There will be no recession in 2025, Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem said yesterday. The Governor added Canadians can “decide what adjective they want” to describe rising unemployment, weaker growth and declining business investment: “We’re not expecting a recession.”
Parliament has given rare passage to a private bill amending the Bankruptcy And Insolvency Act. The farmers’ aid bill sponsored by Conservative MP Scot Davidson (York-Simcoe, Ont.) followed 40 years’ worth of petitions by fruit and vegetable growers: “This has been in the works for a very long time.”
MPs may call each other erratic or unhinged, Speaker Greg Fergus said yesterday. The new guidance on parliamentary language followed complaints that too many adjectives had been banned in Commons debate: “Is ‘erratic’ and ‘unhinged’ considered parliamentary language in this place?”
Liberal Senate appointee Kristopher Wells (Alta.) yesterday denied any interest in partisan politics despite being an outspoken critic of the Conservative Party and onetime Liberal donor. Wells declined comment when asked to justify his appointment after more than a million Albertans elected other Senate nominees: “Do you know who they are?”
A Toronto bank failed to report suspicious cash transactions including millions transferred in and out of accounts, federal regulators said yesterday. The Exchange Bank of Canada, owned by a Florida firm Currency Exchange International, is appealing its $2,457,750 fine: “The Bank did not report large cash transactions.”
The Commons last night passed a budget bill on deadline. However cabinet’s proposal for a GST holiday on Christmas goods faced unexpected protests from Liberal appointees in the Senate: “We definitely recognize we are facing challenges.”
Coleen Volk, the $551,000-a year CEO of Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, yesterday said executive bonuses at the federal insurer are secret. Even criteria used to decide who gets how much are confidential and cannot be disclosed to MPs, she said: “We attract the best and the brightest.’
A third of government-sponsored refugees rely on food banks in their first year in Canada, says a Department of Immigration report. And more than half remain on welfare five years after their arrival: “Independent living is not clearly defined.”
The Commons justice committee yesterday recommended cabinet tie federal postsecondary funding to enforcement of hate speech laws on campus. It followed testimony that colleges and universities have become hotbeds of anti-Semitism: “There are so many stories to tell and I hear them every day.”
A public registry of foreign agents in Canada should be in place by June, says the Department of Public Safety. Enforcement would come one year after Parliament passed a registry bill into law: “That’s our internal plan.”
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland yesterday appealed to MPs to stop questioning cabinet’s credibility on debt management. Freeland promised to update budget figures next Monday, a day before Parliament is scheduled to adjourn for a five-week Christmas recess: “It is very important not to cast any doubt on Canada’s financial credibility.”
A GST holiday will cost 80 percent more than claimed by Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, the Budget Office said yesterday. Analysts said Freeland failed to account for mandatory compensation owed provinces that harmonized their own sales tax collections with the GST: “Would you agree with that number?”
MPs yesterday by a 180 to 152 vote rejected a non-confidence motion that quoted New Democrat Jagmeet Singh as calling cabinet weak and selfish. Singh himself voted against it: “What has this administration promised the NDP to get them to vote against their leader’s own words?”
The Green Party yesterday blamed inexperienced staff for illegal campaign spending by MP Mike Morrice (Kitchener Centre, Ont.). The Party won the riding in 2021 after overspending by thousands of dollars, said the Elections Commissioner: “Our first-time official agent made a few small mistakes.”
Deputy Finance Minister Chris Forbes yesterday refused to say who at his department agreed to hire a Brazilian contractor to mismanage a pandemic relief program. Auditors found widespread irregularities including padded timesheets and rates charged at up to $750 per hour: “They really did fail.”
