Blacklock's Reporter

CMHC chief executive Evan Siddall in a 2019 podcast complained Canada has “glorified this idea of home ownership” and enriched property holders at the expense of renters. Siddall praised a federal consultant who advocated federal taxes on “unhealthy home values”. Conservative MPs yesterday served notice they will summon Siddall for questioning: "The losers are the people who have won so much already through the increase in house prices, the owners."

Federal IT specialists promise new security measures after hackers successfully targeted some 11,200 accounts including those held by tax filers and Employment Insurance claimants. “We’re looking at ways of strengthening our systems,” Marc Brouillard, acting chief information officer, told reporters.

The Department of Fisheries yesterday in a discussion paper proposed to give cabinet, not Parliament, broad new powers to regulate fish farming in coastal waters. The department said it required “flexibility to address emerging issues” in a proposed Aquaculture Act: “If they’re not monitoring the health of wild fish, how can they really know what the impacts are of aquaculture?"

Canadians consider pesticide use unavoidable though bad for the environment, says Department of Health research. Pesticide sales average more than 132 million kilograms a year, by official estimate: "Six in ten agree they are concerned that pesticides, even when used as directed, are not safe."

Cabinet seeks to ‘scale-up’ drug injection sites with amendments to the Controlled Drugs And Substances Act. The response follows protests in two of four provinces that legally distribute heroin, fentanyl and crystal methamphetamine to users: "We believe in supervised consumption sites."

Canadian youth rate climate change a greater threat than drugs, guns, gangs or traffic accidents. The Department of Public Safety research followed climate marches last September 27 and an apocalyptic speech by teen activist Greta Thunberg at the United Nations: "We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money."

More than a quarter of retirees aren’t retired, says the Department of Employment. New figures follow research indicating the number of Canadians over 65 who remained in the workforce is the “highest on record”.

A tax protestor who attempted to walk out of his trial in British Columbia Provincial Court has been found guilty of failing to file yearly returns. The Canada Revenue Agency has complained of internet-fueled protests challenging the Income Tax Act: "De-taxer, tax protestor, natural person – different names, same agenda."

A committee of MPs today will vote to issue urgent recommendations to cabinet in aid of 300,000 Canadians in Hong Kong. One MP compared the territory to East Germany under new Communist Party controls: "In my mind, China doesn't care. China will sacrifice Hong Kong."

We Charity did more lobbying on Parliament Hill than General Motors, newly-released records show. The charity lists eighteen employees as federal lobbyists: "At the time we thought it was minimal."

A tenth of grocery store weigh scales don’t give honest measurements, says a federal audit. The Department of Industry said drivers also have a 1 in 25 chance of being cheated at the pumps: "You get a ticket, you pay a fine. You get another ticket, you pay a fine."

The Canadian Space Agency is spending $450,000 to show Nunavut residents how to grow carrots in the Arctic. The Agency justified the spending as research on future food production in outer space: "That may one day help astronauts grow food off Earth."

A federal labour board has upheld the firing of a longtime Canada Revenue Agency employee for snooping through tax files. The discipline is only the latest since the Office of the Privacy Commissioner in 2013 cited the Agency for “disturbing” laxity in privacy breaches: "621 unauthorized accesses is a very large number."

Fallout from We Charity investigations have impacted the entire sector nationwide, the Commons government operations committee was told yesterday. Charities faced pandemic layoffs and revenue declines even before disclosures of close ties between We Charity and cabinet: "Hell, the committee that hands out Orders of Canada thought they were okay."

Cabinet borrowed more than a half-trillion dollars in 120 days, according to the Department of Finance. No date has been fixed for tabling of a 2020 federal budget: "There will need to be a sharp turn; temporary measures will have to be temporary."