Canadians in federal focus groups questioned the value of cabinet’s signature inflation-fighting program, says Privy Council research. “More needed to be done,” said a pollsters’ report: "None felt this initiative would be effective in making groceries and other essentials more affordable."
Canada should stop relying on the military as firefighters, says a Department of Public Safety briefing note. Cabinet has proposed creating its own version of the United States’ Federal Emergency Management Agency to handle wildfires: "Reduce pressure on the Canadian Armed Forces to enable them to remain focused on their core mission of defence."
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Poet Shai Ben-Shalom writes: “He is not yet the Minister, nor the Deputy Minister, or even the Assistant Deputy Minister. He is the newly appointed Associate Assistant Deputy Minister…”
Politics are rough and failure is never celebrated. “I am not the only Conservative (or former Conservative) who believes that our party (or former party) has betrayed both its own best traditions and the Canadian people by practicing a quality of politics unworthy of the country,” writes former MP Tom McMillan. “Interviews and correspondence I conducted with a large number of my former cabinet colleagues and ministerial and political staff for this book revealed to me, in private, a shocking level of discontent with the party.”
McMillan’s memoirs are agonizing and intriguing at the same time. This is how teammates talk in the locker room after a championship loss. “I myself believe a once-great national institution is in ruins, or will be if the Conservative Party membership at large does not soon come to its senses,” writes McMillan.
Access To Information records show the transport department arranged a “healing circle” for employees after some questioned whether 215 children were buried at an Indian Residential School in Kamloops, B.C. Comments were “uninformed, wrong and hurtful,” the deputy minister wrote in a staff memo: "I had people come to see me in tears."
The Supreme Court in a 9-0 decision yesterday reopened an ethics probe into then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's dealings with a federal contractor, We Charity. Judges struck a federal law shielding the federal Ethics Commissioner from a legal challenge of his handling of the case: "You don’t let the Prime Minister off with a ruling that is legally incorrect."
All federal employees are required to sign a yearly pledge that they are not involved in any conflicts of interest, says a Treasury Board memo. Board president Shafqat Ali earlier told MPs he expected everyone to obey the rules: "Results will be communicated in due course."
Cabinet’s plan to spend $90 billion on regional high speed rail is opposed even by Canadians able to take the train, says in-house Privy Council research. Federal focus groups in Eastern Ontario and Québec called the venture costly and unnecessary: 'There were more urgent priorities.'
Environment Minister Julie Dabrusin’s department has cut spending limits on government-issue credit cards by a third as a precaution against fraud, says an internal audit. The initiative follows longstanding complaints of irregularities involving credit card misuse government-wide: “Their use carries a degree of inherent risks such as errors, misuse or fraud."
Liberal MPs yesterday by a 5 to 4 vote blocked Commons committee hearings into secretly negotiated toll concessions on the Gordie Howe International Bridge at Windsor, Ont. One MP expressed resentment that Canadians would think the Prime Minister lied to taxpayers over terms: "I am a little offended by the insinuations."
Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday said he decided months ago to repeal production fees on Netflix and other video streaming services though he voted for them in the Commons. Carney denied changing his mind under U.S. pressure: "No, not at all."
Clearing tent cities violates the Charter Of Rights, argues the Canadian Civil Liberties Association. The group in a submission to MPs recommended that Parliament “recognize residents of unhoused encampments as rights holders.”
Retirees, especially women in British Columbia and Québec, are most concerned about plastic pollution, says in-house demographic research by the Department of Environment. The findings followed psychosocial Statistics Canada data showing urban women over 65 were most upset by climate change: "Women are much more likely than men to feel plastic waste and pollution is an issue."
Newly-declassified 2001 records show then-Prime Minister Jean Chretien cautioned his cabinet against becoming “actively involved” with floor-crossers. Eight Conservative MPs defected to the Liberal Party in a five-year period: "It was agreed that cabinet ministers should not become actively involved in such activities."
