Figure skater Toller Cranston died one of the wealthiest 1970s sports figures in Canada, according to court records. Cranston left an estate worth more than $6 million with a seven-figure art collection, but no will: "Toller’s estate was complex."
Poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, writes for Blacklock's each and every Sunday: "The Department of National Defence may be thrilled to realize that the stealth capabilities of F-35s are greater than expected..."
New tax changes will allow media to double dip on taxpayers’ subsidies, the Department of Finance confirmed yesterday. Amendments inserted in a 336-page budget bill will see some publishers draw subsidies equal to 100 percent of newsroom costs: "I know how this works."
Federal revenue from a new luxury tax on six-figure cars, yachts and aircraft will be ten percent richer than estimated, the Parliamentary Budget Office said yesterday. One union executive told the Commons finance committee the levy “just scratched the surface” in taxing wealthy Canadians: "Make the rich pay."
Cabinet yesterday raised the stress test on all new mortgages effective June 1, requiring that borrowers prove they can pay 5.25 percent on a five-year loan in anticipation of higher interest rates. Credit curbs in 2016 cut applications for insured mortgages by a fifth: "Banks are safe, homeowners are not."
The Public Health Agency did not carefully monitor operations at a federal lab raided by the RCMP, says an internal report. The audit of the National Microbiology Laboratory made no mention of the raid targeting Chinese employees given secret security clearance: "Often the Laboratory and Agency are not aware of what the other is working on."
A federal labour arbitrator has struck an Air Canada ban on tattooed flight attendants. The airline had justified the ban out of respect for customer values, it said: "I order that the company amend its tattoo and piercing policy."
Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson faces a Federal Court challenge after listing all “plastic manufactured items” as toxic. A coalition of oil and chemical companies filed its claim only six days after Wilkinson issued the order, calling it “unreasonable,” "political," “flawed,” “wrong in law” and “based on conjecture, not evidence.”
Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault’s YouTube regulation bill C-10 yesterday was rewritten by MPs to acknowledge “freedom of expression guaranteed to users of social media.” The Commons heritage committee deferred a vote to ban regulation of private users’ uploaded content altogether: "You can never be too careful."
No federal law allows any government to mandate Covid-19 vaccine passports, Privacy Commissioner Daniel Therrien said yesterday. “So far we have not been presented with evidence of vaccine effectiveness to prevent transmission,” said Therrien: "It is an encroachment on civil liberties."
The Department of Health yesterday said it will issue more rigorous safety guidelines to protect farmers handling a common pesticide sold since 1995. The department would not comment on risks of past exposure to imidacloprid: "A lack of evidence of risk is not the same as evidence of no risk."
Cabinet must regulate Arctic shipping, the Transportation Safety Board said yesterday. The recommendation followed an investigation of the 2018 grounding of a passenger ship, the Akademik Ioffe: "Insurance costs will play a much bigger role than climate change."
An estimated 58,000 small businesses have permanently closed with another 180,000 in peril, the Senate national finance committee was told yesterday. The 2008 recession saw 158,000 bankruptcy filings, by federal estimate. “The stress that business owners are under is incredible,” testified Dan Kelly, CEO of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business: "Those businesses were closed down in order to protect society."
“Rights and freedoms can be limited,” Attorney General David Lametti yesterday told the Commons heritage committee. Lametti spoke in favour of first-ever federal regulation of legal internet content under Bill C-10 An Act To Amend The Broadcasting Act: "I am not here to give legal advice."
Just because prices are up doesn't mean there is inflation, former Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz yesterday told the Commons finance committee. “I hope you’re right,” said one MP. “I hope so too,” replied Poloz.
