Chinese foreign agents have threatened Canadian citizens here, says cabinet. The disclosure follows Commons committee testimony of harassment campaigns orchestrated by the Chinese Embassy: “This is China’s influence on Canada. Governments should deal with it.”
Janice Charette, the $343,000-a year head of the federal public service, yesterday declined comment after praising as an example to all staff a Public Health Agency executive censured for contempt of Parliament. It was the first Commons censure of a federal employee since the 1891 summons of a Superintendent of the Government Printing Bureau for pocketing kickbacks: “He acted in a way that represents public service values and ethics.”
Cabinet refuses to release “millions of pages” of documents on pandemic mismanagement in defiance of a House order, the Commons health committee was told. The Commons’ lawyer said cabinet aides simply stopped handing over records though a deadline for full disclosure expired last December 7: ‘At this rate it will take 58 years.’
Federal tax law is so complicated the Canada Revenue Agency’s own field auditors have given up calling for interpretation of the 3,279-page Income Tax Act, says a report. No prime minister has ordered a comprehensive review of the Act since John Diefenbaker: “Our tax system has become a ponderous, unwieldy monster.”
Minimum wage increases may cost jobs for students and other entry-level workers, says the federal labour department. Cabinet is mandating a $15 an hour federal minimum this year, the first increase since 1996: “These impacts are most evident for teenagers and young adults.”
Cabinet in a Canadian first is suing Parliament to conceal records over top security clearance given Chinese scientists at a federal lab. One MP last night likened the legal showdown to Watergate: “Shame on you.”
Internet publishers, bloggers, Facebook and Twitter users face house arrest or $70,000 fines under an unprecedented censorship bill introduced yesterday by cabinet. “Self-regulation is not enough,” said Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault. One civil liberties group called provisions of Bill C-36 an “astounding proposal” that curbs free and legal speech: “Criminal conduct in this case is speech in which no actual harm to any specific person needs to be proven.”
Cabinet polled for popular catchphrases to find the most agreeable pandemic-era slogan, records disclose. The title of a September 23 Throne Speech, “A More Resilient Canada,” polled poorly and was not mentioned again: “Participants were most critical of the phrase ‘We need a green new deal.'”
Cabinet would have to impose a $261 per tonne carbon tax, the equivalent of an extra 62¢ per litre of gasoline, to meet its climate change targets, the Parliamentary Budget Office said yesterday. Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson has promised there will be no further increases in fuel charges: “No, we do not intend to accelerate the price.”
The federal Competition Bureau in affidavits accuses a Canadian company of charging the jobless an eight percent commission to process Canada Emergency Response Benefit cheques. Lawyers for Canada Tax Reviews Inc. of Thornhill, Ont. yesterday did not comment: “We will apply for you.”
The Senate tomorrow takes up Bill C-10 debate on warnings of a floor fight over the first legislation in Canada to regulate legal internet content. “Your bad planning is not my emergency,” Senator Scott Tannas (Alta.) yesterday told the Senate leadership.
An MP censured for nepotism yesterday likened herself to a soaring eagle that will “fly high” after being ejected from the Liberal caucus. MP Yasmin Ratansi (Don Valley East, Ont.) vowed she would not bow to “slander” and hurtful comments: “Let us be like eagles and fly high.”
The Senate last night passed into law a multi-million dollar tax break for farmers, fishers and small business owners on the sale of properties to family members. The private bill survived a late bid by cabinet to defeat the measure: “The government makes mistakes and this is one of them.”
The Senate yesterday by a 57-20 vote legalized bookmaking in Canada. The passage of a private bill overturns a ban on single event sport betting that dates from 1892: “It’s not about sports. It’s about gambling.”
A federal agency blames the pandemic for wiping out fourteen percent of its savings in three weeks. The taxpayer-funded Canadian Race Relations Foundation was so rattled by stock losses it cashed out millions in equity investments, according to records: “This is not a corporation or a profit-taking venture where shareholders are able to pass judgment on their performance. This is a charity.”
