Cabinet must enforce its national ban on imported slave goods including Chinese auto parts, says the Commons industry committee. MPs specifically targeted Prime Minister Mark Carney’s decision to grant Chinese electric auto makers an unprecedented five-year import quota of 278,989 vehicles: "Do you believe there is forced labour in China?"
Cabinet yesterday enacted new regulations to speed the deportation of illegal immigrants. Minister of Immigration Lena Diab in a legal notice said the typical refugee claimant was male, Haitian and under age 30: 'Lengthy processing times make the removal of failed refugee claimants harder.'
A multi-million dollar plan to modernize the federal patent office ran two years late and went 114 percent over budget, the Department of Industry disclosed yesterday. Figures detailed at the request of Conservative MP Arnold Viersen (Peace River-Westlock, Alta.) showed patent holders still waited nearly four years on average for documents to be approved even after managers spent millions to computerize the system: "Do we have a marketplace that allows our inventors to first showcase their products to the world? We do not."
Cabinet must identify and track clear targets on housing starts, says a Commons committee. The recommendation followed a decision by the Department of Housing to drop its longstanding promise to build 500,000 new homes annually as the minimum required to restore affordability: 'Publish clear, measurable targets for federal housing programs relating to the number of units created.'
New data show labour inspectors targeted religious institutions in ongoing investigations of abuse under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. Four institutions were fined a total $117,500 over a nine-day period. The labour department did not comment: "Inspections have become increasingly complex."
Cabinet aides prepared a video featuring Prime Minister Mark Carney to be shown at mandatory citizenship ceremonies, Access To Information records show. No rule prohibits it though the Department of Immigration had cautioned that swearing-in ceremonies, a legal requirement for new citizens, should be nonpartisan: "Citizenship ceremonies provide a forum for visibility."
Gambling advertising has spoiled the enjoyment of sports, says Conservative MP Ned Kuruc (Hamilton East-Stoney Creek, Ont.), former assistant with Canada’s national Muay Thai martial arts team. Kuruc and other members of the Commons heritage committee passed a private bill proposing regulation of advertising: "We see where sports and betting have become one."
Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem yesterday expressed irritation when asked why he reversed three years’ worth of interest rate cuts. “There’s no immediate benefit of raising interest rates,” Macklem told the Commons finance committee after Conservative and Liberal MPs alike opposed the October 28 increase: 'Explain to small business owners why the decision was made because I’m having a hard time explaining it to them, okay?'
Parliament should let the courts define what “national interest” would justify quashing a lawful strike, an Air Canada executive yesterday told MPs. Unions have cautioned the ambiguous phrase does not appear elsewhere in labour legislation: "‘National interest’ is fairly vague."
CBC News yesterday was again censured by its own Ombudsman for anti-Israel coverage. The Ombudsman cited a story by reporter Chris Brown that was so biased it breached the network’s Journalistic Standards And Practices guide: "There is one important point I’d like to address: journalistic neutrality."
Members of the Commons science committee yesterday expressed disbelief after senior Public Health Agency staff could not explain their use of terminology like “pregnant people” to identify expectant mothers. “You can’t answer a simple question about biological reality?” asked Conservative MP Vincent Ho (Richmond Hill South, Ont.): "Should we stop using the term ‘mother’?"
The Senate yesterday passed into law a private Conservative bill to have Parliament award national medals to living organ donors. Legislators were told no other Commonwealth country has a specific honour that recognizes organ donors: "A transplant recipient once said to me, ‘I just don’t feel that a thank you card is enough.'"
Housing Minister Gregor Robertson is directing a Crown bank to finance “sports infrastructure,” Access To Information records show. Use of public money in sports was a priority, he said: "Investment areas of interest will emerge over time."
Complaints over federal secrecy are running at a record pace, the Commons ethics committee learned yesterday. Information Commissioner Caroline Maynard told MPs there was no substitute for a “genuine commitment to openness.”
Newly-declassified records show the RCMP in 1955 secretly microfilmed private mail at an international union in a hunt for Communist agitators. Access To Information records did not indicate whether Mounties burgled offices or relied on an informant with a spy camera: "It is through manipulation and control of labour that the Communists intend to bring about an economic crisis."
