Another one-month extension of pandemic benefits will cost more than a quarter billion. “We have to finish the fight against Covid,” said Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland: “We have done, I would say, a pretty good job.”
The Department of Health recommends federal employees eat lunch alone, keep chairs six feet apart and wear masks in the office though 98 percent are vaccinated against Covid. The House of Commons issued its own pandemic directive stating even employees working from home must show proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test: “No vaccines are 100 percent effective.”
Election Commissioner Yves Côté will resign next June after ten years in office. Côté is best known for awarding SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. a settlement over $117,803 in illegal campaign contributions, but prosecuting Rebel News Network Ltd. for a book promotion deemed too political: ‘We are committed to protecting the integrity of the electoral process.’
We Charity’s Kielburger family has filed a $3 million defamation lawsuit against a Toronto publisher. The claim in Ontario Superior Court was filed in the name of the Kielburgers’ mother over allegations she diverted charitable donations to a family bank account: ‘It is disinformation.’
Blacklock’s Reporter today pauses for Remembrance Day observance with gratitude to all who honoured our country. Thank you for your service — The Editor.
Military who decline to reveal their vaccination status are threatened with discharge effective Monday though 95 percent are already immunized, says General Wayne Eyre, acting chief of defence staff. The threat follows successive audits confirming Canada’s military is chronically short of recruits: “There is no point in us having a target of 68,000 and continuing to be 4,000 people short.”
The Canada Revenue Agency aims to speed tax collections by prodding small business to use electronic invoicing, according to in-house research. Business owners questioned in focus groups told the Agency to mind its own business: “They were skeptical.”
A federal department knowingly tried to breach an international treaty to award a six-figure contract to a favoured supplier, says Procurement Ombudsman Alexander Jeglic. Emails uncovered during an audit showed staff in the Department of Citizenship knew they were breaching NAFTA rules: “You cannot structure a procurement to avoid obligations under the North American Free Trade Agreement.”
A federal judge has ordered the release of confidential emails between airline lobbyists and Scott Streiner, CEO of the Canadian Transportation Agency. Streiner was faulted by consumers’ advocates for allowing airlines to forego cash refunds on $8.5 billion worth of tickets aboard Covid-cancelled flights: “There were communications between third parties and the Agency.”
Drug overdose deaths in British Columbia are running at their highest rate ever recorded, the B.C. Coroners Service said yesterday. New figures on fatalities follow cabinet polling on Canadians’ support for decriminalizing narcotics: “Stakeholders are saying criminalizing personal drug possession is hurting not helping.”
Cabinet yesterday in a 2021 Priorities Survey of Liberal Party members dropped all mention of internet regulation. Party members were asked to choose from dozens of issues “as we kick off this new mandate,” but omitted any reference to Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez’s web controls: “This is an important moment.”
The CBC yesterday apologized after bungling a hasty Québec City election call that sent the wrong candidate rushing to the podium to mistakenly deliver a TV victory speech. The Crown broadcaster earlier praised itself as a “beacon for truth” with high newsroom standards: “We need the public to feel safe, that we are a beacon for that truth.”
China’s foreign ministry yesterday said it will not tolerate the “politicization of sports” at the Beijing Winter Games. The Commons last February 22 by a 266-0 vote censured China for crimes against humanity and agreed to petition the International Olympic Committee to relocate the 2022 Games: “We’re pragmatic.”
Visitors to federal prisons will require proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test though the rule doesn’t apply to inmates. The Correctional Service said it preferred education to coercion in dealing with prisoners themselves: “Inmates are not required to get the Covid-19 vaccine and must consent to being vaccinated.”
Public comment by Attorney General David Lametti on the constitutionality of a particular law is insufficient for sentencing, an Alberta court has ruled. Parliament makes laws not Lametti, wrote an Edmonton judge: “His opinion does not reflect the will of Parliament.”
