Cabinet will not meet its targets to increase use of French in Canada despite billions in promotions, says a federal report. “Worrisome demographic trends” see bilingualism rates decline over time, it said: "Immigration is not sufficient to increase the demographic weight of francophones outside Québec."
Global government debt tops a record US$92 trillion, the Bank of Canada said yesterday. Risks of default worldwide were “challenging” given inflation and rising interest rates, it said: "Against a backdrop of historically high inflation and rising nominal and real interest rates, debt service payments remain challenging."
Indigenous Canadians have no automatic treaty right to disturb fish habitat, says an Ontario judge. The ruling centred on a long-disputed clause of the Fisheries Act: "To find the existence of a treaty right is to bestow upon a particular activity the highest form of recognition and protection available in Canadian law."
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland makes frequent use of a government-issue car and chauffeur in Toronto, according to expense accounts. Records contradicted Freeland’s claim Friday that she avoided car travel and attended meetings on foot or by public transit: "I walk, I take the subway."
A record number of callers have swamped federal 1-800 lines for benefits claims, says the Department of Employment. Managers said there were so many calls its 150 operators could not keep up: "Call volumes have skyrocketed."
CBC News "crossed the line" in reporting opinion as fact in a tight political race, says the network Ombudsman. The ruling faulted CBC coverage of former Winnipeg mayor Glen Murray’s failed bid to return to municipal office last October 26: 'It felt like piling on.'
The Department of Transport is reviewing the “need for adjustments” to $5,000 rebates for electric vehicle buyers, says a briefing note. A U.S. program pays nearly twice as much: 'We will assess the need for adjustments to the program.'
Allegations of crude anti-Asian racism against a UPS store have been dismissed by the Alberta Human Rights Tribunal. There was no evidence to support a woman’s claim she was cursed and manhandled as a suspected Covid carrier, wrote an adjudicator: "There are credibility issues."
Poet Dahlia Kurtz writes: “Green bananas are the same as yellow ones…”
Canadian history for generations of sufferers has been a tiresome recitation of patriotic themes sanctioned by officialdom: Champlain, Vimy, the CPR. There is so much more.
Among unsung benefactors are those researchers who seek out the hidden corners of Canadiana. For little reward and less acclaim, they devote thousands of unpaid hours in documenting the lives and trials of our ancestors. The results are gold. An example is African Canadians In Union Blue.
Professor Richard Reid of the University of Guelph documents the story of Afro-Canadians who enlisted in the greatest cataclysm of the 19th century, the U.S. Civil War. Reid is a gifted writer. His research is extraordinary. In 308 pages Reid convincingly challenges everything Canadians think they know about the era.
Flight logs show the Department of National Defence flew half-empty mercy flights out of Kabul for days before the city fell to the Taliban, trapping thousands of Canadians and Afghan allies. The department in a newly-disclosed memo said it flew with empty seats in part because it wanted to conserve fuel: "It was very obvious the city was coming under siege."
Five provinces have solid finances that should carry the rest of the century, the Parliamentary Budget Office said yesterday. “All other provinces and territories have current fiscal policies that are not sustainable over the long term,” warned analysts. Two are headed for insolvency: "Manitoba will see the largest deterioration."
A Privy Council briefing note rates Arctic security “more important than ever.” Soldiers, sailors and air crew permanently assigned to the vast region number 300, it disclosed: "We have some 300 full-time military personnel in the North."
A labour board has awarded $54,000 in damages plus back pay to a former federal employee tormented at work by score-settling surveillance and costly suspensions. “The employer’s behaviour was egregious,” ruled the Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board: "This should have never happened."
Cabinet today expects final ratification of a settlement to the 13-day B.C. ports strike, says Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan. Another strike is out of the question, O’Regan told reporters: "We can’t have it happen again. We cannot go through this again."
