A $157,000-a year justice of the peace has lost her job after publishing a newspaper commentary. “The misconduct was very serious,” the Ontario Superior Court ruled in dismissing a claim of free speech: “She defended it as accurate and truthful.”
A single complaint from a passerby prompted the Department of Public Works to budget more than $103,000 to restore a sculpture outside the post office in Stouffville, Ont., according to Access To Information records. The fading artwork nicknamed “the lemon” by local ratepayers was in a cabinet minister’s riding: “This is embarrassing.”
Most Canadians expect to carry the impact of pandemic debts into retirement, the Canadian Institute of Actuaries said yesterday. Researchers found the financial fallout from Covid was so bleak more than one in ten Canadians, 14 percent, said they “do not expect to ever retire.”
A frustrated contractor told the Department of Public Works it was “killing our doctors and nurses” by rationing pandemic masks from the outbreak of Covid, according to internal emails. Shortages caused by mismanagement of a national stockpile were “beyond embarrassing,” said a Canadian distributor: “It’s approaching negligence.”
Immigrants and visible minorities have more pride in Canada’s treatment of ethnic groups than white people, Statistics Canada said yesterday. The agency said most Black, Asian and Arab-Canadians were prouder of the nation’s achievements than whites: “Immigrant respondents, 63 percent, were more likely than Canadian-born respondents (43 percent) to be proud of Canada’s treatment of all groups in society.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau yesterday omitted any deadline to mandate vaccination of 300,540 federal employees and millions of air travelers and train passengers. Cabinet had originally set an October 31 deadline for compulsory vaccination: “Are you prepared to lay off tens of thousands of workers?”
Lobbyists representing the bailout press endorse cabinet censorship of the internet. News Media Canada called itself the nation’s “most precious guardian” of free speech but proposed the Department of Canadian Heritage extend censorship to critics who use legal but hurtful words against media: “The news publishing industry remains under threat from the unregulated and unchecked social media.”
Bauer Hockey Limited received a multi-million dollar sole-sourced contract for medical supplies without first receiving certification from the Department of Health, according to internal emails. Document show the order for plastic face shields was rushed for a next-day announcement by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau: “I want to share a quintessentially Canadian example of this collaboration.”
The Green Party’s Annamie Paul yesterday resigned after describing her year-long tenure as federal leader as a bitter experience that had her “spitting up blood,” calling it the “worst period in my life.” Party support fell by two-thirds in the September 20 general election: “I knew.”
Skilled trades are stigmatized in Canada, says internal research by the Department of Employment. A survey of teenagers and young adults found many considered the work too hard, boring and “not as respected” as other jobs while acknowledging trades paid better than many university degrees: “It’s a chronic situation.”
MPs are more likely to read letters than emails from constituents, says an academic study. Handwritten notes are “the most impactful” on parliamentarians, said researchers: “100 emails about one issue will make us think but 100 letters would really give you pause.”
Most Canadians consider online information reliable and are confident they can tell when it’s not, says internal polling by Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault’s department. Guilbeault has proposed “concrete action” to police news and information on the internet: “66 percent feel confident in their ability to tell if online content is fair and balanced.”
Federal agencies quietly arranged to ship hundreds of thousands of Covid masks to Québec when all other provinces faced shortages, according to internal emails. Political aides in the Prime Minister’s Office stressed “we should be careful about what we say” in giving Québec preferential treatment: “The plan is for them to go to QC.”
Cabinet will fully implement a facial recognition system for 25 million Canadian passport holders within two years despite little proof of identity fraud. The program would see federal agencies compile a database of millions of Canadians’ faces: “Don’t you think it’s a bit too late to prevent the misuse of that information?”
A fifth of Canadians believe match fixing is commonplace in football, hockey and other professional sports, says federal research. Cabinet legalized bookmaking August 27: “My hope is we won’t wait for that scandal to happen in Canada before we take some serious and significant action.”
