A federal contractor paid millions for the ArriveCan app boasted of having pull at the Canada Border Services Agency. Remarks by Kristian Firth, partner with GC Strategies of Woodlawn, Ont., were secretly recorded by a subcontractor and given to the Commons government operations committee: "They’ve got you recorded."
Cabinet will have to “barrel on” through public complaints over the carbon tax, Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan said yesterday. Cabinet faces a Commons vote Monday on a motion to repeal the 12¢ per cubic metre tax for the majority of Canadian homeowners who heat with natural gas: 'Everyday folks are just having trouble making things meet and looking for someone to blame.'
Cabinet has not committed to passing a pharmacare bill by year's end, says Health Minister Mark Holland. He made no mention of a 2022 agreement with New Democrats to pass pharmacare legislation before December 31, 2023: "It’s not something I have committed to."
Cutting the CBC “would be devastating” for Canada, CEO Catherine Tait yesterday told the Commons heritage committee. The market share for CBC-TV is currently 4.4 percent and falling, according to the Crown broadcaster: "This is a precious asset."
Prime Minister Brian Mulroney secretly warned cabinet members to treat their chauffeurs as spies and gossips, according to newly declassified records. Political aides were also unreliable, said Mulroney: "Talking in the presence of chauffeurs was a deplorable but common mistake as these persons were notoriously unreliable gossips."
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau faces a House vote on whether to extend carbon tax relief on home heating to all householders nationwide. Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre yesterday also challenged the Prime Minister to call a carbon tax election: "Let’s make a deal. Let’s pause the carbon tax on all home heating until Canadians go to the polls."
The Canadian Armed Forces are shrinking. Defence Minister Bill Blair yesterday said more soldiers, sailors and air crew are quitting than can be replaced with new recruits amid “a great deal of priorities right now” with war in Israel and Ukraine and domestic search and rescue operations: "Over the last three years we’ve actually seen greater attrition."
Homes are so costly in Toronto and Vancouver that more buyers are relying on family to meet minimum downpayments, data show. CMHC said Toronto’s share of its insurance portfolio has shrunk by half: 'Parents and grandparents are playing the CMHC’s role.'
Immigrants complain Canadians pay too much tax, says in-house Canada Revenue Agency research. Chinese, Filipinos, Indians, Nigerians and Syrians interviewed by Agency researchers said that “taxes in Canada are expensive.”
Prime Minister Brian Mulroney asked to be personally told of every single Access To Information request filed with the Privy Council Office, according to newly declassified cabinet records. Mulroney vowed to not give an inch on disclosing federal documents he considered embarrassing: "The government should not open the door one further inch for more Access To Information requests."
The cost of an $8 million solar-powered warehouse at Rideau Hall was buried in a Crown corporation’s budget and never scrutinized by the Department of Public Works, MPs were told yesterday. Members of the public accounts committee expressed astonishment: "Who else is looking at these budgets?"
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau yesterday rejected a carbon tax break for homeowners heating with natural gas. “There will absolutely not be any other carve-outs or suspension of the price on pollution,” Trudeau told reporters.
Federal agents are unable to track and deport all foreign fugitives, the Canada Border Services Agency said yesterday. The admission followed new data indicating 29,248 foreigners banned from Canada remain here: "I think targets of 100 percent are rarely achievable."
Canadians support a universal free school lunch program without income testing, Social Development Minister Jenna Sudds’ department said in a report yesterday. No cost estimate was disclosed: "Universality reduces stigma."
The Commons heritage committee yesterday by a 6 to 4 vote rejected extended hearings to question CBC chief executive Catherine Tait over the network’s Middle East coverage. “The CBC has not told the truth,” said Conservative MP Rachael Thomas (Lethbridge, Alta.): "I have very important questions for Ms. Tait."
