MPs yesterday voted to summon Canada’s ambassador to China for unprecedented questioning in nationally televised hearings. Conservatives have depicted Ambassador Dominic Barton as an apologist for the Chinese regime while Canadians are jailed without charge in the People’s Republic: “I have no problem with tough questions.”
The Department of Agriculture yesterday said it will spend up to $20 million on a Buy Canadian food campaign. The initiative comes eight years after the biggest beef recall in Canadian history: ‘It’s to instill pride and confidence in the country’s food system.’
CMHC says apartment vacancies in Victoria are below one percent for some units, the lowest rate of any major city in the country. The rental shortage coincides with near full employment: “It’s getting to that really, really tight point.”
Less than a third of English-speaking Québecers are confident their young people will stay in the province, says Department of Canadian Heritage research. Statistics Canada has forecast Québec will shrink to twenty percent of Canada’s population within a generation: “Five years from now access to provincial services in English will become worse.’
MPs today open proceedings of an unprecedented special committee on Chinese human rights abuses. The Commons last December 10 voted for hearings to “examine all aspects of the Canada-China relationship”.
The Canadian Union of Postal Workers in a rare lawsuit accuses B’nai Brith of defamation. “A union may now sue to defend its reputation,” ruled an Ontario Superior Court judge: “This is a case in which the defamation action appears to have merit.”
The labour department in an Access To Information memo described as “good value for money” a program to subsidize temporary work experience for 686 university graduates at a cost of nearly $10 million. The ongoing program pays fifty percent wage subsidies to private companies to hire graduates for as little as ninety days: “Small businesses don’t have the money to train graduates who are not job-ready.”
A court has upheld federal prison terms for conspirators convicted of defrauding a Department of Industry loan program for small business. “Banks and the taxpayer were all victims,” wrote the Ontario Court of Appeal.
The head of the largest legislative group in the Senate has accepted a January 30 invitation to speak at a China-endorsed club praised for promoting “friendship” with the People’s Republic. Liberal appointee Senator Yuen Pau Woo of Vancouver yesterday would not say if he was paid for his appearance: ‘He is widely recognized as a leading thinker.’
Environment Canada will take years, even decades to modernize obsolete weather stations nationwide though Parliament voted $384 million for the job, say auditors. Expenses include replacing all radar stations used as a main source of daily forecasts: “They are essential.”
The finance department in Access To Information files obtained by an MP says it considers millions spent on a Chinese bank as an “investment” regardless of whether taxpayers see any profit. “These types of accounting maneuvers stink of financial cheating,” said Conservative MP Tom Kmiec (Calgary Shepard).
The Canadian Space Agency yesterday said it will spend $300,000 on consultants to justify a “business case” to go to the moon. The spending comes a year after cabinet committed billions to joining a U.S. program to build a permanent platform in lunar orbit by 2026, the Lunar Gateway project: ‘It’s maximizing benefits for Canadians.’
The Receiver General last year lost more than $1.4 million by wiring tax refunds and benefit cheques to the wrong bank accounts. Losses followed a failed 2012 campaign by the Department of Public Works to require that all Canadians submit personal bank data to accept federal payments: “I don’t trust it.”
Cabinet was so fearful of public protest over to its 2018 purchase of an oil pipeline the Privy Council Office called police, say Access To Information records. Staff warned RCMP to brace for demonstrations “across the country” hours after the announcement: “Everyone practice vigilance”.
Canadian Tire Corp. yesterday received a $2.7 million federal subsidy to install electric car charging stations at stores from British Columbia to Ontario. The Government of B.C. approved a separate $275,000 grant. Canadian Tire has $9 billion in annual revenues: “Canada’s climate plan is working.”
