white students, Statistics Canada said yesterday. Young Canadians overall are now the best educated in the nation’s history: ‘They generally have a higher level of education than their counterparts across OECD countries.’
In a rare case of plagiarism in court, judges in Saskatchewan have overturned the expulsion of an admitted plagiarist from a nursing college. The student acknowledged claiming credit for others’ written work but was denied a fair hearing, said the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal: “She did not commit an honest mistake.”
