Cabinet yesterday moved to invoke closure on its latest omnibus budget bill introduced a week ago. The 686-page bill amends 48 separate Acts of Parliament and raises the federal debt ceiling to $2.13 trillion, a record: "Every single Canadian will be affected by this budget in some way or another."
Canada Post should work with its unions to cut costs after posting a $748 million pre-tax loss in its latest Annual Report to Parliament, Public Works Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said yesterday. Duclos told reporters the post office faced stiff competition from non-union rivals like Amazon: "Decrease costs by working with unions."
Legalization of marijuana normalized drug use among seniors, says in-house Department of Health research. Pensioners now routinely use cannabis to relieve insomnia or boredom, said a federal report: "It’s extremely common right now."
The Department of Natural Resources is hiring consultants for advice on cutting greenhouse gas emissions by Canada’s trucking industry. It follows the latest data confirming a continued rise in emissions: "We need everyone to help drive down the emissions."
The Department of National Defence since 2015 has paid consultants and contractors nearly $10 million for “equity and inclusion” programs, new records show. Spending ranged from the purchase of gay pride flags to a “workshop on the gendered nature of security.”
The sale of costly Covid ventilators as scrap metal was “the height of incompetence,” the Commons was told yesterday. Federal agencies have yet to explain why new $22,000 medical devices were auctioned for as little as $305 for lots of 51, the equivalent of $6 apiece: "What happened to all those ventilators?"
Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault yesterday under heated questioning refused to say how much he has collected from an Alberta holding company while serving in cabinet. Payments included fees collected on contracts with local authorities and the Department of Transport, the Commons human resources committee was told: "I followed all the rules."
Cabinet yesterday introduced a long-promised bill to name paid friends of China and other foreign governments. Similar legislation in the United States has unmasked foreign agents for 86 years: "We intend to proceed quickly."
A Liberal MP named a beneficiary of Chinese election meddling yesterday told the Commons that actions by foreign agents “were not successful.” MP Parm Bains (Steveson-Richmond East, B.C.) would not discuss events in his own riding: "We must adapt our thinking."
Violent crimes targeting Jewish schoolchildren, storekeepers and other citizens totaled 77 last year, B’nai Brith yesterday said in its Annual Audit Of Anti-Semitic Incidents. The Criminal Code complaints were in addition to thousands of other incidents from online slurs to death chants at public rallies: "O Allah destroy the enemies of the people of Gaza."
Room and board for illegal immigrants is costing an average $224 per day, new data show. By comparison the federal minimum wage pays $138 per day, Employment Insurance a maximum $95 per day and Old Age Security $26 daily: "How long do people stay?"
Federal agencies from the Privy Council to the RCMP have used Chinese surveillance cameras banned in the U.S. as a security risk. Widespread purchase of the equipment was uncovered by Bloc Québécois MP René Villemure (Trois-Rivières, Que.): 'We are removing these cameras.'
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau kept Han Dong as the 2019 Liberal candidate in Don Valley North because he feared losing the Toronto riding, according to a China inquiry report. The Prime Minister knew at the time Dong was under surveillance over his contacts with the Chinese Consulate: "This is significant."
Chinese agents were likely to blame for “troubling events” in at least three federal ridings, says the Commission on Foreign Interference. The conclusion in a 194-page Initial Report by Justice Marie-Josée Hogue contradicted two previous findings by Liberal appointees: "People are right to be worried."
Higher stamp prices are inevitable due to another heavy operating loss at Canada Post, says the latest Annual Report from management. Stamp rates are up eight percent effective today to 99¢ for a domestic letter, $1.40 for U.S. mail and $2.92 overseas: "Competition has accelerated at a pace not seen in the company’s history."
