Illegal cannabis use by high schoolers has grown with Parliament’s legalization of recreational marijuana for adults, says a University of Waterloo study. Researchers said the rise contradicted a steady decline in marijuana use by teenagers in previous years: "There is a type of normalization."
A federal agency today will announce another subsidy for a New Brunswick kindling factory that’s received more than $1.6 million in aid to date. The firm that sells bagged firewood has 12 employees: “Smart investments such as this one demonstrate our commitment.”
A federal labour board has upheld the firing of a human resources case officer for rudeness. Witnesses said the woman barked at coworkers, complained about Excel software and sent needlessly aggressive emails: "She did not know that using all capital letters was inappropriate."
The Department of Public Safety in an Access To Information report proposes that Parliament limit the amount of cash Canadians can carry. Staff also suggested a new federal registry of businesses dealing in large volumes of cash as a crime prevention measure: "Large denominations are especially an issue."
Cabinet will not meet an MPs’ deadline for quick action on dealing with gross mismanagement by federal executives. Public Works Minister Carla Qualtrough in a letter to the Commons public accounts committee said work is incomplete: "The Titanic was heading for an iceberg; anyone would have said, 'Oh my God.'"
The Competition Bureau is expanding a probe of sales practices in home water heater rentals. The investigation has been ongoing since 2012. The Bureau in Federal Court asked that Enbridge Gas Distribution Inc. disclose contracts and fees: "We don’t think people should be locked into rental agreements."
Foreign Affairs is the only federal department to buy a Huawei internet plan, accounts show. Staff did not explain the purchase dating from 2016, prior to the Vancouver arrest of a Huawei executive that led to Canadians’ detention in China and a billion-dollar trade dispute: "The Chinese government arrests people to use as bargaining chips."
Poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, examines current events in the Blacklock’s tradition each and every Sunday: “Changes are coming to Ontario’s autism program. Families will get $20,000 a year…”
Canadians don’t think of themselves as some of the most liberal people on earth, but we’re pretty close: gay marriage, nude theatre, cuss words in Parliament, no social aristocracy of any kind, and every liquor store has an ample parking lot.
When former Attorney General Vic Toews left his wife to take up with a younger woman he not only escaped shunning – Toews was appointed a judge – his friends said they were shocked, shocked anyone dare read Toews’ divorce papers, though they are public documents. This does not happen in America.
Parliament should mandate human rights committees in federally-regulated workplaces, the Canadian Labour Congress said yesterday. The Congress in a report said panels would combat “group hatred” against Muslims: 'They are not asking for special treatment.'
Federal regulators have drafted a secret list of projects subject to new environmental reviews, the Senate energy committee was told yesterday. The list is so secret even the Manitoba cabinet can’t see it, said the province's Trade Minister Blaine Pedersen: “Surely to goodness between governments we can share this."
The Canadian Association of Broadcasters yesterday protested federal payroll subsidies for local newspapers are unfair to private TV and radio newsrooms. Cabinet proposes to spend up to $95 million a year on direct grants to dailies deemed reliable by a government-appointed panel: "Who is to say that print is more important?"
Conservative MPs on the Commons government operations committee seek a hearing on a 2018 federal contract to pay the Toronto Star to cover parliamentary committees. The contract was cancelled after the Procurement Ombudsman intervened: “What was the original purpose?”
The Senate yesterday gave Second Reading to a cabinet bill on accessibility, and referred it to hearings of its social affairs committee. The Commons passed the bill unanimously last November 27 though MPs noted it will not take effect for years even if it becomes law: "No one group should have to fight to enjoy the full rights of citizenship."
A growing minority of Canadians complain the country is letting in too many immigrants, says in-house research by the Department of Immigration. More than a third of Canadians surveyed, 37 percent, said too many immigrants are coming to Canada. The rate was 26 percent in a 2014 department poll: 'Attitudes are very important.'
