Any federal employees who leaked secret memos on Chinese interference must be “identified and prosecuted,” says Liberal-appointed Senator Yuen Pau Woo (B.C.). The Senator made the demand in a submission to the Commission on Foreign Interference made public yesterday: “Why have the leakers not been identified and prosecuted?”
The next Census will include new questions on “couple relationships” outside marriage and common law, Statistics Canada said yesterday. It follows the first-ever collection of Census data on “gender diversity.”
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland yesterday proposed billions in new mid-term deficit spending at rates up to 95 percent higher than forecast only a year ago. Freeland revised all deficit projections upwards despite writing in her budget document that “it would be irresponsible and unfair to pass more debt to the next generation.”
A federal ethics investigation of a Department of Industry board will be finalized within 90 days, the Commons ethics committee was told yesterday. Records show then-Industry Minister Navdeep Bains ignored repeated warnings in appointing a Liberal Party donor with a known conflict: “Have you uncovered any element of criminality?”
Elections Canada yesterday detailed plans for a media marketing campaign targeting young voters. Electors under 25 number 2.7 million but fewer than half, 1.2 million, cast ballots in the 2021 campaign: “Most of them intend to vote in the upcoming federal election.”
No one can provide “100 percent clarity” there are no Chinese agents on the federal payroll, says the nation’s spy chief. David Vigneault, director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, told MPs he could not discuss ongoing investigations: “We can never rest.”
The Canada Border Services Agency has not successfully intercepted a single shipment of slave-made goods since cabinet announced a federal crackdown on Chinese imports, records show. Critics have called Canada an unwitting leader in importing forced labour products: “Our enforcement to this point has been terrible.”
Cabinet today proposed new controls and taxes on real estate to take effect in 2025. Measures to be detailed in “consultation” documents this summer include a tax on undeveloped property: “The government will consider introducing a new tax.”
Cabinet’s “safe supply” drug policy is prompting public disorder, a Liberal MP yesterday told the Commons health committee. MP Doctor Marcus Powlowski (Thunder Bay-Rainy River, Ont.), an emergency room physician, warned colleagues: “There is certainly the perception by a lot of Canadians that a lot of downtown cores are basically out of control.”
Rideau Hall yesterday had no comment after Governor General Mary Simon personally hosted a conference in support of a bill before Parliament, C-63 An Act To Enact The Online Harms Act. The guest list was limited to Attorney General Arif Virani and supporters of internet regulation: “We discussed this and our Online Harms Act.”
Cabinet’s 2022 use of emergency powers against Freedom Convoy protestors cost the Department of Public Safety more than $73 million, new records show. Expenses were not finalized: “What was the cost burden for the government?”
The nation’s largest teachers unions yesterday opposed a New Democrat bill to outlaw corporal punishment of unruly children. Heidi Yetman, a mother of two sons and president of the Canadian Teachers’ Federation, said the bill would “put teachers at risk of being charged with assault.”
Postal unions yesterday asked MPs to beware of steep service cuts contemplated in Department of Public Works in-house research. The department commissioned surveys on closure of post offices and elimination of doorstep delivery: “You have got this tremendous amount of pressure on Canada Post.”
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland tomorrow will expand a billion-a-year GST holiday on new rental construction to include student housing. Freeland said she was “unlocking the door to the middle class for millions.”
Canada’s spy chief David Vigneault testified under oath he repeatedly warned Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and political aides that Chinese agents were targeting Conservative MPs. Vigneault’s testimony contradicted the Prime Minister: “It is indeed something I communicated.”
