Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault yesterday served notice he will gag a filibuster of Bill C-10, the first legislation in Canada to regulate legal internet content. Guilbeault complained the bill has “been stuck in committee for weeks” and must pass before Parliament takes summer adjournment for Québec’s Saint Jean Baptiste Day, June 24: "“I will confess to you it has been challenging."
Cabinet commissioned confidential polling on decriminalizing hard drugs as part of an “activist government” agenda, records show. Canadians are sharply divided on the issue, said a Privy Council Office report: "Some favoured this approach while others opposed it."
Federal employees yesterday won a new day off with pay in the name of Indigenous reconciliation. The Senate unanimously passed cabinet's holiday bill into law amid complaints over the $388.9 million cost: "It’s easier to give bureaucrats the day off here than it is to work on the more pressing but difficult issues that are facing Indigenous communities every day of the week."
Members of the Senate agriculture committee yesterday expressed unanimous support for a bill to cut millions in taxes due on family sales of legacy farms and other small businesses. “We have been waiting thirty-some years for this fix,” testified one tax manager: "Who could possibly be against this?"
A proposed rewrite of federal bankruptcy law will send “ripple effects across the economy,” the Canadian Bankers Association said yesterday. A private bill would give creditors’ preference to pensioners of insolvent companies: "It is very difficult."
Cabinet is in “close touch” with Canada Post directors on a confidential plan to reduce the corporation’s deficit, Public Works Minister Anita Anand said yesterday. The report cannot be made public, the Commons government operations committee was told: "We are all working very hard."
The Commons yesterday by a 179-151 vote passed a private bill to ban plastic waste exports. Conservative MP Scot Davidson (York-Simcoe, Ont.), sponsor of the bill, called the trade a “shameful practice.”
Public health authorities never asked for $150 million field hospitals ordered from SNC-Lavalin Group Inc., the Commons government operations committee was told yesterday. No province asked for the mobile units, either. None have been used to date: "Who requested them?"
A bill to legalize bookmaking in Canada last night faced new hurdles at Senate banking committee hearings. First Nations casino operators testified the bill must be rewritten to have Parliament recognize their local authority: "It all falls short."
Cabinet spent the equivalent of more than $80,000 for every vote it received in a failed 2020 bid to win a seat on the United Nations Security Council, records show. Access To Information accounts disclosed yesterday by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation detailed millions in staff costs: "Send the message that Canada is back."
Canada’s best known natural gas fixture, the Centennial Flame on Parliament Hill, will be made “carbon-neutral” due to climate change, says the Department of Public Works. The old gas flame emitted 38 tonnes of carbon emissions annually, it said: "The department has not been purchasing carbon credits."
Auditor General Karen Hogan yesterday said she didn’t want to dwell on “why things were as bad as they were” at the Public Health Agency prior to Covid. Members of the Commons public accounts committee faulted Hogan for what one MP called a “very timid” exoneration of the Agency in a pandemic that killed more than 25,000 Canadians: "I focused on continuous improvement."
The Commons today is expected to pass a motion compelling disclosure of uncensored records of an RCMP raid at a federal lab. Two Chinese scientists were suspended, then fired in an incident the Public Health Agency has refused to discuss with MPs: "These concerns were serious."
Union executives yesterday petitioned the Commons industry committee to speed passage of a private bill to rewrite federal bankruptcy laws. The United Steelworkers said it feared the bill to grant preference to pensioners in corporate insolvency claims will be lost with an expected election: "Please let's move."
Senators last night balked at a bill to strip ex-Governor General Julie Payette of her lifetime pension after she quit amid a workplace harassment probe. Senators questioned whether Payette would sue to keep her benefits: "It’s simply a disgraceful situation."
