New Democrats are prepared for an election call in six weeks, says leader Jagmeet Singh. The Party has fewer than half its candidates nominated but will fill the slate for a March call, he said: "Mark Carney is going to call an early election."
The Parliamentary Press Gallery is “highly undemocratic” and dominated by media reliant on federal subsidies, says Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre. His remarks followed a 2019 court ruling in which a federal judge faulted the Gallery and House of Commons administration for blacklisting two news organizations based on secretive “internal media accreditation guidelines.”
Tax filers may keep secrets from their spouses but not the Canada Revenue Agency, Tax Court has ruled. The decision came in the case of a husband who kept a secret Swiss bank account “to hide funds from his wife.”
Canada’s National Holocaust Memorial will see “wide-ranging” changes to the exhibit by 2026, says a Department of Canadian Heritage briefing note. The review follows complaints after the Ottawa monument opened in 2017 with a dedication plaque that made no mention of Jews: "Requests for revisions have come from descendants of Holocaust survivors."
Young professionals from pharmacists to teachers who relocate to rural Canada will qualify for thousands in student loan forgiveness under proposed regulations. The Department of Employment on Saturday said new rules would take effect November 1: "Help support increased access to health care and social services in these communities."
Poet Shai Ben-Shalom writes: “Ottawa to provide Kiev with satellite images of the conflict zone…”
The inside story of the federal Green Party remains untold. It must have its share of intrigue and score-settling. What little that has been said touches on apocalyptic themes. Annamie Paul, the Party’s only Black Jewish leader, likened her tenure to crawling over broken glass. “It has been extremely painful,” she told reporters in 2021. “It has been the worst period of my life.”
The Party was first registered in 1984. Once fresh and new, it has faded with time and now has the persona of the Raging Grannies, a 1980s troupe that appeared on the periphery of street protests wearing CBC buttons and foretelling doom over Cruise Missile tests.
The bookshelf of Green Party literature remains thin. David Chernushenko, former deputy leader, once self-published a science fiction novel Burning Souls. It predicted by 2025 Canadian civilization would be reduced to Cascadia, an armed colony in southern British Columbia besieged by four million Latin American famine refugees: “Could Cascadia possibly hold off such a torrent? Or would something else kill those wretched folks first? Pity anyone on the open road.”
Cabinet’s Google tax appears doubtful after U.S. President Donald Trump yesterday called it an anti-American trade barrier. First payments under the multi-billion dollar tax were due this summer: "Only America should be allowed to tax American firms."
A taxpayer-funded Court Challenges Program subsidized liberal causes 96 percent of the time, an Ottawa think tank said yesterday. The Macdonald-Laurier Institute said its analysis, the first of its kind, could not find a single instance where the Program financed Charter challenges on conservative themes like property rights: "Time to shut it down."
Federal observance of Canada Day is evolving to “adapt to emerging needs and social expectations,” says a Department of Canadian Heritage report. Managers of a program that awards grants to community projects noted with approval that some communities cancelled traditional July 1 activities to reflect “the history of colonialism in Canada.”
Most young Canadians rate the internet a happy, informative and entertaining pastime, says a Department of Public Safety report. The data contradicted claims by Attorney General Arif Virani of “unchecked dangers and horrific content” that justified censorship of lawful speech: "Youth continue to report mostly positive experiences with online social activities."
Federal regulators yesterday fined an Ontario securities dealer $66,000 for paperwork errors in complying with the Proceeds Of Crime And Terrorist Financing Act. The agency in past years was cited in Federal Court for issuing arbitrary penalties in cases of minor technical breaches of the law: "Why? We have no idea."
A former Canadian Human Rights Commission appointee in a crowdfunding appeal says he will end “bullying” by critics. “I need your help to hold them accountable,” wrote Birju Dattani of Toronto Metropolitan University: "Every little bit helps!"
Parks Canada yesterday designated the Kamloops, B.C. Indian Residential School a national historic site but omitted all reference to alleged graves in a nearby orchard. Claims in 2021 by the Tk’emlups te Secwepemc First Nation that it discovered 215 children’s graves on the schoolgrounds prompted an international outcry. No remains were ever recovered: "The possibility of unmarked burials is not a determining factor for designation."
Managers at Manitoba's International Peace Garden say they have received angry emails from Canadians threatening boycotts over cross-border politics. Hurtful comments were “hard to read,” said the North Dakota-based CEO of the Garden dedicated 93 years ago to eternal friendship: "I have never seen anything quite like this."
