Parliament’s legalization of cannabis normalized marijuana use, says Department of Health research. The 2018 bill made Canada only the second country after Uruguay to permit recreational use of cannabis: 'The smell of cannabis is now more prevalent than cigarette smoke.'
MPs will seek immediate resumption of Commons committee investigations of federal contracting, We Charity and China subterfuge in Canada, MP Erin O’Toole (Durham, Ont.) yesterday said on his first day as Leader of the Opposition. All hearings were suspended by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau until September 23: "Mr. O’Toole spoke with Prime Minister Trudeau over the phone."
Cabinet yesterday claimed labour shortages in waiving a requirement that jobless migrants leave the country before reapplying for work here. Any migrant worker with a legitimate job offer may stay, said Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino: "We have heard from employers who continue to face challenges."
The Department of Agriculture yesterday paid more than a million dollars to distribute surplus seafood to Nova Scotia food banks. The initiative to help processors get rid of unsold stock follows Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s appeal to Canadians to aid the industry by eating more lobster: "Not only will it taste great but it will help people."
New federal data show a ban on contact hockey for players under 13 did reduce brain injuries. Hockey Hall of Famer Eric Lindros earlier told a Commons committee that curbs on body-checking should be extended to older players: "Why are we starting to hit when not everyone has gone through puberty?"
Decriminalizing heroin and cocaine is “something worth deliberating”, says Health Minister Patricia Hajdu. A private Liberal bill pending in the Commons would repeal a federal law that criminalizes simple possession of street drugs: "I hear the calls across the country."
Volunteer groups warned the We Charity program was misguided and badly drafted, according to internal Department of Employment memos. One organization refused a $100,000 fee from We Charity in protest over the program's design: "They indicated there was a fee."
Federal auditors have cited a Crown corporation, the National Arts Centre, for sloppy budgeting. Directors failed to set aside funds for necessary maintenance and repairs even after charging taxpayers a quarter-billion for renovations. Cost overruns at the concert hall once prompted two parliamentary investigations: 'It doesn't match London or Paris.'
A sixty-foot artifact of the nation’s pioneering era in space is to be demolished as scrap metal, says the Canadian Space Agency. Private researchers said they were unable to save the Kennedy Antenna, a parabolic dish used to track the 1962 satellite that made Canada the third country in space: "It is a shame."
Managers of a federal employees’ group insurance plan have lost a preemptive bid to dismiss a costly class action lawsuit. Sun Life Assurance Company is accused of miscalculating cost of living increases for thousands of beneficiaries: "The plaintiff has pleaded some evidence."
2021 marks a hundred years since neither Liberals nor Conservatives won a majority of seats in the Commons. This had never happened before. It is now commonplace and uniquely Canadian, explains Professor Nelson Wiseman of the University of Toronto.
“Canadian voters have become volatile, more volatile than American voters,” Wiseman writes in Partisan Odysseys. “Although there is no generally accepted measure of party identification, Canadians are less likely than Americans to have party affiliations ingrained into their personal identities.”
The federal deficit is near $400 billion, seven times the previous record, with proposals by cabinet yesterday to extend new benefits to jobless workers. “Our government has taken on more debt so Canadians didn’t have to,” Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland told reporters.
We Charity executives in a June 29 phone call with federal officials complained a “scandal” over their dealings with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s family was “taking (a) life of its own”. An agreement to grant the federal contractor $43.5 million was cancelled after We Charity disclosed payments to Trudeau’s mother and brother: "There will be noise but that’s politics."
A federal agency yesterday fined the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce $1.23 million for miscalculating interest at credit cardholders’ expense. The penalty is the largest since Parliament in 2018 ordered naming and shaming of banks found to breach consumer protection codes: "It is important for consumers to know."
We Charity in an email to the Department of Employment acknowledged it faced sharp cutbacks without federal funding. The group’s executive director sent the email a day after cabinet approved a $43.5 million grant: "Job losses were inevitable."
