A Sunday Poem — “Giving”

 

You see this ad every

Easter,

Thanksgiving,

Christmas.

 

A homeless man having dinner.

 

Your donation of $2.97

would provide him with that special

meal.

 

What he eats on the other days of the year

isn’t the issue.

 

Focus on the bargain.

 

Buying a clean conscience

has never been

cheaper.

 

By Shai Ben-Shalom

Contractor Secretly Recorded

A federal contractor paid millions for the ArriveCan app boasted of having pull at the Canada Border Services Agency. Remarks by Kristian Firth, partner with GC Strategies of Woodlawn, Ont., were secretly recorded by a subcontractor and given to the Commons government operations committee: “They’ve got you recorded.”

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Will Barrel Thru Tax Protest

Cabinet will have to “barrel on” through public complaints over the carbon tax, Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan said yesterday. Cabinet faces a Commons vote Monday on a motion to repeal the 12¢ per cubic metre tax for the majority of Canadian homeowners who heat with natural gas: ‘Everyday folks are just having trouble making things meet and looking for someone to blame.’

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No Pharmacare Commitment

Cabinet has not committed to passing a pharmacare bill by year’s end, says Health Minister Mark Holland. He made no mention of a 2022 agreement with New Democrats to pass pharmacare legislation before December 31, 2023: “It’s not something I have committed to.”

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Warn Chauffeurs Were Spies

Prime Minister Brian Mulroney secretly warned cabinet members to treat their chauffeurs as spies and gossips, according to newly declassified records. Political aides were also unreliable, said Mulroney: “Talking in the presence of chauffeurs was a deplorable but common mistake as these persons were notoriously unreliable gossips.”

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PM To Face Carbon Tax Vote

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau faces a House vote on whether to extend carbon tax relief on home heating to all householders nationwide. Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre yesterday also challenged the Prime Minister to call a carbon tax election: “Let’s make a deal. Let’s pause the carbon tax on all home heating until Canadians go to the polls.”

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Military Shrinking Says Blair

The Canadian Armed Forces are shrinking. Defence Minister Bill Blair yesterday said more soldiers, sailors and air crew are quitting than can be replaced with new recruits amid “a great deal of priorities right now” with war in Israel and Ukraine and domestic search and rescue operations: “Over the last three years we’ve actually seen greater attrition.”

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Rely On Family Over CMHC

Homes are so costly in Toronto and Vancouver that more buyers are relying on family to meet minimum downpayments, data show. CMHC said Toronto’s share of its insurance portfolio has shrunk by half: ‘Parents and grandparents are playing the CMHC’s role.’

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PM Kept Tabs On Disclosures

Prime Minister Brian Mulroney asked to be personally told of every single Access To Information request filed with the Privy Council Office, according to newly declassified cabinet records. Mulroney vowed to not give an inch on disclosing federal documents he considered embarrassing: “The government should not open the door one further inch for more Access To Information requests.”

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$8,039,853 Is Buried In Budget

The cost of an $8 million solar-powered warehouse at Rideau Hall was buried in a Crown corporation’s budget and never scrutinized by the Department of Public Works, MPs were told yesterday. Members of the public accounts committee expressed astonishment: “Who else is looking at these budgets?”

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Can’t Find 100% Of Fugitives

Federal agents are unable to track and deport all foreign fugitives, the Canada Border Services Agency said yesterday. The admission followed new data indicating 29,248 foreigners banned from Canada remain here: “I think targets of 100 percent are rarely achievable.”

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