Cabinet yesterday invited taxpayers to vote for their favourite design of a multi-million dollar tribute to the Department of Foreign Affairs. The monument will commemorate the “daily sacrifices” of diplomats, said Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly: “It is essential.”
Governor General Mary Simon delivered a horrendous, lackluster and monotone Throne Speech, a Conservative MP said yesterday. Other MPs protested the critique was a breach of rules akin to insulting the Queen: “I found the words offensive.”
Cabinet yesterday declined comment on federal loans for coal mines even as the Prime Minister promised to curb coal for the sake of climate change. The departments of environment and finance did not reply to questions: “Climate action can’t wait.”
Too many taxpayers are still filing returns by mail, complains the Canada Revenue Agency. In-house research found millions of paper filers resist change: “They are simply not interested in switching. Therefore the Agency will have to demonstrate the value of switching.”
One of the nation’s largest fish farmers has been fined $500,000 for dumping fuel in salmon habitat. The maximum fine under federal law is $4 million: “A fine should be sufficiently high to deter the corporation, small or large.”
Cabinet’s promotion of electric vehicles sounds good but is impractical, says an internal briefing note at the Department of Industry. Management said converting its own fleet of cars, trucks and vans to electrics was unrealistic despite federal climate change targets: “Green technology is not readily available.”
Boycotting China’s Winter Olympics is pointless though the country is to blame for human rights atrocities, Liberal MP and former Olympian Adam van Koeverden said yesterday. The Commons has voted to petition the International Olympic Committee to relocate the 2022 Games: “I don’t think our athletes are being used.”
The Member of Parliament for Canada’s most populous riding yesterday said weighting of votes is frustrating electors. Conservative MP Mike Lake (Edmonton-Westaskiwin) noted in his riding nearly 89,000 voters cast ballots while in rural Atlantic Canada Liberals won seats with as few as 9,700 voters: “Each of those votes should matter as much as any other.”
The federal Green Party in a 2022 membership vote will see its fifth leader in three years, a parliamentary record. Interim leader Amita Kuttner yesterday said someone else could have the job: “I’m going to try to get out of it.”
Money is not the problem in maintaining minimum drinking standards in First Nations, the Parliamentary Budget Office said yesterday. The report followed an internal audit that complained federal agencies spent billions on new water plants but failed to ensure there were managers to run them: “This needed to be fixed yesterday.”
A federal manager coached a favoured contractor how to invoice one penny below the Treasury Board threshold on a sweetheart contract, according to Access To Information records. Neither the contractor nor manager would comment yesterday: “Hello, Raj. Our contracting folks inform me that the total contract value cannot exceed $40,000.”
A federally-funded agency yesterday claimed wide public support for internet regulation in a survey that asked Canadians if they’d like to ban hate speech. Parliament already banned hate speech in 1970: “This is really an important point.”
A federal law that prohibits voting by children faces a constitutional challenge. A legal clinic and group of young plaintiffs yesterday filed their claim in Ontario Superior Court: “Denying Canadian citizens under the age of 18 the right to vote is unconstitutional.”
The Senate yesterday took up a bill to honour essential workers killed by Covid, from doctors to truckers. The total number is not known, though victims among health care workers are estimated at 55: “With the current numbers of Covid in Canada, everyone will have known someone who died of this coronavirus.”
Pay equity regulations to take effect in 2024 will cost about $620 million a year, the Parliamentary Budget Office said yesterday. Companies will have up to eight years to adjust wages for underpaid women: “I would love to have seen this corrected overnight.”
