Blacklock's Reporter

The Commons health committee by a 5-4 vote yesterday requested a special audit of a half-billion dollar fund covering medical claims by illegal immigrants and refugee claimants. The vote came as MPs dismissed testimony by Assistant Deputy Immigration Minister Soyoung Park that foreigners received no better health coverage than taxpayers: “I am not sure what point you are trying to make there.”

Members of the Commons heritage committee are demanding an inventory of 132 works that vanished from a $14.4 million federal Indigenous Art Collection, largest of its kind in Canada. Conservative MP Rachael Thomas (Lethbridge, Alta.) said mismanagement by the Department of Crown-Indigenous Relations was “despicable.”

The Commons government operations committee yesterday by 5-4 vote asked to interview future candidates for appointment as Budget Officer. Cabinet seeks to replace Interim Officer Jason Jacques after he criticized federal spending as reckless: “You know something is going to break.”

A cabinet bill granting Canadian status to the grandchildren of citizens abroad yesterday was signed into law. Parliament passed the bill in time for an original November 20 deadline set by an Ontario court: “Canada cannot have different classes of citizen.”

Privy Council Clerk Michael Sabia yesterday confirmed he sold his own shares in Brookfield Corporation but could not say why Prime Minister Mark Carney did not do the same. MPs on the Commons ethics committee said Carney stood to make millions through a Brookfield investment fund registered in the Cayman Islands: “Given the role that the Prime Minister played in Brookfield, it was clear Brookfield would be an important part of my activities.”

Immigration Minister Lena Diab yesterday permanently ended a requirement that refugees in Canada undergo a medical exam when applying for permanent residency, effective immediately. It followed questioning over rising costs of a half-billion dollar program that covers medical expenses for refugee claimants and illegal immigrants: ‘It covers all sorts of things seniors do not get.’

The Ontario government hired $1 million-a month American trade lawyers for help on cross-border disputes even as Premier Doug Ford publicly expressed confidence in the Prime Minister’s negotiating skills, records show. The costly retainer was signed October 25: “We need to work as Team Canada right now.”

Cabinet is extending debt collections until 2028 on Canadians who falsely claimed $2,000 pandemic relief cheques. Auditors have complained of slow recovery of billions in wrongful payments: “It’s a lot of money.”

Attorney General Sean Fraser yesterday said cabinet will not attempt to ‘copy and paste’ earlier bills on censorship of legal internet content. Two bills have failed since 2021 amid a public outcry: ‘You should not expect to see that.’

New immigrants are no strain on the health care system since many are doctors, Immigration Minister Lena Diab said yesterday. Cabinet’s Immigration Levels Plan will let 1,068,650 foreigners into Canada this year on permanent and temporary permits: “How many doctors are driving taxis?”

Calls to a federal tip line on abuse of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program nearly doubled last year, labour department figures show. No reason was given. Thousands of complaints prompted on-site inspections: “Businesses have taken advantage.”

Cabinet acknowledges it does not know how many children have been fed under its national school lunch program. Ministers have repeatedly claimed a figure of 400,000 in recounting anecdotes praising the program as a success: “The department does not collect detailed program-level data.”

A multi-million dollar federal art collection will no longer lend pieces after more than 100 artworks vanished, says Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Rebecca Alty. Her department has declined to say why police were never called to track paintings, sculptures or photographs that went missing from the Indigenous Art Collection: ‘These are cultural treasures.’

A Covid-era program funded by Parliament to aid cultural groups facing bankruptcy went unspent even as bankruptcies doubled, says a federal report. Auditors wrote they were puzzled: ‘It’s raising important questions.’

The Commons last night passed a Ways And Means Motion on the federal budget 170 to 168 on warnings MPs didn’t know what they were voting for. “The government is hiding information from us,” said Conservative MP Kelly McCauley (Edmonton West) following a Budget Office protest that cabinet was concealing figures on budget impacts: “Parliamentarians need this information and we need it now.”