A federal agency that put a fifth of its parliamentary grant in the stock market yesterday would not disclose losses. The Canada Race Relations Foundation had millions in equity wiped out in the 2008 panic and was forced to cut staff salaries forty percent: "It was a huge impact."
A European Union boycott has reduced Arctic seal hunting to a weekend pastime, says the Department of Fisheries. The Inuit commercial hunt is now entirely reliant on federal aid, wrote auditors: "Few hunters are hunting seals."
Canada’s chief librarian Leslie Weir in her first act in office accepted a Communist Party-paid junket as guest of the National Library of China in a celebration of “socialist culture,” according to records. The Beijing conference was held only weeks before Party librarians admitted to book burning: ‘Make greater contributions to socialist culture.’
Parliament has granted cabinet wartime spending powers for ninety days. The bill was introduced in the Commons at 10:15 am, sped through the Senate and was signed into law by 12:14 pm Friday amid fears of the coronavirus pandemic: "We do what it takes."
Canada’s submarine fleet has defective welds and diesel engines so obsolete the navy cannot find parts, says a newly-released audit. The entire fleet spent last year in dry dock at a cost of $325.5 million: 'Obsolescence has made it difficult.'
Cabinet has no “business case” to grant more carbon tax exemptions to farmers, says Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau. Two private bills introduced in Parliament would extend multi-million dollar tax breaks for grain growers: "I want to question your data."
Poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, examines current events in the Blacklock’s tradition each and every Sunday: “Physicists claim nothing in nature can be lost. All changes are merely transformations of matter and energy…”
What do municipalities and First Nation reserves have in common? Both are used to being told what to do. It’s natural, then, that any review of Indigenous self-government would examine how these two get along at the most elemental level. A Quiet Evolution is the first research of its kind, and prompts the reader to wonder why nobody thought of this before.
It turns out relationships between cities and reserves can be petty or profound – human, in other words. If Parliament ever settles outstanding land claims and accepts Indigenous property rights nationwide, it would look something like this.
Elections Canada yesterday said it is auditing campaign returns by Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller over failure to report donations from a private New York fundraiser. The Commissioner of Elections is also reviewing Miller’s returns: "Does this seem odd to you?"
Millions of self-employed Canadians including family business operators may qualify for Covid-19 income support, cabinet said yesterday. Details are likely in the March 30 budget: "What measure is the government considering?"
An Alberta senator yesterday complained of “spiritual disenfranchisement” over restrictions on Indigenous smoke ceremonies in her office. The Senate budgets committee agreed to investigate: "I can’t smudge and pray in my office without giving twenty-four hours’ notice."
The CEO of a green energy firm that has yet to turn a profit despite millions in subsidies yesterday thanked the Commons finance committee for taxpayer grants. MPs are investigating the scope of federal aid to corporations worth $5.5 billion a year nationwide: "If somebody’s throwing money out a window, stand next to the window."
Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said cabinet is prepared to follow Rwanda’s lead in banning single-use plastic bags. Wilkinson in testimony at the Commons environment committee did not comment on the cost to consumers: "Canadians are far ahead of us on this."
Liberal Senate appointees yesterday were accused of engineering a “power grab” to strip the Conservative caucus of its budget: "Why are they getting more money?"
Parliament pocketed more than a hundred million in tariff revenue that was promised to compensate industry, the Parliamentary Budget Office said yesterday. Finance Minister Bill Morneau repeatedly said the treasury would not profit from special tariffs imposed in 2018: "These surtaxes are generating significant revenues, yes."
