The Commons yesterday by a 180-147 vote endorsed a temporary ban on residential real estate purchases by offshore foreigners. The Opposition motion asked that cabinet “examine a temporary freeze” for an indeterminate period: "Housing shouldn’t be taken over by speculators."
The Senate legal affairs committee last night passed a private bill restricting children’s access to online pornography. Penalties for website operators range from $500,000 fines to six months’ jail with personal liability for corporate directors: "You have to block it."
A Senate bill to give 16-year olds the vote yesterday survived a floor challenge. Senators by a 55-19 margin rejected a proposal to kill the bill: "Young people very much want to speak to senators in their own voices for a deeper examination of this pressing issue."
Internal emails disclose the scientific director of a federal lab was uneasy over close ties with researchers in China. Two employees were fired January 20 at the National Microbiology Laboratory in circumstances unexplained to date: "We still don’t know why these two scientists were terminated."
Homeowners nationwide must embrace high density housing for the sake of climate change, CMHC said yesterday. The federal mortgage insurer said it would help in “unblocking those barriers” that favour construction of single family homes: 'We feel NIMBYism and zoning issues are very significant barriers.'
The Commons yesterday considered a temporary freeze on foreign offshore purchases of residential real estate in Canada. Opposition parties blamed non-resident speculators for rising costs: "Actions of foreign speculators and investors are increasing home prices for regular Canadians."
A federal Job Match service for the unemployed “did not work very well” and few employers use it, says an internal report. The Department of Employment has operated the program since 2015 at a cost of $3.3 million a year: "Officials recognized the Job Match service did not work."
A federal monument to Cold War victims is now 284 percent over budget and incomplete. The Department of Canadian Heritage blamed the pandemic, though the project has been on the drawing board since 2009: "The design team experienced delays related to ensuring the Memorial is buildable."
Only a minority of Canadians oppose federal regulation of legal internet content, Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault said yesterday. Guilbeault said a bill mandating “content moderation” will be introduced shortly, though the Minister has made similar statements since March 31: "It’s going to be about an entire new ecosystem."
Cabinet yesterday defied a House order in refusing to release uncensored accounts of an RCMP raid at a federal lab. Foreign Minister Marc Garneau said cabinet had a “responsibility as a government” not to discuss the police raid or subsequent January 20 firing of two Chinese scientists granted secret security clearance by the Public Health Agency: 'Certain information touches on possible security implications.'
The Commons yesterday voted 181-147 to gag committee deliberation of Bill C-10 on regulation of legal internet content. One MP called it a far-reaching precedent that will see committees muzzled in future years: "This kind of motion on time allocation will do real damage to this place, not just today, not just tomorrow, but in the coming years."
More than a tenth of Canadians who downloaded a federal Covid Alert app regretted it, says in-house research by the Department of Health. The vast majority of 33 million smartphone users in Canada refused to download the app in the first place, citing privacy concerns: "I don’t trust the government to handle my data."
Liberal MP Will Amos (Pontiac, Que.) yesterday was censured by the Commons for misconduct. MPs referred Amos to questioning by the House affairs committee after he first appeared naked, then urinated during videoconferences: "That stems from a lot of people being more relaxed and comfortable because they are at home or in their own office."
The Department of Health yesterday denied breaching WHO guidelines by giving Canadians date-expired vaccines. The World Health Organization in a May 17 notice said expired vaccines should not be used no matter how “deeply regrettable” it was to discard them: "You guys just changed the expiry date."
The federal Leaders’ Debates Commission awarded a research contract to a group that fundraised for four cabinet ministers and praised China for its “environmental leadership,” records show. The Commission was to be impartial when created by cabinet three years ago: "We ensured the Commission would have the independence required to make its own decisions."
