Liberal Party organizer Thomas Pitfield, a senator’s son named principal secretary to the Prime Minister, yesterday was appointed to the Senate. The appointment came almost five years to the day that Liberal MPs blocked an investigation of public payments to Pitfield’s company, Data Sciences Inc. of Montréal: 'He has a wealth of experience.'
Raising the age of eligibility for Old Age Security benefits would punish about a fifth of retirees who have no other income, says a Department of Employment briefing note. The department acknowledged the cost of seniors’ benefits overall, soon to eclipse $100 billion a year, will peak at a quarter-trillion: "Retirement is expensive."
A federal judge yesterday upheld mandatory retirement in the Navy. It followed similar rulings involving airline pilots and firefighters who challenged mandatory age limits: "Age 60 is the compulsory retirement age for all Canadian Armed Forces members."
Cabinet in an executive order made public yesterday granted VIA Rail exemptions from federal regulations mandating full accessibility for disabled passengers. The waiver followed years of complaints, citations and a Supreme Court ruling that faulted VIA for inadequate service: "They’ve got the staff, they’ve got it all, and the remarkable thing is, they still got it wrong."
About a fifth of businesses anticipate a continued slowdown over the next 12 months, the Bank of Canada said yesterday in its first Business Outlook Survey since the economy fell into recession. The latest data were issued ahead of the next interest rate announcement due July 15: "Business sentiment has deteriorated."
Cabinet yesterday said it expected to wring another 9 to 10 years’ worth of service out of its aging fleet of diesel-powered submarines at an undisclosed cost. The subs commissioned circa 1976 were bought second hand from the United Kingdom and are rarely deployed: "It will take as long as it takes but no longer."
The Public Health Agency in an internal memo confirms it lost millions’ worth of medical equipment in a 2024 flood. The newly-disclosed incident is the latest in a string of mishaps and mismanagement at the National Emergency Strategic Stockpile: "We are doing sort of some interim course corrections as we go."
Newly-declassified records show Canadian diplomats 50 years ago this summer were so fearful of anti-Semitic violence at the Montréal Summer Olympics they pleaded with Israeli VIPs to keep their travel plans confidential. The Montréal Games were the first since the 1972 murder of 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics: "On each occasion the visit was treated privately and no mention of it was made in the press."
Canadians should trade their cars for bicycles, says an advocacy group co-founded by former environment minister Steven Guilbeault. The group Équiterre of Montréal petitioned MPs to approve millions in rebates to get commuters on their bike: "Équiterre suggests rewarding Canadians who choose low carbon ways to travel."
Farm Credit Canada CEO Justine Hendricks booked a $44,000 out-of-town cocktail party for directors of the Crown bank after cabinet ordered cuts in federal travel expenses, Access To Information records show. “If you’re asking me, ‘Justine, is there a plan to cut travel?’ No,” Hendricks told a staff meeting.
Liberal appointee Senator Yuen Pau Woo (B.C.) says he is personally embarrassed by Canadians’ refusal to publicly criticize Israel. “This is not the Canada I am proud of,” Woo told reporters. “This is not the Canada I believe in.”
Federally-regulated banks must promote deposit insurance in all marketing including newspaper and TV ads and company websites, regulators said in a legal notice Saturday. Mandatory mention of the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation takes effect December 1: "Depositors who are confident their money is protected are less likely to run in times of stress."
A fifth of Atlantic Canadians in federal research say a family member had to leave the region to find work in the past five years. Surveys by a cabinet-appointed business panel found residents divided on whether their home province could become “about as prosperous as the rest of Canada.”
Another cable TV channel, French-language TV5 Québec, is petitioning MPs for a bailout due to falling revenues. It follows federal research showing few Canadians under 34 watch conventional television: "The audience was an average 62 years old."
Poet Shai Ben-Shalom writes: “On the way to work, an ant with a broken leg. Limping. Vigorously. Drawing a circle in the sandy pavement. Antennae slapping in the air…”
