New Democrats have introduced a bill to fix emissions targets in law. Critics said they feared the proposal would raise the carbon tax: "People are tired of words."
Poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, examines current events in the Blacklock’s tradition each and every Sunday: “The chime of the bells of the Dormition Abbey intertwines with the Arabic music from the passing BMW…”
Parliament claims ownership of every rock and iceberg in the Arctic, just as the Beijing Politburo claims every island in the South China Sea. True, Norwegians were the first to travel the Northwest Passage. And American submarines have secretly sailed through Arctic waters since 1958. And Russians have been planting flags at the North Pole since 1962 – but the idea is stuck fast. We pretend to own the Arctic, and the world pretends to care.
Unlike the People’s Daily, Canadians are capable of critical self-analysis of nationalistic land claims – which brings us to Lock, Stock and Icebergs, a fresh look at our stake in the unspoiled North. Author Adam Lajeunesse of the University of Waterloo in meticulous research points out how tenuous our Arctic “territorial integrity” is, and how haphazard Parliament has been in enforcing it.
The Senate last night erupted in protest after a legislator called Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a bribe-taker. Sharp words came during debate on a motion to investigate federal funding for We Charity: "I’d be more than happy to see him in a court of law."
The carbon tax will cost farmers at least $235 million over five years, the Parliamentary Budget Office said yesterday. The Department of Agriculture had concealed the data as secret: "These are exorbitant bills."
Infrastructure Minister Catherine McKenna in a report to Parliament said a federal bank created to finance public works instead spent more than $1.5 million on travel and publicity. Two-thirds of the Canada Infrastructure Bank office budget went to salaries and benefits: "We were expecting to see roads, bridges."
Federal regulators yesterday disclosed the Bank of Montreal paid a $500,000 fine for misconduct in the sale of credit card insurance. The Bank had appealed to keep the matter private: "I note this issue came to light as a result of a customer complaint."
The Canada Revenue Agency yesterday said it expects “some” tax-dodging under a proposal to charge the GST on e-commerce. “We always have some compliance challenges,” Revenue Commissioner Bob Hamilton told the Commons public accounts committee: "There is always some leakage in the tax system."
Canadian airports will take on $2.8 billion in debt with a disastrous decline in passenger revenues, the Commons transport committee was told yesterday. Cabinet has extended airport rent relief, though the industry said it was in no position to pay rents in the first place: "The outlook is bleak."
A Kenyan door-to-door sales company that received federal subsidies lost more than $50 million on business operations, records show. The Canadian agency that approved the funding yesterday defended it as a good investment: "It has high potential."
CBC-TV has become a $1.3 billion-a year “make-work project,” a Senator yesterday told the Chamber. The network in a Second Quarter Financial Report said it was facing program cuts after TV ad revenues fell nineteen percent in six months: "The CBC is producing programming Canadian taxpayers are not watching and don’t want."
Federal agencies spent millions on sneeze guards and plexiglass shields amid conflicting advice from the Public Health Agency on whether to wear masks. Dr. Theresa Tam, chief medical officer, has now recommended Canadians open windows as a pandemic precaution: "You have to be careful."
Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson yesterday vowed “aggressive action” in blacklisting plastics as toxic. MPs on the Commons environment committee questioned the impact on everyday products from baby bottles to intravenous tubes: "This is going to be extremely complicated."
A Saskatchewan labour panel has upheld a ten-day suspension for a grocery store clerk suspected of smoking marijuana at work. Labour boards nationwide have issued mixed rulings on cannabis use since Parliament legalized it in 2018: "This is serious indeed."
Airline passengers owed billions for pre-paid tickets on cancelled flights have the choice of accepting vouchers or “nothing at all,” says a federal regulator. Members of the Commons transport committee yesterday accused the Canadian Transportation Agency of bending rules to save airlines from refunding cash payments to customers: "I wonder how you can possibly construe this as a fair situation."
