Canadians consider pesticide use unavoidable though bad for the environment, says Department of Health research. Pesticide sales average more than 132 million kilograms a year, by official estimate: “Six in ten agree they are concerned that pesticides, even when used as directed, are not safe.”
Cabinet seeks to ‘scale-up’ drug injection sites with amendments to the Controlled Drugs And Substances Act. The response follows protests in two of four provinces that legally distribute heroin, fentanyl and crystal methamphetamine to users: “We believe in supervised consumption sites.”
Canadian youth rate climate change a greater threat than drugs, guns, gangs or traffic accidents. The Department of Public Safety research followed climate marches last September 27 and an apocalyptic speech by teen activist Greta Thunberg at the United Nations: “We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money.”
More than a quarter of retirees aren’t retired, says the Department of Employment. New figures follow research indicating the number of Canadians over 65 who remained in the workforce is the “highest on record”.
A tax protestor who attempted to walk out of his trial in British Columbia Provincial Court has been found guilty of failing to file yearly returns. The Canada Revenue Agency has complained of internet-fueled protests challenging the Income Tax Act: “De-taxer, tax protestor, natural person – different names, same agenda.”
A committee of MPs today will vote to issue urgent recommendations to cabinet in aid of 300,000 Canadians in Hong Kong. One MP compared the territory to East Germany under new Communist Party controls: “In my mind, China doesn’t care. China will sacrifice Hong Kong.”
We Charity did more lobbying on Parliament Hill than General Motors, newly-released records show. The charity lists eighteen employees as federal lobbyists: “At the time we thought it was minimal.”
A tenth of grocery store weigh scales don’t give honest measurements, says a federal audit. The Department of Industry said drivers also have a 1 in 25 chance of being cheated at the pumps: “You get a ticket, you pay a fine. You get another ticket, you pay a fine.”
The Canadian Space Agency is spending $450,000 to show Nunavut residents how to grow carrots in the Arctic. The Agency justified the spending as research on future food production in outer space: “That may one day help astronauts grow food off Earth.”
A federal labour board has upheld the firing of a longtime Canada Revenue Agency employee for snooping through tax files. The discipline is only the latest since the Office of the Privacy Commissioner in 2013 cited the Agency for “disturbing” laxity in privacy breaches: “621 unauthorized accesses is a very large number.”
Fallout from We Charity investigations have impacted the entire sector nationwide, the Commons government operations committee was told yesterday. Charities faced pandemic layoffs and revenue declines even before disclosures of close ties between We Charity and cabinet: “Hell, the committee that hands out Orders of Canada thought they were okay.”
Cabinet borrowed more than a half-trillion dollars in 120 days, according to the Department of Finance. No date has been fixed for tabling of a 2020 federal budget: “There will need to be a sharp turn; temporary measures will have to be temporary.”
A company owned by former Québec Liberal MP Frank Baylis has received almost $700,000 in federal funding this year including contracts for a pandemic ventilator “not approved in any jurisdiction”, according to Department of Health records. MPs yesterday questioned the arrangement: “Friends are doing just fine.”
A Québec firm awarded an untendered ten-year federal contract to supply pandemic masks says it is “proud to be working with the Government of Canada”, but would not disclose who owns the company. AMD Medicom Inc. of Montréal was awarded a $382 million contract to supply Canadian-made masks though it had no factory in Canada: “We have nothing further to add on this topic.”
Finance Minister Bill Morneau yesterday vowed to “focus” on his work amid calls that he resign. Morneau faces a formal vote of censure in the Commons finance committee after failing to disclose he accepted thousands of dollars’ worth of gifts from a federal contractor, We Charity: “Put the finance minister out of his misery.”
