Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson yesterday said he’s focused on “keeping plastics in the economy.” Testifying at the Commons environment committee, Wilkinson wavered on a pledge to blacklist plastics as toxic under federal law though he was asked six times: “Can I just get confirmation you are committed?”
The Commons yesterday by a 178-155 vote gave Second Reading to a bill threatening steep fines or jail for animal rights activists who trespass in poultry and livestock pens. It follows a 2019 recommendation from the House agriculture committee: “Are we free game for protesters?”
Tax write-offs cost more than $3.3 billion last year, an increase of millions over 2019, according to an internal Canada Revenue Agency audit. The report disclosed the Agency typically “stockpiled” unrecoverable taxes for write-downs: “An uncollectible amount can be written off at any time.”
A bill to expand carbon tax exemptions for farmers is crucial as cabinet hikes rates every year until 2030, the Commons agriculture committee was told yesterday. “Farmers are struggling now,” said Conservative MP Philip Lawrence (Northumberland-Peterborough South, Ont.), sponsor of the bill.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau yesterday would not set any date for a federal budget, the first since 2019. Trudeau told reporters pandemic management was a greater priority: “Of all the money invested in helping Canadians get through this pandemic, eight or nine of every ten dollars has come from the federal government.”
A bill to legalize bookmaking will not eliminate black market gaming and loansharking, the Commons justice committee said yesterday. Cabinet in 2016 rejected an identical bill on warnings that public regulators could not compete with private bookies: “Their motivation is making money and greed.”
The Commons transport committee yesterday by unanimous vote scheduled hearings on rail safety seven years after the fiery Lac-Mégantic wreck. A February 25 federal audit faulted the Department of Transport for gaps in rail inspections: “Communities are worried.”
A federal bank, Export Development Canada, approved more than $3 billion in loan guarantees and insurance on exports to China last year after claiming to enact a human rights policy, according to Access To Information records. “We truly do believe in responsible business,” Mairead Lavery, the $458,000-a year CEO of the Crown bank, earlier told the Commons finance committee: “We all have a role to play in defending human rights.”
We Charity co-founders Craig and Marc Kielburger have until Friday to testify to the Commons ethics committee on conflicts of interest or face threatened arrest for defying Parliament. “I will sign the summons immediately,” Conservative MP Chris Warkentin (Grande Prairie-Mackenzie, Alta.), chair of the committee, said yesterday.
The Department of Finance yesterday declined comment on its appointment as feminist advisor an Alberta economist who published profane tweets about “men and their horseshit,” and ridiculed male legislators as juvenile and pathetic. “Deal with it,” tweeted Lindsay Tedds, an associate professor at the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy.
“There is a small number of people dominated by men who don’t like how I communicate,” wrote Tedds. “Ironically the feeling is mutual. I’ve learned that with such people, women like me can’t win. I am confident, I am opinionated. I am me. Deal with it.”
The finance department did not respond when asked for comment on Professor Tedds’ public remarks. Tedds formerly worked as an analyst for the department.
Tedds wrote in a Twitter post last December 17: “Day. A university campus. A zoom meeting. Dude says something stupid. Me: calls dude out for stupid statement. Dude: ‘Well, that is your opinion.’ Me: who the f—k else’s opinion would it be? Seriously, (what the f—k). Is this dude for ‘I know you are but what am I?’”
Tedds on February 23 accused Opposition Leader Erin O’Toole of “frat boy behaviour,” and on February 17 described Ontario Premier Doug Ford as weak and pathetic. “It is interesting how weak men react to women who challenge them. Pathetic,” she wrote.
On January 30 Tedds tweeted an image of a coffee mug stating: “A wise woman once said, ‘F–k this shit’ and she lived happily ever after.”
A separate ungrammatical January 26 tweet stated: “The School of Public Policy that acknowledges that women exist and who may be tired of men and their horseshit to give a f—k?”
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland appointed Tedds to an eighteen-member Task Force on Women and the Economy. “This group will harness the best ideas from a diverse group of experts from different sectors of the economy to advise the government on a feminist, intersectional action plan that addresses issues of gender equality in the wake of the pandemic,” Freeland said in a statement.
“Over the past year we have seen the alarming impact of this pandemic on women’s economic participation,” said Minister Freeland: “Canada’s future prosperity and competitiveness depend on the ability of women to participate equally and fully in our workforce.”
The Commons finance committee earlier heard testimony of conflicting data on claims women were disproportionately affected by the pandemic and economic downturn. “If you seasonally adjusted data the loss is fifty-fifty between men and women,” Philip Cross, a former federal statistician and senior fellow with the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, testified at a December 3 hearing. “If you use unadjusted data it is 85:15.”
“Men and women have different seasonal patterns to their employment,” testified Cross. “Men lose their jobs in winter because they tend to work more outdoors, so they recovered more over summer.”
By Staff 
Cabinet is committed to raising last year’s immigration levels 117 percent to the highest rate in Canadian history, Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino said yesterday. This year’s quota eclipses the previous record of 400,900 immigrants set in 1913: “Those who possess the skills and experience will accelerate our economic recovery.”
Parks Canada proposes to introduce Mandarin-language programs in celebration of “a great Canadian hero,” Maoist propaganda figure Dr. Norman Bethune. The agency said Bethune’s Ontario birthplace will become a shrine to the Communist surgeon: “The man is a giant!”
A Toronto MP expelled from the Liberal caucus for nepotism approved severance pay of $9,391 to her sister. The Commons yesterday ordered MP Yasmin Ratansi (Don Valley East, Ont.) to pay the money back: “The Board noted Ms. Ratansi’s lack of cooperation.”
A federal climate bureau spent more than $600 million last year, says an internal audit. Spending did not include $800,000 in annual staff time to manage newly-detailed carbon offset regulations: “Doing nothing is not an option.”
Xinhua News Agency, the propaganda arm of China’s Communist Party, is out of the Canadian Parliamentary Press Gallery after 57 years. The Chinese Embassy in Ottawa did not comment: “There is no perfect democracy, only democracy that fits best.”
