David Johnston, 81, cabinet’s “independent special rapporteur” on alleged vote fraud, in his last appearances at parliamentary hearings admitted failure in managing campaign debates and gave a rambling speech in praise of We Charity. The former governor general turns 82 in June: “If you haven’t been to a We Day, do yourself a favour and go to a We Day.”
Allegations of corrupt election practices are a deliberate campaign of disinformation, claims a Liberal MP. “It is not based on facts,” MP Ya’ara Saks (York Centre, Ont.) told the House affairs committee: “We are moving down into a rabbit hole.”
A parliamentary committee will recommend cabinet embrace closer ties with Taiwan. It follows a unanimous Commons vote endorsing Taiwan’s bid for membership in the World Health Organization: “It should be allowed to participate on the world stage.”
Anti-trust lawyers with the Competition Bureau yesterday recommended Parliament broaden its definition of misleading advertising under the Competition Act. The Bureau in a report recommended following a 2012 Supreme Court ruling that ads creating a false “general impression” are improper: “Courts must not approach a written advertisement as if it were a commercial contract by reading it several times.”
Only a public inquiry into allegations of election corruption will restore Canadians’ confidence that federal votes are fair, Conservative and Bloc Québécois MPs said yesterday. Opposition parties are expected to formally vote for an inquiry as a parliamentary order, forcing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to comply or risk censure for contempt: “It is about confidence in our democracy.”
Liberal MPs last night clocked 22 hours in a filibuster to block questioning of the Prime Minister’s chief of staff over allegations of election interference. A majority of MPs on the House affairs committee seek to cross-examine Katie Telford: “How much longer are you guys across the way going to continue this?”
Liberal MPs face a witch hunt under any public inquiry into election interference by foreign agents, a parliamentary secretary said yesterday. MP Anita Vandenbeld (Ottawa West-Nepean) said she was safe with voters since “I am of Dutch descent” but feared Chinese-Canadian Liberals faced ruin: “Obviously I am not working for China.”
The federal backlog of air passenger complaints is now a record 42,000, the Canadian Transportation Agency said yesterday. Cabinet pledged millions in new funding to investigate complaints of poor service: “Are there additional rules we can make?”
The number of Canadians claiming a charity tax credit on their 2021 tax return declined by 165,330, Statistics Canada said yesterday. Charities have blamed the latest decline on the pandemic and fallout from We Charity investigations: “We Charity ambassadors were A-listers from the world of entertainment, politics, civil society and the corporate world.”
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland must “close the growing income gap” with new taxes in her March 28 budget, says a Commons finance committee report. The income gap is not in fact growing, according to Bank of Canada figures: ‘It has been relatively stable over the last 25 years.’
Museums are too “colonial” and must educate Canadians on “climate change, equity, diversity and inclusion,” says a Department of Canadian Heritage report. Traditional exhibits are too mainstream and fail to “take into consideration important societal shifts,” it said: “For many years museums have decided what to acquire, what to exhibit and whose stories to tell.”
Canada’s military must embrace “critical self-reflection” on racism, privilege and “white fragility,” says the Department of National Defence. Commanders in an Anti-Racism Toolkit detailed steps that soldiers, sailors and air crew must take to examine “ways that whiteness and white superiority become embedded in policies and processes.”
Ontario and Québec have the worst water in Canada, say Department of Environment data. The quality of rivers, lakes and streams showed no improvement in the past two decades due in part to dumping of raw sewage: “Water quality has deteriorated at 24 sites.”
A federal labour board has dismissed another complaint over unions’ acceptance of vaccine mandates. The latest grievance was rejected on a technicality though arbitrators have ruled unions acted in good faith in accepting mandates: “The complaint is clearly untimely.”
Trade Minister Mary Ng will not comment on her association with a group one parliamentary witness on Friday named as a Communist Party front. Ng is one of four Liberal MPs to publicly endorse the Confederation of Toronto Chinese Canadian Organizations: “This is but the tip of the iceberg.”
