The RCMP yesterday said it did not conduct any criminal investigation of alleged Chinese interference in the 2019 federal election. Members of the House affairs committee said the testimony was not reassuring amid repeated claims of illegality: “I am very, very frustrated right now with the lack of information.”
Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan yesterday said Canada needs more oil and gas workers, not fewer, and cursed cabinet’s “just transition” climate retraining program. “I can’t stand the phrase ‘just transition,’” said O’Regan: “We asked workers in Saskatchewan and Alberta to figure out how to get oil out of sand and by God they did it.”
Most Canadians oppose internet voting, says Elections Canada research. A Liberal Party proposal for voting by smartphone was rejected by the House affairs committee prior to the 2021 campaign: “A majority agree that voting over the internet should not be an option.”
Cabinet polled for popular catchphrases in anticipation of its spring budget, records show. Most Canadians surveyed in Privy Council focus groups said buzzwords were unlikely to solve economic troubles: ‘Most were of the view economic problems facing Canadians were quite complex.’
Trade Minister Mary Ng has signed a “conflict of interest screen” pledging to never award another sole sourced contract to a longtime friend and CBC-TV pundit. The written pledge followed testimony at the Commons ethics committee that rated contracts for Amanda Alvaro as unusual: “The Ethics Commissioner and I have agreed.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Privy Council Office commissioned confidential research on a national electronic ID system. No reason was given. Parliament has repeatedly rejected any mandatory identification program as intrusive and costly: ‘Adoption may be difficult especially among Canadians already distrustful of public institutions.’
Federal Comptroller General Roch Huppé ordered managers to “be careful what you write down” to avoid creating records subject to Access To Information. The remarks were made in a teleconference with chief financial officers: “They have to be careful.”
Canadians should educate themselves on slavery even if it was outlawed here decades before Confederation, Equality Minister Marci Ien yesterday told reporters. “It doesn’t matter who was in charge,” said Ien.
The Commons yesterday by a vote of 176 to 142 gave Second Reading to a bill critics called a bid to whitewash federal mismanagement of the pandemic. The private bill sponsored by Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith (Beaches-East York, Ont.) proposed that cabinet appoint a committee to review itself: “Canadians will never get the answers they deserve.”
Small business yesterday appealed for a cap on billions’ worth of credit card fees charged retailers. The Department of Finance for more than a decade has permitted Visa and MasterCard to set their own rates under a voluntary Code Of Conduct: “Who do we work for?”
The federal government is “broken” and bungles basic tasks with little cabinet scrutiny, Budget Officer Yves Giroux said yesterday. “There needs to be a crack of the whip, big time,” he said: “Hold the government to account. I cannot do this just by myself.”
Cabinet is on the wrong track and appears overwhelmed by events, Canadians tell pollsters in Privy Council in-house research. Participants in federal focus groups also gave cabinet a failing grade in tackling inflation: “Very few participants believed the Government of Canada was currently on the right track.”
Employment Minister Carla Qualtrough yesterday disclosed she was never told dozens of department employees were under investigation for fraud. Qualtrough said she only learned after the fact that 49 were fired for cheating the Canada Emergency Response Benefit program: “No one brought to your attention specifically that there were employees being investigated within your department?”
The Commons yesterday by a unanimous 320 to 0 vote ordered a special audit of federal contracts to McKinsey & Company, a global consulting firm formerly led by a friend of Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland. Liberal MPs endorsed the Conservative motion amid complaints the Opposition was looking for evidence of corruption: “We have a right to know what is going on.”
Communist Party agents cost a Conservative MP his seat in Parliament, the House affairs committee was told yesterday. MP Kenny Chiu (Steveston-Richmond East, B.C.) was targeted by a “massive campaign of disinformation,” testified an investigator who looked at the case: “If had not been for that disinformation Mr. Chiu would still be in Parliament.”
