The Department of Transport yesterday said it’s considering more subsidies to promote electric car sales though data on existing buyers are unknown. One MP said federal rebates on vehicles worth up to $55,000 including options appeared to benefit luxury car shoppers: “Taxpayers are essentially underwriting a luxury purchase.”
Cabinet after months of petitions yesterday said it will rewrite a small business aid program for operators who never opened a commercial account at their bank. The Department of Finance had claimed the technical exclusion was intended to prevent mob fronts from applying for interest-free loans: “It provides protection against abuse by organized crime.”
The Commons heritage committee proposes hearings on policing internet content ruled offensive. Parliament has already banned hate speech under 1970 amendments to the Criminal Code: “To hell with that, sir.”
Parks Canada in internal memos proposes wholesale revisions to historic plaques deemed offensive or “colonialist”. The agency in Access To Information memos named three historic figures who “need to be reviewed” as great Canadians: “There is controversy.”
Cabinet will not explain why it’s failed to enforce a 2014 law capping fees charged by tax advisors. Regulations were drafted by the Canada Revenue Agency last year but never finalized: “The bill passed the House of Commons unanimously, and then the lobbyists descended.”
MPs seek to question the Treasury Board over a deliberate slowdown in disclosure of public records. Cabinet allowed the closure of Access To Information offices for the first time since 1983 as a pandemic precaution, it said: “There are people whose actual job it is to produce information for Parliament who are sitting at home.”
A holiday bill to observe Indigenous reconciliation will not affect most workers or students. The cabinet bill would designate September 30 as a National Day for Truth and Reconciliation only for federally-regulated employees: “It is always just words here.”
In the year 2056,
Chapters will announce
a major expansion
to its gift section,
boosting the display of
decorative pillows, scented candles, and
specialty teas.
Books may still be found
on the remaining shelf
near the emergency exit.
Gillette will introduce its new
– and revolutionary –
17-blade razor,
in stores
just in time for Father’s Day.
You wouldn’t believe
the smooth, close shave it delivers.
Nothing like its predecessor, the
16-blade model.
And in the House of Commons,
the Minister of Public Services and Procurement
will announce
that the remaining 6,000 pay issues
will be resolved
by Christmas.
(Editor’s note: poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, examines current events in the Blacklock’s tradition each and every Sunday)
The Commons votes Monday on whether to compel Health Minister Patricia Hajdu’s department to disclose records on early mismanagement of the pandemic, including mask shortages. MPs have sought the records since May 29: “The time for hiding stuff is over.”
MPs yesterday questioned a quirk in the Canada Elections Act that allows cabinet to cancel general election balloting in any local riding due to a pandemic. Chief Electoral Officer Stéphane Perrault told the House affairs committee the scenario was “extreme” but possible: “Have you consulted with the Prime Minister?”
There is no evidence Canada has more tornadoes now than it did in the past, says a senior Department of Environment meteorologist. Then-Environment Minister Catherine McKenna cited claims of increased tornado activity in sponsoring a 2019 motion to have Parliament declare a climate emergency: “I do not need to tell Canadians just about the science.”
Cabinet proposes a pandemic bailout of CBC-TV to compensate for falling advertising revenue. The Crown broadcaster and Department of Canadian Heritage yesterday did not comment: “They’ve got to do more than just say, ‘Give us more money.'”
Cabinet yesterday introduced a bill to rewrite the Oath Of Citizenship. Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino called it “one more vital step toward reconciliation” with First Nations, Inuit and Métis.
A rolling filibuster of We Charity disclosures last night entered its nineteenth hour at the Commons finance committee. Liberal MPs killed time reciting Acts of Parliament, quoting Aristotle and reading emails and letters into the record line by line: “There is no corruption.”
The Commons by a vote of 180 to 146 yesterday rejected a Special Committee on Anti-Corruption. New Democrat MPs joined with Liberals in dismissing the investigation: “They finagled and squirreled away the NDP’s vote but one has to keep up appearances.”
