Cabinet has approved an executive order naming Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland and Veterans Affairs Minister Lawrence MacAulay as successors in case the Prime Minister is incapacitated. Justin Trudeau has been in self-quarantine since March 12 when his wife Sophie was diagnosed with Covid-19: "This is not the time to quibble."
About a quarter of Canadians would not take a vaccine against Covid-19 even if it was available, suggests a Department of Health study. Researchers found a significant minority of people including parents are wary of vaccinations: "I don't believe in them."
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…”
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?"
