Immigration Minister Lena Diab yesterday said she was unsure what became of 800 foreign students identified as fraudsters in a federal audit weeks ago. MPs on the Commons immigration committee protested the slow response: "You don't know?"
Statistics Canada sold a confidential copy of a hate crimes report to Heritage Minister Marc Miller’s department for “feedback” but denies there was any political interference. The report downplayed anti-Semitism though Jews are the leading target of hate crimes in Canada: "The purpose of this peer review will be for Canadian Heritage to provide feedback in terms of fact or presentation."
The Privy Council commissioned federal focus groups on cuts to funding for the CBC, Canada Post and other Crown corporations, records show. A pollsters’ report disclosed yesterday found public support for CBC cutbacks: "Asked to identify areas where they felt the federal government could find cost savings, participants suggested a range of actions."
Federal agencies are late in completing a keyword-searchable database allowing homebuyers to check flood risks on property, the Commissioner of Environment said yesterday. The Department of Public Safety had promised to launch the free service by December 31: "That would be very helpful."
Companies 100 percent foreign owned still qualify as “Canadian” under Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Buy Canadian Policy, says the Department of Public Works. The definition of “Canadian” is so broad it would apply to foreign-owned corporations with storefront branches here like the Bank of China, records show: "We need to go back to what the Prime Minister said."
China remains a leading perpetrator of espionage and foreign interference including cultivation of “relationships” with unnamed politicians, says a security report to Parliament. It follows Foreign Minister Anita Anand’s announcement of a “new foreign policy” emphasizing cooperation with the People’s Republic: 'Threat actors' goal is to influence Canadian decision makers to align with positions, narratives and policies that promote a positive image of their country.'
The Department of Canadian Heritage is attempting to claw back $99,500 in funding from a Palestinian group over social media posts. The department cited Instagram messages depicting Israelis as homicidal slave masters and a symbol it associated with Hamas terrorists: "Long live the triangle."
House of Commons administration is keeping files on what Canadians say about their MPs. The “very robust records management system” included social media posts, said the Deputy Sergeant-at-Arms: "We have different categories, if they are misogynistic, etcetera."
The Privy Council in a newly-declassified 1968 memo estimated Soviet sympathizers and Cold War subversives in Canada far outnumbered actual Communist Party members. The memo named one university, five unions and the United Church as key targets for subversion: "The Communist movement in Canada consists of some 20,000 persons."
Poet Shai Ben-Shalom writes: “The Royal Canadian Mint introduces their new collection. They say Canadian coins celebrate our nation’s culture and milestones…”
On Sunday, June 22, 1953 a liquor store clerk named Bill Beatty died from an accidental fall at his Toronto duplex. Beatty was a plain man who died an ordinary death, yet a Globe & Mail editor pushed his obituary up to page four: “As a result of injuries suffered a week ago in a fall from an upper duplex porch at his home, William James Beatty, 54, of 56 Macdonnell Ave., died yesterday afternoon in St. Joseph’s Hospital. Mr. Beatty, it is believed, suffered a dizzy spell from the heat and lost his balance. He never regained consciousness. A veteran of the First World War, he served overseas with the 75th Regiment.”
He was with the 75th. In a city that celebrated Old School Ties and the exclusivity of private clubs, the combat veterans of the Toronto Scottish Regiment were a privileged class of workers’ aristocracy honoured long after the war’s end.
The national debt is now worth the equivalent of more than $33,000 for every man, woman and child in Canada, Budget Officer Annette Ryan said yesterday. Sustainability of Canada’s finances is a concern if interest rates rise or growth shrinks, she said: "The economy still remains tenuous."
Use of the Liberal Party’s “Canada Strong” election slogan in federal advertising violates a directive against partisan misuse of public funds, members of the Commons government operations committee said yesterday. The Privy Council promised to investigate: "It literally violates the Treasury Board rules."
Statistics Canada yesterday denied downplaying anti-Semitic incidents in a national hate crimes report. Access To Information records showed the agency provided a confidential advance copy of its “highly anticipated” report to Heritage Minister Marc Miller’s department before it was published: "The department will get to review work in progress."
Canada’s new Chief Public Health Officer yesterday called the pandemic “a very difficult time for everyone” but would not discuss which specific errors contributed to public distrust. “Trust in health and institutions has been strained,” Dr. Joss Reimer of Winnipeg told the Commons health committee: "Whether those were the right or wrong decisions, we know there were many difficult things."
