John McCallum, former Canadian ambassador to China, yesterday was ordered to testify at a Commons committee after he refused to appear voluntarily. The order followed disclosures McCallum worked as a consultant in China after he was fired by the Prime Minister in 2019: “This China assignment is the perfect job for me.”
MPs yesterday joined the United Steelworkers union in demanding immediate Canadian retaliation against U.S. tariffs on aluminum imports. The Commons trade committee condemned earlier tariffs as unlawful: “Is there hurt out there? Yes there is.”
The Department of Public Works yesterday would not say if it has taken any promised rush deliveries from a Québec company awarded an exclusive ten-year contract to supply pandemic masks. Public Works Minister Anita Anand had justified the sole-sourced contract on a promise Canadian-made masks would be on their way to doctors and nurses “toward the end of July”.
The Commons finance committee meeting behind closed doors has voted to grant immunity to witnesses at We Charity hearings. MPs adopted a New Democrat motion to ensure “there will be no consequences or retribution” for whistleblowers: “There have been a number of We Charity employees who have indicated they want to testify.”
Cabinet yesterday approved millions in pandemic relief to marijuana dealers. The Department of Health deferred payment of annual licensing fees, though cannabis stores showed the sharpest year over year sales increase of any class of retailer: “Sales are very positive.”
A Titanic farewell note dubbed a national treasure is now preserved by the Public Archives of Nova Scotia after a federal agency blocked the artifact’s sale to a foreign buyer. The Department of Canadian Heritage subsidized the archives’ purchase with a federal grant: “I just got on board. She will sail in a few minutes.”
Auditors fault the Department of Public Safety for lackadaisical security including “limited controls” on confidential records stored on USB keys. The latest investigation follows a series of audits that found weak security in other federal agencies including one incident that cost $17.5 million: “There is no formal tracking of IT security incidents.”
Staff in a secret 2018 memo to the Prime Minister warned of “negative media coverage” of federal advertising of carbon tax rebates. The $1,253,011 ad blitz timed before the 2019 election found few Canadians understood the rebate program: “There are risks.”
Pandemic controls may continue “for some time” into 2021 and as late as 2023, the Public Health Agency said yesterday. The Agency in a document noted researchers are still trying to develop a vaccine for a Mideast coronavirus identified eight years ago: “We need to temper people’s expectations.”
A hastily-scrawled letter by a Halifax businessman drowned on the Titanic was blocked from export as a cultural treasure, a federal agency disclosed. The Cultural Property Export Review Board called the haunting note an “outstanding” piece of Canadiana: “She will sail in a few minutes so I am writing this in a hurry.”
Canadians are divided on whether genetically modified foods are safe to eat. The finding in a survey by federal inspectors follows the defeat of a 2017 Commons bill mandating labels on GM foods: “Why is labeling a bad idea?”
The Liberals’ minority Parliament is down to 155 seats in the 338-seat Commons with the abrupt resignation of a Toronto MP. Michael Levitt, two-term MP for York Centre, yesterday said he is quitting effective September 1: “Now is the time.”
A Québec company was awarded $113,486,868 in sole-sourced federal orders for pandemic masks though it didn’t have a factory in Canada. MPs have demanded to see terms of the contract with AMD Medicom Inc., the only Canadian vendor to win a ten-year federal contract: “Is the federal government picking winners and losers?”
CBC-TV producers declined comment after breaching the network’s own ethics code in failing to disclose a pundit works as a federal contractor. Journalistic Standards And Practices at the CBC state “it is important to mention any association, affiliation or specific interest a guest or commentator may have so the public can fully understand that person’s perspective.”
A $300 million national emergency stockpile of pandemic supplies should be privatized or run on a commercial basis by a Crown corporation, says a Canadian Medical Association Journal commentary. Doctors fault the Public Health Agency for mismanagement of the stockpile that resulted in waste and shortages: “We were caught flat-footed.”
