Cabinet will introduce 2021 regulations to curb Twitter and Facebook posts deemed hurtful or offensive, says Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault’s department. Hate speech is already forbidden under 1970 amendments to the Criminal Code: “We want to protect Canadians online.”
A federal labour arbitrator has overturned the firing of a CBC-TV reporter for breaching the network’s code of conduct. The dismissal followed an angry tweet about Don Cherry: “Some employees and some opinions are deemed more acceptable than others.”
An Alberta woman disqualified from seeking election as a First Nations band councilor for failing to detail her ancestry has lost her appeal at the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal. The election dispute was beyond the scope of the Human Rights Act, the Tribunal ruled: “The Tribunal finds itself in an unusual situation.”
Corporate lawyers in New York including Hillary Clinton donors hosted a 2019 campaign fundraiser for Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller, newly-released records show. Miller yesterday did not comment: “All aspects of the law were faithfully adhered to.”
The Department of Employment confirms one manager and an employee were implicated in serious wrongdoing, and disclosed an “integrity and security office” had misused government credit cards. The department yesterday would not name people involved in the fraud or indicate if police were called: ‘What sort of financial checks are in place?’
The Department of Foreign Affairs yesterday issued a rare advisory warning Canadian companies to beware of importing slave-made goods from China. “Due diligence is essential,” said the department.
More than a third of Canadians say they’ve worn masks in public, according to in-house federal polling. Researchers found people were confused by conflicting advice from the Public Health Agency in the first months of the pandemic: “It can be with a Kleenex.”
Liberal MP Omar Alghabra (Mississauga Centre Ont.), newly-appointed transport minister, yesterday had no comment on a bailout of the airline sector as exasperated unions appealed for quick aid. A cabinet panel a month ago warned of an “urgent need of targeted assistance to avoid collapse.”
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland in a report to Parliament predicts “uncertainty with regards to government spending” in 2021. Cabinet has borrowed at the rate of a billion dollars a day: ‘I propose to increase the borrowing limit.’
A law mandating disclosure of federal records “could soon be beyond repair,” Information Commissioner Caroline Maynard said yesterday in a report to MPs. Maynard accused cabinet of weak leadership in complying with the Access To Information Act that dates from 1983: “Canadians are fed up.”
Canadian media coverage of the pandemic is unsatisfactory, says the Chinese embassy. Diplomats said they were unhappy with reporters and commentators who are “not so friendly.”
Money managers should prepare for a flood of climate lawsuits, the federal Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions said yesterday. Canadian courts to date have dismissed liability claims by environmental groups: “Hard to predict.”
The labour department says a proposal to mandate free sanitary products for women employees at federally regulated job sites is contentious. “Not providing these products in a private manner could be discriminatory towards gender diverse employees,” wrote staff.
Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson for the first time acknowledges climate change programs will see Canadians pay higher net costs for fuel. Wilkinson also called the carbon tax a “carbon tax,” a phrase never used by his department: “Politicians have an obligation to the public to tell them the straight goods.”
Taxpayers have paid pandemic relief to five banks operating in Canada including branches of the state-run Bank of China Ltd. The Prime Minister’s Office did not comment: “It’s not good news for anyone if local businesses have to close shop.”
