Senators yesterday warned the Department of Finance they will seek to split unwieldy omnibus budget bills. Cabinet last came close to losing a split bill on a tie vote in 2017: “The 1994 Budget Implementation Act was only 24 pages long whereas recent bills routinely exceeded 600 pages.”
Federal New Democrats face a “hard road” in recovering from the disastrous 2025 election, four-term MP Jenny Kwan (Vancouver East) yesterday told reporters. The Party selects a new leader Sunday: “I’m not going to pretend that it’s going to be a cakewalk.”
Taxpayers are owed details of specific steps cabinet will take to save the post office, members of the Senate national finance committee said yesterday. Senators complained of little tangible action since cabinet months ago promised “structural reforms.”
Immigration Minister Lena Diab yesterday denied responsibility for an audit that found her department was indifferent to known cases of fraud by foreign students. “We are doing our job,” she told the Commons immigration committee.
Opposition members yesterday challenged the Department of Immigration to account for policies that cost Canadians’ jobs. “The unemployment rate for students is at 18 percent,” Conservative MP Vincent Neil Ho (Richmond Hill South, Ont.) told the Commons immigration committee.
An error by an anonymous clerk is to blame for records showing Prime Minister Mark Carney was untruthful with reporters when discussing his private meetings with Chinese Communist leaders, the Commons was told yesterday. The MP who uncovered the fact said Carney keeps “trying to change his story.”
A large cabinet “loan” to Canada Post does not carry any interest or payment schedule, records show. Confidential terms of the agreement disclosed yesterday were sought by MPs suspicious that taxpayers would never see repayment: “We are just dumping money down the toilet.”
RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme yesterday would not discuss failures identified in a federal audit showing the force is short thousands of members despite exorbitant spending on recruits. “We move forward,” he said in a statement.
Cabinet yesterday moved to limit the scope of an Opposition bill to publicly name corporate tax delinquents. “It’s an important measure of public transparency,” Conservative MP Adam Chambers (Simcoe North, Ont.), sponsor of the bill, told the Commons public accounts committee.
Cabinet has found $60 billion in savings in unnamed programs, says Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne. Budget documents tabled to date do not identify $60 billion in savings, and Champagne did not elaborate: “We should put the record straight.”
A federal agency that spent $37.8 million last year to lower greenhouse gas emissions did not keep track of whether it cut emissions or not, says an internal report. Auditors complained of a lack of focus at the Clean Energy Innovation Research Centre: “Emissions are not consistently measured.”
Policies enacted by two successive immigration ministers cost thousands of Canadian students’ jobs, says a federal memo. The Department of Employment for the first time admitted an 18 percent jobless rate for Canadian students was due to “large numbers” of foreign students, contradicting earlier claims by Ministers Sean Fraser and Marc Miller: “Labour market outcomes have been worsening for youth since early 2023.”
Hundreds of voters abroad were improperly registered to cast ballots in the 2025 federal campaign, according to Access To Information records. Elections Canada did not say what if any impact irregularities had, though results were close in four ridings that went to judicial recount: “We will take necessary steps to ensure that automated preventive measures are in place before the next election.”
Elections Canada has stripped the Libertarian Party of its federal registration for failing to meet a filing deadline. The Party’s leader said he was quitting political life: “It has been a very frustrating experience on my part.”
Alexander Mackenzie, Canada’s first Liberal prime minister, lived near Parliament Hill in a beautiful Gothic Revival home He was an honest, thrifty fellow who helped transform the country yet could not stand parliamentary life. “Politics is very low,” he wrote. Today the house is gone and forgotten, just like Mackenzie.
Born in Scotland, he arrived in Kingston, Ont. in 1842 as a near-penniless stonecutter. He became a successful contractor in Sarnia known for quality work. Mackenzie-built structures can still be found including the former Essex County Courthouse, now called Mackenzie Hall.
He was sharp-eyed, tight-mouthed and weather-beaten. Mackenzie did not dress well and hated to spend money. As prime minister he was pained at paying $128 for a political banquet and resolved never to entertain at home due to the cost.
Mackenzie landed in politics as a reformer, elected Liberal leader in 1873 and Prime Minister less than a year later. “Some people have a theory that a successful politician must necessarily depend on intrigue and doing crooked things,” Mackenzie said. “I determined to rule in broad daylight or not at all.”
He refused to campaign on public works spending for fear Canadians would think he was trying to buy votes. When federal contractors sent gifts for the Prime Minister’s wedding anniversary in 1878 Mackenzie had them returned. “I never felt so mortified in my life,” he said.
He grew so weary of reporters and patronage hounds Mackenzie built a secret staircase from his West Block office so he might evade questions. Cronyism and cynicism were enough to “sicken me of public life,” he wrote.
Mackenzie determined to clean up the place. He introduced Canada’s first secret ballot in 1874. Elections had been open ballot affairs with widespread bribe-taking. He established the Supreme Court and the Office of the Auditor General, the bane of grafters.
His home and refuge from the meanness of politics was at 22 Vittoria Street, a short walk west of Parliament Hill. From his veranda Mackenzie had a marvelous view of the Ottawa River. The Gothic home had a distinctive rounded bay window and the tooth-like corner stone patterning that Victorians enjoyed.
On losing the premiership in the recession of 1878, Mackenzie remained an MP but sold the Vittoria Street home in 1880. The house survived till 1928 when contractors demolished it to make way for MPs’ offices in the new Confederation Building.
And Mackenzie? He refused a title from the Queen – “We have no landed aristocracy in Canada,” he explained – and like all honest politicians of his era, died poor. When Mackenzie passed away in 1892 his estate was so modest MPs voted a $10,000 trust fund to support his widow.
By Andrew Elliott 
