VIA Rail will require ongoing bailouts for years to come due to far-reaching Covid losses, says management. Millions are required to avoid “drastic cuts,” said the Crown railway: “Without sufficient and timely funding VIA Rail would be obliged to make drastic cuts.”
Cabinet would enshrine a legal “right to a healthy environment” under a bill yesterday introduced in the Senate. MPs defeated a similar New Democrat measure two years ago: ‘This would lead to strong protections for Canadians no matter who they are or where they live.’
We Charity now relies entirely on U.S. donors following the collapse of a 2020 federal grant, according to records. The charity outlined its finances in a 458-page filing in U.S. federal court: “We Charity’s reputation in the United States is its most valuable asset.”
The Commons yesterday voted unanimously to formally repeal terms of a contract awarding Canadian Pacific Railway exemption from taxation. Lawyers for the corporation have sued to enforce the 19th century contract promising the CPR a perpetual tax holiday: “Ridiculous.”
Vehicle traffic should be banned within two blocks of Parliament Hill, a former Ottawa police chief said yesterday. Senator Vern White said cabinet should ensure the Freedom Convoy blockade now in its 14th day is the last street encampment of its kind: “The city and federal governments can make these changes quickly.”
A group of thirteen senators last night vowed it will not rubber stamp any more cabinet bills. Senator Scott Tannas (Alta.), leader of the Canadian Senators Group, said he was weary of political horse-trading that has seen bills rushed into law without proper scrutiny: “It is a gun to your head if you are an individual senator.”
The Commons yesterday by a 173-155 vote ordered federal regulators to suspend a data scoop on millions of cellphone users. Telecom customers were never properly advised their tracking data would be compiled by the Public Health Agency, said MPs: “This news was shocking to many Canadians.”
Cabinet’s vaccination campaign is needlessly divisive and political, the ex-chair of the Québec Liberal caucus yesterday told reporters. “Where the hell are we heading here in Canada?” said MP Joël Lightbound (Louis-Hébert, Que.): “A decision was made to wedge, to divide and to stigmatize. I fear this politicization of the pandemic.”
Cabinet has no role in forcing an end to growing Freedom Convoy blockades, Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said yesterday. Seventy trade groups petitioned cabinet to force an end to border blockades at Windsor and Coutts, Alta.: “I hope the blockaders or occupiers or protesters stop their protesting.”
The Competition Bureau yesterday said Parliament must outlaw wage fixing. The Competition Act is “out of step,” anti-trust investigators wrote in a report: “The Act does not impose meaningful consequences for non-compliance.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last night said the Freedom Convoy movement “has to stop.” Trudeau spoke in the Commons for the first time since dismissing truckers opposed to vaccine mandates as tin foil hats: “They don’t have the right to insult those who choose to wear a mask, to get vaccinated.”
Federal privacy investigators were refused access to a program that tracked millions of cellphone users in the name of lockdown compliance. “We offered our expertise,” Privacy Commissioner Daniel Therrien said yesterday. “It was declined. It is what it is.”
The Department of Environment complains tens of thousands of tonnes of pandemic masks have been thrown away as litter or landfill. Covid underscored the use of disposable plastics in everyday life, it said: “An unprecedented amount of single use personal protective equipment is being used in Canada to prevent transmission of Covid.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau must explain terms of his pledge to cap oil and gas emissions, the Commons natural resources committee was told yesterday. Trudeau made the announcement without explanation at a United Nations conference: “What is the value of additional legislation that creates even more uncertainty?”
Cabinet should revoke scheduled carbon tax hikes and consider energy rebates for home heating, the Commons finance committee was told yesterday. The carbon tax will increase to the equivalent of 12¢ per litre of gasoline effective April 1: “It is well beyond what would otherwise be an inflationary factor.”
