Parliament should compile a national database of all cyberattacks targeting companies and individuals, says the Commons public safety committee. The recommendation follows protests of RCMP inaction: “You can pile up the incidents.”
Elections Canada confirms at least 112,000 foreigners – the largest number disclosed to date – were on federal voters’ lists in the last campaign, but does not know how many cast ballots. Data from the 2015 election show several ridings were won by narrow margins of as few as 500 votes or less: “It is illegal.”
Supreme Court Chief Justice Richard Wagner yesterday blamed social media for waning public confidence in the legal system. “If people lose faith and their trust in the justice system and the courts, that’s the beginning of the end,” said Wagner.
CBC-TV ad revenues have collapsed since the network lost exclusive rights to NHL broadcasts, newly-released data show. Revenues since 2014 fell as much as 75 percent in some markets even as the network claimed it never profited from Hockey Night In Canada: “If you can’t make money on hockey in Canada, I don’t know what you could make money on.”
The Senate by a vote of 49 to 46 last night passed into law a cabinet bill to restrict oil tanker traffic on the Pacific Coast. Oil-producing Prairie provinces opposed the bill as discriminatory, noting it does not apply to the majority of tanker traffic in Atlantic Canada: “There is a glaring double standard.”
Unpaid taxes may total billions more than Canada Revenue Agency claims, the Parliamentary Budget Officer yesterday reported. Analysts counted nearly a trillion a year in electronic cash transfers by Canadian corporations to offshore accounts that had the effect of avoiding tax payments: “The figures are absolutely mind-blowing.”
The Senate yesterday passed into law a rewritten Access To Information Act dismissed as worse than Bulgaria’s. Cabinet did not fulfill a 2015 promise to grant Canadians access to records held by cabinet, the House of Commons or Senate: “There is no way to sugar-coat that.”
Senate Ethics Officer Pierre Legault yesterday claimed a right to covertly browse legislators’ personal email accounts without notice or consent. One senator described Legault’s conduct as “disgraceful”.
The Commons defence committee yesterday recommended the military spend more on recruitment to meet equity targets. Defence department research shows most women and visible minorities surveyed are not attracted to military life: “A conventional view on military service is that it is a career of last resort.”
The Senate has passed into law a cabinet bill to curb animal fighting for sport. Proponents called it a “small effort” leading to tougher animal protection laws in the next Parliament: “Canada’s criminal animal cruelty provisions are a century out of date.”
Parliament has given final approval to a rewritten Fisheries Act that expands protection of habitat. Cabinet accused Conservatives of “gutting” protections seven years ago: “Those are not the types of actions Canadians want.”
The Commons natural resources committee yesterday scheduled a single hour of hearings on the $12 billion Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion project. Conservatives sought the hearing – the only one to date – after cabinet repeatedly rejected public scrutiny of costs: “Taxpayers have a right to know.”
Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor yesterday said she’s disappointed cabinet will not fulfill a 2015 promise to ban junk food advertising to children. Access To Information memos indicate Petitpas Taylor’s department privately feared lawsuits if it enforced the ban that would cost advertisers nearly a billion a year: “I really thought it was going to be okay.”
Cabinet’s National Housing Strategy is less than promised, the Parliamentary Budget Office said yesterday. Analysts said the self-described “ambitious $40 billion plan” includes billions in old funding, and billions more that are unlikely to be spent: ‘It’s not clear it will reduce housing need.’
The Commons government operations committee yesterday urged federal employers to set quotas to promote hiring of veterans. MPs faulted Veterans Affairs Canada for failing to honour an employment bill passed by Parliament four years ago: “There is a disconnect.”
