A federal agency has waived penalties for a staffer who regulated utilities while owning shares in one of the country’s largest hydroelectric companies. “There was a breach of the Code Of Conduct,” said an Access To Information memo at the Canada Energy Regulator: "Integrity is the cornerstone of good governance and democracy."
An Alberta post office yesterday was named a "model" for 6,026 outlets nationwide in offering expanded services and consumer loans under a trial program to boost Canada Post revenues. “This is wonderful,” said the mayor of High Prairie, Alta., population 2600: "We understand the post office has to find a way to get those deficits down."
More than a fifth of Canadians were victims of credit or debit card theft in the past two years, says in-house research by the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada. Thefts involved unauthorized transactions on cards: "The issue of internet security is not lost on Canadians."
Consumers face an expected double-digit increase in retail prices for milk and dairy products this winter. The federal Dairy Commission approved wholesale price hikes it blamed on higher pandemic costs for farmers: "We know higher prices are challenging Canadians and making it harder for them to cover their bills."
Few Canadians can work from home, says Statistics Canada research. The agency estimated only 39 percent of workers “hold jobs that can plausibly be carried out from home,” typically office workers with university degrees: "What have we learned so far?"
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau yesterday repeated an election campaign pledge to abolish thermal coal exports by 2030. Exports for use in foreign power plants account for about four percent of Canada’s coal production: "Climate action can't wait."
A federal case over wine labeling is headed back to court for the fourth time in four years. The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs filed notice in Federal Court it seeks to submit evidence in a dispute considered a proxy fight over Israeli boycotts: "We are just lawyers."
A Halifax man banished from Air Canada as a safety risk because he bickered with a flight attendant has won his day in Federal Court. A judge ordered the Canadian Human Rights Commission to investigate the passenger’s claim of discrimination: 'They asked him to step outside.'
Federal employees awarded paid Covid furloughs took an average of almost $10,000 in salary and benefits while off work, says the Parliamentary Budget Office. Total costs were $1,269,900,000 for employees who were neither sick nor working from home: "We’ve made sure to take care of our employees."
Labour arbitrators in separate rulings have recognized National Day for Truth and Reconciliation as a paid holiday even for workers who aren’t federally regulated. The decisions affecting thousands of workers relied on common wording in union contracts: 'It should have been recognized as a paid holiday.'
Even obnoxious speech is protected by freedom of expression, the Supreme Court has ruled in a 5-4 decision. The judgment comes ahead of cabinet’s reintroduction of a bill that would threaten bloggers and Facebook users with $70,000 fines for hurtful online comments: 'Everyone can manifest their opinions however unpopular, distasteful or contrary to the mainstream.'
The federal definition of “fully vaccinated” will remain at two Covid shots for the time being but may change this winter, says Dr. Theresa Tam, chief public health officer. Tam’s remarks followed a recommendation that provinces consider third shots for some five million pensioners: "Do you foresee that becoming the new definition of fully vaccinated?"
Cabinet has given itself 60 days to finalize a multi-billion dollar settlement with Indigenous families over discriminatory welfare programs dating from the 1960s, says Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller. The promise came after a federal judge lamented the “extraordinary proceeding” was ongoing for fifteen years: "I don’t think there is any intention to want to reduce any amounts."
Hazing. Vandalism. Bad marks and raucous protest. This was the campus misconduct of a Toronto student leader who put Quebec tuition protesters to shame. He might have wound up in the penitentiary, but instead became prime minister.
Professor Martin Friedland reveals this wonderful hidden anecdote of Canadian politics, a profile of Billy King, class of 1895. All his classmates called him Billy. Only years afterward did he transform himself into a national leader with four names, William Lyon Mackenzie King.
He was the kind of scholar who double-spaced his thesis so he could pad it out to 45 pages, without bothering to footnote his sources. He was the type of Kappa Alpha frat boy who’d dream up Halloween pranks.
The Department of Finance spent $53,445 to ask thirty-two people what they thought of Minister Chrystia Freeland’s first budget, records show. Freeland polled poorly with seniors who complained the finance minister spent like she had “a money tree some place.”
