A Crown corporation once dubbed an “absolute mess” is slated for privatization. The Department of Fisheries yesterday said the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation of Winnipeg should be ‘transformed’ into a business: "Maybe in 1969 it was relevant."
The CBC yesterday corrected a commentary claiming a Blacklock’s story on the federal carbon tax was an “attempt to confuse Canadians.” Max Fawcett, a Calgary pundit who made the claim, had not read the story: “This little episode is going in a future column of mine.”
About 6,700,000 seniors received tax-free pandemic payments last year, by official estimate. The payout went to tax filers, from the poorest seniors to retirees with incomes up to $128,000 annually: "You’re making it sound like rich people are getting this."
A proposal to compensate federally-regulated employees asked to take Zoom calls, texts and company emails after hours will go to the labour department as early as this spring. Any “right to disconnect” would be a Canadian first: "They send and receive too many emails."
A proposed tax on Airbnb rentals will see about twenty percent less revenue than expected, the Parliamentary Budget Office said yesterday. Cabinet has said it will charge the GST on short-term rental accommodations this summer: "Airbnb rentals have become very problematic."
A federally-subsidized survey on green farming restrictions is not a blueprint for regulation of private lands, organizers said yesterday. One farm group cautioned the attempt to draft a Code Of Practice for grain growers “raises several concerns.”
The first carbon tax rebates to consumers averaged $4 a week, according to Access To Information figures. Cabinet has claimed most Canadians received more in rebates than they paid in higher prices for fuel, home heating, groceries and other charges impacted by the tax: "We will win the race against climate change."
Parliament Hill police yesterday said the Ottawa security threat level remained “medium” amid U.S. fears of demonstrations to mark the inauguration of a new head of state. One Québec senator expressed concerns about “white supremacy and political extremism” in Canada.
Covid vaccines are not 100 percent effective, says Dr. Theresa Tam, chief public health officer. “I was told I was such a downer when I was just trying to be realistic about communicating the fact it is not a magic solution,” said Tam.
Canada Post yesterday estimated of more than a thousand employees who’ve tested positive for Covid-19 fewer than two dozen contracted the illness at work. The post office has the largest civilian payroll in the federal public service, a total 68,000 including staff at subsidiaries: "Remarkable."
Canadian energy exports to the U.S. are “bigger than any one project,” Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said yesterday. Wilkinson spoke to climate change advocates on the expected U.S. cancellation of the $8 billion Keystone XL pipeline: "You have to be thoughtful."
Former New Democrat MP Nathan Cullen (Skeena-Bulkley Valley, B.C.) was awarded a sole-sourced $41,000 federal contract to mediate an Indigenous pipeline dispute. Cullen has no Indigenous roots. “I grew up in Toronto,” he earlier told the Commons.
A federal agency that billed for junkets from Washington to Paris says it will cut air travel for the sake of climate change. The Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency charged more than $140,000 for flights in the year prior to pandemic travel bans: "Officials are required to travel regularly."
The Department of Natural Resources is writing a marketing plan to boost its number of Facebook friends. Auditors disclosed department executives hold eleven meetings a week on communications and “storytelling.”
Legislators must press cabinet to roll pandemic relief programs into a permanent guaranteed income plan, members of an Anti-Poverty Caucus said yesterday. “We still have to aim for it in the budget,” said Senator Kim Pate (Ont.), a Liberal appointee: "We’re certainly well on our way."
