Reviving a 2009 Conservative Party tax credit for home renovations would cost nearly $2 billion, the Parliamentary Budget Office said yesterday. Canadians spend more than $44 billion a year on home improvements, by official estimate: "It doesn't take much."
The People’s Party has won a second Federal Court ruling against a British Columbia businessman who claimed to invent its name. The Party dismissed legal challenges as “frivolous and weak”.
The Canada Revenue Agency says it will take no questions over next steps in a $595 million media bailout despite a cabinet pledge that “everything will be transparent”. Publishers are seeking quick payment of payroll rebates before the October 21 election: "If this was supposed to be open and transparent, I don’t think that happened here."
The Liberal Party yesterday said it will exceed greenhouse gas emission targets though its current plan is 36 percent short. Cabinet was silent on a June 13 pledge it would never raise the 12¢-a litre carbon tax on gasoline: "The planet is burning."
The Department of Immigration had staff monitor and analyze MP Maxime Bernier’s Twitter feed for “some indication of public sentiment” on immigration, according to Access To Information records. Bernier’s People’s Party proposes to cut immigration levels by 24 percent next year: "Top comments express wonder and concern."
The Parliamentary Budget Office yesterday calculated a Conservative Party proposal to roll back 2018 tax increases on small business and sole proprietors would cost $532 million next year. Farmers, restaurateurs and others had protested the hikes: "It's very unfair."
The Conservative Party yesterday proposed a national inquiry into money laundering in real estate. It follows a 2018 recommendation from the Commons finance committee that Parliament consider sanctions against lawyers suspected of aiding corrupt clients: "Government has an important role to play."
A Department of Foreign Affairs art project in Paris went $45,000 over budget after staff incorrectly measured a wall, according to Access To Information records. The department amended the contract three times: "Canada’s diplomacy, culture and values will shine."
A former Liberal cabinet minister is challenging cabinet in Federal Court over a national broadcasting license given to Rogers Media Inc. Cabinet earlier dismissed appeals over the granting of a lucrative ethnic TV license: "The decision defies logic."
Federal regulators will resist any “pressure” to force labeling of genetically engineered foods, says a cabinet memo. Staff in Access To Information records estimate nearly three-quarters of processed foods sold in Canada have engineered ingredients: "Labeling would create increased costs."
A federal tribute to Indigenous “kindness of spirit” in a historical story is unverified, based on hearsay and contradicted by archival records, says an award-winning filmmaker. The claim reported as fact by the Department of Public Works and CBC is contrary to all documentary evidence regarding the Komagata Maru incident, said the researcher: "The evidence is extremely clear."
The Department of Social Development is compiling race-based statistics on student loan defaulters. Private consultants will be hired to conduct the unusual survey “outside the realm” of federal research: "The purpose of the survey will be to enrich the information collected from other sources."
Canada needs a wild pig strategy to combat feral animals that may number in the millions, say Access To Information records at the Department of Agriculture. Biologists blame escaped wild Russian boars: "It is a problem."
Cabinet has dropped any plans for a national handgun ban. A Liberal-appointed senator said Parliament should introduce a buy-back program for owners of 839,000 licensed handguns nationwide: "I’m really hoping the next Parliament will take some action."
Poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, examines current events in the Blacklock’s tradition each and every Sunday: “I see her taking her last breaths. Body frail, she gently grabs my hand as I pat her. ‘Cancer,’ the vet said…”
