The Senate has hired a psychologist. Administrators yesterday had little comment on the $10,000 consulting fee paid to a Montréal doctor: “It is in relation to a litigation file.”
Cabinet has approved demolition of another heritage building, Canadian National Railways’ century-old Hornepayne Station near Sudbury, Ont. Once a landmark at the halfway point for passengers riding the transcontinental line from Ottawa to Winnipeg, the station is to be razed: “You look at what we’ve lost and you almost want to cry.”
Statistics Canada in a report says it must become more customer-focused in its sale of information. The agency’s commercial business earlier prompted protest when StatsCan attempted to scoop banking data on some 1.5 million Canadians: ‘Clients want fast service at a reasonable cost.’
Small businesses from restaurants to retailers face ruin if cabinet doesn’t reopen federal buildings, says the mayor of Charlottetown. Mayor Philip Brown petitioned cabinet to open the Department of Veterans Affairs headquarters in his city that accounts for millions in tax revenue: “There is an economic crisis coming and I’m concerned.”
Another Royal Canadian Navy tradition has gone the way of Morse Code and the rum ration. Commanders yesterday said designation of junior ranks as seamen will be abolished after Labour Day: “The Canadian Armed Forces will welcome anybody.”
A federal mask supplier AMD Medicom Inc. yesterday said it never shipped any goods made by Chinese prison labour to Canada. Communist Party authorities in Shanghai had directed prisoners to work at a Medicom plant in Shanghai, according to the local Party press: “The town government called for volunteers to help mask maker Medicom.”
We Charity paid the Prime Minister’s brother Alexandre more than $67,000 in talent fees and expenses in a six-month period. The payments were among a total $481,751 paid to the Trudeau family, it said: “Many groups do this.”
A federal audit has found contracting irregularities at the Department of the Environment, including one case where a favoured contractor started untendered work before competitors were even given notice. The audit covered a two-year period when $176.6 million in contracts were awarded under then-Minister Catherine McKenna: “This practice is explicitly prohibited.”
The Canadian Association of Broadcasters yesterday claimed as many as 200 private radio stations will close without federal aid. The industry reported a pre-tax profit of $210.7 million last year: “If the government is going to support one industry, then we feel they should support others.”
Barbecue enthusiasts are entitled to enjoy outdoor cooking without being sued by the neighbours, a British Columbia tribunal has ruled. “Subjective” complaints of excess smoke do not merit damages, said the province’s small claims court: “Live and let live.”
The Department of Public Works paid more than a quarter-billion dollars to buy pandemic ventilators from a former Québec Liberal MP’s company, officials said yesterday. Frank Baylis, one-term MP for Pierrefonds-Dollard, Que., did not comment: “Baylis is our subcontractor.”
Paid pandemic leave for federal employees who are neither sick nor working from home has now cost $828 million and counting, says the Parliamentary Budget Office. Analysts calculated more than a quarter-million employees have taken paid leave since the pandemic was declared March 11: “They are not working.”
Chinese prison labour was assigned to work at a Canadian-owned mask factory in Shanghai, according to the Communist Party press. The Department of Public Works has said it does not know if it purchased slave-made goods: “We do the job not for a reward but driven by our inner eagerness.”
Ex-finance minister Bill Morneau charged taxpayers more than $80,000 for pre-pandemic travel prior to abruptly resigning cabinet for accepting free trips from a federal contractor. Access To Information records yesterday disclosed by Conservative MP Tom Kmiec (Calgary Shepard) showed Morneau’s expenses included a $583-a night hotel in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: ‘It features discreet attentive service along with magical surroundings.’
China is a “predatory country” unfit to join any free trade pact with Canada, Opposition Leader Erin O’Toole yesterday told reporters. O’Toole has proposed Parliament pass legislation mandating disclosure of all lobbyists’ ties to the People’s Republic: “Push back against the bad actions of the Chinese Communist Party.”
