A news story stating some people in China eat rodents as a delicacy was insensitive, says a CBC ombudsman. The reference perpetuated an ethnic stereotype that Chinese people are strange and different, the Ombudsman said: "The article went wrong."
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the Covid election after staff conducted psychographic polling that showed most Canadians trusted cabinet and were “very angry” with people who didn’t follow pandemic rules, records indicate. Pollsters suggested useful messages in “exploiting” divisions among voters: “Successful segmentation of the general population depends upon exploiting the diversity.”
The Prime Minister’s Office yesterday had no comment after Sophie Grégoire Trudeau vowed to “remember always” her grandfather killed in Normandy in 1944. Mrs. Trudeau did not have a grandfather killed in Normandy in 1944: "I share this poem that I wrote in tribute to my grandfather."
A Saskatchewan senator yesterday became the first member of the federal Conservative caucus to petition for a leadership review following the Party’s third consecutive election loss. “Erin O’Toole lost this election by every measure,” Senator Denise Batters said in a video message to Party members: "You can't come back from that."
CEO Ian Scott yesterday said the CRTC “may sometimes make mistakes” but complained its work was not understood by everyday Canadians. Scott referred to public protests after the Commission reversed a 2019 policy on wholesale telecom rates: "We reversed course."
The Department of Environment yesterday acknowledged it does know the impact of climate change targets on common use of thousands of diesel and gasoline generators. “Are alternatives to fossil fuel-powered generators suitable for use in emergency situations such as power outages?” wrote staff.
Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault says he will travel Canada by train this winter to discuss climate change. Guilbeault made no mention of frequent flyer miles logged by a predecessor, Catherine McKenna, who booked first-class flights to speak against global warming: "I’ve been at this climate fight for a long time."
Christmas caroling is unsafe, says Dr. Theresa Tam. The chief public health officer said singing indoors is not recommended this Christmas even among people who are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus: "Singing is not the best idea if Covid is circulating."
One of Canada’s largest newspaper chains fired 111 employees after pocketing taxpayers’ subsidies, according to court records. Federal documents confirm a $595 million newspaper bailout did not create jobs as promised: "The loss of even just one job is a tragedy."
The Department of Transport effective today will permit airlines and airports to grant employee exemptions to compulsory vaccination on medical or religious grounds. Similar exemptions for air passengers are expected by month’s end: "How does a manager decide?"
Cabinet should act to “leave the majority of the fossil fuels in the ground from now on,” a scientific panel of the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society has been told. Further mining of Alberta oil sands is “unacceptable in terms of the survival of this planet,” said a climate scientist: "You have the power."
Poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, writes for Blacklock’s each and every Sunday: “In Washington D.C. the Redskins football team is asked to change its name. Strong arguments are called up. The term is offensive, hurtful…”
A program to simplify hundreds of thousands of federal email addresses is on hold after five years and $65 million. Shared Services Canada, the federal IT department, said the setback was temporary: "Most government things don’t fail in a catastrophic way; they fail in a kind of mundane and annoying way."
Another one-month extension of pandemic benefits will cost more than a quarter billion. “We have to finish the fight against Covid,” said Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland: "We have done, I would say, a pretty good job."
The Department of Health recommends federal employees eat lunch alone, keep chairs six feet apart and wear masks in the office though 98 percent are vaccinated against Covid. The House of Commons issued its own pandemic directive stating even employees working from home must show proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test: "No vaccines are 100 percent effective."
