Blacklock's Reporter

Whistleblowers are asking MPs to publicly release hundreds of pages of documents detailing insider dealing at a taxpayer-funded foundation. Some $150 million was paid to friends of Sustainable Development Technology Canada, one witness told the Commons industry committee: “How many board members and executives are in conflicts of interest and are funding companies they have a financial interest in?”

Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly yesterday had Canada’s United Nations delegation vote with Iran and against Israel and the U.S. in supporting a Mideast ceasefire without condemning the killing of Jews. One Canadian Jewish group last night called the vote disgusting: “Canada voted in support of a resolution that fails to hold Hamas accountable for its war crimes.”

CBC executives must forego Christmas bonuses, the Commons heritage committee said yesterday. Paying another $16 million in annual bonuses was inappropriate as CEO Catherine Tait complained of revenue shortfalls and threatened job cuts, said the committee: “Everybody at CBC right now needs to consider the financial situation.”

Cabinet must give itself new powers to eliminate private sector strikes, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce yesterday told the Commons trade committee. The Chamber suggested compulsory arbitration or some other mechanism to “force a deal.”

Commons Speaker Greg Fergus yesterday apologized 13 times and pleaded with the House affairs committee to “move on” as MPs weighed his fitness for office. A total 149 MPs have demanded Fergus resign for breach of rules on impartiality: “Like anyone who starts a new job I am working and learning on the job.”

Canada has not gained “a single thing of tangible value” for its US$159.2 million purchase of shares in the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, says a Canadian publicist who worked as a senior executive at the Beijing institution. “It is dominated by senior Communist Party members,” said Bob Pickard of Toronto: “I am an eyewitness.”

A failed vaccine factory in Public Works Minister Jean-Yves Duclos’ Québec City riding received twice the federal subsidies originally claimed, the Commons health committee was told yesterday. A factory executive refused to release the contracts: “We didn’t deliver anything.”

Senators yesterday cited the Canadian Human Rights Commission as incompetent. The $41.6 million Commission was found to mistreat its own Black employees: “These findings call into question the inability of the Commission in respond to human rights complaints in a fair and equitable manner.”

Cabinet yesterday detailed its timing for promised expansion of a $13 billion dentacare program to subsidize teenagers and seniors. The program would see 9,077,196 more Canadians eligible for subsidies currently paid to 395,000 children under 12: “The intention here is to fill the gaps.”

Federal agents have seized tens of thousands of firearms in cross-border mail, says a Canada Border Services Agency report. The figures are the first to date on the scope of gun smuggling: “The total number of firearms successfully smuggled into Canada is unknown.”

Liberal MP Greg Fergus (Hull-Aylmer, Que.), first Black Speaker of the Commons, is now the first Speaker since Confederation to be summoned for cross-examination by MPs. The House affairs committee meeting in secret session agreed Fergus will face questioning for misconduct: “He must sever his Party connections.”

A fifth of Canadians surveyed have been victimized by electronic fraud, says in-house research by the Department of Public Safety. The public told federal researchers that scamming by phone and internet has reached epidemic proportions: “Participants believe financial crime to be pervasive.”

CTV News faces a formal complaint from B’nai Brith over its coverage of a pro-Israel rally on Parliament Hill. Announcer Omar Sachedina is accused of using needlessly inflammatory language to characterize the peaceful protest: ‘Announcers must avoid allowing their personal biases to influence their reporting.’

Lawn signs promoting an anti-Trudeau book in the 2019 campaign were subject to Elections Act regulations, a federal judge has ruled. The publisher Rebel News Network fought a $3,000 fine for failing to register as a campaign advertiser: “The lawn signs were election advertising.”