National debt charges this year eclipsed federal funding for medicare, new figures show. MPs expressed astonishment at data that deficit spending is 55 percent higher than projected last April: "Everything they touch turns to mud. It’s the opposite of King Midas."
The Liberal cabinet yesterday saw its third finance minister in four years. New Brunswicker Dominic LeBlanc took the oath as MPs predicted a 2025 election will come sooner than later: "We simply cannot go on like this."
A Canadian graphologist yesterday questioned who signed ex-Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s resignation letter. Even a person under emotional strain would not completely alter their signature, said the handwriting expert: "Even under duress you sign your name using the same formations."
Housing Minister Sean Fraser yesterday said he will not seek re-election and wanted to go home. Fraser’s abrupt announcement came amid Commons speculation more cabinet members will retire: "Rumours are there are two more cabinet ministers to resign. I wonder who."
MPs yesterday ridiculed a promotional video by Social Development Minister Jenna Sudds celebrating the temporary repeal of a 75¢ GST charge on a bottle of wine. Millions of Canadians this Christmas “will be lucky if they get tap water,” said Conservative MP Larry Brock (Brantford-Brant, Ont.): "I was really shocked."
A New Democrat MP said “we are reflecting on what we did” after cabinet forced an end to legal picketing in a Canada Labour Code dispute for the fifth time in four months, a postwar record. Party leader Jagmeet Singh had no comment on the unprecedented use of executive orders: "That's wrong."
Parliament must increase funding for the CBC in addition to its current $1.4 billon annual grant, says a Commons heritage committee report. The CBC said it could use another half billion a year: "We need in the $400 million to $500 million range."
Growth in “alternative and far right ‘news sources’” reflects Canadians’ growing distrust of old media and not foreign interference, says a Department of Foreign Affairs memo. Analysts debunked stories by “far left media” suggesting Russian bots were amplifying dissent: "The move away from traditional news sources may indicate a decrease in trust among traditional outlets."
Mandatory airport fees and taxes are costing Canadian travelers about $100 per ticket, WestJet Airlines Ltd. has told the Commons transport committee. Executives said profit taking by public agencies including the Department of Transport was to blame for high costs: 'If we received the same subsidy as VIA Rail everyone could fly for free and we'd hand them cash as they boarded the plane.'
A federal agency has been fined $75,000 for breach of the Species At Risk Act. The charge targeted harm to habitat of the endangered Western Chorus Frog, a tiny amphibian that earlier blocked development of a multi-million dollar subdivision in Québec: 'Suburban sprawl is threatening its survival in Canada.'
Poet Shai Ben-Shalom writes: “Canada is looking for ways to reduce emissions from its oilsands operations…”
Immigration Minister Marc Miller's department will require that all citizenship applicants who lived in Canada more than 10 years be photographed and fingerprinted. Biometric screening is already mandatory for new arrivals in Canada including foreign students and visa applicants: "What we are looking to do is adopt biometric enrolment for citizenship."
Cabinet is “doing really, really good compared to most other countries,” Public Works Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said yesterday. Duclos would not say if cabinet met its target of cutting billions in fees paid to private consultants: "You’re saying Canadians have never had it so good?"
The Senate last night by a 58 to 22 vote passed a GST holiday bill into law. The temporary $2.7 billion repeal of the federal sales tax on select goods takes effect Saturday: "Could you imagine the optics of not voting for this?"
Liberal MP Marco Mendicino (Eglinton-Lawrence, Ont.) yesterday faced formal demands that he be censured for contempt of Parliament. Mendicino was accused of deliberately lying as Minister of Public Safety regarding his 2022 use of the Emergencies Act against peaceful demonstrators on Parliament Hill: 'Mendicino blatantly misled us.'
