Police unions should not “protect officers from consequences of malfeasance,” the chair of the Commons public safety committee said yesterday. The committee in a report recommended RCMP officers cited for racial profiling be publicly named: “I would stand by that comment.”
MPs yesterday banned telephone voting in an expected pandemic election, a measure sought by cabinet. The House affairs committee by a 6-5 vote prohibited returning officers from collecting votes by phone under an obscure provision of the Canada Elections Act: “This is pretty significant.”
Iain Stewart, president of the Public Health Agency, faces censure for contempt of Parliament over the hiring of Chinese scientists at a federal lab. The Agency defied MPs in refusing to disclose documents concerning an RCMP raid that led to the researchers’ firing January 20. “People do sneak through,” a cabinet appointee said yesterday.
Revenue Minister Diane Lebouthillier in a report to Parliament said her own agency defaulted on more than $200,000 in credit charges. The costs were run up on government-issue credit cards used by employees: “We note the increased pressure to spend budgets at fiscal year-end.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau yesterday joined a Commons majority in passing a Bloc motion declaring Québec a French nation, 281-2. Trudeau did not speak on the motion. Thirty-four MPs abstained: “There will be consequences.”
Parliament should amend the Competition Act to criminally prosecute wage fixing by grocers, the Commons industry committee said yesterday. The report followed suspicions of collusion between supermarket chains in rolling back a $2 an hour employees’ pandemic bonus: “I took care to ask our lawyers before making that call.”
The Commons yesterday by a 285-36 vote rejected a national dental care program. Free dentistry for low income households would cost about $1.6 billion a year, according to the Parliamentary Budget Office: “This is a problem we can fix and we must fix.”
The Public Health Agency faulted for failing to prepare for the pandemic spent almost $19,000 on an executive washroom for exclusive use by its president, records show. Kristina Namiesniowski abruptly resigned last September 18 only days ahead of an internal audit of Agency mismanagement: “The Agency lacked everything.”
The Commons justice committee yesterday dismissed an investigation of Liberal Party vetting of federal judicial appointments. Opposition MPs had asked that Attorney General David Lametti appear for questioning on the use of Party lists in hiring judges: “It undermines the credibility of those people who have been appointed to the bench.”
Private sector employers for the first time face requirements to speak French under a cabinet bill yesterday introduced in the Commons. Airports, banks, grain mills, interprovincial trucking companies, radio stations, railways, marine shippers and other federally-regulated companies must embrace bilingualism in provinces with a “strong francophone presence,” though the term was not defined: “It is up to us to protect French.”
Exasperated supporters of a bankruptcy law rewrite to benefit pensioners yesterday said the Commons industry committee has spent too much time examining the bill. Parliament is scheduled to adjourn a week from today for a three-month recess: “We’re just going on and on and time is running out.”
A former Liberal MP censured for nepotism argued she broke no rules since her sister was adopted. MP Yasmin Ratansi (Don Valley East, Ont.) yesterday was cited for breach of ethics rules that forbid hiring of family members: “Canadians deserve better.”
Cabinet last night had the Commons rush debate on Bill C-10 until 12:42 am in a scramble to pass Canada’s first legislation to regulate legal internet content. Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault mistakenly claimed regulators cannot cancel programming, though the CRTC has repeatedly suspended radio licenses: “You can’t do that.”
Cabinet cannot release uncensored accounts of an RCMP raid on a federal lab without “putting Canada’s national security at risk,” Health Minister Patricia Hajdu said last night. Members of the Commons Special Committee on Canada-China Relations noted cabinet to date has defied three separate orders to release records: “Do you think we should be cooperating with the military of states that are committing genocide?”
More than a tenth of federal employees say they’re harassed at work, typically by supervisors. The findings of the latest Public Service Employee Survey were based on questionnaires with 188,786 staff nationwide: “After my workday I feel emotionally drained.”
