Debt levels for the working poor are now “staggering,” says one of the country’s largest credit monitors. Equifax Canada yesterday in a report to the Commons industry committee said financial circumstances for millions are much worse than headlines indicate: "This gap has widened drastically."
Newly-declassified records show cabinet's 2005 decision to send Canadian troops into combat in Afghanistan followed cursory discussion. Casualties would number 2,229 including 158 killed in action: "The Canadians would be the best equipped task force in Afghanistan."
Opposition members yesterday compelled the Commons public safety committee to address the detention of an accused Chinese-Canadian spy at NATO. “Canadians need answers,” said Conservative MP Frank Caputo (Kamloops-Thompson, B.C.): "What happened?"
The Canadian Embassy in Washington yesterday had no comment after it interrupted trade negotiations to celebrate Justin Trudeau’s dating habits. “Kinda chic to date Katy Perry,” staff posted on the Embassy’s official Instagram account: "I get the PR value but it just doesn’t seem very prime ministerial."
Operators of a radio service for German-speaking Alberta farm families yesterday won federal approval to expand programming to “satisfy demand for local content,” said the CRTC. It follows Census data showing French outside Québec has been eclipsed as a second, third and fourth language in many provinces: 'One in four Canadians had a mother tongue other than English or French.'
Heritage Minister Marc Miller on a July junket to the United Kingdom scheduled confidential briefings on a Labour Party proposal to promote “social cohesion,” according to an Access To Information memo. A Labour report targeted individuals it called “digital grifters” and “politicians of grievance.”
Cabinet’s $90 billion regional high speed railway faces new barriers, specifically land use restrictions at federally-designated historic places along the proposed route including a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Parks Canada in an Access To Information memo expressed concern over “possible impacts.”
Canada was the best prepared country in the world for pandemic risk, officials boasted in newly-declassified 2005 cabinet minutes made public yesterday. The Public Health Agency to date has failed to explain what went wrong: "Canada was the best prepared among countries for a pandemic risk."
Sales of heat pumps grew sixfold nationwide even before cabinet launched a costly subsidy program to promote their use, new figures from the Canada Energy Regulator showed yesterday. The devices were most popular in Atlantic Canada where oil furnaces had been a mainstay of home heating: "Once you make the switch to get off oil and gas you can save hundreds."
A federal judge has upheld the Canada Border Services Agency’s confiscation of thousands in Vegas winnings from a cross-border traveler deemed improbably lucky. Under the Proceeds Of Crime And Terrorist Financing Act, Canadians returning home must account for all cash holdings over $10,000: "This can hardly be characterized as unreasonable."
A federal delegation on tour in China urged battery electric car makers to increase Canadian demand for their vehicles, according to a report to Parliament. Automakers with assembly plants in Canada have warned a guaranteed five-year quota of 278,989 Chinese imports will cost jobs here: "Unfettered access, even if limited by quotas, will weaken Canada’s ability to protect its people."
The Assembly of First Nations says it rejects any fixed deadline under Prime Minister Mark Carney’s legislated plan to speed approval of “nation building” projects. The group in a report to parliamentarians dismissed Carney’s deadlines as a pressure tactic: 'It is aggressive.'
Many Ukrainian war refugees let into Canada are expected to return home “when it is safe to do so,” says a Department of Immigration briefing note. The document set no quota but estimated over 308,000 Ukrainians arrived in Canada under a special aid program: "Temporary in-Canada measures remain in place until March 31, 2027."
A third of affordable housing in Canada is in poor or fair condition, CMHC said yesterday. Problems identified by the federal insurer included plumbing, electrical and roofing in need of repair: "1 in 3 units are in fair or poor condition."
A Nova Scotia jail guard has been sentenced to three years in a federal penitentiary for smuggling marijuana for inmates. The fact Parliament legalized recreational marijuana in 2018 was no excuse, the Court ruled: "Our community does not accept this type of behaviour."
