Use of the Liberal Party’s “Canada Strong” election slogan in federal advertising violates a directive against partisan misuse of public funds, members of the Commons government operations committee said yesterday. The Privy Council promised to investigate: “It literally violates the Treasury Board rules.”
Statistics Canada yesterday denied downplaying anti-Semitic incidents in a national hate crimes report. Access To Information records showed the agency provided a confidential advance copy of its “highly anticipated” report to Heritage Minister Marc Miller’s department before it was published: “The department will get to review work in progress.”
Canada’s new Chief Public Health Officer yesterday called the pandemic “a very difficult time for everyone” but would not discuss which specific errors contributed to public distrust. “Trust in health and institutions has been strained,” Dr. Joss Reimer of Winnipeg told the Commons health committee: “Whether those were the right or wrong decisions, we know there were many difficult things.”
MPs yesterday recommended first-ever annual reporting on military suicides. The Commons veterans affairs committee complained of “data shortages” amid conflicting figures: “Release an annual report on deaths by suicide.”
Cabinet has jurisdiction to regulate the internet, Heritage Minister Marc Miller said yesterday. Canada had fallen “a couple of years behind” European countries in monitoring legal content, he said: “We’re working on it.”
Cabinet rates its “nation building bill” a success though no project has been approved since it passed into law last June 26, a parliamentary committee was told. Conservative MP Aaron Gunn (North Island-Powell River, B.C.) ridiculed the claim at a hearing of a Special Joint Committee: “John A. Macdonald and Wilfrid Laurier are looking down on us saying, ‘These guys know how to build things now’?”
A federal appointee mandated to monitor Canadian corporate ethics abroad has not tabled an annual report since 2022, Conservative MP Arnold Viersen (Peace River-Westlock, Alta.) yesterday told the Commons. Union executives have long questioned the Ombudsman for Responsible Enterprise: “The concern here is not an isolated delay but an ongoing failure.”
The nation should avoid a 2026 recession if world events are resolved smoothly, the Bank of Canada said yesterday. “If the situation changes, we may need to change course,” Governor Tiff Macklem told reporters.
Employment Insurance claimants have no right to keep undeserved benefits even if they were paid through government error, says a federal judge. The ruling came in the case of a jobless claimant told to repay the treasury $1,366: “She did nothing wrong.”
Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne shaved $11.5 billion off a near-record 2025 deficit due in part to higher tariff revenues, budget documents showed yesterday. However ongoing deficits are projected to push debt servicing costs to an unprecedented $58.7 billion this year: “Risks remain elevated.”
Cabinet yesterday said it will strip the Canadian Transportation Agency of its processing of air passenger complaints. The federal Agency ran up a backlog of 92,500 complaints, by official estimate: “Beyond the backlog, the government also intends to develop a simpler and more effective regulatory regime.”
The Department of Employment is not close to recovering costs of processing migrant worker permits, records show. An employer’s fee has not increased in 13 years: “What has been the total annual cost to the federal government?”
The purchase of an $8.8 million Manhattan penthouse for New York Consul Tom Clark prompted too much media attention, the Department of Foreign Affairs complained in an Access To Information memo. Lavish spending by diplomats appeared “disconnected from the financial struggles facing everyday Canadians,” it said.
Cabinet yesterday hinted it is prepared to appeal a Federal Court ruling that temporarily suspended the deportation of a trucker responsible for the 2018 Humboldt Broncos disaster. Victims’ families were not given their say, Conservative MP Warren Steinley (Regina-Lewvan) told the Commons: “Harm to the Humboldt Broncos’ victims and their families was not adequately considered.”
Doug Guzman, the Toronto banker hired to oversee defence contracting, yesterday acknowledged longtime dealings with defence contractors but denied any conflict. “I expressed a willingness to serve the country,” Guzman told the Commons defence committee: “I over the course of my career advised or financed probably thousands of companies.”
