The Department of Public Works hired offshore consultants to check if federal agencies bought slave-made goods from Asian contractors. The $70,531 study by the University of Nottingham was completed in May but not made public: "I take this situation very seriously."
Canadians are confused by a Department of Finance proposal for “open banking,” do not understand the concept and are skeptical even once it’s explained, says in-house research. The department detailed findings of online focus groups following the release last Thursday of an advisory panel report: "Who are these people?"
The federal Leaders’ Debates Commission will monitor Twitter traffic for real-time voter reaction to televised exchanges as part of a $99,412 research project. Twitter posts will help the Commission understand what voters like and why, it said: "This study will analyze how debates are covered and discussed via social media."
A legal activist who lamented the “shameful history” of John A. Macdonald and opposed citizenship tests is now a federal judge. Avvy Yao-Yao Go had been director of a Toronto law clinic that criticized Canadians for “anti-China sentiment and white supremacy.”
Opposition MPs propose a federal law endorsed in principle by all parties to ban imports of slave-made goods. Two similar private Liberal bills lapsed in the last Parliament and Senate banking committee: "I'm really shocked."
The Supreme Court says there was no need for Justice Rosalie Abella to recuse herself from a case in which her husband worked for the appellant. The Canadian Judicial Council cautions all judges should avoid “reasonable suspicion” of conflict: "Judges should be attentive to both actual conflicts between their self-interest and their duty of impartial adjudication."
Foreign offshore speculators face a first-time federal equity tax of $10,000 to $12,000 a year in Canada’s priciest housing markets. The Department of Finance detailed the tax to take effect January 1: "We don’t want to encourage any sort of speculation on housing."
The Department of Transport surveyed Canadians on whether they’d take a flying taxi. Most said it was not a good idea. The research cost $61,168: "Some feel the sounds would disturb them, others feel flying taxicabs sound like an accident waiting to happen."
Poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, writes for Blacklock’s each and every Sunday: ““We need to help immigrants,” says Sylvain, sinking his teeth into a Double Angus Burger he gets at Harvey’s…”
In 1937 Canada had a higher infant mortality rate than South Africa and Ireland. Until 1919 all national medical services were managed by the Department of Agriculture. Child deaths were such an inescapable horror in family life that Prime Minister John Thompson (1892-4) lost four of his nine children in infancy. Historian Mona Gleason documents the dawn of awareness that Canada’s infants could not be left to sicken and die in an expression of survival of the fittest: “Merely being small and young, in other words, required medical attention.”
Small Matters: Canadian Children in Sickness and Health is a compelling social history that chronicles the country’s struggle towards the light.
Management of a crack military Cyber War unit assigned to counter Chinese and Russian threats is so haphazard it “lacks direction” despite half a billion in spending, says a Department of National Defence audit. Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan had boasted his department was on the cutting edge of technology. Auditors instead found cyber analysts had to take cabs to access computer networks scattered across Ottawa: "This can result in up to $200 in taxi fares a week for one person."
The Liberal Party has summoned reporters to a confidential meeting Monday to discuss campaign logistics. New Democrats said it appeared Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was “plunging the country into an election.”
Six million Canadians eligible for Covid shots who’ve declined to get vaccinated to date may lose “certain privileges,” the Public Health Agency said yesterday. The remarks followed the Prime Minister’s suggestion that government employees and those in the federally-regulated private sector be forced to vaccinate: "That’s also a live issue."
Cabinet yesterday endorsed in principle new carbon tariffs on coal-powered imports from China, but set no deadline for “leveling the playing field.” Opposition Conservatives earlier endorsed the plan targeting goods from Chinese polluters: "Additional measures may be needed."
A federal arbitrator has ordered Canadian Pacific Railway Company to rehire an employee fired for using marijuana while on call. Employers had sought random workplace drug testing when Parliament legalized cannabis three years ago: "An accident, by itself, is usually not enough to justify testing."
