Staff Must Report Criminality

Federal employees who witness criminality at work are now required to report it under a revised Code Of Conduct, says a Department of Public Works report. It follows in-house government research showing few employees were eager to “rock the boat.”

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Says Media List Not Partisan

A federal program to name newsrooms deemed reliable and trustworthy is not an attempt to profile Liberal Party-friendly media, says a lead researcher. “There is no role for government oversight,” said Professor Colette Brin of Laval University: 'Criteria are not related to editorial opinions, political perspectives or relationships with government.'

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Tearful MPs Hear Vax Stories

MPs yesterday at a public hearing wept over Canadians who suffered death or injury from Covid shots, including a Conservative parliamentary aide. “I don’t think we have properly acknowledged the harm that was done to many people,” said Conservative MP Blaine Calkins (Ponoka-Didsbury, Alta.).

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Housing Target’s Out: CMHC

There is no chance based on current projections that cabinet’s housing targets will be met, new CMHC figures showed yesterday. Data contradicted claims by Housing Minister Gregor Robertson that cabinet was “building big.”

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Petition To Repeal Israel Pact

A second Liberal MP yesterday sponsored a petition to end decades of free trade with Israel. The action by MP Pat Weiler (West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast) followed a Department of Foreign Affairs announcement Tuesday that Canada would boycott Jewish imports from West Bank territories: "Suffering in Gaza has gone on too long."

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Gov’t To List ‘Reliable’ Media

A government-approved Local News Directory is paying researchers to list media deemed trustworthy and reliable, according to Access To Information records released yesterday. The initiative follows disclosures federal managers circulated blacklists of reporters who met with government disapproval: 'It will help people struggling to find news they can trust.'

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New Permit Rules Now Law

Prime Minister Mark Carney effective yesterday repealed a requirement that new interprovincial pipelines be subject to the Impact Assessment Act. First Nations opposed the change: "I am from Alberta. I am direct and I do things."

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Little Joy In City Camp-Outs

The growth of tent cities dampened a Parks Canada program to promote camping skills for immigrant families, says an internal report. Overnight camping parties in public parks had to be cancelled due to conflicts and criticism, it said: "The emergence of this issue created a challenge."

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‘Difficult Years’ For Muslims

Ex-cabinet advisor Amira Elghawaby yesterday described 9/11 observances as marking “a difficult 25 years” for Muslims. The former Toronto Star columnist told reporters the decades following the terrorist attacks have seen “dangerous narratives about who we are.”

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Fed Bureau Drops Complaint

The Competition Bureau has dropped any investigation into whether cabinet breached its own law against false advertising. An MP who filed a formal complaint yesterday said the decision left “an absurd double standard.”

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Fed Dep’t Admits Plagiarism

The Department of Agriculture in a rare admission has cited unnamed employees for scientific malpractice. Government-wide, no federal agency to date has attempted to document instances of plagiarism in federal science: "Examples of breaches may include but are not limited to fabrication, falsification or misrepresentation of research data."

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Travel Choices Send Message

Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday urged Canadians to join in “sending a message” by holidaying at home. The Prime Minister’s Office would not explain why Carney vacationed in Italy in August: "Every time we choose to buy Canadian and travel in Canada we’re sending a message."

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2,308 Challenged Refugee Act

Lawyers in five months filed more than 2,300 constitutional challenges of an immigration law intended to speed deportations, according to figures detailed yesterday by the Federal Court. All applications were ordered into case management: "The Court has experienced an increase in urgent applications and constitutional challenges."

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Few Youth Keen On Trades

Few high schoolers have any interest in trades despite labour shortages industry-wide, says a Department of Employment survey. The figures follow earlier research that found teenagers considered the work too hard, boring and undervalued: "Certain groups are more likely to plan for a trades career."

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Whites Hired Last: Job Post

Preferential in-house hiring that excludes white heterosexuals does not breach anti-discrimination clauses in federal contracts, the Public Prosecution Service said yesterday. The Service acknowledged issuing job postings that told white applicants they would not be hired “before others.”

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