Blacklock's Reporter

When Nunavut became a territory they put the Motor Vehicle Division in a village called Gjoa Haven. Nobody can drive there; Gjoa Haven is on an island. All of Nunavut has no highways and only 5,000 registered vehicles anyway.

Nunavut’s creation was not merely the world’s largest Indigenous land claim but an experiment in community-based government. “There was a sense at the Nunavut Implementation Commission that we were creating a big, new beautiful world,” one official tells the authors of Made in Nunavut.

Did it work? “More than one person interviewed used the word ‘mindless’ to describe some of the moves made to accommodate job targets,” authors write.

Then-Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau privately feared the severe 1981 recession would spell destruction of the Liberal Party, according to declassified records. Cabinet ministers were urged to combat public protests by planting pro-Liberal statements in the press: 'In the Prime Minister's view the mood of Liberal Party members which was developing across the country was potentially very destructive.'

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland yesterday said a record 56 percent increase in the debt ceiling is necessary, but would not detail what cabinet will do with the money. “We are being extremely transparent,” Freeland told the Commons finance committee.

The first audit of the costly Canada Emergency Recovery Benefit program will be complete by March 25, Auditor General Karen Hogan yesterday told the Commons public accounts committee. MPs have asked why the program went 240 percent over budget to eclipse spending on national defence: "It is actually meant to identify what is going on now."

RCMP receive more than a hundred calls a day from tipsters alleging clandestine activities by agents of the Communist Party of China. Commissioner Brenda Lucki yesterday told a Commons committee she could not divulge the nature of complaints: "We get an average 120 tips per day."

The feminist movement is “easily manipulated,” the federal cabinet concluded at a confidential 1981 meeting. Declassified records show ministers schemed to co-opt women’s groups to avert public criticism of cabinet: "There was a need for a well-planned counteroffensive to prevent the situation from snowballing."

Then-Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau gave his own cabinet scant minutes to hurriedly review the National Energy Program the very day it was introduced in Parliament, say declassified secret records obtained by Blacklock’s. Cabinet members complained they could not “get an adequate grasp of the details” of the landmark tax plan: "Ministers were generally surprised."

The Commons government operations committee last evening voted 6-5 to compel disclosure of actual Covid-19 spending by month’s end, and every month after that. Cabinet has not reported expenses since borrowing more than a half-trillion in the first 120 days of the pandemic: "What I’m not getting is what you’re trying to hide."

Then-Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau proposed to introduce a permanent federal lottery “in support of the Liberal party” but vowed to keep planning low-key, say declassified records. The secret 1980 plan was stymied by an agreement signed by a previous Conservative cabinet: "There did not seem to be a reason for the federal government to avoid acting in this area as a trade-off."

A cabinet bill to set new rules for a 2021 pandemic election hangs by a typo. Conservative MP Brad Vis (Mission-Matsqui, B.C.) yesterday stunned the Commons by announcing he’d uncovered a major discrepancy in the legal text of the bill: "Oh, no."

Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson yesterday said he’s focused on “keeping plastics in the economy.” Testifying at the Commons environment committee, Wilkinson wavered on a pledge to blacklist plastics as toxic under federal law though he was asked six times: "Can I just get confirmation you are committed?"

The Commons yesterday by a 178-155 vote gave Second Reading to a bill threatening steep fines or jail for animal rights activists who trespass in poultry and livestock pens. It follows a 2019 recommendation from the House agriculture committee: "Are we free game for protesters?"

Tax write-offs cost more than $3.3 billion last year, an increase of millions over 2019, according to an internal Canada Revenue Agency audit. The report disclosed the Agency typically “stockpiled” unrecoverable taxes for write-downs: "An uncollectible amount can be written off at any time."

A bill to expand carbon tax exemptions for farmers is crucial as cabinet hikes rates every year until 2030, the Commons agriculture committee was told yesterday. “Farmers are struggling now,” said Conservative MP Philip Lawrence (Northumberland-Peterborough South, Ont.), sponsor of the bill.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau yesterday would not set any date for a federal budget, the first since 2019. Trudeau told reporters pandemic management was a greater priority: "Of all the money invested in helping Canadians get through this pandemic, eight or nine of every ten dollars has come from the federal government."