Actual checkout prices on select foods at the grocery store far exceed the overall inflation rate, Statistics Canada said yesterday. Average yearly retail price increases for meats, produce and dairy items run as high as twenty to thirty percent in some provinces: "This affects Canadians’ pocketbooks."
Rigid discipline in an “independent” Senate caucus of Liberal appointees sees members reprimanded for speaking out of turn, Senator Marilou McPhedran said yesterday. The Manitoba lawyer quit the Independent Senators Group after describing the caucus code as “work together, think together, stay together.”
A Manitoba court has agreed to strip the license of a lawyer who opposed the Canada Revenue Agency and compared income tax to a scheme by Hitler. The solicitor was found guilty of tax evasion after failing to report more than a half-million in income: "What kind of country do you want to live in?"
The Department of Public Works in internal emails says it considered ordering copper pandemic masks but worried over the additional expense compared to cotton masks. Staff looked into the purchase after learning of a Chinese program to distribute free copper fabric masks to schoolchildren: "This is something we can do in Canada?"
Federal management of office buildings is so “unreliable” taxpayers face billions a year in unfunded maintenance costs, says an internal audit. The Government of Canada is the biggest landlord in the country, the report noted: "It is no longer sustainable."
A Facebook group of thousands of unvaccinated federal employees is petitioning Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to permit them to remain on the job. The 3,200-member group Feds For Freedom cited the Department of Health’s own legal opinion that compulsory immunization is unlawful: "This vaccine mandate is unconstitutional."
Québec for the first time in more than a half century faces diminishing representation in the Commons. Redistricting will see British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario gain seats in a new 342-member House: "This is the first time since 1966 that a province has lost a seat in the House."
Cabinet under House rules cannot unilaterally deny any unvaccinated MPs their seat in the Commons. The last MP refused entry to the House was Soviet spy Fred Rose (Cartier, Que.), expelled in 1947. Only two others since Confederation were denied their right to sit in the Commons, none for medical reasons: "Maybe it’s something better asked of the Prime Minister."
A 65-year old Air Canada pilot has lost a challenge of mandatory retirement rules. A Canada Labour Code arbitrator said accommodating senior pilots was unreasonable though the Aeronautics Act does not mandate a retirement age.
The Public Health Agency of Canada is reviewing reports of 195 deaths of people who took Covid shots. The Agency said it was not proven all 195 fatalities were caused by vaccines though it budgeted for a $75 million compensation fund including payment of burial expenses: "These deaths occurred after being vaccinated with a Covid-19 vaccine."
Canada must end the “race to the bottom” on corporate tax cuts, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland yesterday told reporters. The Liberal Party has proposed $4.2 billion a year in new taxes mainly on corporations: "Everyone else had to tighten their belt."
Four million Canadians who’ve declined a Covid shot cannot all be characterized as anti-vaxers, says a leading epidemiologist. The executive editor of the Interdisciplinary Journal Of Health Sciences said cabinet “has not been clear” about the point of vaccine passports: "Our biggest value is our freedom and our democracy."
The Department of Environment yesterday said it seeks data on whether “unnecessary plastics” can be eliminated in food wholesaling and distribution. Cabinet has said it will proceed with an initial ban targeting a half-dozen single use plastic items by year’s end: "At the end of the day voluntary compliance by companies is not going to be enough."
The anti-trust Competition Bureau has reopened an investigation of Google Canada five years after dropping an earlier probe. The Bureau in Federal Court records seeks confidential data on the company’s YouTube ad sales and viewership in Canada: "It is considered by many advertisers as ‘must have' inventory."
The Department of Health yesterday would not comment on its own legal opinion that compulsory vaccination is unconstitutional. The finding dates from a 1996 report: "Your personal medical information is the most intimate and private information about you."
