Canadians could “learn” from China, say three senators and an ex-New Democrat MP. The parliamentary friendship group met overseas with Communist Party officials even as police used tear gas against pro-democracy protestors in Hong Kong: "Both countries have a long relationship that has been productive in many respects."
A majority of teenage marijuana users, 51 percent, tell the Department of Health they “have cannabis in or around the home” since Parliament legalized marijuana. Federal research showed the typical Canadian now considers marijuana more socially acceptable than tobacco: "Can cannabis smoke be harmful?"
A federal agency has been found guilty of breaching air pollution regulations even as MPs prepared to declare a climate emergency. British Columbia’s Prince Rupert Port Authority started a slow-burning garbage fire so toxic, nearby residents complained of sore throats, burning eyes and asthma attacks: "Climate change is increasingly a climate emergency."
The federal deficit is 34 percent higher than disclosed prior to the election, Finance Minister Bill Morneau said yesterday. This year’s deficit will be the highest since 2013 and will rise again in 2020: "Nobody said it was going to be easy."
Parliament will police what Canadians put on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, reversing a decades-old policy against internet regulation. Cabinet in a document said content must be controlled in the name of public safety: 'This is deeply disturbing.'
Cabinet is expanding rebates for electric car buyers though it has no data on whether existing $300 million subsidies have met climate change targets. Rebates will now be offered to buyers of used zero-emission vehicles: "Why do we need this?"
A drug company with a costly treatment for kidney patients is under federal investigation. The Competition Bureau alleges Otsuka Canada Pharmaceutical Inc. of Saint-Laurent, Que. acted to “prevent or delay generic versions of this product from coming to market”.
The Department of Health is declining comment on why it placed newspaper stories claiming health benefits of vaping. The promotions contradict decades of anti-smoking campaigns, said an MP: "You can’t tell people for years that smoking tobacco is bad, and then start encouraging people to smoke something else."
A Québec City judge has upheld municipal zoning against Airbnb. A property owner was fined $1,000 for breach of regulations forbidding the hotel trade in a residential neighbourhood: "The owner chose to make this property a tourist residence."
Poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, examines current events in the Blacklock’s tradition each and every Sunday: “Don’t miss!
All-new episodes! Canada is kicking off another season of The Premiers.
The Lake Erie water snake can dive ten feet and swallow its prey head first. The snake is also endangered. Its favoured habitat is private lakefront property where landowners don’t enjoy snakes. “I see no reason why it should be protected,” one Pelee Island landowner told an interviewer. “If it were to go away, I don’t think anyone would miss it.”
This is the most vexing part of endangered species. Rare birds, fish and wildlife belong to all humanity, but the lakefronts and marshlands belong to ratepayers. As the Canadian Cattleman’s Association once told a Commons committee, “Number one: if a species at risk is viewed as a liability to a land manager, it will always be at risk.”
The Department of Public Works yesterday approved a $2.5 million contract to distribute federally-sponsored “news” to publishers and radio stations. Handout stories include one saying its “nice” to fly with cannabis in your luggage, and articles citing a Health Canada endorsement of vaping: "There are short-term general health improvements…"
Senate managers yesterday complained they work too hard after calculating three executives clocked the equivalent of a 52-hour week. “Too much is definitely not good,” said Senator Lucie Moncion (Independent-Ont.), chair of a Senate subcommittee on budgets: "It is not good for their health."
Opposition Leader Andrew Scheer yesterday said he will not contest another national campaign, calling it the "best thing" for the Party. Scheer is only the third federal Conservative chief in 79 years to resign after winning a leadership convention and losing a general election: "Politics is tough."
The Senate yesterday opened debate on a motion to impose sanctions on any Chinese authority responsible for human rights abuses overseas. “The time for appeasement is over,” said Senator Leo Housakos (Conservative-Que.), sponsor of the motion: "Ask yourself, are you a defender of those values?"
