Blacklock's Reporter

The federal definition of “fully vaccinated” will remain at two Covid shots for now but it “obviously depends on the evolution of possible things,” Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos yesterday told reporters. His remarks came as cabinet lifted a Quarantine Act requirement effective April 1 that fully vaccinated travelers show proof of a negative Covid test at the border: “Will ‘fully vaccinated’ as a definition have to incorporate three shots?”

The Department of Industry yesterday approved a $27.2 million subsidy to build prototypes of small nuclear reactors the size of a shipping container for use in the Arctic. It followed a 2018 report stating Canada must promote nuclear power for the sake of climate change: “First-of-a-kind projects carry more risk and face higher costs.”

Groups including the Ukrainian Canadian Congress are petitioning federal regulators to block Russian websites. The CRTC yesterday imposed a symbolic ban on the Kremlin-controlled Russia Today TV news channel – it had no viewership in Canada – but noted “Canadians will still be able to access the content on other platforms such as the internet should they choose.”

A federal program to compensate families of Canadians who suffer death or injury as a result of Covid vaccination is budgeted to run at least five years, says the Department of Health. The final cost of the $75 million program is unknown: “$75 million in funding has been earmarked for the first five years.”

“Troubling” electric car rebates remain the costliest climate program, an Ottawa think tank said yesterday. Figures confirmed earlier Department of Transport data showing taxpayers’ subsidies are the equivalent of up to $700 or more per tonne of emissions saved: “The subsidy programs are very costly and inefficient.”

The Bank of Canada yesterday admitted its security department is in breach of federal gun laws. Employees were storing firearms technically prohibited under a 2020 cabinet order, it said: “The Bank of Canada requires these firearms for its security personnel in the course of their duties to effectively defend its premises.”

Cabinet yesterday for the first time acknowledged its national ban on “military style assault weapons” includes hunting rifles. Enforcement of the ban proposed by Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair is now delayed 18 months amid Indigenous complaints and cost overruns: “To misguide and mislead Canadians is disingenuous.”

The Department of Foreign Affairs yesterday would not explain a 2021 subsidy it gave to a pro-Russia business group whose directors included a former Canadian ambassador to Moscow. The five-figure subsidy was to “stimulate the engagement of Canadian industry” in Russia: “Is it done by well paid lobbyists? Who knows.”

The CBC has been ordered to pay more than a quarter million in legal fees in what is now the costliest defamation case in Manitoba history. A Winnipeg judge earlier noted the Crown broadcaster failed in its duty to be fair, balanced and responsible: “The CBC took very strong positions during the course of the trial that were not supported by the facts.”

Banks are eligible for taxpayers’ subsidies under a Freedom Convoy compensation fund for small business. The Commons finance committee has complained of poorly-designed aid programs that benefit publicly-traded corporations: “There were wide ranging consequences of this demonstration.”

Canadians should imagine Russia shelling the Ottawa airport or laying siege to the Port of Vancouver, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky yesterday told Parliament. Speaking in an 11-minute address by videoconference, Zelensky pleaded for direct military intervention to save his country: “Feel what we feel every day. We want to live.”

Federal anti-trust lawyers yesterday closed without charges a two-year investigation of allegations farm chemical manufacturers targeted a start-up discounter, Farmers Business Network. The Competition Bureau said it found no evidence of unlawful activity but complained of emails between rivals discussing Farmers Business: “If anyone thinks socialism is going to feed the world just call Russia.”

Cabinet use of the Emergencies Act against truckers sets a bad precedent “far and wide,” the Assembly of First Nations yesterday told the Commons finance committee. National Chief RoseAnne Archibald said she was given advance warning cabinet would designate the Freedom Convoy an illegal assembly: “I was concerned about the long term implications of this.”

It is too early to calculate job impacts from a climate change pledge to cap oil and gas emissions, says Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault. Witnesses at the Commons natural resources committee pressed for details of the pledge made at a conference in Scotland last November: “What is the projected loss of jobs?”

A rare joint committee of Parliament yesterday opened an unprecedented inquiry into cabinet’s actions against the Freedom Convoy. The 11-member panel has one year to determine why cabinet invoked extraordinary police powers against truckers: “Responsibilities of this committee are very, very serious.”