Cabinet should not be held to strict definitions in fast-tracking industrial projects under Bill C-5, Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc yesterday told the Senate. Asked if premiers held vetoes over permits, LeBlanc replied: “Vito’s is also a restaurant on Mountain Road in Moncton.”
This year’s federal deficit appears near $50 billion, says Budget Officer Yves Giroux. A precise figure is difficult to calculate since cabinet declined to table a spring budget, he told the Senate national finance committee: “It is very difficult to know exactly what the government’s forecasts are.”
MPs last night by a 194-141 vote upheld a federal mandate to ban new sales of gasoline-powered cars by 2035. Commons critics challenged the measure as costly, impractical and Draconian: “How will they do it?”
Physician MPs on the Commons health committee yesterday proposed that all witnesses be compelled to disclose any conflict of interest, a parliamentary first. The suggestion followed complaints that pharmaceutical lobbyists “infest Parliament Hill.”
The Bank of Canada in a report released yesterday said adoption of government-controlled digital currency was technically feasible but denied any interest in pursuing it. Canadians share widespread skepticism of Bank-issued cryptocurrency, says in-house research: “This should not be interpreted as a recommendation to issue a central bank digital currency now or sometime later.”
Housing Minister Gregor Robertson yesterday said he would “demonstrate integrity” but could not explain why he failed to publicly disclose millions in real estate investments including a $2.4 million Pacific Coast penthouse. Robertson again declined to discuss his share in British Columbia property assessed at $10.85 million: “The only thing getting built under the housing minister is his personal fortune.”
The Prime Minister is attempting to “guillotine” parliamentary debate over a landmark bill on industrial permits, says a former federal housing minister. Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith (Beaches-East York, Ont.) made the comment yesterday while the Prime Minister was out of the Commons on G7 business: “For what?”
Opposition MPs yesterday signaled difficult days ahead for cabinet in pushing bills through committee. It followed a warning from one Conservative that the 45th Parliament will “hold the government to account.”
The Commons yesterday by a 172 to 165 vote endorsed a lifetime ban on two ArriveCan contractors. Evidence showed Kristian Firth and Darren Anthony, two consultants with GC Strategies Inc. of Woodlawn, Ont., made millions as government suppliers: “These were a couple of guys working in their basement.”
Anti-Israel protestors who published website endorsements of election candidates accusing Jews of genocide were not engaged in “partisan activity,” Elections Commissioner Caroline Simard has ruled. Access To Information records showed Simard’s office disregarded complaints the unregulated activity breached the Canada Elections Act: “The group’s activities were not election advertising or partisan.”
Prime Minister Mark Carney faces growing opposition to his “nation building” bill on warnings the Commons must pass it by midnight Friday. Environmentalists joined Conservative and Liberal MPs in questioning the scope of Bill C-5: “This should be carefully scrutinized.”
Housing Minister Gregor Robertson attempted to hide millions’ worth of investment property from MPs, according to British Columbia land titles uncovered by TheBreakerNews. Robertson would not discuss his real estate dealings when questioned in the House: “I think the focus here needs to be on building homes for people to live in, not building homes for investors to own.”
The Department of Public Works is hiring private IT consultants to manage 660,000 federal web pages at an undisclosed cost. It follows cabinet’s 2023 promise to “reduce spending on consulting.”
MPs ridiculed Treasury Board President Shafqat Ali as embarrassingly uninformed after he appeared unaware of a 2024 committee motion to ban federal employees from moonlighting as contractors. Critics jeered as Ali was handed scripted answers during questioning on budget estimates: “This is embarrassing. I would be embarrassed. I am almost embarrassed for him.”
Solar panels embody the teachings of Jesus, says MP Elizabeth May (Saanich-Gulf Islands, B.C.). The re-elected Green Party leader in her first Member’s Statement to the 45th Parliament endorsed the blessing of solar panels on her parish church, explaining she was trying to “follow the path of Jesus Christ in my work.”
