The Commons yesterday considered a temporary freeze on foreign offshore purchases of residential real estate in Canada. Opposition parties blamed non-resident speculators for rising costs: "Actions of foreign speculators and investors are increasing home prices for regular Canadians."
A federal Job Match service for the unemployed “did not work very well” and few employers use it, says an internal report. The Department of Employment has operated the program since 2015 at a cost of $3.3 million a year: "Officials recognized the Job Match service did not work."
A federal monument to Cold War victims is now 284 percent over budget and incomplete. The Department of Canadian Heritage blamed the pandemic, though the project has been on the drawing board since 2009: "The design team experienced delays related to ensuring the Memorial is buildable."
Only a minority of Canadians oppose federal regulation of legal internet content, Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault said yesterday. Guilbeault said a bill mandating “content moderation” will be introduced shortly, though the Minister has made similar statements since March 31: "It’s going to be about an entire new ecosystem."
Cabinet yesterday defied a House order in refusing to release uncensored accounts of an RCMP raid at a federal lab. Foreign Minister Marc Garneau said cabinet had a “responsibility as a government” not to discuss the police raid or subsequent January 20 firing of two Chinese scientists granted secret security clearance by the Public Health Agency: 'Certain information touches on possible security implications.'
The Commons yesterday voted 181-147 to gag committee deliberation of Bill C-10 on regulation of legal internet content. One MP called it a far-reaching precedent that will see committees muzzled in future years: "This kind of motion on time allocation will do real damage to this place, not just today, not just tomorrow, but in the coming years."
More than a tenth of Canadians who downloaded a federal Covid Alert app regretted it, says in-house research by the Department of Health. The vast majority of 33 million smartphone users in Canada refused to download the app in the first place, citing privacy concerns: "I don’t trust the government to handle my data."
Liberal MP Will Amos (Pontiac, Que.) yesterday was censured by the Commons for misconduct. MPs referred Amos to questioning by the House affairs committee after he first appeared naked, then urinated during videoconferences: "That stems from a lot of people being more relaxed and comfortable because they are at home or in their own office."
The Department of Health yesterday denied breaching WHO guidelines by giving Canadians date-expired vaccines. The World Health Organization in a May 17 notice said expired vaccines should not be used no matter how “deeply regrettable” it was to discard them: "You guys just changed the expiry date."
The federal Leaders’ Debates Commission awarded a research contract to a group that fundraised for four cabinet ministers and praised China for its “environmental leadership,” records show. The Commission was to be impartial when created by cabinet three years ago: "We ensured the Commission would have the independence required to make its own decisions."
Government business has ground to a halt in the Commons as MPs protest Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault’s attempt to gag debate on first-ever regulation of legal internet content. Cabinet said it is now “virtually impossible” to pass Bill C-10 without forcing a vote: "At this rate it would likely take more than six months."
Executives at a federal agency declined to testify at the Commons health committee after threatening to “push back” against patient groups like Cystic Fibrosis Canada. Threats by the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board were detailed in Access To Information records: "We can all make assumptions on why they refused to show up."
A bill to legalize bookmaking will raise the risk of match fixing in football, tennis and other sports, says the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport. Corrupt practices may spread to “university sport, college sport or the Canada Games,” the Senate banking committee was told: "It's already occurring in Canada."
Poultry producers say they fear farm raids by animal rights activists. The Chicken Farmers of Canada endorsed a bill threatening jail and hefty fines for trespassers on private property: "They’re here, they’re loud. They’re right in front of you at the driveway."
Poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, writes for Blacklock’s each and every Sunday: “My cat moves across the kitchen table to set my priorities. She positions herself on today’s newspaper. Her eyes in my cereal bowl…”
